What time is it in YOUR life?

I am flying to Tucson with a stop in Houston. I love flying.  My short legs fit, as long as I can prop them on my carry-on so they don’t dangle, I’m a happy camper.  I can even stand up under the overhead compartment in most planes.  Weird but true factoids for your pleasure.

On the plane again.... I can't wait to get on the plane again....

Yep, I write on the plane. 

So what is the plan? I want to write. I want to connect with some new people. I want to hear from God.

And guess what? He’s here!

I limited myself to three books for these next ten days, a traveling dilemma for a reader. And don’t give me the Kindle lecture…. I still like real books ‘cause I can write in them.  I’m traveling with a carry-on only (and the brilliant backup plan that in the spring, my mother can carry any excess junk I acquire in Arizona back to South Dakota in her car!)

My books?

Eugene Peterson’s Run with the Horses

            It’s my dig-into book right now. I love Jeremiah and I was reminded that he was an advisor to King Josiah- turned out to be a fun coincidence as I await the arrival of my first grandson, Josiah Robert Haack. J

            "If you have raced with men on foot, and they have wearied you, how will you compete with horses?" Jeremiah 12:5

“We all long to live life at its best--to fuse freedom and spontaneity with purpose and meaning. Why then do we often find our lives so humdrum, so unadventuresome, so routine? Or else so frantic, so full of activity, but still devoid of fulfillment? How do we learn to risk, to trust, to pursue wholeness and excellence--to run with the horses in the jungle of life?”

http://www.ivpress.com/cgi-ivpress/book.pl/code=905

I grabbed, quite random and trusting God will reveal why- Ken Gire’s Intense Moments with the Savior, Learning to Feel.  I love his books – he’s a story teller who expects you to respond and also the provides structure for that response. This is stories of Christ’s suffering- my Lenten reading.

http://www.amazon.com/Intense-Moments-Savior-Learning-Feel/dp/0310549809

And  finally I brought Luci Shaw’s Life Path. http://www.lucishaw.com/ I was at an artists’ retreat at Laity Lodge in Texas and she was a co-leader. She’s a wonderful poet and Christian contemplative. I’ve enjoyed her poetry and thought I’d toss in her book on Personal and Spiritual Growth through Journal Writing.   I don’t have a fresh journal for this trip so I’ll grab a cool Arizona journal and a new pen and really begin. Tomorrow.

But I thought I’d scan her ideas, check out the book. Keep it surface. After all, I’m on a plane.

Remember the part about God coming along with me? He had me read her very first introductory chapter with some benign suggestions for starting a journal.

“1. Draw the face of a clock- leave off the hands but add the numbers.

2  As you look at the clock you have drawn, ask-

‘What time is it in my life right now?”

Let the question sink in until you feel the right time has suggested itself to you ….

Draw two hands… to represent the time.”

Contemplate. Think. Be still- even in an airplane there is opportunity for distraction. But this is the emptiest plane I have been on in years.  So I think.

“3. Write one or two descriptive sentences that would address the question-

‘Where am in my life right now?’

Such as: ‘I feel as if in my life is standing still’;

 ’I’m in a lonely, lost time’;

‘This is a time of new beginnings.”

Meditate.  Be still and wait.  What are the images that come to my mind?

I think in pictures- what’s the picture God is bringing to my mind? It's this.

It’s 6am on my life clock.  Still too early to jump up and rush into the day but the sun is peeking into the window of my cozy bedroom. It’s not that "middle of the night, wake up in the dark in a panic" moment.  No, in my picture a new day is emerging with promise of warmth and sunshine.  I’m just not quite ready for it to begin.

This feels like a small, indulgent occasion to be comfortable and snug in a soft cocoon. That quiet morning time to lay still and try and capture those elusive dream images that flit in and out like tantalizing vapors. It’s that lucid moment to contemplate the tasks ahead, to savor the anticipation of this new day.

Comfortable.

Anticipation.

Waiting.

Content.

Shouldn’t I be DOING something?

No, this is the sacred time to lie quietly and bless the coming day. To murmur thank you, to recount blessings and form psalms of thanksgiving, to listen drowsily for the small Voice.

The day will come, the job He has for me is waiting but right now, it’s only 6 am and I have a few more minutes to prepare myself for the day ahead.

I’m not sure what that image means.  Clearly a new season, a new day is dawning in my life – I’m on my way to a real life writer’s retreat after all.  I do love early mornings; this is a very peaceful image to me, a kiss from a loving Father who is gifting me with a new day, not handing me a task list.  From my images, it’s clear I’m not quite ready to jump into the new day but honestly, 6 am is pretty close to “the day’s a wasting” voice of my early-bird Dad.

 Just like He gave me the images, I trust He’ll unwrap the meaning for me.

So I’m getting ready. I’m listening. I’m capturing some dream images. It’s 6am in my inner world.

What time is it in your life?  Can you sit quietly and think prayerfully about the questions Luci raised? 

There is such wonder at the thought that God wants to reveal more of you to you. He already knows every hair on our heads. He knows which image will speak to me, which will speak to you.  So… be still, think, listen. Maybe make a clock...

So, what time is it in your life?