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| GARDEN THEOLOGY |
Unlike the trickster gods
Selfish in their guidance
He cautions for our benefit
Sets boundaries to protect us.
Trustworthy in restrictions,
Release resentment's grasping.
Relax, remembering garden words
Eat, eat! Be filled and trust Him.
Beauty entices
and colors our eyes,
cultivating desires
for truth
or lies.
Adam's response
to Eve
was a spontaneous
poem -
a creation
for
a creation
and
Creator.
Lamech's poem
of twisted beauty
celebrates violence
and
revenge.
Twisted beauty
perverts goodness -
a black hole
sucking viewers
into a Godless
vacuum.
Darkness must be framed,
acknowledged
and exposed.
Oh, how I long for Him
who gives me beauty
for ashes,
lavendar fireweed
on a devastated hillside.
Jesus is beauty incarnate:
storyteller,
actor,
painter,
musician
and
scultpter.
Let me reflect Him
authentically,
with honor
and integrity
as I pursue
exellence
and seek the
deeper magic.
Scrub up your sense
of wonder,
walk forth
into a world
that shouts the Creator's
heart
in every trembling leaf
and soaring cedar.
How like our Maker we are made!
A God who works
and crafts,
rolls up His sleeves,
plunging His hands into the
mess
and continuing
to the end: a masterpiece!
What a privilege
to job shadow Him,
learning from His methods
and joining in
the soul-pleasing energy
of work,
bringing order to chaos,
naming,
creating,
and interacting
with all that He has made;
to touch,
and see glorious change;
to think a thought
and watch it
blossom into existence
beneath your hands.
Even with the burden
of brokenness,
He will join us
in the filth
and toil
if we invite Him in;
ask for a glimpse
from His eyes
of the possibilities
before us;
let us taste once again
the joy
of work done well.
Who knows,
we might even begin
to whistle
while we
work...
Waking from sleep,
he found her
and was electrified -
connected,
elated!
She was recognized
as part of him,
unique
but similar;
a suitable helper
fit for filling
the empty spot
with vitality.
Co-rulers,
equal partners,
the same in essence,
but different in particulars.
Celebrate variety
within the created order,
many-colored threads
woven
into the tapestry;
colors that complement
and colors
that contrast.
Shed cultural lies,
embrace
your strengths
and your weaknesses;
lift what you can
and
release the rest.
