Dwelling Place

I created this scene almost two years ago, but never got a chance to write anything about this little girl.  

​This picture is based on Psalm 84,  "How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord Almighty! My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord."

One of the things I love about the Psalms is that there is so much drama. It's a carefully constructed song, not so unlike many that we hear blasting on the radio (although also very different), trying to touch our deepest emotions. 

Country and rock music are appealing, and they're appealing because they touch our hearts just in the places that need to be filled. Yet the Psalmist knows that nothing except the love of God will fill those places.

And so so he gives us drama of the most real kind.

Today may you yearn today not for things here and now, but for the beautiful, eternal gates of heaven.

​
Psalm 84 (NIV)

1 How lovely is your dwelling place,
Lord Almighty!
2 My soul yearns, even faints,
for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and my flesh cry out
for the living God.
3 Even the sparrow has found a home,
and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may have her young--
a place near your altar,
Lord Almighty, my King and my God.
4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house;
they are ever praising you.
5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.
6 As they pass through the Valley of Baka,
they make it a place of springs;
the autumn rains also cover it with pools.
7 They go from strength to strength,
till each appears before God in Zion.
8 Hear my prayer, Lord God Almighty;
listen to me, God of Jacob.
9 Look on our shield, O God;
look with favor on your anointed one.
10 Better is one day in your courts
than a thousand elsewhere;
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
11 For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
the Lord bestows favor and honor;
no good thing does he withhold
from those whose walk is blameless.
12 Lord Almighty,
blessed is the one who trusts in you.