I sit quietly wearing shorts looking at my knee caps.
My mind flashes back to my childhood riding in the back of the Accord next to Doug. Pam and Tyler sitting up front.
I remember looking at Doug's knees and thinking about how much bigger they were than mine and how they were hairy. I remember thinking how foolish Doug looked in shorts that were short enough to show his knees. Now as I look at my own bare knees in shorts I laugh to myself. It's funny how priorities change as I age.
As I look at my hands I notice the similarities to Doug's. With each passing year I begin to understand more and more how Doug came to be the man he is today. As a child I assumed Doug had always been a parent but now I see he and I were both learning as we went.
It makes me wonder if Doug thought the same thing sitting next to me. I wonder if he looked at my tiny hairless knees or my soft small hands and remembered a time where his body looked like mine. I wonder if he thought the same thoughts sitting next to his father as a child.
I am my parents and my parents are me. They watch me grow, live my life, they laugh and sigh as they see themselves in me. Their mistakes, their lessons, their life. I watch them as they live, I form my own path based on my perspective of what I like and don't like about the lives they've crafted. What parts do I want to be like and what parts do I want to be nothing like, Each generation looks at the former and shapes their own.
I wonder what You think of all this.
...all of you are equal as brothers and sisters. And don’t address anyone here on earth as ‘Father,’ for only God in heaven is your spiritual Father.
-Matthew 23:9
You watch Your children raise Your children. You watch one wounded broken generation try to raise the next all of them trying to be better than the former. But we never are better. Two thousand years of generations since You showed us how to serve and live for others yet here I am, equal to Adam. Here I am critiquing my parents only to look at my own hands and realize I am becoming my father, who became his father, who became his, tracing these hands all the way back to Adam's hands.
This cycle of brokenness, the blind raising the blind, only You can break it, only You can set us free. Only Jesus can save me.
The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me,
for the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted
and to proclaim that captives will be released
and prisoners will be freed.
He has sent me to tell those who mourn
that the time of the Lord’s favor has come,
and with it, the day of God’s anger against their enemies.
To all who mourn in Israel,
he will give a crown of beauty for ashes,
a joyous blessing instead of mourning,
festive praise instead of despair.
In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks
that the Lord has planted for his own glory.
I am overwhelmed with joy in the Lord my God!
For he has dressed me with the clothing of salvation
and draped me in a robe of righteousness.
I am like a bridegroom in his wedding suit
or a bride with her jewels.
The Sovereign Lord will show his justice to the nations of the world.
Everyone will praise him!
His righteousness will be like a garden in early spring,
with plants springing up everywhere.
-Isaiah 61
Elyon, You bring good news to the poor. You comfort the brokenhearted. You proclaim the captives will be released. You set the prisoners free.
Praise You Abba, for the time of jubilee, exchanging ashes for a crown of beauty, turning mourning into joyous blessings, festive praise instead of despair.
Through You Jesus I am made righteous and in Your righteousness I am a great oak planted for Your glory. I am dressed with the clothing of salvation and draped in a robe of righteousness.
Lord may Your Kingdom come like a garden in early spring, sprouting up everywhere!
Ain't No Reason - Brett Dennen
My mind flashes back to my childhood riding in the back of the Accord next to Doug. Pam and Tyler sitting up front.
I remember looking at Doug's knees and thinking about how much bigger they were than mine and how they were hairy. I remember thinking how foolish Doug looked in shorts that were short enough to show his knees. Now as I look at my own bare knees in shorts I laugh to myself. It's funny how priorities change as I age.
As I look at my hands I notice the similarities to Doug's. With each passing year I begin to understand more and more how Doug came to be the man he is today. As a child I assumed Doug had always been a parent but now I see he and I were both learning as we went.
It makes me wonder if Doug thought the same thing sitting next to me. I wonder if he looked at my tiny hairless knees or my soft small hands and remembered a time where his body looked like mine. I wonder if he thought the same thoughts sitting next to his father as a child.
I am my parents and my parents are me. They watch me grow, live my life, they laugh and sigh as they see themselves in me. Their mistakes, their lessons, their life. I watch them as they live, I form my own path based on my perspective of what I like and don't like about the lives they've crafted. What parts do I want to be like and what parts do I want to be nothing like, Each generation looks at the former and shapes their own.
I wonder what You think of all this.
...all of you are equal as brothers and sisters. And don’t address anyone here on earth as ‘Father,’ for only God in heaven is your spiritual Father.
-Matthew 23:9
You watch Your children raise Your children. You watch one wounded broken generation try to raise the next all of them trying to be better than the former. But we never are better. Two thousand years of generations since You showed us how to serve and live for others yet here I am, equal to Adam. Here I am critiquing my parents only to look at my own hands and realize I am becoming my father, who became his father, who became his, tracing these hands all the way back to Adam's hands.
This cycle of brokenness, the blind raising the blind, only You can break it, only You can set us free. Only Jesus can save me.
The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me,
for the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted
and to proclaim that captives will be released
and prisoners will be freed.
He has sent me to tell those who mourn
that the time of the Lord’s favor has come,
and with it, the day of God’s anger against their enemies.
To all who mourn in Israel,
he will give a crown of beauty for ashes,
a joyous blessing instead of mourning,
festive praise instead of despair.
In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks
that the Lord has planted for his own glory.
I am overwhelmed with joy in the Lord my God!
For he has dressed me with the clothing of salvation
and draped me in a robe of righteousness.
I am like a bridegroom in his wedding suit
or a bride with her jewels.
The Sovereign Lord will show his justice to the nations of the world.
Everyone will praise him!
His righteousness will be like a garden in early spring,
with plants springing up everywhere.
-Isaiah 61
Elyon, You bring good news to the poor. You comfort the brokenhearted. You proclaim the captives will be released. You set the prisoners free.
Praise You Abba, for the time of jubilee, exchanging ashes for a crown of beauty, turning mourning into joyous blessings, festive praise instead of despair.
Through You Jesus I am made righteous and in Your righteousness I am a great oak planted for Your glory. I am dressed with the clothing of salvation and draped in a robe of righteousness.
Lord may Your Kingdom come like a garden in early spring, sprouting up everywhere!
Ain't No Reason - Brett Dennen