Porcelain Moments
Father sometimes speaks to me in very interesting ways: dreams, visions, license plates, mudflaps, children, animals, billboards, songs, movies... He spoke this morning as I was waking up to the sound of Harry Connick, Jr. crooning "Let it Snow". I know I had been dreaming but I have no recollection of my dreams. Instead, as I was entering the alert part of my day with the distant holiday song coming nearer - I saw a brief picture, or vision, and heard a few words.
As I woke up and as my head began to sing along with Harry, my normal mental process began: "What day is it? Is anyone I know in need of an immediate prayer? Good morning, Father. Don't let me forget to take gifts for the party to work today. And don't let me forget to pick up my dry cleaning. How cold did it get last night? Did that plant on the porch freeze?" But as I began this process, the vision kept interrupting. So I pondered what I saw and heard. Two words stuck out and made the rest of it come alive - porcelain moments.
Have you ever held a piece of fine antique porcelain or touched the face of an expensive porcelain doll? Porcelain is beautiful. It reflects and retracts light, making new colors as you look at it. Porcelain is thin, almost transparent - the word is translucent, I suppose. Fine porcelain is valuable, costly, rare, prized. It is handmade by craftsmen who have learned their trade from generations of craftsmen. And though porcelain is quite hard and durable, it can crack and shatter and be lost forever in the split second of one careless hand that lets it fall to the ground.
So what is a porcelain moment? I think you will understand if you share my vision with me. The vision was actually like I was reading the last paragraph of a novel. There was a descriptive picture of the scene and then the thoughts of the main character. Am I writing the final paragraph of a future book? Crazy... Join me.
As the man sat on the edge of the lake near the still and glass-like water, a soft yellow leaf fell from the tree overhead and gently danced in the breeze, finally landing at his feet. The distant sounds of toads calling to one another in the boggy marsh at the edge of the lake reached his ears. In the wide open blue sky a flock of geese in perfect v-formation floated by with a few puffy white clouds. A small green lizard sunbathing on a nearby rock snapped up a tiny gnat with its long red tongue without blinking an eye. The man said with a tear in his eye and a cry in his voice, "Father, when will I ever begin to really live the abundant life You have promised?" He heard no reply as a hungry perch made a valiant leap for a dragonfly and splashed back into the lake. He took a deep breath and waited for an answer as he sat back to watch the porcelain moments pass by.
"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." Jesus - in John 10:10 (NIV)
And as Paul said to the Galatians in chapter 6, verse 18, I say to you, courtesy of The Message: May what our Master Jesus Christ gives freely be deeply and personally yours, my friends. Oh, yes!
Amy
As I woke up and as my head began to sing along with Harry, my normal mental process began: "What day is it? Is anyone I know in need of an immediate prayer? Good morning, Father. Don't let me forget to take gifts for the party to work today. And don't let me forget to pick up my dry cleaning. How cold did it get last night? Did that plant on the porch freeze?" But as I began this process, the vision kept interrupting. So I pondered what I saw and heard. Two words stuck out and made the rest of it come alive - porcelain moments.
Have you ever held a piece of fine antique porcelain or touched the face of an expensive porcelain doll? Porcelain is beautiful. It reflects and retracts light, making new colors as you look at it. Porcelain is thin, almost transparent - the word is translucent, I suppose. Fine porcelain is valuable, costly, rare, prized. It is handmade by craftsmen who have learned their trade from generations of craftsmen. And though porcelain is quite hard and durable, it can crack and shatter and be lost forever in the split second of one careless hand that lets it fall to the ground.
So what is a porcelain moment? I think you will understand if you share my vision with me. The vision was actually like I was reading the last paragraph of a novel. There was a descriptive picture of the scene and then the thoughts of the main character. Am I writing the final paragraph of a future book? Crazy... Join me.
As the man sat on the edge of the lake near the still and glass-like water, a soft yellow leaf fell from the tree overhead and gently danced in the breeze, finally landing at his feet. The distant sounds of toads calling to one another in the boggy marsh at the edge of the lake reached his ears. In the wide open blue sky a flock of geese in perfect v-formation floated by with a few puffy white clouds. A small green lizard sunbathing on a nearby rock snapped up a tiny gnat with its long red tongue without blinking an eye. The man said with a tear in his eye and a cry in his voice, "Father, when will I ever begin to really live the abundant life You have promised?" He heard no reply as a hungry perch made a valiant leap for a dragonfly and splashed back into the lake. He took a deep breath and waited for an answer as he sat back to watch the porcelain moments pass by.
"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." Jesus - in John 10:10 (NIV)
And as Paul said to the Galatians in chapter 6, verse 18, I say to you, courtesy of The Message: May what our Master Jesus Christ gives freely be deeply and personally yours, my friends. Oh, yes!
Amy
Comments