To be made much of...

Be forewarned. :) This posting may take a while to read through...

A book I've recently picked up is one of many things God has been using to teach me as I ponder this path called life. Here are some ramblings of my heart & life lessons...





"The Garden at the Edge of Beyond..."...possessed a vague familiarity, as of a homeland infinitely distant in forgotten childhood, now suddenly remembered as the place one was always meant to live. With wondering eyes as I gazed about the seemingly infinite garden, I perceived I was not alone. A man approached. Instinctively I knew him. He was not dressed an any of the common images had represented him. What exactly made up his attire, I cannot remember. Dress, like time, seemed irrelevant. I did not think to be afraid. A yet deeper contentment filled me as he approached. A smile was on his face. His arms were open to receive me in welcome. I feel into them, and he embraced me like an old friend. I remained in his comforting arms for some time. When I finally stepped back, he reached forth his hand. His words were not what I expected to hear.
"Do you have something for me?" came the question as I stood on the morning of my waking. I now noticed that the hand of him who met me in the garden was extended in position of anticipation. His scarred palm was open, as if waiting for me to place something in it. What could I possibly have?
"I have nothing to give you," I heard my voice say.
'There is one thing you have,' he replied.
'But I arrived here with nothing, only myself.'
You speak truly. Your Self is indeed the thing that made the passage with you.
'Is that what you want?' I asked.
'Of course.' He nodded. 'It was my Father who gave it to you when he breathed life into you.'
'My...Self?'
'It was given to you spotless, brimming with potential for development. I gave you opportunity to make of it something to fill him with pride and pleasure. I want to see what you have made of it, so that together we may take it to him.'
'But I didn't know that I was making my Self into something that... you would want to see.'
'All things are given for that purpose. Why else would it have been given you except to be made something of? Everything returns to the Heart from which all comes. What else did you imagine your life was for?'
I had no reply. I had considered my Self simply...who I was. The notion of my Self as a thing intrinsic to me, yet also given me to do something with, was overwhelming and new.
'I must look at it,' he went on. A note of command now entered his voice. 'You must show me how you have shaped it, what you have filled it with. I must know what you have made it capable of.'
I could only shake my head and repeat, 'I...still didn't realize I was making it into something.'
'That was the only thing that mattered. In a million ways I told you every day to make your Self into something you could hand me on this day, humbly and without timidity. Now come, my young brother, what have you made of what you were given?"
(Excerpt from "The Garden at the Edge of Beyond" pp. 12-16 by Michael Phillips)


"...the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living being." (Genesis 2:7)


Psalm 139
1 O LORD, you have searched me
and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O LORD.
5 You hem me in—behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, [a] you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,"
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 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,
16 your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

"Hebrews 3:13
But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.

"Lord, You give and take away. My heart will choose to say,"blessed be Your name."

My attitude is a choice. I've heard two ways of looking at "life..."
1. Life sucks and then you die.
OR
2. All this and heaven too!

My prayer is daily becoming that I will make much of the days I have here on earth, and be able to say in every circumstance and situation that I am making much of what God has given me.

Love you all, and pray these things may be recognized in your own lives.

~Sarah


p.s. check out this song "The Motions" by Matthew West on Youtube.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dva6-Yu3zkI&feature=player_embedded