watch out for the iconic ones

I have been guided by this way of seeing, now for two years and 8 days. By windows and icons and crystal lenses.

In times like these I so sharply feel Ann Judson (AJ)'s chastening ache and borrow her form to confess:

My heart is bound up there; I felt he was my earthly all, my purest source of light, voice, warmth, protection in these dire straits. But God saw it was necessary of my error and strip me of my little all. Oh may it not be in vain that He has done it.

Ssstill?! Christ have mercy. In Adoniram's words:

O may we not suffer in vain! May this bereavement be sanctified to our souls! and for this I hope we have your prayers . . .

The danger of icons, of course, is idolatry. But how would I see through these stonewalls without a window? I do see You, so clearly through them. The iconic ones. Keep my focus there, let the lens fall away.

A man that looks on glass,

On it may stay his eye;

Or if he pleaseth,

through it pass,

And then the heav'n espy.

// George Herbert, "The Elixir"

give, feed, serve, receive, love, speak, clothe, wait. as unto Thee.

10. Resolved, to love fiercely but loosely: My friends are not my own. If ever I invest in friendship, to do so freely and charitably, not to buy or possess. If ever I embrace, to do so as to make space for, rather than engulf the other. I can love others, and forget myself, I can risk loss, because I am recollected by Love himself. 19 Jan 2015

16. Resolved, not to make idols of icons. Heart, don't turn good things into ultimate things. I will fail at this a thousand times; a thousand times I will fall at clay feet. A thousand times, help me fall, fail, return to kiss and wash Your feet with the truest tears of repentance. 17 July 2017