Moonlight Limitations

Moonlight Limitations

“The Bible without the Holy Spirit is a sundial by moonlight.”

—Dwight L. Moody (1837-1899)

In the summer of 1991, Duncan and I travelled to Cody Wyoming to look at a piece of land down the south fork of the Shoshone River. At the time, we considered buying 13 acres that included a small house to help Young Life start a backpack program. Two YL staffers drove up from Colorado Springs to meet us and see the lay of the land. It is a stunning area, similar to Yellowstone Park.

As we stood on the lot, I thought about our own backpack trip in 1978. photo 1

The trailhead was just down the road. We had hiked from there over the mountains into the Greybull headwaters to fly-fish.

It was thick grizzly country, and I had a tiny can of mace.

It was also our honeymoon—and you guessed it—my husband picked the trip!

 

 

The Bible says, “Who is this coming up from the wilderness
 leaning on her beloved?”           (Song of Solomon 8:5)

photo 4

That would be me—sleep deprived and weary. How does one slumber with the thought of bears lurking? I also grew some whopping blisters on my heels the size of sand dollars. At certain points near the end of the trip, I did more than lean. My husband actually carried me across places in the river to keep my feet dry. Very kind.

Hypothetically speaking, if he had taken Song of Solomon 8:5 as a confirmation for an idyllic backpack honeymoon, he would’ve been reading by moonlight! 

A wilderness to him was a pristine area. To me, it was a desert experience. The same word can mean very different things.

I survived the honeymoon. photo 2

He didn’t mean to cause any trouble or hardship. He just wanted to fish!

Footprints in Sand

Next time we’d go here…

 

Back to the lot in Wyoming:  The current resident in the little house on 13 acres was an outfitter. He guided trips for people to hunt and fish in the backcountry. When we arrived, he was busy packing a string of horses with gear, food, tents and other provisions to set up a fishing camp. But it was late in the day.

The outfitter said he preferred to travel at night. “You can see quite a lot under a full moon.” He wouldn’t run into any other pack trains or have to back up on a narrow trail. I think he was a loner at heart.

“What about bears?” I asked, remembering my nights hunkered in the tent, with mace in hand. Bears were always a risk, he said. They tended to be more active when the hot sun went down. Still, he left anyway.

I pictured him and all the horses making their way through the dark forest by moonlight. I thought him very brave.

Historically, much of humankind has navigated spiritually by moonlight, so to speak.Continue reading

Thinking in Metaphors and Symbols

Thinking in Metaphors and Symbols

I know what you see. A beautiful red rose. But what do you see? What else could this picture say to you?

The power of God to make something from nothing? Or how about the fragility of flower petals or the way a rose opens gradually? That could speak of honoring process, not forcing things, and letting go of a “make-it-happen” approach.

Or perhaps it’s symbolic of earthly beauty that will pass away. Hmm. What do you see?

How about this?bed

In a dream or vision, a bed can symbolize sickness, intimacy, rest, or sorrow depending on what God is saying to you.  He can talk about many things, if you learn to see beyond a mere concrete image.

Airplanes can point to the prophetic, or seeing from 787 DreamlinerGod’s point of view—especially regarding earthly matters.

Is it a big plane, or a small one? Is it old-fashion or modern? Are you a passenger, the pilot, or just observing the plane from the ground? Details often matter.

For me, airplanes have to do with the launch of writing. I not only saw airplanes in dreams, I also recognized numbers such as 747 and 787 on clocks, receipts, phone numbers, and license plates.

God even spoke a first and last word over my writing life on page 747 of a dictionary. You can read the whole story if you click on the links.

Consider this peculiar statue in a small Alabama town called Enterprise. Is that a beautiful woman holding a boll weevil?boll weevil monument, Enterprise AlabamaContinue reading

An Enlarged Spirit

An Enlarged Spirit

I started composing this post while half asleep this morning. You know, that lucid state where your mind is active, but you’re not yet awake?

A random image formed in my mind’s eye. I believe it came from God. I pictured a man’s spirit floating like a vapor, contained by his body. His spirit actually looked compressed—as if created to be much larger than his human body.

Our physical bodies serve as temporary housing for our spirits. That much is obvious. But what captivated me this: while we’re here on earth, God wants us to develop a large spirit, full to the brim, and even overflowing.

The Bible talks a lot about humans having a soul, a spirit, and a body. These terms are commonplace throughout Scripture. Hebrews 4:12 distinguishes our souls as something different from our spirits, though some use these terms interchangeably.

John Paul Jackson teaches that the soul is our mind, our will and our emotions. Our spirit, on the other hand, is where wisdom, conscience, and communion with God are found. And of course, our body is our body.  Without going into any complex theology, I do believe two important things:

First, that the soul needs “saving” and healing. A sin-sick soul displays what we are without God.

And second, that we experience God mostly through our spirits. God is Spirit and communes with us through our spirits.

Why are these two points important? Because, to the extent that our souls are damaged and our spirits remain undeveloped, we don’t have very good “receivers” in terms of hearing God.Continue reading