"Barefoot and Breathless"

Here we are at the beginning of a brand new year. 2008 stretches out before each of us with blessings just waiting to be unwrapped one day at a time--indeed, one moment at a time. In the coming 365 days we will all experience moments of exquisite joy, moments that take us by surprise and take our breath away. And no doubt we may also walk through some dark valleys as well. We might even be amazed to find some of those exquisite moments shining like the North Star in those dark valleys. One thing is for sure, this time next year when New Year's Day 2009 rolls around, we won't any of us, be exactly the same as we are today.

So how do you want to be different?

This year I want to be more aware of the treasures that sometimes come camouflaged in our ordinary days. I want to train my eyes, and my ears, and my soul to pay attention, to notice, to receive these gifts. I don't want to be so busy with the mundane routine of life that I don't have the time, the energy, nor even the inclination to see the beauty, to be amazed, to sense the presence and nearness of my God.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning penned these words:

"Earth is crammed with heaven
and every common bush afire with God;
but only he who sees takes off his shoes.
The rest sit around it and
pluck blackberries."

I want to spend more time barefoot because I am aware I am on holy ground.

Mark Buchanan in his book YOUR GOD IS TOO SAFE makes the point that we tend to separate our lives into two categories: sacred and secular. The problem with that distinction, he says, is that according to Colossians 1:16-17 all things were created by Christ--things in heaven and on earth, things visible and invisible, thrones, powers, rulers, authorities--ALL THINGS. They were all created by Him and for Him. Buchanan says, "In the biblical worldview, there is only the sacred and the profane; and the profane is just the sacred abused, unkempt, trampled down, trivialized, turned inside out. It is just the holy treated in an unholy way."

I want to be able to recognize all that is sacred as I live in the "everydayness" of this gift of a brand new year. I want that awareness to leave me amazed and breathless.

If I have a New Year's Resolution it would be this. I want to be able to say, when I look back, that I lived 2008 "barefoot and breathless!"

What are some exquisite moments you have experienced in your ordinary days? What things have left you breathless? What are some things that have caused you to "take off your shoes" when you realized you were standing on holy ground?