The Watcher (The Gaze of God)

[hollytree]

When I’m compared to God I’m reduced to nothing as I’m swallowed up in the ocean of love. That is to say, the ego(false self) becomes nothing as the true self (love) is united to Christ. I fall in love with love (true self). Though faith in God I die to self and find eternal significance in Christ. In the worldly sense I’m nobody special. I’m therefore united to all. The paradox in that in being intimately connected with love and compassion for all I’m set apart to God. I’m special to God, God’s love is a holy love. To be holy is to be set apart and special. In Christ I have intrinsic worth. God has chosen me and set His attention and gaze upon me. Nothing can separate me from His love.

The Watcher

Your beautiful gaze captivates me
Bringing to life a calm ecstasy
With your love flowing into me
My world brightens tremendously

Wonderstruck here in your beauty
Cleansed, I can feel the real me
Who I am and have wanted to be
Close to you in a sweet intimacy

“The Watcher” painting by Cindy Skillman

[hollytree]

As Arthur McGill succinctly notes, “The way of Jesus is the way of self-expenditure.” And as Paul describes in Philippians 2, this freedom to give our lives away is made possible only through the act of kenosis, of self-emptying and letting go so that our identities might be eccentrically grounded in Christ and the Father. If we receive everything - even our very lives - as a gift then we have nothing to cling to or protect. Following the example of Jesus, we become “nothing”. In a sense, we “die” - and thus we no longer have fear of dispossession, loss, diminishment, or expenditure in the face of death. ~~ Richard Beck, “The Slavery of Death”, page 77

Thus, the paradox of the cross: we must die - by losing and letting go - in order to find life, in order to experience resurrection - Beck, page 80

[hollytree]

[hollytree]

Lose Yourself To Find Yourself