Wide Open Wonderment - Rachel Dube, Poet

Wide Open Wonderment

IMMANUEL’S HOUSE

written by Rachel Dube

The Spirit of the holy God, the one outside of time and space, the Sustainer whose hands hold the whole of His creation... How can He be here amongst us? How can He hear my quiet prayer amidst the clamor of the universe? Above the explosions of stars, the wailings of grief, the heavy rolling growls of the ground and the sky and sea as they groan and ache? Above the songs and sounds of joy, the honks and hums of traffic, the soft yet unmistakably restless sound of tossing and turning in the night?

Above the white noise of millions of prayers, whispered, wailed, shouted and moaned, spoken, sung and sometimes silent? How does He see and hear and know me like a lover and a mother and a father and a friend?

Because He no longer dwells on the mountain guarded by thunder and fire.

Because He would not let the curtain or the curse keep me from Him anymore.

In the same way that there is nothing that can keep a good father from finding his long-lost son.

Because He took on the restraint of time and put on a body of flesh.

Because He chose to be like those that He created to be like Him.

The One who always was, chose to grow in a mother’s womb, to be born as a baby and to serve as a man. To suffer and die as a sacrifice, to raise to life and be put to death in the grave. To win back all that was lost when we chose to run away.

To destroy all that stands between Him and walking in the garden with the bride He enjoys and loves. He chose to be with us, “Immanuel.” Not just above us but in us to dwell. How is He here? And how can I know Him? This God so infinite and far?

Because the nails that pierced His hands and feet were the nails that built the house where He could live inside of me.