A Pattern in Lace

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A PATTERN IN LACE


A piece of tossed string,
Flung onto a business mail envelope
That I’d just ripped inside-out.
This combo was to be the subject for a photo
Which might be transformed into some sort of artwork.
Alas, the photo turned out blurred!
Error, mistake – my whole idea a silly thing.

Ah, but a corner of the string
Did become a sort of “bling”.
Lace.  Who would have guessed it?
Not woven into lace by a hand or machine,
But made through graphic manipulation,
An interesting thing!

Motif, design, deco, or whimsy, or fling:
I created a piece of designy art.
God’s work in me is like that –
Intricate, wonderful, with unexpected outcome.
Do I have such a pattern in lace, in my life?
Oh, Creator of All, to you Lord God,
A tribute of joyous praise I sing.

copyright 2013 by Marilee Miller

This post is shared with Laura Boggess, The Wellspring

The Right Choice

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Even a blah photo of a mundane tree branch holds the possibility of becoming an arresting artwork.
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The Right Choice

I read about a 19th century British missionary who felt called to go to Africa with the intent of becoming a martyr for Christ.  (Sorry, I can’t remember the man’s name.)  His wife accompanied him.  The account didn’t say whether she, too, believed in a call to martyrdom, or if she merely went along because it was her wifely duty.

But Africa was a rigorous mission field in those days.  Alas, after their arrival and hard toil, the woman had some sort of a nervous breakdown.  The missionary was compelled to return with her to London.  As I recall the story, she didn’t recover her faculties.

The would-be missionary’s dream of serving the Lord “gloriously” was thwarted.  When things didn’t happen just as he expected, he turned against God, spending his remaining years in bitterness.

How tragic!  God allowed him a different type of martyrdom -- a chance to show forth his trust in God despite adversity. 

How many lives might he have touched, had he submitted quietly and humbly to God’s course of direction!  Might a gentle love for his wife have helped restore her mind?  Who else might he have comforted?  Who might have seen an ordinary sort of godly Christian life that was actually noble and fine? 

What a shame that he settled for humiliation, when he might have acquired humility.  If he “let patience have its perfect work”, perhaps his ministry where he was, in London, could have been more effective than any witness to Africans.  But he chose to serve a fallen idol of self-direction.  He nursed a grudge against God.

When I’m feeling low in spirits, when life seems impossible and implacable and harsh and maybe a bit hopeless, and I wish I could just go “home to Jesus” where there are no tears or heartaches or broken dreams, may I “let patience have its way”.  May my brokenness and sorrow bring me closer, nearer to my Lord God.  May I opt not to think of myself as a blah photo or a cast off tree branch, but as one firmly grafted in to the Tree of Life.  In his time, in his way, he can make me an arresting artwork to show his glory and grace.  That is the right choice for me.

images and text (c) 2013 by Marilee Miller

This post is shared with Laura Boggess, Playdates with God
 


 

 

Tender Shoots

.   photos and text (c) 2013 by Marilee Miller
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TENDER SHOOTS

Oh Dear Lord God,

Reach forth with your lovingkindness, as if with arms holding tenderly your children here on this earth.  We  are all so much in need of you!  May we reach outward, and upward, toward you, who are our life, our guide, the shaper of our personalities, character, and nature.  May all of us (the ones who call you by name and believe that they know you, and the ones, also, who say they don’t need Other Help beyond themselves and human hands) grow as tender shoots flourishing in your Sonshine.  Have mercy on us.  Help us all to be fashioned into the persons you desire us to be, “conformed to Christ.” 

“And because of what Christ did, all… who heard the good news about how to be saved, and trusted Christ, were marked as belonging to Christ by the Holy Spirit, who long ago had been promised to all of us Christians.  His presence within us is God’s guarantee that he really will give us all that he promised, and the Spirit’s seal upon us means that God has already purchased us and that he guarantees to bring us to himself.”  [Eph. 1:14 TLB]

How we rejoice in your tender promises shooting out to each of us who will come to you to find rest, hope, and healing .  Thank you!  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

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This post is shared with Laura Boggess

I Want to Know God

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digital artwork and text (c) 2013 by Marilee Miller

I WANT TO  KNOW GOD

I want to know God intimately.
I don’t want him to seem distant, far off –
I want his companionship, though
At times this seems an elusive quest.
I want to “feel” his unconditional love,
But my earthly life doesn’t reveal
A model for love that never gives up.
I want to “believe in” – not just state casually,
That Jesus Christ is brother, friend, Helper,
And close-occupier of my heart.
I, along with the whole church,
Am called The Bride of Jesus Christ:
Yet how can I, a finite little person,
Grasp Him being my Bridegroom,
My only Dearest Love?
I want to sense the Holy Spirit’s power
Moving with Shekinah glory in me.
However, I don’t really know how
To magnify, glorify him, or understand
Just how much he delights in me!
So, blessed Lord God, keep me infilled.
Flow your rivers of living water over me.
I want to know you, God; but only you
Are able to introduce the fullness
Of your infinite self to me!

“Even so, Lord Jesus, come.”

He is not elusive,
He is not exclusive,
He does not exclude me,
But holds out his hands
To include me.
His love is inclusive,
Generously-given, and free.

“Thanks be to God, for the unspeakable
gift of Christ Jesus…”

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This post is shared with Laura Boggess'  "The Wellspring"

A FAMILIAR HYMN

                                                    images (c) 2013 by Marilee Miller

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A FAMILIAR HYMN

Take my life and let it be
consecrated, Lord, to thee.
Take my moments and my days.
Let them flow in ceaseless praise.
Take my hands and let them move,
at the impulse of thy love.
Take my feet and let them be
swift and beautiful for thee.
                                   -Frances Ridley Havergal

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This post is shared with Laura Boggess, "The Wellspring"

 

God of Infinite Variety

(The same base photo as in the last 2 posts, but what an infinite variety of  images emerge from my graphics program.)

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God of Infinite Variety

God unchanging, God always the same.  Yet he has an infinite variety of beautiful, holy attributes.


God of mercy, God of glory.
God of Love and mystery.
Lord of rescue and salvation,
King of Everything Everywhere.
Tender, kind to those who believe,
Yet stern, holding accountable, those who rebel.

Christ the Savior and the Master,
Son of God with mighty power.
Look upon the forms of God,
Steadfast, unchanging, and yet,
Shows his traits and nature in infinite variety.

“His tender mercy is over all his works, and his will is ever directed toward his children’s good.”

© 2013 by Marilee Miller

This post is shared with Laura Boggess “Playdates with God”

On "Doing What You Love"

The same blurred photo as last week's post, can lead to the creating of very different and striking digital art than shown in the earlier set.

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ON "DOING WHAT YOU LOVE"

There’s so much blogging advice these days on “doing what you love.”  Take risks, dare to break out of the mold of the ordinary.  Stop being so afraid of failure that you don’t even try to reach your dreams.  Live beyond the confines of a quiet, safe, boring-but-maybe-secure life.

The importance of “living a meaningful story in life” may mean quitting a secure job to try out some secret longing with unknown financial rewards.  Or it might be keeping a full time job but adding many extra hours of side-projects.  So often, admonitions tend towards getting up earlier in the morning, or squeezing in extra hours that might be otherwise considered wasted.  But the writers of these, succeeded in fulfilling their passions.  They were strong enough, persistent enough, disciplined enough, and entrepeneurial enough to work more hours and earn enough money to live on while “doing what they love”, which often turns out to be to follow the muse of art, writing, music, or a higher college degree.

It sounds to me more like self-effort when the advice is –“Dare to become all that God created you to be”, or, “don’t settle for mediocre when you can do great things”.  Some of us (including myself), are unable to attain more strength and prowess by using up more hours and more strenuous activities.  The list includes the tired mother of an infant, the man whose education wasn’t complete, the one whose mind is incomplete, the person who ages before their time, or lives with chronic illness or in abject poverty – and many other people.  It’s not necessarily because they’re unwilling to risk or afraid of failure, but that they lack the strength to “do more and more.”

I yearn to write lots of books, and work on wonderful paintings.  I ache to build relationships in “community”.  Oh, I had so many dreams for a creative life.  I wanted to go deep in my walk with God and willingly help others.  But the circumstances of my life have all too often interrupted the way of life I’d hoped to live.  So I’m choosing not to write books.  But I do hope to respond occasionally to the cries of others.  For the sake of my limited health, I do the simpler art of operating a graphics program when I’d rather be making masterpieces with oils on canvas, and teaching others to do the same.

As for me realizing a goal of “becoming all God created me to be”, well, fortunately God is far bigger than my feeble self-effort.  And he’s quite capable of making me all he intended for me to be, all on his own.  I thank him and praise him that I’m still alive, still willing to learn, and still choosing to be hopeful (though I don’t always succeed at this).  

When He greets me as I get to heaven, is he going to ask me if I “created a meaningful story” to add to HIS story?  I don’t think so.  But I do hope he’ll say, “Blessings on you for making an effort to look to Me in spite of every obstacle you’ve endured.  I’ve been your Savior, Helper, Friend, Guide, Comforter, and more.  Enter into My rest.”   And resting in Him, will certainly be “Doing What I Love.”

images and text (c) 2013 by Marilee Miller

This post is shared with Laura Boggess

Makeover

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A melange of objects, photographed just to have a base from which to “play” creatively with my graphics program.  The photo failed.  Blurry.  No matter – there’s just as much chance for an arty makeover.

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I come to God bringing my melange of various traits and habits.  I feel a bit like a blurred photo.  But no matter!  God is in the process of giving me a makeover.  I can be full of bright colors and amazing patterns.  I am unique, and stunning, in His sight.  I’m a work in progress.  But one day, I hope to become who He is shaping and coloring me to be.

This post is shared with Laura Boggess

Stirring, Sterling

 
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STIRRING, STERLING

Is a spoon just a handy kitchen tool,

A stirring stick,
Or a utensil to eat with?

Well, yes, but ah, much more.
It can stir up great concoctions
With delightful tastes
To tantalize the tongue.
Its appearance can seem bit like sterling silver
(even if only forged of stainless steel).

 A clean spoon left after a meal
Might just look like part of the clutter
Left behind on a table. 
But oh, if the light is just right,
If this sometimes mundane object is glimpsed by an artist –
Maybe made part of some re-arrangement --
 Then textures, patterns, designs emerge,
Gloriously pleasing to the eye.

May I be a stirring stick in God’s hands.
Not mundane, but beauty directed by him.
May I feed others his bounty-feast.

My patterns and textures and designs shine out
When the Lord takes this spoon in hand.
Oh, what is he stirring with me,
To beautify his world,
To comfort, cheer, or show others who he is?
God values me!  He says he sees the Christ in me!
May the durable but ordinary steel in me
Be as precious as sterling silver –
Not because of anything I do, but because
He has already given his complete self to me.

(c) 2013 by Marilee Miller

This post is shared with "The Wellspring" Playdates with God