Manic Monday?

Whew!  I am so overwhelmed!  I've been packing and traveling and repacking and coming home and now that I have my house to myself,  I am catching up on some bloggy stuff.  I missed the block party on Friday, I can't believe I did that!!  Okay, yes I can, the way my brain has been working lately, I'm not surprised that I missed it!   And then there is the Getting to know you deal and I just spent 30 minutes looking at some blogs that are new to me!  Such fun!

Last week when I was computerless, I spent a lot of time thinking about God's plan or "destinies".  It is a topic that has come up often over the last 6 months. That is not an accident. Now, we (ladies at church) are doing Beth Moore's Study on Esther.  Destiny is all over that study!!  ANd I have cried every week so far.  I highly recommend this study if you ever have the opportunity to participate!!   

Sometimes the enormity of it all just brings me to my knees!!  "It" being God's plan, or moment, or  grace, or trial, or fill in the blank with anything that pertains to that which we do not know or understand just yet.

This time last year, I was preparing for the birth of my son.  I was picking up my husband from the airport for a long Easter Weekend.  He was in California, getting ready to deploy to Iraq, trying to get a plane out the Friday before Easter. ( Why was Easter in March last year?)  I had Braxton Hicks contractions all the way out to the Birmingham airport.  If not for the other officers, my husband would have been on the advanced party and would have missed the birth entirely.  Tomorrow on the 24th, our son turns one.  I can't help but wonder what destiny holds in store for this precious child.  What does the story God's written  for him look like?

For more about the ironies of God's plan, you can visit Melanie as she studies the book of Ruth.  Her post for today really stirred my heart.  I wonder if King David ever really read their story?

About an Exodus

My favorite class my senior year was AP literature, and  my favorite college courses included literature.... and archery.  Go figure.  Sometime during these early young adult years I came across a poem that so moved me, .... I  cross-stitched it for a friend!!  I just knew she would like it also. Otherwise, I kept it sacredly hidden.   It became my "life poem"  if there could be such a thing.   The poem is below, as best as I can remember it:

All the Earth is crammed with heaven 

and every common bush aflame with God

but only those who see take off their shoes.

The rest sit around picking blackberries

daubing their faces unaware....

E.B. Browning

As a Christian, I was of course instantly drawn to Exodus and the story of the burning bush.  Thus the title of my blog.  I wondered at first if she meant to paint such a spiritual picture, but later learned that Mrs. Browning was passionate about her faith.  She taught herself Hebrew so that she could read  the Old Testament text.  Imagine such a task!  This must have been quite an accomplishment for a woman in her day.  

If you really stop and look at this story in Exodus, you will see that Moses had to first stop and then go over and check it out.  He went to take a look.......Implies action.

I can distinctly remember those many nights staring at the ceiling with tears rolling down my cheeks,  crying out to God as only a teen can do........I so desperately did not want to be one of those people who missed the chance to stop and go look.  I didn't want to miss it......anything.. ...the instructions, the moments, the taking off the shoes.  I wanted the great wide unknown future to be filled with shoeless moments.   What an odd thing for a young person to be thinking about.  Or is it?  I don't know.

 Those were desperate, desperate heart cries. Cries that only the heart utters and only the Lord understands.   That was so long ago, but I still get teary eyed when I think of some of those ceiling staring moments.   They were Holy moments......when the ancient story of an exodus and a burning bush  collides with the heart of a poet, who then slips off her shoes...... and puts pen to paper.   Enter stage left,  the tender heart of a Georgia teenager and well.........the story is not yet finished!!

I'm  Not a teenager anymore.   Have I missed any of those "burning bushes" that the Lord wanted to share with me during my own Exodus?   I'm positive that I have, but hopefully not many.  My trip is not yet over.   I'm still actively seeking, stopping,  and looking, and trying not to be distracted by all the "berry picking" that goes on all around.  

 I like symbolism--can you tell?:)  

Have a blessed, shoeless, holy moment kind of week!!