Behold

Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.  Isaiah 43:19

Behold, the Lamb of God, John 1:36

Language is an amazing thing.  On the one hand you are able to read this blog.  I am typing words that form sentences that your eyes scan, your brain recognizes, filters through your experiences/understanding that lead (hopefully) to understanding and (with God's grace) to connections.  Yet, language is also limited.  You can misinterpret something.  I may write a sentence in my mind emphasizing one word, only to have you encounter that sentence and emphasize another part...totally changing the meaning of what I meant to say.  This happens, of course, not only in blogs but also in face-to-face communication.  Try giving a sermon sometime and asking people what they heard...then wondering if you were really in the same sanctuary at all.  

Language is also evolving.  According to Google, on average 4000 words are added every year to the dictionary.  And as new words are added, others might fall out of favor.  Only a few generations ago, a pastor might begin a prayer like, "O God, we beseech thee."  If I did that, people might wonder what the beach has to do with God...and how in the world is some sandy shore along a body of water going help in addressing God?  

Along with beseech...behold is not exactly a word that falls from my lips all that much.  I don't say to my children, "Behold, there is a hot air balloon."  I say, "Look!"  Or I don't say, "Behold" when at a 4th of July fireworks show.  I say, "Wow!"  Or "oooo and ahhhhhh"  The great thing about "Behold" is that it means both.  Both that I am amazing, the tiny hairs on my neck are standing upright AND I want others to notice it too.  

I was recently at a person's home, looking out quietly over the garden when we both spotted the first butterfly of the season.  We watched it silently flutter from a flower.  It's wings flapping faster than we could count and gracefully moving around.  It was a "behold" moment both because of its beauty and because we both saw it/experienced it/dwelt in it together.

God tells Isaiah God is going to do a new thing for people to see and be amazed by and notice/pay attention to.  When John sees Jesus he tell others this is a new thing for people to see and be amazed by and notice/pay attention to.  Perhaps the reason why we don't behold much any more is because life is a blur.  I am so busy getting my kids to practices, trying to keep up with my job, make space to honor my marriage covenant, and occasionally read a book, that there is not much time for beholding.  But God does not always move in dramatic bolts of lightening that catch our attention.  God in my life is more like that butterfly that I might have missed had it not been for slowing down.

I am setting this to be posted while I am on vacation, trying to observe a pace of life that is more beholding, less blurry.  But I wonder what happens when I get back to work and the emails have piled up and decisions need to be made and the church year is on the cusp of beginning anew.  Will I try to keep beholding?  Because a life lived noticing God is the way of deep, holy, whole life.  

I pray you've had moments of beholding God this last summer and this week.  I pray that when your skin tingled you sensed the trace of God's grace.  More than that, I pray we will keep trying to practice that kind of watchfulness in our lives...because it matters and makes a difference.

Blessings...and may a butterfly disrupt your carefully planned day to behold the beauty of God!