Unveiled

Sand Creek Canyon - Death Valley '10

2 Corinthians 3

¹⁶But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. ¹⁷Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. ¹⁸And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect^a]">[a] the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

This picture was taken on one of our hikes through Sand Creek Canyon. That crag was about thirty feet high, and it took quite a lot of maneuvering to scale the shale rock that crumbles beneath your feet. The wind picks up sharply at odd intervals and this was pretty much the only one out of about fifteen pictures where the veil was fully picked up by the wind.

So, I was looking for a scripture having to do with a veil--and there were a lot of Old Testament mentions of a purple veil, but this New Testament verse stuck with me more than those others.

When we give our lives to Jesus, he removes the veil from our faces so that we can reflect His glory. We know that we are made in his image, but we only truly being to resemble Him when we surrender ourselves to Him so that He can free us from the bondage of this world. But the freedom we seek, that compels us to turn to Him, is found only with the Spirit. It's "where the Spirit of the Lord is," so we must go with the Spirit to maintain our freedom.

In other words, we can't just turn to Him, and then go our own way later because we fall right back into the chains we left. If we are to live to His glory and honor Him with our lives, then we must remain with Him and allow Him to transform us. It is a huge privilege to be chosen to reflect the glory of God Almighty. Look around you and you will see His glory, and imagine if our lives reflect even a fraction of that.

Lend me your imagination as I describe the canyon we visited for this picture.

The walls and crags on both side of the narrow path jutted out of the ground at incredible angles.

The slopes looked as though they might topple over and collapse at any moment yet they stood silently still. Years ago some catastrophic quake must have rocked the earth and violently shifted these crags, but now they rest. Upon closer examination, the walls of stone are found to be thousands and hundreds of thousands of layers of shale. You can peel away the cliffs one layer at a time, and crumble the thin slivers of stone in your palm. Each layer bore a different shade and pattern of stone, delicate on its own, but massive and strong when compressed together.

When the bright sunlight hits these walls, the reflection is almost blinding. How great is our God to shape the walls of these canyons and shift them as he pleases, then stabilize them impossibly to allow us the pleasure of viewing them? How great is our God to leave such masterpieces in nature to show us His glory? How great is our God to allow us to reflect this same glory in our own lives? How can we portray the slightest measure of the majesty of these mountains and cliffs in ourselves?

It is simple. Through His love.
God does not love the mountains and hills or any part of nature like He loves us.

His love waits for us for ages and ages until the day we finally turn to Him and allow Him to make a masterpiece of our lives. And the masterpiece He will work out of us will be more magnificent than any geological phenomenon--greater than any of nature's best. It has to be, because He made us to be like Him. He will make our lives so wonderful as to be worthy of bearing His name and reflecting His glory. And then He will make us greater still.

How about that? Can you even imagine? Just try. :)

Open Heart

San Juan Capistrano '10

Galatians 5

¹⁴ The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."

That seems simple enough. Most of us can even claim to be adhering to that simple little rule. The only problem that some of us are having is that we don't always like ourselves all that much. Simply projecting the amount of love one has for their own self onto others is not the fulfillment of this task. We often bear down too hard on ourselves under the guise of seeking to improve ourselves.

Love, in every instance, is an ongoing act. Its not a mental state, it is a continuous action. Most of us are familiar with the Greek word agapaō, meaning love.
ἀγαπάω

But it is helpful to know some of the alternate meanings and translations to shed more light on this otherwise ambiguous word. These days we ascribe so much to that little four letter word; we would do better to know the parameters that this particular verse infers.

In reference to people, this word incorporates the following meanings: to welcome, to be fond of, and to love dearly; to wish well to, to regard the welfare of and to be full of good will and exhibit the same. In reference to things, it incorporates these meanings: to be well pleased, to be contented at or with a thing.

Take care to carefully consider the other entries we've discovered in regards to the meaning of love. ( but note the bold print, as this is our ultimate goal and an effective goal for keeping the entire law and inheriting eternal life through Christ Jesus.)

Now, I will open my heart to you. The lack of love shown to one's self is indeed connected to the amount of self-confidence one has--but it is not the effect, it is the cause. How we perceive ourselves is a direct result of how much we love and value our selves.

If I for whatever reason am unhappy with some aspect of myself, I take it out on me by looking down on me. Remember, how we view ourselves is how we project ourselves to the rest of the world too. So if I think little of me, others will likely think less of me and treat me accordingly. As a result, I am likely to hold a grudge against others for treating me in a manner that fits perfectly with how I perceive and portray myself, yet is grossly incongruous with how I want to be treated.

Now how can I fix this equation?

How I love and see me = How you see and treat me = How I treat you

If we start at the beginning, no clear action can be taken. (I can write myself cute little notes and put on rosy glasses, but it won't change a thing.) I can't change the middle section either. (I can't control you, and can hardly influence your thoughts without actions.) I can, however, actively work to change the latter part. If I treat others kindly, despite how disjointed their reciprocation may be, I know within myself that I am performing a task that is difficult, yet is required of me. Thus, I create a sense of duty which I in turn interpret as responsible self-improvement. Self-improvement is what I was going for in the long run anyway, so that in turn makes me happy with myself. I think better of myself, and as I continue in this manner I learn to love myself at last.

So, now we come back to our ultimate goal: loving others like ourselves! Now it actually means something. If we open our hearts to others, and treat them well because we aim to love them--we set ourselves up to love ourselves.

And we're so gullible, we'll often fall for anything. ;)

Photo by Arina B
Lexicon

The Rock

Natural Bridge Trail - Death Valley '10

Psalms 40

2 He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, [and] established my goings.

This is yet another picture from Death Valley. Along the trail to the Natural Bridge we came across what was once a waterfall. The trail itself used to be a stream bed, and dry chutes have been carved out of the walls of the canyon over hundreds of years. Now, you'll have to lend me your imagination a little earlier on in this one, as it's so hard to imagine this same canyon as a swift stream with water pouring over the edges on both sides. This particular trail used to be a flood channel. Subsequently, it's less likely to have been the exotic (Avatar-esque) waterfall site and more likely that it was a dark and dangerous passageway for muddy waters with boulders jutting out of the draining river.

Sometimes life's course mimics this same geographical scenario. A dark and dangerous passageway for muddy water. One can never choose how life comes at us, but we have options as to how we deal with it. We can go with the flow and hope we don't drown in the swirling currents; doing our best to avoid being bashed against the boulders and rocky cliff walls. Or we can yield to God, let ourselves be saved and led out of the situation.

In the above-mentioned scripture, 'He brought me up' comes from the root Hebrew word 'alah,'

עָלָה

which in a majority of its 895 mentions points to some sort of vertical travel/effort with both active and passive implications. However, it can also be translated (read: transliterated) as to rouse (mentally), to exalt, to cause to grow, and to cause to excel. Taken from this lesser known point of view, we can surmise that part of our rescue is a mental transformation and progression. This is a perfectly plausible notion seeing as the verse itself is figurative (though possibly literal) and life's troubles are generally perceived. The weight and severity of our problems is directly correlated to how much we allow ourselves to worry about them. Worrying is a mental state of uneasiness (and can also mean to attack [the mind] roughly.) So if we allow God to restore our minds--transform them entirely, then we can make it through whatever issues come at us.

Only God can exalt us, and cause us to excel in the midst of our troubles. If we allow him to, we will find ourselves safely on a rock and with a new plan for our lives. No matter how deep we've gotten ourselves into something, God can get us out. The word establish is kün,
כּוּן

which means to fix, to direct, to arrange, to prepare, to be [make] firm. So whatever it is, you're covered. If you screwed it up along the way--He fixed it. If you weren't sure whether or not you were ever going to get there--its been arranged and prepared for. If you had no clue where you were headed in the first place--it's directed and firmly established. This is the rock, a firm anchor for our faith in God that he will deliver us. Stand upon this belief that He will take care of you.

So let God do what He does best and save us. But after that, don't go off on your own so you can fall into another miry mess, let Him show you how best to avoid these pitfalls in life. Let Him bring you through your destiny so you can discover and complete your purpose in life. I say through your destiny because contrary to popular misconception, it is not a destination. Your destiny is a course of events and circumstances. You don't just get there one day, its a journey. One thing that's important to remember about life is that it is not a one-way, dead end road. It is a passage from one form of existence to another. Not like, human>lizard>beetle>bird...but human being>spiritual being with no definite 'end'.

And what are your life's present troubles when you have eternity to consider?

Hmm...? ;)

Photos by Arina Borodina

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Lexicon of Pslams 40

Amongst Ruins

Rhyolite, NV '10

^{1 John 3}

²Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. ³Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.

This is another pic from our mini-road trip to Death Valley. Rhyolite is a ghost town somewhere in the middle of nowhere between Nevada and California. There were some pretty impressive ruins from about 100 years ago. The particular structure I am standing by in this photo used to be a bank. It is interesting that these ruins are all that remain of a once flourishing city after a century. There were literally six structures in a valley where there used to be barely any room to drive a horse cart. So little now remains.

Sometimes we look at our lives that way too. We look back at what once was and then we compare it to where we are now and are disheartened. I personally can attest to this, and anyone who has had any remotely difficult situation occur in their lives will also concur. We are often warned against letting our past outshine our future. So we are left with the option of tearing down our past accomplishments to equal our current state of being; or pushing forward and accomplishing something greater. The feeling of being discontented can be used to our advantage. If we are not satisfied with where we are in respect to where we were, we can drive ourselves to move on to greater heights.

We are on the brink of something huge--standing precariously on the edge of greatness. We just need a little nudge to push us over the edge that we fearfully backpedal from.

Everything we went through between then and now is in some way necessary to take us where we are going. Most of us don't know 'where we are going' and so we set out to find ourselves. We don't realize that in actuality, we can never really find ourselves outside of God.

Lend me your imagination, and I'll simplify this notion.

It's like we live inside of a painting--a wondrous masterpiece of vivid color and unmatched beauty. Let's say it is a landscape: at the forefront of the painting is a vast field, with a wide stream that runs into a dense forest, and the forest is at the edge of a cluster of rock-riddled hills and the hills are at the base of a towering mountain and the mountain reaches up to the limitless sky... But when you look around you, all you see are the tall grasses of the field, and just at the edge of your horizon is a hazy line of trees. How can you know where you are or where you are going? We have to ask the artist himself, as he is outside the painting and knows full well what is in the painting because all of it is his creation.

We need to ask Him for guidance. If we ask Him--taking the time to listen and obey, we will better understand our place and purpose in this world. We will better understand Him and His purpose, and we will finally see Him. Not with our natural senses, but with our hearts. We will see Him and we will see that His goal is for us to be like Him. Then we will achieve greatness in and by Him. And then, nothing in our past will taunt us, or guilt us or make us feel small.

Who can feel small in God? How can we be useless if we are like God?

God is a creator in every sense of the word. He has even gifted us with imaginations to be creative ourselves. Using this tool that is indeed vital to our existence, we can shape the world around us and turn our lives into masterpieces.

So what do you say? :)

Photos by: Arina Borodina

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Flowers

Death Valley '10

Psalms 103:15 As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. 16 For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more.

1 Peter 1:24 For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away.

We came across this little beauty quite literally in the middle of nowhere. We stopped the car somewhere along the way to Death Valley and found her along the side of the road amongst rocks and sand. We were stunned that it could have grown in such conditions, and at the uniqueness of its beauty. How could something so delicate live in such terrain? And further still, why would it bother--here, of all places? Our lives on this earth are compared to flowers and grass in the aforementioned verses of scripture, but all in all it is hardly a pleasant thought. Why such a comparison? Simply to show the frailty of humanity? Perhaps not.

Lend me your imagination, and I will tell you why.

Our lives, fleeting and inconsequential as they sometimes seem, are beautiful little masterpieces. Each delicately displaying a unique character, cultivated from often harsh or less than desirable conditions, that is at once a proud show of accomplishment and a humble display of perseverance. The flower draws what nourishment it can from the soil and becomes something beautiful. It can't choose where it is planted, where it's seed falls. It can't beg the skies to shower rain, and it can't beseech the sun to deal kindly with it. It can hardly fend off the critters it shares its world with, and the span of its existence depend largely on its surroundings. And for all that it accomplishes, and everything it endures and overcomes, it still withers and dies...

It could not be saved for and because of its beauty. When the time calls for it, when the flower cannot live anymore off of the ground, it returns to the ground. But with it, it delivers something valuable. The wind blows and it carries the seed of the next lovely flower that will sprout and bloom when and where conditions are favorable enough for it to survive. We hear all the time that we should 'make the most of it', 'appreciate and live life to the fullest' but for all that we do, we cannot escape mortality. We put so much importance on what we do in our present lives, when we ought to put more thought into what we're going to do afterward. We have the opportunity to create something wonderful right here and now in this world, and the chance to live again in Christ Jesus.

What is our life worth in the grand scheme again? Whatever we make it worth. What is the point of trying if we cannot avoid death? The point is to prepare for the next life, in Christ Jesus.

Photo by: Arina Borodina

Evening Sky

Death Valley '10

Psalms 148
Praise ye the Lord, Praise ye the Lord from the heavens: praise him in the heights. 2 Praise him, all his angels, all his hosts. 3 Praise him, sun and moon: praise him, all ye stars of light. 4 Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters above the heavens. 5 Let them praise the name of the Lord: for he commanded, and they were created. 6 He hath also stablished them for ever and ever; he hath made a decree which shall not pass.


There are billions of stars in the sky, but only a couple thousand are actually visible to the unaided eye. On the road back from Death Valley, my friend and I snapped a pic of the sky which afforded us greater visibility far from the light pollution of the cities. ('Snapped' is actually the wrong word to use as it implies making quick work of the process--this particular photo actually took a few minutes. We would have liked to have kept the shutter open longer, but we were interrupted by highway patrol.) By the way, the eerie orange glow on the ground is actually from her hazard lights blinking behind us. It creates kind of a cool effect though, I like to think. Anyways...

It is a curious thing to consider how small a portion of the sky we actually see. Our sky seems boundless, but we have only a tiny window to the great beyond. Like peep-hole size. If that.

Lend me your imagination again and I will write you a pretty little shred of prose. :)

Imagine that you can take flight, without any apparatus and soar into the air. You pierce the skies, traveling high above the earth. As you penetrate the upper layers of the atmosphere your little bubble is engulfed in flames from the sheer friction of your speed. You burst into the realm of the stars, unimpeded by the frailty of your being and the limitations of your species. You flit from one celestial body to the next, covering thousands of light-years of distance in seconds. You see millions of stars one moment, and a million more the next. All of them radiating beauty, reflecting light from one to another. What is this light? This is that same light being spoken into existence by the Almighty before time was set in motion. Its source, then, clearly being the great Elohim. The one who creates and fashions the wondrous elements of our universe out of His own greatness. The sheer magnitude of his greatness is too much for us to fathom, but is showcased in the world around us.

For this, we praise him. We--the living, speaking beings of this earth praise him with our mouths and our hearts. How then, do the stars praise him? These beauteous creations of His, without mouths, bodies or spirits? They exist as collections of dust, gases, and energy, reacting to their various elements and the ones around them; giving off heat, energy and light.
Light!
They reflect light to and from one another, casting it to and fro. And how do we praise him? We sing of Him, and speak of Him to one another, echoing our adoration high and low. We are alike. We are both created, and we both share the realization of his greatness with those around us.

How about it? ;)

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Photo by: Arina Borodina

Mosaic Canyon

Mosaic Canyon - Death Valley '10

Psalms 104

1 Bless the Lord, O my Soul. O Lord my God thou art clothed with honour and majesty. 5 Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed forever. 6 Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment: the waters stood above the mountains. 7 At they rebuke they fled; at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away. 8 They go up by the mountains; they go down by the valleys unto the place which thou hast founded for them. 10 He sendeth the springs into the valleys, which run among the hills.

The marble-like walls of this canyon were formed by flash floods carrying debris of sand, rock and gravel. They are so cool and smooth to the touch, shaded by the steep canyon walls. There are no animals, and there are hardly any plants. Sharp winds cut through the winding passages every now and again; they settle as quickly as they arrive. There are so many different textures the deeper you travel amongst the cliffs. The walls are ribboned with different patterns and different shades of color. Standing at the base of these cliffs looking up at the cut out of sky, one feels an enormous sense of awe.

Lend me your imagination for a moment and I'll personify this geographical phenomenon.

I lay my palms on the towering rock walls to see what I might hear; they are stoic and obstinately silent. These ancient monuments, carved by time and nature, hold their tongue. They will not speak of the countless suns they've seen rise and set; of the streams that have carved out paths in their midst; of the ones who have crumbled at their sides, beaten down and worn away at their stubborn stance. They do not radiate life like trees and flowers, birds and other creatures. They remain after billions of years, still and silently exacting our awe. They intimately know the hand of the creator and the cycles He puts into motion, where we only see the work of Him in the world around us. They know and are reverentially silent.

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Photo by: Arina Borodina

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~Harmony