Simply, Beautiful

So here I am taking a bit of time to read “Through Painted Deserts” by Don Miller, before I hit the hay, and I find myself firing the laptop back up to write a blog post.  As I was reading I was really struck by one certain portion/excerpt and I really want to share it with you.  Maybe it will cause you to read the book, or maybe not; but that isnt the purpose anyways (although I would surely recommend it).  I just want to share it with you hopefully to inspire you, or at least give your faith a deep thought or breath of fresh air. Strangely, today I wasn’t just hit by a passage from an author that was fresh and inspiring, but I read something from the Word of God that was simply beautiful, and was so fresh to me, all the while painting an amazing picture of creation that lives to worship God.  So excuse the length of this post, but please, read and enjoy..

Excerpt from “Through Painted Deserts” by Donald Miller..

“I was raised to believe that the quality of a man’s life would greatly increase, not with the gain of status or success, not by his heart’s knowing romance or by prosperity in industry or academia, but by his nearness to God.  It confuses me that Christian living is not simpler.  The gospel, the very good news, is simple, but this is the gate, the trailhead.  Ironing out faithless creases is toilsome labor.  God bestows three blessings on man: to feed him like birds, dress him like flowers, and befriend him as confidant.  Too many take the first two and neglect the last.  Sooner or later you figure out life is constructed specifically and brilliantly to squeeze a man into association with the Owner of heaven.  It is a struggle, with labor pains and thorny landscape, bloody hands and a sweaty brow, head in hands, moments of severe loneliness and questioning, moments of ache and desire.  All this leads to God, I think.  Perhaps this is what is on the other side of commercials, on the other side of the curtain behind which the Wizard of Oz pulls his levers.  Matter and thought are a canvas on which God paints, a painting with tragedy and delivery, with sin and redemption.  Life is a dance toward God, I begin to think.  And the dance is not so graceful as we might want.  While we glide and swing our practiced sway, God crowds our feet, bumps our toes, and scuffs our shoes.  So we can learn to dance with the One who made us.  And it is a difficult dance to learn, because its steps are foreign.” Pgs 90-91

Psalm 148

   ¹Praise ye the LORD. Praise ye the LORD from the heavens: praise him in the heights.

   ²Praise ye him, all his angels: praise ye him, all his hosts.

   ³Praise ye him, sun and moon: praise him, all ye stars of light.

   ⁴Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens.

   ⁵Let them praise the name of the LORD: for he commanded, and they were created.

   ⁶He hath also stablished them for ever and ever: he hath made a decree which shall not pass.

   ⁷Praise the LORD from the earth, ye dragons, and all deeps:

   ⁸Fire, and hail; snow, and vapours; stormy wind fulfilling his word:

   ⁹Mountains, and all hills; fruitful trees, and all cedars:

   ¹⁰Beasts, and all cattle; creeping things, and flying fowl:

   ¹¹Kings of the earth, and all people; princes, and all judges of the earth:

   ¹²Both young men, and maidens; old men, and children:

   ¹³Let them praise the name of the LORD: for his name alone is excellent; his glory is above the earth and heaven.

   ¹⁴He also exalteth the horn of his people, the praise of all his saints; even of the children of Israel, a people near unto him. Praise ye the LORD.

…simply, beautiful..