".. weathered... weathering..."

                            

You have each made my life so amazing, grateful, and full!
Weathered but looking ahead to great times!

“In my father's carved face, the bright eye
he sometimes would look out of, seeing a long way
through all the tree-rings of his history”
____

Weathering
by Alastair Reid

I am old enough now for a tree
once planted, knee high, to have grown to be
twenty times me,

and to have seen babies marry, and heroes grow deaf-
-
but that's enough meaning-of-life.
It's living through time we ought to be connoisseurs of.

From wearing a face all this time, I am made aware
of the maps faces are, of the inside wear and tear.
I take to faces that have come far.

In my father's carved face, the bright eye
he sometimes would look out of, seeing a long way
through all the tree-rings of his history

I am awed by how things weather: an oak mantel
in the house in Spain, fingered to a sheen,
the marks of hands leaned into the lintel,

the tokens in the drawer I sometimes touch -
a crystal lived-in on a trip, the watch
my father's wrist wore to a thin gold sandwich.

It is an equilibrium
that breasts the cresting seasons but still stays calm
and keeps warm. It deserves a good name.

Weathering. Patina, gloss, and whorl.
The trunk of the almond tree, gnarled but still fruitful.
Weathering is what I would like to do well.

from Weathering: Poems and Translations (Canongate,1978),

 © Alastair Reid 1978.

Weathered- Bethel Music

Weathered (Live)

Bethel Music, Dante Bowe & The McClures

After all that we've been through
Tell me how I'm supposed to function without You
You've seen my heart be worn and used
You didn't leave, instead You stayed and made me new

How sweet it is to trust You, Jesus
To know You, I mean really know You
Father, Son, and Holy Shepherd
A love so deep, it can't be measured
A love that's real
A love that's weathered

I could never count the times
You stayed faithful while my heart was compromised
You held me close each time I cried
When the last thing I deserved was sacrifice

How sweet it is to trust You, Jesus
To know You, I mean really know You
Father, Son, and Holy Shepherd
A love so deep it can't be measured
A love that's real, mm-mm
A love that's weathered

More than skin and bone can offer
You're consistent through and through
Other love's just imitations
It cannot compare to You
Deeper than infatuation
Than the rush of something new
This is soul inhabitation
You're in me and I'm in You

More than skin and bone can offer
You're consistent through and through
Other love's just imitations
It cannot compare to You
Deeper than infatuation
Than the rush of something new
This is soul inhabitation
You're in me and I'm in You, oh

How sweet it is to trust You, Jesus
To know You, I mean really know You
Father, Son, and Holy Shepherd
A love so deep, it can't be measured
A love that's real
A love that's weathered

A love that's weathered
A love that's weathered
Hey
Unconditional
Consistent, never changing
A love that's weathered

Oh, it calls you higher
He calls you higher
He can make you whole
Hey, He can heal the wounds
Oh, oh, He's not afraid
He's not afraid
Oh, it's a jealous love
He's always pursuing, always pursuing
He's not running away
He's tried and true

Oh, He's tried and true
It's a jealous love, it's a jealous love
Oh, He's jealous for us
He's not leaving you where He found you
He's calling you higher
He's not leaving you how He found you
Hey, oh, He's calling you higher
Come up here, come up now
Come up here, come up now
It's a love that calls you higher, oh, oh

This is the love of God
Always pursuing
He's never letting you go, no
He's not letting you go, hey
This is the love of God
It's always pursuing
He's not letting you go
Just hold on, He's not letting you go
Oh, yeah
Let it flow, let the love of God flow, hey

How sweet it is to trust You, Jesus
To know You, I mean really know You
Father, Son, and Holy Shepherd
A love so deep, it can't be measured
A love that's real
A love that's weathered, yeah

".. close enough ...they could feel His breath..."

"Now He drew close enough to each of them

 that they could feel His breath.

 He breathed on them:

 Jesus: Welcome the Holy Spirit of the living God." John 20:22

"Jesus: The Father, on His own authority, has determined 

the ages and epochs of history, 

but you have not been given this knowledge.

 Here’s the knowledge you need: 

you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you." Acts 1:8

"For the promise of the Spirit is for you, for your children, for all people—even those considered outsiders and outcasts—

the Lord our God invites everyone to come to Him." Acts 2:39

"When the holy day of Pentecost came 50 days after Passover, they were gathered together in one place.

Picture yourself among the disciples:

A sound roars from the sky without warning, the roar of a violent wind, 

and the whole house where you are gathered reverberates with the sound. 

Then a flame appears, dividing into smaller flames and spreading from one person to the next. All the people present are filled with the Holy Spirit and begin speaking in languages they’ve never spoken,

 as the Spirit empowers them." Acts 2:1-4

"...Full Circle God..."

"He is a Full Circle God. He loves to show us just how faithful he can be.” -Kristene DiMarco

“Now, did you ever notice that in providence the circle is God's rule still.
Troubles must come, afflictions must befall; it must needs be that for a season you should be in heaviness, through manifold temptations.

But I have said that eclipses must also occur in grace, and it is so. 

God's rule in grace is still the circle." 

- Charles Spurgeon

The Solar Eclipse

“I form light and create darkness; I make what is good, happy, and healthy, and I create woe. I, the Eternal One, make them one and all.” Isaiah 45:7 VOICE

“I form light and create darkness; I make harmonies and create discords. I, GOD, do all these things.” Isaiah 45:7 Message