“MAKIAH”

by Ron Cook

Today I picked up a tall young lady, who was hitchhiking, wearing a floppy gardener’s hat, a backpack, and carrying a box of fresh vegetables. She was someone, it turned out, I had met a few weeks ago. Her name is Makiah, which means, “like God,” in
Hebrew…

The story started writing itself…

Earlier in the day I heard the story of the great storm on the sea of Galilee. “Be calm!” Was spoken, and all was still…
Later Psalm 96 said:

“For great is the LORD,
And most worthy of praise.
He is to be feared,
Above all gods.
For all the gods of the nations,

Are idols.
But the LORD,
Made the heavens.

Splendor and Majesty,
Are before Him;
Glory and Strength,
Are His sanctuary.”

Aren’t we a curious people? All of sentient beings, as well as non-sentient creation (“even the rocks would have cried out”), know Who is in charge. We tiny, wimpy creatures known as adamahs (Adam’s – which mean, “from the soil or earth,” in Hebrew) often think we are like gods in our own selfish little view of what our life means.

Psalm 19 even puts it better:

“The heavens declare the glory of God;
The skies proclaims the work
Of His hands.

Day after day they pour forth speech;

Night after night
They reveal knowledge.
They have no speech,
They use no words;
No sound is heard from them.
Yet their voice goes out into
All the earth,

Their words to the ends of world.”

Let us give pause this July as we remember our freedoms in this country, yet keep sacred the gift of life we have been given out of love’s source …

Creation knows its purpose, and just does it without question. When the Kingdom comes on Earth as it is in heaven, we will all live knowing, “all things work out for the good when we abide in love, and live through our words and actions according to the
purpose we were created to be … ambassadors of love.” We are, humbly, the Masterpieces of His creation.

On July 4th 2019 I sat with a view of Pikes Peak as the sun went down. While standing at the top of Pikes Peak, many years ago in 1893, Katherine Lee Bates wrote the words to, America the Beautiful, which was later put to music. In 2019 I wrote these words …

The Beautiful

While sitting still upon a porch,

Facing mountains grand,
I viewed the dusk in Manitou,
As fourth would make its end.

The sun has dropped behind the peaks,
Raw outline has become,
Yet dimly off into the west,
Pike’s dome reflects the sun

A century’s passed when wrote the words,

Upon that lofty view,
“America the beautiful,
From sea to shining seas”

And as the dusk turns into night,
Life’s ceaseless turn it shakes,
I cannot help but feel the beat,
A grateful heart doth make.

For words do not a sunset make,
Or raise a mountain high,
And not a man can ever say,
A star he put the sky.

And now the lights of city small,
Begin to flicker bright,

Replacing sun that God hath made,
A feeble curse at night.

I cannot grasp or tend to know,
Why we were planted here.
Perhaps the gift must be returned,
Each moment lived so dear.

For we were sent a messenger,
Who clearly spoke the truth,
He told us that our purpose here,
Was merely just to love.