The Man in the Mirror Journey
is a journey of walking out of a tomb and recognizing everyday the beauty and significance of how God created us. Instead of rebonding and finding esteem in the arms of someone else, these are the step to seeing it in the arms of God
Day 50
My Bones
The man said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called 'woman, ' for she was taken out of man."
My Old Reflection
Job 4:14
fear and trembling seized me and made all my bones shake.
fear and trembling seized me and made all my bones shake.
Job 20:11
The youthful vigor that fills his bones will lie with him in the dust.
The youthful vigor that fills his bones will lie with him in the dust.
Job 17:6
"God, you've made me the talk of the town— people spit in my face; I can hardly see from crying so much; I'm nothing but skin and bones. Decent people can't believe what they're seeing; the good-hearted wake up and insist I've given up on God.
"God, you've made me the talk of the town— people spit in my face; I can hardly see from crying so much; I'm nothing but skin and bones. Decent people can't believe what they're seeing; the good-hearted wake up and insist I've given up on God.
Proverbs 5:7
So, my friend, listen closely; don't treat my words casually. Keep your distance from such a woman; absolutely stay out of her neighborhood. You don't want to squander your wonderful life, to waste your precious life among the hardhearted. Why should you allow strangers to take advantage of you? Why be exploited by those who care nothing for you? You don't want to end your life full of regrets, nothing but sin and bones, Saying, "Oh, why didn't I do what they told me? Why did I reject a disciplined life? Why didn't I listen to my mentors, or take my teachers seriously? My life is ruined! I haven't one blessed thing to show for my life!"
So, my friend, listen closely; don't treat my words casually. Keep your distance from such a woman; absolutely stay out of her neighborhood. You don't want to squander your wonderful life, to waste your precious life among the hardhearted. Why should you allow strangers to take advantage of you? Why be exploited by those who care nothing for you? You don't want to end your life full of regrets, nothing but sin and bones, Saying, "Oh, why didn't I do what they told me? Why did I reject a disciplined life? Why didn't I listen to my mentors, or take my teachers seriously? My life is ruined! I haven't one blessed thing to show for my life!"
He turned me into a scarecrow of skin and bones, then broke the bones. He hemmed me in, ganged up on me, poured on the trouble and hard times. He locked me up in deep darkness, like a corpse nailed inside a coffin.
2 Corinthians 11:28
And that's not the half of it, when you throw in the daily pressures and anxieties of all the churches. When someone gets to the end of his rope, I feel the desperation in my bones. When someone is duped into sin, an angry fire burns in my gut.
And that's not the half of it, when you throw in the daily pressures and anxieties of all the churches. When someone gets to the end of his rope, I feel the desperation in my bones. When someone is duped into sin, an angry fire burns in my gut.
Psalm 32:3
When I kept it all inside, my bones turned to powder, my words became daylong groans.
When I kept it all inside, my bones turned to powder, my words became daylong groans.
When I was in my Tomb
Matthew 23:27
"You're hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees!
"You're hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees!
Frauds! You're like manicured grave plots, grass clipped and the flowers bright, but six feet down it's all rotting bones and worm-eaten flesh. People look at you and think you're saints, but beneath the skin you're total frauds.
This is what I believe God was saying when I was in my tomb wrapped up in layers and layers of stuff. Not that I wasn't saved, but that my process of healing...I was not letting God have his perfect work.
Psalm 38:3
I've lost twenty pounds in two months because of your accusation.
I've lost twenty pounds in two months because of your accusation.
My bones are brittle as dry sticks because of my sin. I'm swamped by my bad behavior, collapsed under gunnysacks of guilt.
The Blessed Bones
Genesis 50:25
Then Joseph made the sons of Israel promise under oath, "When God makes his visitation, make sure you take my bones with you as you leave here."
Then Joseph made the sons of Israel promise under oath, "When God makes his visitation, make sure you take my bones with you as you leave here."
1 Kings 13:31
After the funeral, the prophet said to his sons, "When I die, bury me in the same tomb where the holy man is buried, my bones alongside his bones. The message that he preached by God's command against the Altar at Bethel and against all the sex-and-religion shrines in the towns of Samaria will come true."
After the funeral, the prophet said to his sons, "When I die, bury me in the same tomb where the holy man is buried, my bones alongside his bones. The message that he preached by God's command against the Altar at Bethel and against all the sex-and-religion shrines in the towns of Samaria will come true."
Wisdom
Proverbs 12:4
A hearty wife invigorates her husband,
A hearty wife invigorates her husband,
but a frigid woman is cancer in the bones.
Proverbs 14:30
A sound mind makes for a robust body,
A sound mind makes for a robust body,
but runaway emotions corrode the bones.
Proverbs 5:1
[ Nothing but Sin and Bones ]
[ Nothing but Sin and Bones ]
Dear friend, pay close attention to this, my wisdom;
listen very closely to the way I see it.
Then you'll acquire a taste for good sense;
what I tell you will keep you out of trouble.
God's Response
Isaiah 8:11
[ A Boulder Blocking Your Way ]
[ A Boulder Blocking Your Way ]
God spoke strongly to me, grabbed me with both hands and warned me not to go along with this people. He said: "Don't be like this people, always afraid somebody is plotting against them. Don't fear what they fear. Don't take on their worries. If you're going to worry, worry about The Holy. Fear God-of-the-Angel-Armies. The Holy can be either a Hiding Place or a Boulder blocking your way, The Rock standing in the willful way of both houses of Israel, A barbed-wire Fence preventing trespass to the citizens of Jerusalem. Many of them are going to run into that Rock and get their bones broken, Get tangled up in that barbed wire and not get free of it."
Isaiah 58:9
[ A Full Life in the Emptiest of Places ]
[ A Full Life in the Emptiest of Places ]
"If you get rid of unfair practices, quit blaming victims, quit gossiping about other people's sins, If you are generous with the hungry and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out, Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness, your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight. I will always show you where to go. I'll give you a full life in the emptiest of places— firm muscles, strong bones. You'll be like a well-watered garden, a gurgling spring that never runs dry. You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past. You'll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again
My New Reflection
Breath of New Life Into Yourself!
Ezekiel 37:1
[ Breath of Life ]
[ Breath of Life ]
God grabbed me. God's Spirit took me up and set me down in the middle of an open plain strewn with bones. He led me around and among them—a lot of bones! There were bones all over the plain—dry bones, bleached by the sun.
Ezekiel 37:3
He said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" I said, "Master God, only you know that."
He said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" I said, "Master God, only you know that."
Ezekiel 37:4
He said to me, "Prophesy over these bones: 'Dry bones, listen to the Message of God!'"
He said to me, "Prophesy over these bones: 'Dry bones, listen to the Message of God!'"
Ezekiel 37:5
God, the Master, told the dry bones, "Watch this: I'm bringing the breath of life to you and you'll come to life. I'll attach sinews to you, put meat on your bones, cover you with skin, and breathe life into you. You'll come alive and you'll realize that I am God!"
God, the Master, told the dry bones, "Watch this: I'm bringing the breath of life to you and you'll come to life. I'll attach sinews to you, put meat on your bones, cover you with skin, and breathe life into you. You'll come alive and you'll realize that I am God!"
Ezekiel 37:7
I prophesied just as I'd been commanded. As I prophesied, there was a sound and, oh, rustling! The bones moved and came together, bone to bone. I kept watching. Sinews formed, then muscles on the bones, then skin stretched over them. But they had no breath in them.
I prophesied just as I'd been commanded. As I prophesied, there was a sound and, oh, rustling! The bones moved and came together, bone to bone. I kept watching. Sinews formed, then muscles on the bones, then skin stretched over them. But they had no breath in them.
10 So I prophesied, just as he commanded me. The breath entered them and they came alive! They stood up on their feet, a huge army.
11 Then God said to me, "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of (your name). Listen to what they're saying: 'Our bones are dried up, our hope is gone, there's nothing left of us.'
12-14 "Therefore, prophesy. Tell YOURSELF, 'God, the Master, says: I'll dig up your graves and bring you out alive—O my Shamael! Then I'll take you straight to the land of Israel. When I dig up graves and bring you out as my people, you'll realize that I am God. I'll breathe my life into you and you'll live. Then I'll lead you straight back to your land and you'll realize that I am God. I've said it and I'll do it. God's Decree.'"
Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don't try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God's voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he's the one who will keep you on track. Don't assume that you know it all. Run to God! Run from evil! Your body will glow with health, your very bones will vibrate with life! Honor God with everything you own; give him the first and the best. Your barns will burst, your wine vats will brim over. But don't, dear friend, resent God's discipline; don't sulk under his loving correction. It's the child he loves that God corrects; a father's delight is behind all this.
Prayer
Lord God I have been rested in your word as the bullets in my gun against the enemy! Heading toward the end of the first round of this journey I didn't want to relie on my own word but on "the word" as your son did towards the end of his in the wilderness. So here we are and we stand in the word below
Psalm 51:7
Soak me in your laundry and I'll come out clean, scrub me and I'll have a snow-white life. Tune me in to foot-tapping songs, set these once-broken bones to dancing. Don't look too close for blemishes, give me a clean bill of health. God, make a fresh start in me, shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life. Don't throw me out with the trash, or fail to breathe holiness in me. Bring me back from gray exile, put a fresh wind in my sails! Give me a job teaching rebels your ways so the lost can find their way home. Commute my death sentence, God, my salvation God, and I'll sing anthems to your life-giving ways. Unbutton my lips, dear God; I'll let loose with your praise.
Soak me in your laundry and I'll come out clean, scrub me and I'll have a snow-white life. Tune me in to foot-tapping songs, set these once-broken bones to dancing. Don't look too close for blemishes, give me a clean bill of health. God, make a fresh start in me, shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life. Don't throw me out with the trash, or fail to breathe holiness in me. Bring me back from gray exile, put a fresh wind in my sails! Give me a job teaching rebels your ways so the lost can find their way home. Commute my death sentence, God, my salvation God, and I'll sing anthems to your life-giving ways. Unbutton my lips, dear God; I'll let loose with your praise.
Psalm 73:25
You're all I want in heaven! You're all I want on earth! When my skin sags and my bonesget brittle, God is rock-firm and faithful. Look! Those who left you are falling apart! Deserters, they'll never be heard from again. But I'm in the very presence of God— oh, how refreshing it is! I've made Lord God my home. God, I'm telling the world what you do!
You're all I want in heaven! You're all I want on earth! When my skin sags and my bonesget brittle, God is rock-firm and faithful. Look! Those who left you are falling apart! Deserters, they'll never be heard from again. But I'm in the very presence of God— oh, how refreshing it is! I've made Lord God my home. God, I'm telling the world what you do!
Psalm 141:3
Post a guard at my mouth, God, set a watch at the door of my lips. Don't let me so much as dream of evil or thoughtlessly fall into bad company. And these people who only do wrong— don't let them lure me with their sweet talk! May the Just One set me straight, may the Kind One correct me, Don't let sin anoint my head. I'm praying hard against their evil ways! Oh, let their leaders be pushed off a high rock cliff; make them face the music. Like a rock pulverized by a maul, let their bones be scattered at the gates of hell.
Post a guard at my mouth, God, set a watch at the door of my lips. Don't let me so much as dream of evil or thoughtlessly fall into bad company. And these people who only do wrong— don't let them lure me with their sweet talk! May the Just One set me straight, may the Kind One correct me, Don't let sin anoint my head. I'm praying hard against their evil ways! Oh, let their leaders be pushed off a high rock cliff; make them face the music. Like a rock pulverized by a maul, let their bones be scattered at the gates of hell.
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