crowns, coronets, and hoop skirts of light

"Milk Drop Coronet" by Harold Edgerton

Sometimes it’s just a word that connects-the-dots to memory. Like the word, “crowned” in Psalm 8:5, "crowned him with glory and honor." A word study of the Hebrew word used for “crowned” is `atar (aw-tar') meaning "to surround, encircle (for protection); especially to crown -- compass, crown, to cover, enwrap, wrap oneself." The moment I read this definition the image of another “crown” came to mind, but now with the added meaning, “to surround, encircle, enwrap.” The “crown” I pictured was actually a photograph of the “Milk Drop Coronet” taken by Harold Edgerton in 1957, an unseen world of objects in motion, capturing that which is ordinarily invisible to the human eye...yet it was real. I wrote a blog post about the first time I saw the photograph in 1963, a memory that came back to me in 2007 as I wrote a journal entry in response to a Christian counselor’s prompt, “Tell me about a time when you felt special as a little girl.” As I wrote the journal entry, I drew a sketch of the photograph as I remembered it. 

Amazingly enough, just a few days later, the Lord would remind me of His Presence, Emmanuel—God with us, when I saw this same photograph at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC. The symbolism was unmistakable to me, my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has been with me all along—when I was knit together in my birthmother’s womb, when I was chosen, adopted, by loving Christian parents. He was with me when I first saw the “Milk Drop Coronet.”  He was with me when I recalled it in my journal following the counseling session, and He was with me when I turned to look at the darkened alcove in the museum to snap a picture of the “Milk Drop Coronet.” He is with me today and everyday into the future. He is with me. He is intimately involved in the tiniest details of my past, my present, and my future.

Now, this word study of the word “crowned” with the added meaning, “to surround, encircle, enwrap” reminds me that He “crowns” me with His glory and honor everywhere I go, surrounds me, encircles me, like a hoop skirt of light, visible in the heavenlies. One of the greatest compliments I’ve ever received, included in the newspaper article in this blog post, was, “She was like a shining light coming through the door.” Then recently, another friend described me the same way. I know that “light” is Jesus shining through me, surrounding me, encircling me.

A pastor’s wife once told this true story of a time she was walking down a path in a park, when suddenly, she could see a man running toward her with an evil intent and expression on his face. She cried out, “Jesus, help me!” and instantly she said she actually saw a “hoop skirt of light” shining down around her, and the evil man just kept running past her, as though he had not seen her, and she was safe.

Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:16

Just to know that I know that I know that because I have placed my trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ, I am redeemed by His precious blood, He has crowned me, surrounded me, encircled me with His glory and honor… as this song says, I am a greatly blessed, highly favored, and deeply loved child of God.

Heavenly Father, thank you, that in Christ, You have crowned me with Your glory and honor. I am a greatly blessed, highly favored, and deeply loved child of God. Thank you for how Your favor is operating and functioning in my life. It surrounds me and encircles me like a shield. Your favor goes before me and prepares my way. Your favor opens doors of blessing and opportunity in my life. Wherever I go and whatever I do, Your favor is with me, surrounding me, encircling me. Your favor fills my life with overflowing blessing, peace, joy, fulfillment, and abundance.

How about you, does this encourage you? Please feel free to leave your comments in the box below, I’d love to hear from you.

Linking up with Holley Gerth's Coffee for Your Heart as an encourager.

absolutely certain...God is with me

Every week when Holley Gerth gives her Coffee for Your Heart prompt for the coming week, I begin to pray, asking God to bring to mind those times when He has revealed His Truth to me regarding the prompt. This week the prompt is, “You’re not alone.”

As I prayed, I was reminded of a question I heard Pastor Andy Stanley ask,

"What would a girl, just like you, do, in a situation just like the one you are in, if she was absolutely certain that God was with her?"  

That question helps me focus on Jesus, and the Truth that I know and believe…His name is Emmanuel, God with us, He will never leave us or forsake us. Hebrews 13:5b Amplified translates this verse in an even stronger way:

”...for He [God] Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let [you] down (relax My hold on you)! [Assuredly not!]"

As I prayed, I kept recalling times in my life when our Lord Jesus Christ has used a simple timeline document to help me gain a wide-angle view of life…to help me see that God had been there all along.

As I prayed, I remembered when I first saw the “Milk Drop Coronet" photograph in a book when I was pulled-out for a special class as a child. I then recalled it in a journal entry following a counseling session as an adult. Amazingly enough, just a few days following that, the Lord would remind me of His Presence, Emmanuel—God with us, when I saw this same photograph at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC. The symbolism was unmistakable to me, my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has been with me all along—when I was knit together in my birthmother’s womb, when I was chosen, adopted, by loving Christian parents. He was with me when I first saw the “Milk Drop Coronet.”  He was with me when I recalled it in my journal following the counseling session, and He was with me when I turned to look at the darkened alcove to snap a picture of the “Milk Drop Coronet.” He is with me today and everyday into the future. He is with me. He is intimately involved in the tiniest details of my past, my present, and my future.

As I prayed, I remembered being a 10 year-old, admitted to the hospital on the Monday following JFK's assassination in 1963, for a routine tonsillectomy. The orderly came to my hospital room where my Mom and Dad were with me waiting for the time of surgery. He pushed my stretcher down the hall, Mom and Dad clinging to my hands, and telling me everything was going to be okay. Suddenly, we came to the elevator, and he said to them, “I’m sorry, you’ll have to wait here. You can’t go with us any farther.” I looked at my Mom and Dad, who looked like they were near tears. As I watched the elevator doors close, I felt a sweet peace encompass me, just like Jesus was wrapping His Loving Arms around me. I had received Jesus Christ as my Savior and had been baptized just a few months earlier. I knew Jesus was with me in that elevator, and He would be with me during the surgery, I was not afraid. I woke up back in my hospital room with the scenes of JFK Jr. saluting JFK’s flag-draped coffin on the small black-and-white TV mounted on the wall at the end of my bed in the hospital.

As I prayed, Jesus reminded of how He comforted with me with the song, “Be Still My Soul” on Amy Grant’s Legacy CD, which played on “repeat” the entire time my Mom was in palliative care prior to her homegoing. It begins with a  melancholy guitar solo followed by the lyrics to “Be Still My Soul,” a haunting admonition to leave things in God's hands, culminating with a voice-over by Amy. My heart was so captured by it I wrote every word in the Bible I had with me. Even now thinking about it brings back the flood of warm feelings I experienced during those days, knowing that Jesus was with me in her room…gently carrying her home.

Finally, as I prayed, the Lord reminded me of this beautiful rendition of the song, “Alone Yet Not Alone,” performed by Joni Eareckson Tada. Quadriplegic, Joni, with limited lung capacity due to her disability, had her husband, Ken, pushing on her diaphragm while she recorded the Oscar-nominated song to give her enough breath to hit the high notes.

In what ways does the Lord reveal to you that, “You’re Not Alone”... please feel free to leave your comments in the box below, I would love to know your thoughts.

Milk Drop Coronet

"Milk Drop Coronet" photo by Harold Edgerton

Quicker Than a Wink

I was the new kid in third grade at Woodlawn Elementary in Sebring, Florida, 1962. As an only child, I always felt alone, now even more so. The teacher said I was identified as “special” and would be “pulled-out” of my regular class once a week to go to a “special” class under the stage in the cafetorium to research anything that was interesting to me. “Special,” it fit, it felt good, I had been chosen, selected for something special, just like when I had been adopted, chosen, wanted, loved. Walking down the steps into the slightly darker, musky-smelling room under the stage, I picked up a book on photography. Turning the pages slowly, in awe at the wonder of this new world, suddenly there it was, the “Milk Drop Coronet” photograph by Harold Edgerton, an unseen world of objects in motion, capturing that which is ordinarily invisible to the human eye...yet it was real.

“Pretend you are “little Beth” and describe what it’s like to be you.” It was November 23, 2007, the counselor was helping me learn that “feelings are neutral” and how to let my feelings come to the surface, writing in my journal about how special “little Beth” felt in that room under the stage. Just a few weeks later, December 21, 2007, my family and I are visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. We walk through the central aisle, looking ahead, then suddenly, I turn my head to the right and from the corner of my eye, catch a glimpse of a photograph displayed in a darkened alcove. At first, I keep moving straight ahead, but something stopped me in my tracks and turned me around to go back and take a closer look. Back to the darkened alcove, back to the darkened room below the stage, back to my childhood. It was the memory which had just come to the surface in my counseling, the “Milk Drop Coronet” photograph by Harold Edgerton, framed and lighted, and on display in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I couldn’t believe my eyes, it was the same photograph I had only seen once before, and yet I had drawn a sketch of it in my journal just a month before this.

excerpt from my journal Nov. 23, 2007

I took out my cell phone and snapped a picture of this “Milk Drop Coronet,” and even now it is what I see every time I pick up my cell phone, saved as the background on my phone. The symbolism was unmistakable to me, my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has been with me all along—when I was knit together in my birthmother’s womb, when I was chosen, adopted, by loving Christian parents, when I walked down those steps and first saw the “Milk Drop Coronet” in 1962, when I turned to look at the darkened alcove to snap a picture of the “Milk Drop Coronet” in 2007, today and everyday into the future. He is with me, He is intimately involved in the tiniest details of my past, my present, and my future. Trusting God means looking beyond what we can see to what God sees. A wider view, a broader perspective, a new day, a new way of looking at things, of allowing all the feelings to surface.

Because of Christ, I am not alone, He is with me, invisible to the human eye, yet “quicker than a wink,” in the blink of an eye, what was unseen is seen, in that other realm, that other dimension, just beyond the veil, visible in the heavenlies. He sees me, He knows me, He knew me, before He knit me together in my birthmother’s womb, I was planned, I am eternally significant. He knew that before I saw the photograph of the "Milk Drop Coronet" for the first time in 1962 that it would come to the surface with feeling in November 2007 and I would turn aside to take a closer look in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in December 2007…I am known, I was planned, I am significant, I have hope for the future.

From Ephesians Chapter One, I know and believe that in Christ, I am blessed with every spiritual blessing, accepted in the beloved Son of God, adopted as a child of the King, chosen before the foundation of the world, redeemed by His blood, forgiven by His grace and mercy, and loved with an everlasting love. In Christ, we are known, we are planned, and we have hope for the future...

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Lord Jesus, Thank You for this encouraging Truth from Your Word, that in Christ, we are who You say we are. Thank You for the free gift of salvation, that we are justified on the basis of Your finished work on the Cross. Thank You that, right now, we are under the completely sufficient imputed righteousness of Christ. Because we have placed our trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ, we are redeemed by Your precious blood. The threat of failure, judgment, and condemnation has been removed. Knowing that God’s love for us and approval of us will never be determined by our performance is the most encouraging promise to which we cling—what great things You have done! We love You, Lord. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

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Look Up—meditate on Ephesians Chapter 1 …pray to see what it reveals about the character of God.

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Look In—as you meditate on Ephesians Chapter 1 …pray to see how you might apply it to your life. Be propelled to ask galvanizing questions about your discoveries: "Because God is_________, I will_____________."

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Look Out—as you meditate on Ephesians Chapter 1…pray to see how you might apply it to your relationships with others. Let the nature of God impact on every relationship, for your good, and for His glory.