The Mark – 22, The Mark of Intimacy

The commands of Jesus are the Mark, the target for the perfect life. To aim for and to hit the Mark is to conform to the image and likeness of God. To ignore, neglect, or miss the Mark is to sin. The commands provide stepping stones through earthly life, upon which the child of God survives tempests and deflects the boomeranging darts of pride. Adhering to the Mark aspiring immortals gain victory.

 

But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Matthew 6:6

These precious, pristine, prayerful moments of heart-to-heart communication with Father God form the bond that guides us through this earthly life. Without computer or smart pad, without email or texting, our thoughts and words, songs and silence like seeds in the depth of dark fertile soil grow to unite an aspiring immortal child with our Father as nothing else can.

Of course the Father who sees you in the secrecy of privacy will reward you for He is love and generosity personified. He rewards, because it is His nature to want to share His wealth and wisdom with His children. How joyous is the Father whose child regularly leaves the chaos of this world to enter their secret place. How magnificent that when you go there you may see the Creator of the universe patiently waiting for you to shut the door behind you.

Precious prayer, time to ask questions, to worship and adore Him, to pour out of your heart the joys and tears life has presented this day. How glorious to hear the voice of the wonderful counselor, mighty God, Prince of peace. How much more dynamic praying with the masses is when each of us is so connected. Thank you for the heads-up, Jesus.

Joy.    

The Mark – No. 21 Of Perfection

The commands of Jesus are the Mark, the target for the perfect life. To aim for and to hit the Mark is to conform to the image and likeness of God. To ignore, neglect, or miss the Mark is to sin. The commands provide stepping stones through earthly life, upon which the child of God survives tempests and deflects the boomeranging darts of pride. Adhering to the Mark aspiring immortals gain victory.

Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Matthew 5:48

I hear the crowd echo the refrain over and over again, “You are only human. Nobody is perfect.” Deeper and deeper is the message pounded into the psyche. Each time lowering centimeter by centimeter our standard, our value, our image; suppressing our potential. “Keep humanity down!” demands the demon superintendent.

Humanity turns upon its earth spiraling slowly into oblivion, unaware of the mission to illuminate the universe, unaware of the demonic determination to dominate.

One bright clear morning, the cool air spreading the aroma of fig leaves throughout the crowd, the Son of Man commanded perfection as if it is possible.

The command to be perfect simply reminds us to aim for the Mark, the bull’s eye, the target.

Without perfection there is contamination. There is no middle ground; no cozy gray corner to hide in while waiting for God’s magic wand to make us instantly perfect. That’s not reality, that’s the fairy tale. The truth is God wants us to choose either life or death with our whole being, His way or the damned highway.

We are perfectionists when it comes to wanting perfect health. A cut finger, a sore tooth, any small defect throws us off, even though it is only one malfunction out of thousands of operations that occur in the body. Physical perfection matters for us, and our Being matters for the Father.

Jesus did not tell us to try to be perfect. He told us to Be Perfect.

The Mark defines perfection. Ready. Aim. Fire! Hitting the target is possible! He told me so. He showed me so!

Perfection defies demons and annihilates evil.

Perfection opens the door to immortality.

The Mark – 20, Actors Need Not Apply

The commands of Jesus are the Mark, the target for the perfect life. To aim for and to hit the Mark is to conform to the image and likeness of God. To ignore, neglect, or miss the Mark is to sin. The commands provide stepping stones through earthly life, upon which the child of God survives tempests and deflects the boomeranging darts of pride. Adhering to the Mark aspiring immortals gain victory.

“Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.”

Matthew 6:1

The author of Reality is as entertained by literature and theater as you and I. But beware! We venture out into the danger-zone when we mix theater with reality, that is when we lie or when we only pretend to pray, or when we perform acts of kindness in order to be seen by others. God the Father strictly guards Reality.

The most intimate relationship each of us has is with our Father who art in heaven. He lives in our hearts and hears our every thought and word. He watches over our every move, and guides us through our conscience. Married or single, a person cannot have a more real and intimate relationship, no matter how popular (s)he may be.

Intimacy is one to one; nothing more, nothing less, nothing else, never. A crowd of people worshipping God together looks like a gaggle of balloons each connected by its own string in God’s hand. The mass or liturgy may unify our voices and minds, but as harmonious as it is, the liturgical prayer is still one to one. God created us as individuals; He loves us and cares for us …one by one.

To practice piety before others to be seen by them is pornographic. No, it’s worse; it is like abusing your lover by inviting others to watch your most intimate moments.

I wonder if some people who do this don’t realize how offensive their act is to God. I wonder if they simply do not know about the exquisite beauty of the pure relationship with God the Father. How sad.

For this command, the Mark is invisible to everyone but you.

7 Lenten Journey to Eden - Wake Up Praying

 On this journey to Eden Eve and I are not riding in a car, boat or plane, yet there is no doubt that we are moving. Everything around us looks and feels different. We travelers appear more determined than ever to find Eden. Some of us seem so serene; bright faces are beginning to radiate light, while others look tormented. These are the ones who are being challenged. The thorns and thistles planted by demons on the Lenten path are tearing at their flesh. God help them.

 “Eve, tell me what you liked most about living in Eden.”

She replied, “I miss my conversations with God. We spoke so freely. Out here the knowledge of good and evil is so loud and noisy I can hardly hear myself think, lest converse with God. I often don’t even know when He has come to visit me in exile.” Looking up Eve exclaimed, “There’s the bridge I was looking for; let’s go!”

I didn’t see a bridge but followed her anyway.

We arrived at a pile of words. Eve bent over and with her long slender fingers she lifted the corner of a letter as if it was a delicate petal. Like a ribbon whole sentences waved threw the air. “See! Here are the prayers of the saints, those who live in Eden.” Then she gently laid down the ribbon of words in a long thin line. “Walk on these words that form the bridge. It is very narrow and there are sharks on either side. This bridge will help the bleeding ones the most. As long as we walk on the prayers of the saints we will be safe.”

Stepping carefully onto the bridge of words that Eve made, I looked down and read: Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. O Trinity uncreated and without beginning, O undivided Unity: accept me in repentance and save me a sinner. I am Thy creation, reject me not; but spare me and deliver me from the fire of condemnation, both now and forever and unto the ages of the ages. Amen.

Those words brought tears to my eyes and for a moment I thought I could see a Garden. Then I heard Eve’s confirmation, “The words of those saints who have already arrived in Eden will transport us there, but we must say them with our whole heart. God spoke the world into being with words and with words we can awaken our sleeping and injured souls. I love words, the pictures they paint, the emotions they stir, the way they can illuminate the deepest caves.” Eve bowed her head and fell to her knees.

Looking up and around she said, “See the sharks are gone. I think we are out of danger and can step off the bridge. We can always hop back on if we need to.”

I looked around and among us and noticed that many of the wounded were healed.

“Now, that we are less afraid, let’s use our own words, ‘Oh God of life, God of the word, take my hand, I can’t reach you. O Father of light, miracle worker who never stops giving and loving, please show us the way to the Tree of Life that you planted for us in Eden. How hungry we travelers are for its fruit. How tragic is this deadly world of good and evil; will I ever be able to forget what you never wanted me to know?’

Whispering Eve added, “Now let’s be quiet and listen. Perhaps God will answer me.  Oh I hope we are almost there! God, can you hear me? I’m coming home!”

Sweet sweet Eve; I actually think she was beginning to wake up. I only hope she takes my hand!

2 Lenten Journey to Eden - To Be Eve

It was a lovely day, one of the very first since God shouted for light, so I hadn’t many to compare. The sunshine felt warm and inviting on my skin after a long cool night. I looked up and closed my eyes. The heat went from my face into the core of me. With my eyes shut it seemed that light was spreading throughout my body! My man and I had spent all morning gathering berries that grew on bushes near our shelter. They were oh so sweet and delicious! Today we will venture a little farther from home where there are nuts! Mmmmm, nuts! I have a huge round nut that Father-God told me has a pure white chewy center and milky juice, but we can’t open it! We will keep trying.

Adam said that before I was made God told him that he could eat every plant that has seeds and every tree that has fruit with seeds. That is our meat. Oh, the variety of colors and flavors are amazing! Some food is bitter, which I am learning to like, but most of it is quite tasty! We love to eat! I love God too. He comes to visit us every day. Even when I can’t see Him I sense His presence. He is my Father. He is also my Mother.

My man told me that Father instructed him after he was made not eat the fruit from one of the trees, only one, because it was poisonous. I wonder if that is true; maybe Adam misunderstood. Sometimes when I am very hungry and the trees are bare because we have eaten their fruit and I cannot wait for more to grow, I look at that poisonous tree with all of its lush fruit and I want to taste it, just try it. Maybe I will someday. I don’t know what death means anyway, so what harm can it do? Maybe Father is kidding; I know He will always love me, no matter what I do.

Black. I have matured and experienced much since I wrote those words. My man and I still love to eat, but the Father never comes to visit since He sent us away from the garden. Food is harder to come by here. My man must plant the seeds and we wait and wait. Sometimes the ground is so dry that nothing ever happens. I cry a lot.

Once upon a time, many moons ago it rained nonstop for a very long time. Everyone perished in the flood except for a kind man who had met our Father and could hear Him speak. He let me enter the boat Father told him to build that protected his family from the flood. Eventually the water disappeared enough so that we could leave the boat, but for a while it was impossible to plant or to find food. Then the Father told the kind man a very strange thing.

He told him that he could eat moving things that live! Not just the fruit and plants as He told me! Imagine that! Actually killing and eating animals- beings, creatures just like us! But just as He gave my man, Adam, one restriction, He told the kind man not to eat animals with their blood. 

Now the animals are afraid of the men. It is so sad. We had such fun playing together. The world has become so violent. It took me a very long time to get the nerve to eat an animal, but I finally became hungry enough to do that. It was horrible. I cried like a baby.

Yellow. I have some good news today! Our Father created a man, almost as He created my man, but not quite. He called this man His Son which made Adam feel sorry all over again. The new Son came through a woman. I feel a little proud about that. This Son told me that He came to take us back to live with the Father again. What good news! How wonderful it will be when Father visits us again. How I have missed seeing Him.

I want to be ready. I will stop eating animals right now so my body will not be filled with the murder of them, so I can be as I was in the beginning when we were all together and happy before the days of death. I will only eat the fruits and nuts and plants and be oh so grateful and oh so obedient and trusting this time. Thank you Father for letting us come back to live with You. I love you more.