Messages from The Message!

Ever since listening to Sisterchicks Do The Hula by Robin Jones Gunn (I finished this audiobook last week while knitting!), I've been pondering some of the verses she quotes in the story from The Message (a contemporary Bible version by Eugene H. Peterson).

One verse in particular has become one of my new faves:

Psalm 32:7
God's my island hideaway,
keeps danger far from the shore,
throws garlands of hosannas around my neck.

my island hideaway on maui

I love the mental picture I get now when I read this. I suppose it's partly because I've been to Maui less than a year ago, but I think it's also because of how the character in the book takes time to explore the deeper meaning of these words as well. In Hawaii, a lei is a garland that is placed around someone's neck. If I understand correctly, they used to be made by one person to give to another. Each one also tells a story. What a beautiful picture of God making me my own unique story-lei and placing it around my neck like a cherished garland of hosannas! Wow!

a garland of hosannas!

Just today I read another verse in the Psalms (also from The Message) that was, for me at least, quite poignant.

Psalm 16:11b
Ever since you took my hand,
I'm on the right way.
As a mother, I'm often grabbing my kids' hands. Usually I do this to keep them from harm or to get them to go in the same direction I'm going. In the same way, I can see now that God takes hold of my hand and guides me along life's pathways--the way He desires for me to go. As long as I don't let go and run away in my own direction, like disobedient children sometimes do, He promises to guide me, protect me, and take care of my needs along the way. Isn't that wonderful?