like the mighty mountains

well, i am still waiting for the transition to feeling better that is supposed to come with the 2nd trimester.  i am now a full month into my second trimester, and having a little more energy but still battle frequent nausea and occassional vomiting.  i am trying to keep my chin up as i hope that this too will pass, and hopefully pass very soon.  but, quite honestly, i have been getting pretty discouraged.

bill and i were walking with the boys on the sundial bridge the other day and i asked him if he could imagine there being no mountains or no ocean.  i am so amazed by the power and majesty of God by both of theses natural wonders.  God has spoken to me so much about Himself and His character through both.  i think often about the psalm david penned that said,

Your love, o Lord, reaches to the heavens, Your faithfulness to the skies. 
Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, Your justice like the great deep (the ocean). o Lord, you preserve both man and beast.   Psalm 36: 5-6

mystics throughout the ages have meditated on God through the beauties He created in nature.  st. john of the cross called the finite beauty that communicated about the Lord "the messenger," and said it made us hungry for the Lord to once again draw near to us:

now may You truly grant me a communication of Yourself by Yourself.  

one of my favorite quotes right now is one that bill shared with me that night by st. john of the cross.  in his hunger for the Lord stirred by the wonders of the beauty He created, he said,

may You, then, be both the messenger and the message.  

if i am so awed by the finite beauty He created, how amazing will it be to encounter the infinite beauty of Him face to face?

as i reflect on one of my all time favorite passages in the Bible i find myself encouraged even in my temporal sufferings (if i may be so bold to call them sufferings) of pregnancy.  what gets you, me, even Jesus Himself, through hard times is the joy set before us:  knowing Him and being in His all consuming presence.  so, with david, i can find myself in this season of my life saying once again:

how priceless is your unfailing love! both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of Your wings.
they feast on the abundance of Your house; You give them drink from Your river of delights.  
for with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light.  psalm 36:7-9

whatever you may be facing right now in this life that is full of so many ups and downs, be encouraged.  He will hide you in the shadow of His wings.  He will allow you to feast of Him.  you will drink in real joy from the rivers of His delights .  He is our fountain and our life and we can finally see clearly through all this haze when we are near His glory in His wonderful presence.  these temporal trials and sufferings, they too will pass.  and then, we will be left with only Him.

charis