Ebb and flow.

The ebb and flow
Of love and opponent
Of other and self
Of later and moment
Takes the soul on a road
With twists and turns
That further the journey
Toward God

I wrote that a few years ago. It's still expressive of my days. I guess the question I still wrestle with in my daily life is: What's a healthy balance of self and others? I know what the answer is supposed to be. It's all about God and others, right? But, really now. Why do I get wiped out, tired, and all? If I'm wired to function best by not focusing on myself, why would I ever need to have time to myself? Why would I need to strive for time I can call my own? I guess maybe (just maybe) I'm human, and to try to love God and people on my own won't ever work. It's a work in progress. I'll keep you posted.

My lips are killing me.

It's like God has pointed to a few scriptures in the past two days. Each has everything to do with words. It's about the mouth, the capturing of spoken words, as well as the words inside - the "social-self-talk" of the way we talk to ourselves.

So, I was reading Isaiah 6 yesterday. Isaiah's purification by having his lips touched with the hot coals really stuck out to me. Later, at our weekend worship service, Jon talked about the Mezzuzah - the little box hung on the doorpost of a Jewish home containing the words of Deuteronomy 6, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength." Jon said a person leaving the house would touch the mezzuzah and then touch their lips... It was an instant connection for me. The purifying touch is the daily reminder to love God and others...

Deuteronomy 6 goes on to say we need to bind these things to our hands and heads. It's like this while thing affects our thoughts and our actions, too. Today, James was the bearer of yet another mouth message. In chapters 2 and 3 we hear even more about our words - how the control of our words equals a life under control. So, could it be that this is the first place to pay attention when things seem to be getting out of control in our lives?