Psalms 81:10 NASB “I, the LORD, am your God, Who brought you up from the land of Egypt; Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.
My favorite genre of books is writing advice and encouragement: some can fit all genres, others more specific. Most of my writing books are poetry related, with a few personal essays and fewer still flash fiction.
Most have one thing in common though – they are secular. I have read a few of this subgenre for Christian creatives. The Creative Call: An Artist’s Response by Janice Elsheimer and Art + Faith by Makoto Fujimura are good choices. The secular books are good for practical ideas and suggestions, but they advise calling on “the Muse” for idea inspiration. Would that be the nine muses of Greek mythology or automatic writing?
As much as I have read books to get ideas flowing, nothing beats typing posts on my laptop or writing poems on paper until ideas flow. (Writing prompts, just no). Some I can attribute to my own thoughts, but some clearly come from the Holy Spirit. My one and only Muse.
We are living in a time of metaphorical Egyptian bondage. It is time to open our mouths, or fingers, and let the Lord fill us, so we can praise Him with the written word during and after deliverance comes, when we are called. And be lights when deliverance comes.
A Stroll by the Seine, Paris by Henri Victor Lesur
Public Domain
You have been cooped up in your writing room, hopefully for hours, in a state of flow. Or maybe not, maybe you have stared at the screen or paper not knowing what to scribble. Or maybe you need some inspiration, some window shopping for ideas. Take a stroll with me down memory lane on the French word flâneur.
A flâneur, or a “man-about-town” according to Merriam-Webster, was coined in 1854, during the reign of Napoleon III’s rebuilding of Paris. Eric Maisel, in A Writer’s Paris, writes it is a “French invention of strolling as an art form.”
Many of my haiku ideas were conceived strolling the beach in my neighborhood. Pegging the changing colors of the Pacific from day to day, like a kindergartner changing the weather chart, clears my head and rolls any stress off my back. Strolling sets my mind mulling over what I have written or read, and/or opens my eyes to the details around me.
Writing is an interior exercise, but strolling becomes an external exercise. We see our natural history roll right before our feet. Just as the ocean changes daily, observing your environment intimately will enlighten our routine stroll. It grounds us in the reality of our physical bodies and physical, concrete world—perhaps giving us ideas for metaphorical writing. For the introverts, and most of us writers are introverts, it is a way of blending in without interacting too much with others, so we can think and plan and observe sans cell phones.
Now you are ready to write those ideas down to start the process of flow. The wind of the Holy Spirit flowing through your mind with ideas to flow onto the screen or paper. He can supply the ideas, and we supply the unique expression of those ideas. We co-create.
It is through him that we are able to live, to do what we do, and to be who we are. As your own poets have said, ‘We all come from him.’ Acts 17:28 ERV
The bald eagle symbolizes America. It resides in North America, but this word reaches beyond this side of the earth. As such, I see some similarities between our national symbol and what is transpiring today. I will give this word loosely and hope that the Lord gives you wisdom as you read it.
The bald eagle is not obviously bald. Its white head contrasts with its dark body. Psalms 68:14 also contrasts Zalmon in a similar manner. It was a dark, volcanic mountain covered with snow. In this scripture passage, it was snowing when the kings of the earth were scattered by Him. It was a sign of timing.
Eagles can fly roughly two miles high in the air. The eagle has pinpoint eyesight and can see its prey from far away. Satellites, ditto, only they are not bound by biology, but technology.
They feed on schools of fish. Fish symbols were drawn to identify Christ followers during the persecution by the Roman Empire.
Their numbers are increasing because they are a protected species.
The numbers, precision, and protected status of others are overwhelming to those of us crying out for help. There are no man-made answers. There are some strong citizens doing what they can, but it is so widespread that only God can cleanse and heal our nation. Only God can restore our national symbol of the nation to us in a foundational way. Only God can deliver us from the eagles’ talons. Only God can transform the predator side of our national symbol into a symbol of hope and restoration of our republic.
The Psalms 68 passage note of my NASB study bible states that the battle had already been won before the Israelis had suited up for battle.
Ezekiel, the prophet, spoke for the Israelis then, and for Christ followers hurting now, no matter where we live. Verses 34:8, 10, 14-15, 17, 25-26, 28 speak encouragement for the days ahead:
“As I live,” declares the Lord GOD, “surely because My flock has become a prey, My flock has even become food for all the beasts of the field for lack of a shepherd, and My shepherds did not search for My flock, but rather the shepherds fed themselves and did not feed My flock;…Thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will demand My sheep from them and make them cease from feeding sheep. So the shepherds will not feed themselves anymore, but I will deliver My flock from their mouth, so that they will not be food for them.”’”….“I will feed them in a good pasture, and their grazing ground will be on the mountain heights of Israel. There they will lie down on good grazing ground and feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. “I will feed My flock and I will lead them to rest,” declares the Lord GOD….”As for you, My flock, thus says the Lord GOD, ‘Behold, I will judge between one sheep and another, between the rams and the male goats….I will make a covenant of peace with them and eliminate harmful beasts from the land so that they may live securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. “I will make them and the places around My hill a blessing. And I will cause showers to come down in their season; they will be showers of blessing….“They will no longer be a prey to the nations, and the beasts of the earth will not devour them; but they will live securely, and no one will make them afraid.
But how can I carry, all by myself, your troubles and burdens and quarrels? So select some wise, understanding, and seasoned men from your tribes, and I will commission them as your leaders.”…So I went ahead and took the top men of your tribes, wise and seasoned, and made them your leaders – leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens, officials adequate for each of your tribes….Don’t play favorites; treat the little and the big alike; listen carefully to each. Don’t be impressed by big names. This is God’s judgment you’re dealing with. Hard cases you can bring to me; I’ll deal with them.” Deuteronomy 1:12-13,15,17 MSG
For as long as I can remember, every election cycle sounds the alarm, “This is the most important one!” And at the time, it was. It has been progressing, with some dips of downtime.
Though we don’t have tribes (they translate to localities, counties, and states today), the lessons from Moses apply. The smaller local elections matter just as much as the larger ones and deserve to be treated with equal respect. We must not cave to hopelessness, for we are each accountable to God for whom we choose or not choose. If we ask for and wait for God’s wisdom after doing our due diligence and proceed in faith, He will be pleased with us. Prayer and fasting, or lack thereof, as you are able, speak more than a physical vote (though of course I don’t eschew not voting).
And if the results are not as we wish, we must not even then despair. Moses, the leader in their wilderness, knew ultimately that it was God’s will that would prevail, in whatever form it took.
My first several years of Oregon life was relatively fire quiet. One fire a few miles away quickly contained.
Then 2020 lit the skies.
I scrolled Twitter under hashtags for the Oregon fires. Any account asking for prayer received a like from me.
Then 2021 lit the skies.
That year, it came nearer to my home. The smoke was thick in the air. I package taped my front door with garbage bags. My Twitter account gone, I opened the #firemappers website every day and prayed over Oregon. Rainy season started early, on Sept. 1, and I rejoiced at the clear blue skies.
Then 2022 lit the skies.
Oregon has a few conflagration fires this fire season. Prayers again supplicated the skies.
Accumulated weariness and stress seeps into our homes like the thick smoke the fires produce. Three years of devastating fire seasons is hard to bear, especially for those that have lost much.
The disciples had lost Jesus, and they were hiding from the Jewish leaders.
There is another fire blazing above the heads of the apostles. This visible manifestation of the Holy Spirit would equip them to spread the gospel. During times of calamity, it is a chance to get right with God. Or as C. S. Lewis writes in The Problem of Pain: “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”
