Worship Walking

As the winter thaw begins to take hold in California, I have ventured out to walk every morning before work for about 30-45 minutes at 6:00 am (Yikes!). I dress myself in layers: my wool hat, scarf and gloves and brave the near dark sky and cool temperature (lately in the upper 30 to 40s).

I have committed myself to be more healthy and to give myself some alone time to contemplate the Lord, contemplate my life, and cleanse my spirit for the new day. So I wrap myself up, and turn on my I-pod with Chris Rice Christian music or some other worship album playing, and think about how God has blessed my life. As I warm up to a good pace, I retrieve all the trash and previous disappointments and grief I have long stored in the back of my mind and have a good cry, where no one but God can hear me. He knows my groanings.

“Romans 8:26 ….the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit, himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.”

He cleanses my heart and smiles on me as the beautiful sunrise arises during my walk. What beauty he shows me as I walk! I see the mountains covered in fresh snow from a previous rain/snow storm. I see deer (yes, can you believe it! There was 7 deer in Duarte!), feeding off the tender leaves of orange trees near the bike trail. I see the beautiful hummingbirds going from flower to flower gathering their breakfast. There is so much God calls my attention to, that I am overwhelmed by his goodness. I start singing to the worship songs as I walk. I must look like a mentally ill person to others, but I don’t care…….I’m worshiping the Lord.

As the sun comes up peeking over the mountains my troubles are left behind me and God reminds me in Romans 8:37 “ In all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Now, isn’t that something great to wake up to?!!!

Fiber Meditations: I have been working on knitting the Celtic Tradition afghan from the book “Big-Needle Afghans” on Size 11 needles. I started it many years ago for my son and recently brought it out from storage. It is made with Acrylic Yarn that is washable and it is nice and heavy, just like my son likes it. He wraps himself under a pile of blankets like a mole under ground. It is so big, I cannot take it anywhere, but must knit it at home. A few rows every other night is what I am hoping to do. It is coming out so nice, my family and grandkids may have to fight S for it when done.

Worshiping God through Fiber

We went to see the newly released movie “August Rush” yesterday. I found the premise of an orphaned child with a special awareness of music, very interesting and heartfelt. Essentially, it is a story of the innocence of a child, with an inner awareness of music, that he feels was given to him by his biological parents, and his hope that he must make music so they can hear him and find him. Although constantly being told there is no hope, he continues with this hope to a happy conclusion.

Children music prodigies certainly have a gift that must be instilled in them from God, whether it be from the womb or later. I almost didn’t believe this until I experienced it myself, in my second son, who was definitely driven to seek out music even as a baby. For it is God that has created everything and in everything, it is amazing how the sounds we hear in the world have a musical quality, whether it be a melodious tone or a syncopated rhythm. One just has to listen.

Is God training us to listen to his small voice? I think so. He rejoices in music and the sounds of our worship in music. It prepares us to listen to Him and dig deep into ourselves, our emotions, our deepest thoughts to express and connect with Him in an intimate heartfelt relationship.

Our senses are amazing things. Again, I feel they are gifts of God. Are you thinking, “this is crazy”? Just think about it…. What if you didn’t have the gift of sight? What if you were born without hands? Just like the sense of hearing is there to discover the music in the world, God gives us the sense of sight and touch to learn about the softness of the world through fiber and yarn.

The more I get into the “discoveries” of fiber, the more I realize that not all fiber is the same. Our sense of touch heightens the more we touch the different fibers. The more we touch and work with a particular fiber, “yarn” is not just “yarn” anymore. We start noticing that merino wool is soft and alpaca is softer still. Mohair is shiny but silk is shinier still. What joy that gives us, depicted here by Marly of Yarn Thing Podcast. We are amazed at the beauty of the different explosions of colors of the different yarns our eyes see.

Isn’t God good? What a heavenly craft he gives us, in knitting and crocheting and spinning yarn. Through fiber, He has brought us into an awareness of Him. Is this why it relaxes and calms us and those around us? We just have to look and touch. What joy we experience when we have created something with these gifts God gives us. It makes us feel we need to GIVE back.

Is this worshiping Him? Yes! The blankets, sweaters, shawls, washcloths, hats and baby clothes we make are destined for someone God loves. They are gifts of "love". As we teach someone how to spin, knit and crochet, we are giving of ourselves as if we are giving to God, because we are using the gifts he has given us to lift someone, to warm them, to help them feel loved and cared for. Let us continue to worship Him.