Words to Read Aloud

For a while now, I've been reading scripture aloud to a sick friend. She's not always awake when I read, but I believe that the words comfort her anyway, that they soak into her heart and mind and soothe her. It's the Word of God. How could it not reach her in some way?

As I'm reading the passages, I'm thinking about her life, her journey thus far, and the lengthy path she has ahead of her to recovery. I'm thinking about dark times in my own life, about loss, about suffering. I'm thinking about the hope she and I have in Christ--hope for today and for always.

Sometimes I read Psalm 104 to her. It's one of my favorites because it reminds me that He is bigger than sickness and sadness and suffering. He is the Creator of the universe--and of us, too. He is the Author of beauty, and His work stuns us with His glory.

Here it is. Read it aloud, and see if your circumstances suddenly seem smaller.

Psalm 104

1 Praise the LORD, O my soul.
O LORD my God, you are very great;
you are clothed with splendor and majesty.

2 He wraps himself in light as with a garment;
he stretches out the heavens like a tent

3 and lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters.
He makes the clouds his chariot
and rides on the wings of the wind.

4 He makes winds his messengers, [a]
flames of fire his servants.

5 He set the earth on its foundations;
it can never be moved.

6 You covered it with the deep as with a garment;
the waters stood above the mountains.

7 But at your rebuke the waters fled,
at the sound of your thunder they took to flight;

8 they flowed over the mountains,
they went down into the valleys,
to the place you assigned for them.

9 You set a boundary they cannot cross;
never again will they cover the earth.

10 He makes springs pour water into the ravines;
it flows between the mountains.

11 They give water to all the beasts of the field;
the wild donkeys quench their thirst.

12 The birds of the air nest by the waters;
they sing among the branches.

13 He waters the mountains from his upper chambers;
the earth is satisfied by the fruit of his work.

14 He makes grass grow for the cattle,
and plants for man to cultivate—
bringing forth food from the earth:

15 wine that gladdens the heart of man,
oil to make his face shine,
and bread that sustains his heart.

16 The trees of the LORD are well watered,
the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.

17 There the birds make their nests;
the stork has its home in the pine trees.

18 The high mountains belong to the wild goats;
the crags are a refuge for the coneys. [b]

19 The moon marks off the seasons,
and the sun knows when to go down.

20 You bring darkness, it becomes night,
and all the beasts of the forest prowl.

21 The lions roar for their prey
and seek their food from God.

22 The sun rises, and they steal away;
they return and lie down in their dens.

23 Then man goes out to his work,
to his labor until evening.

24 How many are your works, O LORD!
In wisdom you made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.

25 There is the sea, vast and spacious,
teeming with creatures beyond number—
living things both large and small.

26 There the ships go to and fro,
and the leviathan, which you formed to frolic there.

27 These all look to you
to give them their food at the proper time.

28 When you give it to them,
they gather it up;
when you open your hand,
they are satisfied with good things.

29 When you hide your face,
they are terrified;
when you take away their breath,
they die and return to the dust.

30 When you send your Spirit,
they are created,
and you renew the face of the earth.

31 May the glory of the LORD endure forever;
may the LORD rejoice in his works-

32 he who looks at the earth, and it trembles,
who touches the mountains, and they smoke.

33 I will sing to the LORD all my life;
I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

34 May my meditation be pleasing to him,
as I rejoice in the LORD.

35 But may sinners vanish from the earth
and the wicked be no more.
Praise the LORD, O my soul.
Praise the LORD. [c]

The Beauty of Order

With the new year, I'm celebrating the beauty of order. I'm taking a clue from the order that appears in creation and trying to transfer that to my office. I'm well on my way but still have some things to deal with. In the meantime, I'm enjoying an empty floor, margin around my computer, and the now visible wood grain of two vintage tables that serve as my desk. You wouldn't know it to see my office on an average day but clutter drives me crazy. I'm good about "editing" clutter from other rooms but my office can get out of control at times. When it does, I put my blinders on and look only at my screen or out my office window to the view of the woods below. For the last several days, I've seen a male cardinal come and go to a certain spot in the brush, strikingly red against the browns and dull greys of the trees and shrubs. He reminds me that creation is filled with order. He, or rather His creator, inspires me to invite some of that order into my office and other areas of my life as well. And this new year is the perfect time to do that.

New Year's Eve

Happy New Year! And may 2009 be filled with moments of beauty and wonder for you.

The Beauty of Christmas

A few months ago in early fall I wrote an article about Christmas. My assignment was to explore what the birth of Christ might have meant to God the Father. I approached it at first with trepidation. How could I begin to fathom what giving His only Son to us cost Him? The scripture "His thoughts are higher than our thoughts" kept coming to mind. Humbling though it was, I enjoyed the experience very much. I used Handel's Messiah and the prophecies referenced in that wonderful work as my framework. If you'd like to read the article, click here.

Thank you for reading this blog. Merry Christmas!

Beauty in Architecture

This week on my arts blog I'm featuring Dr. Jane Paradise Wolford, who seeks to "enlighten the public about the transformational potential of architecture." She has a Doctorate in Architecture (in History, Theory, and Criticism) from the Georgia Institute of Technology in addition to her Masters degree in Architectural History from Georgia Tech. She has some interesting things to say about beauty and design. I had to share them with you.


Jane says, "I think architecture reveals a lot about God’s role as Architect and Builder (Hebrews 11:10). In the Old Testament he gave very specific instructions to Moses (Exodus 26), David (1 Chron. 28:11-19), and Ezekiel (Ezekiel 40) about the construction of his places of worship --- from the choice of the builder down to the smallest details ---- design mattered to Him.

"God is also concerned with beautiful design in his creation of nature everywhere. Oceans, mountains, trees, plants, flowers, etc. point to God’s wondrous sense of design – and we haven’t even touched upon his marvelous creation of the human body. All his creations (disclaimer --- as he created them) are not only magnificently beautiful, but are awe-inspiring. The colors of vegetation and natural landscape features such as mountains or oceans both complement and contrast each other in color, texture, structure, and a multitude of other qualities. But dissonance and ugliness are not qualities of God’s creations in their pristine state. Only man’s fallen nature interjected these ugly realities into his earthly paradise. Peace, Joy, Harmony, Beauty, and Order were subservient to the promptings of man’s will after the fall. In our imperfect nature beauty can be stumbled upon every now and again --- but it is not the norm. This is what the study of architecture can teach us about ourselves – we crave balance, stability, order and beauty. Good architecture can speak to these needs."

What are some of your favorite buildings or styles of architecture? I'd love to know.

The Happy Tree

Our region has been in a drought for quite some time. Today beautiful, life-giving, thirst-drenching rain is falling steadily. I love the sound of the rain falling through the trees onto the curled-up leaves on the ground.

Inside, the Christmas tree is brightly lit and adorned from top to bottom with ornaments. My favorites include anything my daughter made, formal glass and crystal shapes, and funky folk art dogs and reindeer. I also like the purple and royal blue plastic balls that hang everywhere. Tiny white lights provide background blink. Ours is a happy tree--something I really seem to need this year.

Today I'm grateful for so much beauty in my life--the rain, the woods outside, the happy tree inside, the crazy canine at my feet, my beloved husband and daughter, family and friends, and above all the Christ whose birth we celebrate. What are you grateful for?

Wonderfully Made

For my friend Eileen, who is very sick, and for you and for me, too. The beauty of a personal God.

"O Lord, you have searched me and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O Lord.

"You have hemmed me in--behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.

"Where can I go from your Spirit?
where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make me bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.

"For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

"How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake, I am still with you.

"Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting."

Psalm 139:1-10, 13-18, 23-24