Wednesday, September 2, 2015

In the beginning...




The Inner Advocate

A nineteenth-century teacher in the Celtic world, Alexander Scott, used the analogy of royal garments. Apparently in his day royal garments were woven through with a costly thread, a thread of gold. And if somehow the golden thread were taken out of the garment, the whole garment would unravel. So it is, he said, with the image of God woven into the fabric of our being. If it is taken out of us, we would unravel. We would cease to be.”
J. Philip Alexander (Christ of the Celts: The Healing of Creation)

As you may know, I am a “thread-head.” If you ever want to see me high as a kite, just take me into a shop with rows and rows of brilliantly colored thread. It's crack-cocaine to me, truly. So, I strongly relate to this analogy of God as the golden thread within our royal garment.

In the Garden of Eden story in Genesis 3, we are told that God walked in the garden “at the time of the evening breeze.” In the beginning, there was the garden, and within that garden was God. Another analogy, I believe, to our inner being, and the centrality of both a lush and fruitful garden within, and the presence of the divine from our own genesis.

In John 14, Jesus promises his disciples that when his flesh and blood body is no more, God will provide an Advocate within—the Spirit of truth. “You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.” We have, and have always had, the spirit of divine royalty within us, and there is no human foible or misstep that can separate us from that—it is woven into our very fabric. We can ignore it, we can fail to ask its council, we can even act against it, but it does not abandon us. “I will not leave you orphaned...” (John 14:18)

Today, allow yourself a moment to walk in your garden. Ask the Spirit there any questions you may have. Let it sink in that you are not an orphan, and will never be abandoned, because it is impossible to lose the aspect of yourself that is God. It is the golden thread within your royal garment.

                                                     In the Spirit,

                                                          Jane

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