Holy Beauty

Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. Psalm 29:2 **

For days now, since I’ve read this, I have been asking You: what is the beauty of holiness?

Dropped into my mind and onto my life today, this — nothing but You.

Holiness is when all of me is lost in all of You. Holiness is when I am overshadowed by You and You are the strength of the sun shining on all below You. Holiness is pure. Whole. All-encompassing. No part of me can hide under Your holy.

I worship You, God who offers an opportunity to be fully enveloped in all that is You, in all that is holy.

Holiness is safe because it is free of flesh and, instead, all of You. You are safe, oh holy God.

God of holy, You are not discriminatory. I have an invitation to holy when I am face flat-on-the-floor, overwhelmed by my sin and underwhelmed by what my flesh may offer me. Your holy beckons, in even those moments — especially in those moments. Your holy offers me a chance at perfection: You.

You are perfect, God. You perfectly love. You perfectly heal. You perfectly restore. You perfectly correct. You perfectly lead.

And You perfectly breathe … holy. And that holy — the holy that is all that is You and not man’s construct of holy — oh, Jesus, it’s beautiful.

When I get lost in Your holy, I encounter beauty.

Holy — Godly, heavenly holy — expands. It reveals. It grows. It multiplies, within me and back to You and then back to me again. It doesn’t restrain or constrain the heart within me. It doesn’t foster fear of what I’m not, or even awareness of what I’m not or where I’ve failed. It opens my eyes to all that is You.

Instead of regret, Your holy fills me with great expectation. And it’s there that I become more like You. Lost in your holy, not my own measly failed attempts.

That’s what Beauty does. It beckons. It calls, allures, makes me want to linger for hours. It doesn’t send me back to me and all that I’m not; it calls me into You and all that You are.

And then I catch my breath.

Beauty.

I want more. Worshiping You out of Your holiness that surrounds my weak flesh, awakens desire.

For more of You. For more of Beauty. For a life of worship.

Worship is beauty when Holy is its source.

 

**So what do I do with these posts, you ask, other than just read them? First, if you haven’t yet, read: Why I Adore to give you a context for this little space on my blog. (This post also gives context.)

If you are compelled, I invite you to participate. Set up a space and time in your own life to begin adoring. Over laundry or dinner dishes, on your commute to work, or in the wee morning hours — ten minutes is a great start. You can use the verse I list here every day or two as a launch pad for your own adoration.

Then practice praise.

Add to my adoration here, by posting a comment with your own words back to God about God …or hide it in your heart.

I promise your weary soul won’t regret it.

***You can easily subscribe to these devotional meditations as they are delivered, by using this feed: http://www.EveryBitterThingisSweet.com/posts/chai/feed or by entering your email address in the second box on the right-hand side… (scroll up a bit)

Additionally, all of the Morning Chai Posts can be seen, in the order of posting, by clicking here or adding this address to your reader: http://EveryBitterThingisSweet.com/posts/chai

 

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