Transported (Psalm 84, part 2)
I wonder, does His dwelling place smell like pine?
Is it dusted with golden pollen? And does it spread out under an endless blue sky?
I wonder if the breeze ruffles His hair as He stretches out long on a comfy chair on His deck overlooking the forest He crafted as though it were no more than a toothpick sculpture in His massive, masterful hands.
In the expansive beauty that surrounds me today, it feels like all the loveliness we know His dwelling place to be, right here, right now, right on the outer edge of South Dakota.
I breathe deep, drawing in the pine and the clean and traces of rain building up above the hill.
For some hours, for a few days, He has transported me.
In times like these, when days run close together, I seem to stay in one place with Him, meditating day upon day over His same words. Perhaps it’s that my head is too full to take in more, my heart too weary to push beyond. Or maybe it’s just that at these times I best recognize that there is, indeed, no race. No rules, no calendar. I need not march through His Word but can wait and taste it, chew it, savor it. I can stay and live in it a while and let Him speak it in me until He is done.
So the sun can rise and set, set and rise, and still find me lingering in the same place I’ve rested the last week already, on page 605 of my tattered Thompson Chain. The words work out here in the fresh of morning dew as well as amongst the papers and dirty dishes at the kitchen table.
I could remain here, suspended above a green forest, hilltops at eye level, in His place of dwelling, for all of my life. I consider what I would trade for extra days here. I lose track in the list of what I’d give.
And as much as I feel body and spirit restored to life here, I know I would readily trade a thousand days here on the deck for just one day in His courts. Where He dwells, it continues beyond what words can capture, eyes can behold, senses can take in.
This is good, but this is. not. all.
Better is one day in your courts
than a thousand elsewhere!
I would rather be a gatekeeper in the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of the wicked. (Psalm 84:10)
::
Photo: Vacation view from the deck this morning, rain rolling in over the hills
I think His dwelling place must smell of pine. I remember hiking in Idaho last year and having this very thought Lyla. With the beauty of all God has surrounded us with here “I can’t wait to get to Heaven” because as Keith Green would have said, “He’s been working on Heaven 2,000 years.”
2010/06/26 at 2:09 PM
Nancy, Keith Green remains a very favorite . . .
2010/06/28 at 6:51 PM
Beautiful vacation spot. I often find God’s handiwork in nature (trees, snow, plants etc).
I like this sentence, “And as much as I feel body and spirit restored to life here, I know I would readily trade a thousand days here on the deck for just one day in His courts.”
2010/06/26 at 5:40 PM
as a rather be outdoors than in person,
I love this.
and that you are resting.
2010/06/27 at 8:46 PM
So glad you’ve arrived at a place of respite. You deserve it, my friend. I thought of you much this weekend.
(I hope you brought along some Ding-Dongs.) ~smile~
And …. lovely writing, Ms. Lyla.
2010/06/27 at 11:12 PM
If you didn’t say S.Dakota,I would’ve thought my beloved Blue Ridge Parkway. As far as places go, the mountains are some of the closest to God I’ve seen. Enjoy a good rest.
2010/06/28 at 12:28 AM
Beautiful descriptions. And I would say yes, Heaven smells like pine!
We spent a week in the Black Hills two summers ago. Your photo reminds me of the view from the back deck. Loved the landscape out there!
2010/06/28 at 6:43 AM
Hey all, thanks for the good wishes for my time away. It’s been good and will be good to get back into the swing of things feeling a little more like I have the juice in me to get it done!
Pine juice, I think. Perhaps I’ll have to see if I can bring any of that back.
2010/06/28 at 6:54 PM
I get so homesick for Colorado sometimes, even after 20+ years in Michigan. I appreciate the reminder of where home is. : )
2010/06/29 at 9:33 PM