[good words.]

Isaiah, chapter 55 via The Message

"Listen to me, listen well: East only the best,
fill yourself with only the finest.
Pay attention, come close now,
listen carefully to my life-giving, life-nourishing words.
I'm making a lasting covenant commitment with you,
the same that I made with David: sure, solid, enduring love.

Seek God while he's here to be found,
pray to him while he's close at hand.
Let the wicked abandon their way of life
and the evil their way of thinking.
Let them come back to God, who is merciful,
come back to our God, who is lavish with forgiveness. 

"For as the sky soars high above earth,
so the way I work surpasses the way you work,
and the way I think is beyond the way you think.
Just as rain and snow descend from the skies
and don't go back until they've watered the earth,
Doing their work of making things grow and blossom,
producing seed for farmers and food for the hungry,
So will the words that come out of my mouth
not come back empty-handed.
They'll do the work I sent them to do,
they'll complete the assignment I gave them.

So you'll go out in joy,
you'll be led into a whole and complete life.
The mountains and hills will lead the parade, 
bursting with song.
All the trees of the forest will join the procession,
exuberant with applause."


(I'm thankful to know the God who 
is ultimate acceptance and lavish 
forgiveness, the one who courts the 
outsiders, exiles, disfigured and forgotten.)