Are you a palace?

John Donne wrote: “Be thine own palace, or the world’s thy jail”. When I first read that, it seemed very conceited to me. I thought, “what?? be my own palace? what about God? What about others’?” Then I realized….If God is in my heart [and He is, by the way], then He has transformed my simple heart into a manger that is His palace…

He freed me and continues to free me from the trappings of the world. I cannot be truly free without Him. The possibilities that have been mine in this life have been provided by Him. The people who have come into my life and encouraged me to keep moving forward were created by Him. Every step of my life there has been someone or something to tell me, inspire me, advise me, encourage me….  that is true beauty. Beauty like in the photo below, it is a photo of sketch drawn by Frank Lloyd Wright.

Perhaps that is what John Donne meant by be thine own palace. He had to have meant that like every palace our lives are  a series of structures, towers, reinforced strong walls…a thing of beauty. Frank Lloyd Wright said that architects should use the nature around them. He said that homes and other buildings should be built into the brow of the mountain, not on top of the mountain. He said building on top of the mountain ruined the mountain. He stressed the importance of using the stones, wood and other things from the area you are building. He insisted that architects should work with nature. Look at the stones in the wall in this photo: they were all dug out of the earth near Taliesin West in Scottsdale, AZ.

Now, if we make that into an analogy and combine it with our faith, what do we get? We get the importance of using our own talents, not trying to be second-rate imitators of someone whose talents are different from others. that is working with nature. We get the importance of being open to others, the goodness in the world, and keeping our focus looking towards others and God. That is like all the windows on Wright’s buildings. We get the importance of reaching towards God [the soaring roof lines that start out low {our human nature} and reach towards God {the high roof on the other side}. We get trust on solid foundations {oh yeah, the Cantilevers}… and we get our admission that God is the highest—{building no higher than the brow of the mountain}….And we get the part of always looking out of our hearts towards the people He put in our paths—and towards Him. {the views}. Now look at the photos below: you see roof lines; you see windows; you see gorgeous views]. you see the Cantilevers.and the bell to toll for Thee.  And desert views at Taliesin West that both Frank Lloyd Wright and Georgia O’Keefe highly approved of. We must make or lives a palace; never a jail.  God bless your day and week.