taken from Brenda's book "Song of Christ" July 2002 Selection
"I AM that I AM. Tell them I AM has sent you....Before Abraham was, I AM" Exodus 3: 13-14; John 8:58
Dearhearts, A shaft of light broke through the clouds and splashed the mountain on the far side of the valley as I stood at an overlook on the Talimena Scenic Drive that bridges Oklahoma and Arkansas. Like a heavenly spotlight, it drenched a small patch that subtly moved across the forested terrain as the clouds above moved. When Moses asked God whom he should say had sent him, God's answer revealed a name no one had heard before: "I AM"; not I WAS and ALWAYS SHALL BE. It simply was I AM, the eternally present God. When Christ used that name with the Pharisees, they sought to kill Him because they knew He was claiming Godship. If we would live life fully we must live our moments well and be fully there with this great I AM God. The present is that thin line that separates yesterday from tomorrow; it is the only place where we experience God. From the past we remember our experiences with God and with the future we anticipate them. It is only in the present moment that He meets us. And I see the shaft of sunshine sliding silently across the mountainside and understand. The moment is that heavenly beam where God intersects our lives; a Divine spotlight that will guide us as it moves across our terrain if we will but walk in it. As we step into that Son-drenched place we walk in His Spirit, moving as He moves, and life becomes brim-full and running over. Bondage from the past begins to lose its grip and future fears fade. Each moment, as it is embraced, becomes a steppingstone that takes us through our days, and as we live them well, they are strung like precious pearls through our lives. And we become more childlike. We feel the sun on our face and the breeze brush the hair from our eyes. We smell the honeysuckle and taste of its sweet nectar. We watch ants weave in and out through the bark on trees. We are mesmerized once again by fireflies in the falling dusk. We linger with those who come our way and see the deep hues of their eyes. We touch the lonely with our love and the discouraged with our hope. We lift sadness with our joy and dispel isolation with our touch. We do not run from pain...or deny it. We feel it...and grieve...and embrace our humanity. We celebrtate what it means to be human...and flawed......and saved. This moment is the gift of the loving I AM. As we walk in it, it shakes the slumber from our souls and the fatigue from our feet. It awakens the waning day and stirs again forgotten treasures and lost pleasures of innocence. It is a Divine splash on our landscape that can bring the fragrance of heaven into our day and breath of the Spirit into our walk. Seize not the day but the moment, and the wind of God will fill your sails.