we shall soar on wings like egrets...

...but those who hope in the LORD

will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles...

Yes, I am aware this is not an eagle. It is, instead, a great white egret. But, for some reason, this photograph keeps bringing to my mind the "soar on wings like eagles" verse. I think it's the beauty and majesty of the flight. Really... look at that great big gangly body, and yet, the bird lifts it gracefully and majestically from the earth and takes to the sky!

One would think it would require great effort (and, not being a big bird, I cannot be sure what effort is required to lift it from the ground!). Yet, the bird is doing what it was created to do. And in the verse above, God tells us that when we do what WE are created to do --to hope in and wait for the Lord -- we will have the strength of a bird in flight. We will have the sustaining power of the Wind (the Holy Spirit) beneath our wings to cause us to soar -- to lift us and carry us at great heights --like an eagle!

For He gives strength to the weary and power to the weak... that we may soar...

Do you not know?

Have you not heard?

The LORD is the everlasting God,

the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He will not grow tired or weary,

and his understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary

and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary,

and young men stumble and fall;

but those who hope in the LORD

will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles;

they will run and not grow weary,

they will walk and not be faint.

~Isaiah 40:28-31

(photograph taken at Bolsa Chica wetlands, Bolsa Chica, CA)

He is here...

Where can I go from your Spirit?

Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;

if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,

if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,

your right hand will hold me fast.
~Psalm 139:7-10

...and now we wait...

As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus' body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away. ~Matthew 27:57-60

...and so we wait...

with sorrow

and with hope...

it is finished.

This day... a King wears a different crown.

A crown not of gold and jewels...

but a crown of thorns.

... a crown ...

meant to signify royalty

turned into one of suffering

...worn not to announce His Kingship

but to proclaim His love

for me

and for you

This day... a King sacrifices everything,

including His very life,

endures unimaginable pain,

alone,

on a Cross...

He dies

because He loves

me

and you

more than anything in the universe.

IT IS FINISHED.

"snow day" hope...

The past several days I've been reading fellow bloggers' tales of ice and freezing and no electricity in far-off wintry states. Their stories and photos bring back such delightful winter memories of my childhood. Nostalgic feelings and thoughts wash over me, as I remember the hopes of a child with one thought on her mind -- "I want a snow day!!!"

I remember when I was a kid growing up in Michigan, and it would start snowing heavily in the evening with a forecast of more, much more, to come. And I would begin to hope. My parents would watch the weather on tv and would then turn on the radio. I'd listen avidly before going to bed, hoping against all hope I would hear our school listed in the school closings that were already being announced. And I would hope.

I so wanted to hear it before I went to bed, so I could sleep in in the morning. Other schools were closing... but, usually, ours didn't. Undaunted, however, I would go to bed, still hoping...

I would wake up in the morning with great anticipation, look outside at what I was sure would be even more snow, and turn on the radio to listen for the school closings. My school was still not on the long list of closings, but I would start getting ready for school and continue listening to the radio... and I would continue to hope.

Unfortunately for me, our county, for some reason, rarely closed our school. All the other schools around us would be closing, but I guess ours just wanted us to "git are edjucashin." Oh, there actually were the occasional 'snow day' closings--I knew they could happen, and even sometimes did! And so I would always hope!

That hope was special. It was something more than simply wishing. There was excitement. And anticipation. And expectation. And that combination was so much deeper and richer and more powerful than a mere wish. It was an expectant waiting...and my whole heart and being was involved.

Hebrews 11:1 says: "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." I know what the author was talking about. After all, I had hoped for snow days! He wasn't talking about the "wishing" kind of hope that we seem to fall into. He was talking about "snow day" hope. And as I find my "hope in Christ," I want it to be that "snow day" hope... full of excitement, and anticipation, and a very deep, very real sense of expectation.

• "...for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long." ~Psalm 25:5
• "Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD." ~Psalm 31:24
• "We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield." ~Psalm 33:20
• "May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD, even as we put our hope in you." ~Psalm 33:22
• "But now, Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in you." ~Psalm 39:7
• "Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God." ~Psalm 42:1
• "I will praise you forever for what you have done; in your name I will hope, for your name is good." ~Psalm 52:9
• "Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him." ~Psalm 62:5

  Lord, teach us what it is to hope in You with Snow Day Hope.... cause our hearts to yearn with excitement, anticipation, and expectation as we wait on You...