A Garden of These
Hinds Feet for High Places by Hannah Hurmard is such an amazing allegory for our walk with God that now that I have read it once, I am going to read it again slower and one page at a time.
I just wanted to share with you a part of this story that has impacted me quite a bit. Along the way Much Afraid (the main character) comes across two flowers at two different times. The first one is Acceptance with Joy and the other, Bearing the Cost (also called Forgiveness).
Much Afraid, while walking through a barren desert comes across a flower receiving only an occasional drop of water from an old pipe connected to a water tank. The little flowers head turn upward towards the water. When asked, the flower said her name is Acceptance-with-Joy. She was alone in the hot desert and received only enough to live and yet this is her name. Acceptance-with-Joy.
A while later as Much Afraid scaled a cliff, she came to rest in a small cave. As she rested there, she came across another flower thats roots were planted in a crack of the cave and the flower strained and just barely came to where the sun might reach it. This flowers name was Bearing-the-Cost also known as Forgiveness. This little flower sang praises and said she thankfully turned her head toward the sun accepting the life her Heavenly Father gave her. She forgave the ones who chose to take her as a seed from the field of flowers she was in and deposited her there in the dark cave and left her alone.
Both times Much Afraid called out to the Shepherd presenting herself first as His handmaiden of Acceptance-with-Joy and then with Bearing-the-Cost. I felt so utterly humbled as I read these two things. When do I accept what God has chosen to give me with joy though it is not what I would have wanted for myself. When have I bared the consequences of another's sin and wrong choices and given God all the glory, forgiving these people and loving them ever the stronger despite their choices? Can I even ask that another would choose to be Bearing-the-Cost on my part when my sin and selfishness effects their lives? I am so humbled to say that more often than not I choose not to be what I ask others to be for me. I am thankful though that my Shepherd has made it clear to me that though my feelings don't follow I can still choose to be Acceptance -with-Joy and Bearing-the-Cost because in so choosing, God's love roots itself ever deeper into my being and the strength of it knocks loose the sin of selfishness and it's counter parts.
I am thankful that God continues to forgive me and who I was yesterday is not who I have to be tomorrow or even today. Every day I am a new creation in Christ.
I just wanted to share with you a part of this story that has impacted me quite a bit. Along the way Much Afraid (the main character) comes across two flowers at two different times. The first one is Acceptance with Joy and the other, Bearing the Cost (also called Forgiveness).
Much Afraid, while walking through a barren desert comes across a flower receiving only an occasional drop of water from an old pipe connected to a water tank. The little flowers head turn upward towards the water. When asked, the flower said her name is Acceptance-with-Joy. She was alone in the hot desert and received only enough to live and yet this is her name. Acceptance-with-Joy.
A while later as Much Afraid scaled a cliff, she came to rest in a small cave. As she rested there, she came across another flower thats roots were planted in a crack of the cave and the flower strained and just barely came to where the sun might reach it. This flowers name was Bearing-the-Cost also known as Forgiveness. This little flower sang praises and said she thankfully turned her head toward the sun accepting the life her Heavenly Father gave her. She forgave the ones who chose to take her as a seed from the field of flowers she was in and deposited her there in the dark cave and left her alone.
Both times Much Afraid called out to the Shepherd presenting herself first as His handmaiden of Acceptance-with-Joy and then with Bearing-the-Cost. I felt so utterly humbled as I read these two things. When do I accept what God has chosen to give me with joy though it is not what I would have wanted for myself. When have I bared the consequences of another's sin and wrong choices and given God all the glory, forgiving these people and loving them ever the stronger despite their choices? Can I even ask that another would choose to be Bearing-the-Cost on my part when my sin and selfishness effects their lives? I am so humbled to say that more often than not I choose not to be what I ask others to be for me. I am thankful though that my Shepherd has made it clear to me that though my feelings don't follow I can still choose to be Acceptance -with-Joy and Bearing-the-Cost because in so choosing, God's love roots itself ever deeper into my being and the strength of it knocks loose the sin of selfishness and it's counter parts.
I am thankful that God continues to forgive me and who I was yesterday is not who I have to be tomorrow or even today. Every day I am a new creation in Christ.
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