threshing grain

Once in a great while I stumble across a song and think, "Now that exactly describes what I have been living." After a recent aquisition of a Cherri Keaggy CD I found just that sort of song. From it I finally came up with the title for a blog I've wanted to start for some time. (At first I wanted to call it "Living Against the Grindstone" but think Practicing Joy is much better and less likely to be misunderstood as just plain weird.)

The events of the past few years (i.e. simply living life!) have caused me to gladly take my place against the grindstone, where God's purposes are revealed and I am made more like Christ.

Restored (The Grindstone Song) by Cherri Keaggy:
I've been living against the grindstone
Where nothing is sure but the Lord
For He gives us the treasures of darkness
Where faith's greatest riches are stored

And in ways that are quite unexpected
I have learned a most humbling truth
That a faith that has never been tested
Is just growth that is long overdue

Chorus
So I'm practicing joy
Choosing it daily
Putting it on like a favorite cologne
And when life breaks me down
It won't even phase me
Some call me crazy
But I'm just in love with the Lord
For He has been faithful
Enough just to fill me
And take me to heights I have never explored
If I'm never broken
How can I be restored?

So I'm trading these comfortable choices
For living that's much more alive
And the more that my spirit rejoices
The more that I grow and I thrive

If surrender is seen as a weakness
Then the lowliest beggar I'll be
I'll embrace every struggle with meekness
'Cause I know that it's making me free

Restore me, Lord
And make me new again
I want nothing more than to soar

Chorus

I've been living against the grindstone...

Isaiah 28:23-26, 28a, 29
Listen and hear my voice; pay attention and hear what I say.
When a farmer plows for planting, does he plow continually?
Does he keep on breaking up and harrowing the soil?
When he has leveled the surface, does he not sow caraway and scatter cummin?
Does he not plant wheat in its place, barley in its plot, and spelt in its field?
His God instructs him and teaches him the right way...
Grain must be ground to make bread; so one does not go on threshing it forever...All this also comes from the Lord Almighty, wonderful in counsel and magnificent in wisdom.