Author: evetureknaturephotography@gmail.com

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The Gift of Sabbath

Oh Lord, part of me doesn’t want to go on a quest for grand adventures. Part of me just wants to sit and be near You. Like Lucy in Narnia, leaning against Aslan’s side (and reading a book)! Vacation unplugs from responsibility but you can’t live that way.

That is why I created the Sabbath! For you, for mankind, for human rest. For a mini-vacation every week! Not to burden you with the rule of its observance, but as a regular time-out from responsibility. As a Time of Refreshing. “Church” was added much later. I created Sabbath years for the land, so it could rest, not be worked to death by humans who had forgotten how to rest, how to play. Your sleep is not restful because you allow yourself no Sabbath. You will sleep better all week long if you can create and maintain Sabbath.

I don’t know how to do that. There’s both galleries, there’s the house, there’s…

There’s your health. Physical, emotional, spiritual. You want more energy? More creative ideas and solutions? More stability in your words? Allowing yourself My Gift of Sabbath is the key to all these for you.

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At Table

So I may have some quiet moments yet. What would You say? To me? To the world? On Thanksgiving?

Today, you feast. You celebrate around the table an abundant harvest. Tomorrow and Saturday, you shop. You acquire needed or wanted goods for yourselves or your homes or as gifts for others. Whether feasting or shopping the sales, your theme is the same: abundance. Sales mean you can stretch your dollars to buy more or to get items you might not otherwise afford. Feasting and shopping are national habits on this weekend, along with parades and sports, all part of a festive celebration.

Some lament the celebratory aspect, counseling instead a focus on giving to the poor as a more spiritual way to celebrate harvest.

If you look to Me, you will see I did both. I performed My first miracle at a wedding feast. I was severely criticized and labeled as a fraud because I joined in the revelry of feasting and celebration—even with those who didn’t fit the mold of spirituality in the conventions of the day. I also counseled giving to the poor and warned against greed.

It is easy to live wholly in one mindset or the other. It’s much harder to simultaneously fully enjoy all the blessings of an abundant life, while also giving and sharing those blessings, not out of guilt but out of a conviction that abundance, the feasting, and the joy are all meant for everyone, no exceptions. Yet this is how I lived, in the paradox of abundance. On this day of Thanksgiving, it is how I Am inviting you to live also.

Feast, revel and find ways to share your joy, to invite others into your abundant life, to My Abundant Life.

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Centering

Lord, I’m restless.

You feel like you are the clay on the wheel, spinning around and around. You need to let Me center you. Then I can shape you, shape your life, into the perfect form and the perfect size. But all begins with centering.

I’m seeing this wide bowl and Your Hands shaping it from inside. Expanding it from within. Increasing capacity.

Today is like the disciples fishing all night and rowing home, tired and discouraged. That is where you are—that is how you feel. You are doing all you know how to do, and you are giving it your best effort. And yet you still are coming up short. So I told them to go out, at the wrong time of day and put out their nets one more time. Let out your nets for a catch. And you know the result. 153 fish. So many fish that the nets broke. So many fish the two of them couldn’t haul them in; they needed help, they needed two more helpers.

So what do I do now, today?

Relax. Unwind. Go with the flow.

 

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The way west

Lord, You got anything for me? Anything with my name on it?

I always have something for you, but you’ve lowered your expectations.

I know I have. It’s like I am trying to fly under the radar.

You are afraid blessings bring curses, bring a backlash. Yin-yang, push-and-pull, sweet-and-sour. You think you can keep sorrow at bay by turning away joy. I’d like to roll up with an armored truck loaded with blessings, more blessings than you could ever imagine—but you have to be present to sign for it.

Present to sign for it. Hmm. I get present—aware, alert. Right? And in the present, not the past, not the future. Put my name to it. You sign for a shipment when the sender wants to verify you’ve received it. Lord?

This isn’t a loaner. You would have to sign for a loaner, too. This is yours. This isn’t something you have to send back.

Lord, why can’t I let go of the West? What is its hold on me?

The West is part of My dream and My plan for you—that’s why you can’t let go. Trust Me to get you there.

I miss it. I look at my pictures and I don’t know what I want, but they are not it. And I tried so hard…

I don’t want you to try so hard. I want you to feel. Feel, then see. You are trying to see, then feel. That’s backwards. Feel, then see. That is your way forward. Not science. Not composition. Not art. Connection. Feel. Feel the air, feel the sea, feel, feel, feel the light, feel the clouds. Feel your way back. The blind move by feeling their way. Feel your way back to sight. Let others be artful—you be connected. They will have their audience, their market, and you will have yours. Feel your way back home. Draw close. See far and see near. Find your heart again. You nourish many others, but I Am not asking you to do that at the cost of your own life. Come to your beginning place. Let’s begin again. Feel, and you’ll see.

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Direction

Oh God, I want to hear from You every day, and I want that for direction.

 

You think it’s wrong to want Direction? Wrong to ask for My guidance and leading? Wrong to want to stay on course, choose wisely? Make wise decisions? You feel bad about wanting that?

I guess I was taught that, that I am, that we are on our own. That we “graduate” beyond having You lead us, having You confirm for us.

Let Me get this straight. So the reward of a faith-commitment is, after a brief honeymoon period, to live separated, estranged, while proving your love and faithfulness by not wavering in your commitment. What kind of marriage is that? What kind of husband would I be, demanding that? I will tell you what kind—an abusive husband. A neurotic husband. No, I Am a faithful Husband, a faithful Father, a faithful Brother, a faithful Friend. The longing you have I put there. I want this more than you do. Mark this down:

More than you want to be right on time, I want this for you.

More than you want wildlife encounters, I want them for you.

More than you want magnificent light, I want that light for you.

More than you want stories to share, I want to share My stories with and through you.

More than you want increased creative flow in your life, I want increased creative flow in your life.

More than you want your legs healed and strong, I want your legs healed and strong.

More than you want to explore My beautiful world, I want to show you My beautiful world.

There is nothing you want that I don’t want more for you, want more to give to you.

All you need to do is prepare to receive. Not earn, not labor, not work harder, not prove yourself worthy. Receive.

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Into the Quiet

It’s Quiet. I mean, very. Lord, what would You say?

What would you say?

Huh?

What would you pour into this safe, round container of Quiet? If you could say anything?

Gosh, it is beautiful, this Quiet. So honestly I wouldn’t want to mar it with any complaint, anything negative. Just gratitude and praise. Just, praise You, bless You, thank You.

I’m telling you, you have a free pass—you can vent—you can say whatever you need or want to…and you are choosing praise? Gratitude? Why?

Because…because I love You, Lord. Because my heart is full of praise, full of gratitude. Because only that seems fitting to pour into this round Quiet. Lord, I’m seeing blown glass, rather the action of glass-blowing, creating a beautiful glass ball. Is this what the Quiet is like? Easily shattered?

What makes glass special is its transparency. It also makes glass vulnerable. It is the fire, the breath, and the water that take the elements of earth and shape them into a container, a vessel, of such exquisite beauty. My fire, breath, and water have made you a beautiful, transparent vessel. Yet you feel vulnerable to the least pressure as if you are in danger of imploding any minute.

Aren’t I?

No. Some glass balls hang high on the tree, way out of reach, but that’s not you. You are more like the Japanese fishing balls that help secure the net—amazingly resilient even in storms, yet still beautiful and unexpected. You, your life, is a surprise! You were, to your parents. You were and are to Pete. And you are, to your world. You have let Me fill you and heal you over and over, and you’ve done it again.

Thank You, Lord. It’s Your Promise, too, I see that. I can feel that.

 

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Seek and Find

Lord, what would You say? You speak to my artist friend in drawings. You speak to me in nature, in patterns of light and shadow, and in words I hear in my heart.

Don’t ever stop searching. Those who seek, find. Those who search for Me with their whole heart, find Me. Search for Me everywhere and you will find Me, everywhere waiting. Search for Me in one small narrow corner of the vast universe, and that is where you will find Me, but that is not only where I Am. Truly I Am Everywhere-Present, all the time calling and speaking to you.

What you are experiencing is expansion of experience. You are shattering gates and knocking down walls to My Presence in your life. You are letting Me rush in like a flood, like a Mighty Wind. You are letting Me flood your soul and your life with Light. You are expanding your territory when you expand the boundaries you have put on My Presence.

I Am not playing Hide and Seek with you, not as you think—rather, I Am Hiding in Plain Sight, just waiting for your least glance, your least nod, to notice My Presence. Then you will hear Me plainly say, Here I Am, Here Have I Been All Along, Here Will I Be, in all your tomorrows.

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Clarity

Lord, I feel like we have both become discouraged, and discouragement is obscuring. Like, like the dangerous aspect of fog.

You need clarity. There is a reason you de-fog your lens. Too much fog and you can’t focus on anything. Then fog becomes like Silence. You don’t want to be deaf or blind. You want to be clear—clear eyes, clear heart, like clear water. You want to reflect Me and My heart through your life.

Oh, God, the Seat of Seeing I want to sit in is Yours. And the One I want to walk the beach with and listen to is You. And if I take myself on a guided meditation and walk a path through the forest and over the footbridge and into the clearing, the One I want to find there is You. Yes, I’d love talking animals and birds to accompany me, of course! Like Narnia! But as Lucy said, it’s You, Alsan. It’s You.

I Am always with you. I will never leave you. Even when you don’t know what to do, what to say, where to go, where to be, I AM. And I AM by your side, and I Am within you. I fill all things—for you that means I fill all circumstances, all situations, with My Holy Presence. Let Me fill your mind, your thoughts. Let Me fill your body with health and strength. Let Me fill your days and your nights. Let Me fill all things in your life with Myself. Let Me be the air you breathe that sustains you moment by moment. Let My Spirit flow through your body like oxygen-rich blood, energizing and inspiring every part of you. You sing praise. You sing hallelujah—not because I need to hear it, but because it is healing for your soul to remember the Song. Fill yourself with Who I Am. Glow—Sing—Blaze. Stand—Walk—Run—Fly—Soar. Lift yourself up as you lift My Name up in praise and thanksgiving. That is the key for you—sing praise.

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Loss

Loss is hard, no matter how I think about it. I have friends going through it, right now.

The portal you call death is a lot like jumping to hyperspace, or going to warp speed—all of a sudden, the essence of the person is too large, too fast, and holds too much energy for the physical body that has been its home. The soul jumps to Eternity, leaving behind the empty shell. In this eternity there is no separation, not from Me and not from anyone loved in this life. In fact, since Love is the core of Being, the soul actually experiences unity with everyone and everything, while still retaining individuality. This is a mystery beyond your comprehension. You see glimpses and hints, nothing more.

Lord, the Old Testament warned against trying to connect with anyone who had died, so that warning makes me, I am sure makes a lot of us, wary. Yet some days I would like nothing more than a conversation with my Mom or Dad, or Patrick. That is why those dreams about them are so precious.

What the Old Testament warned about was substituting that contact for a genuine connection to Me. In Me and through Me and through the power of My resurrection, you have access to anyone for all of history. Who do you think sends you those comforting dreams? Who do you think summons the blue butterfly or the pileated woodpecker, just when you need some reassurance?

I gave you these earthly relationships to be an eternal blessing to you. I don’t intend you to remain in grief over the loss of physical contact. Instead, try asking Me to arrange experiences where you know your loved one has communicated with you, in a way personal and private to you, and see what happens?

Lord, I will never forget driving home after Christmas 2000, when Daddy died Christmas day, and the smell of his pipe tobacco that he got every Christmas in my childhood filled the car out of nowhere.

Not out of nowhere, out of Beyond. Out of Eternity. No, your father is not smoking a pipe in heaven! But that experience—what did it do for you?

I felt as if he was somehow near, along with my Aunt who gave him that tobacco, saying that he was okay. That he was well and healthy and somehow aware of me and where I was. It was a powerful moment of connection.

And did it increase or diminish your faith? Did it comfort you or plunge you into depression?

Lord, it increased my faith. And yes, it comforted me too—like the man I had lost to Alzheimer’s was somehow suddenly my Daddy again. Wow, I never put that into words before.

That was the exact intention, My intention, in the experience: to comfort and assure you.

So I can ask that my friends be comforted? And assured?

Indeed, yes. These are prayers I love to answer—happy serendipitous surprises of love.

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Stale

Yesterday we talked about nourishment, about food that nourishes us versus food that doesn’t. What about stale? What about good food gone stale?

How does good food go stale? When you don’t eat it fresh. When you put it aside, when you don’t eat it all, or when you make other less-nourishing choices. Life goes stale the same way. The other reason food can go stale or spoil is when you have “too much on your plate,” when you can’t possibly take it all in. That is where you’ve been, with too much to absorb, too much to think about. The body has a way of adjusting to too much pressure and this is how your body is reacting now, wanting sleep and rest and quiet so that it can recover and regroup.  You’ve been trying to fix a long-term issue with a short-term solution–caffeine and sugar–that is actually making you feel worse. And those worse effects are cumulative. You ate healthy all day yesterday and you rested better last night. Try all that again today and assess how you feel tomorrow. That will help your body.

Now for your spirit and your soul. Your spirit has been managing by coming to the Page, by trying to keep fresh and real here, but your emotional self, that is another matter entirely. You haven’t really let yourself feel the pain of losing Mikey, or the upset of both getting and then letting go of the puppy, or the shock of hearing Pete say to you, I can’t get up. You need to let Me comfort you, and hear Me affirm your wisdom in the impulses you had and the choices you made about the puppy, and receive My strength for the days ahead with Pete.

God, don’t I do all that here? At the Page?

No, little one. You do all that outside. Here, you are very conscious of time, your allotment of minutes, and you are often interrupted, which means you can’t allow yourself to open emotionally at the depth you need to, right now. You are afraid of a flood of tears or a volcano of anger, erupting from within you. So you keep to the surface, trying hard to maintain both connection to Me and an outward composure in the world. Meanwhile, much festers and goes unhealed and unresolved deep inside you. So come, meet Me outside again. I know what your schedule is like, through the holidays. But very soon you will have a chance, and when you do, take it! And come prepared to receive.