Set Free

What is serious to man is often very trivial in the sight of God.

What in God might appear to us as "play" is perhaps what

He Himself takes most seriously.

 At any rate the Lord plays and diverts Himself

in the garden of His creation,

and if we could let go of our own obsession with

what we think is the meaning of it all,

we might be able to hear His call

and follow Him in His mysterious, cosmic dance.

~Thomas Merton

New Seeds of Contemplation

This art journal page was a meditation on part of the scripture passage from the previous Sunday's message. The theme of the sermon series is "Set Free" - something we all need to hear and really receive. 

Dear children, let us not love with words or speech

but with actions and in truth.

This is how we know that we belong to the truth

and how we set our hearts in his presence:

If our hearts condemn us,

we know that God is greater than our hearts,

and he knows everything.

Dear friends, if our heart do not condemn us,

we have confidence before God

and receive from him anything we ask,

because we keep his commands and do what pleases him.

And this is his command: 

to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ,

and to love one another as he commanded us.

The one who keeps God's commands lives in him,

and he in them.

And this is how we know that he lives in us:

We know it by the Spirit he gave us.

~ I John 3:18-24 (NIV)

And that is indeed a freeing thought. For so often my heart condemns me. 

But God is greater than my heart. And he knows everything.