Ordinary Beauty

Happy Wednesday. Here’s a devotion to enjoy today.

Ordinary Beauty

Today, heeding the words of Robert Frost, I took “the road less travelled.” As I walked the familiar gravel path, I noticed a trail to my left, and it beckoned. Venturing off the six-foot-wide, highly travelled walkway, I stepped through the trees onto the sandy dirt trail. Just wide enough for one, it wandered through sections of the woods where I’d never before ventured.

I savored the sights: bright green leaves, backlit by the bright sunlight, downed trees with their intricate roots pointing in all directions, and a steep drop to the creek meandering a dozen or more feet below. Typical sights in this area, yet specific ones I had never seen. I reveled in God’s creation and the beauty He created.

By venturing onto a new pathway, I was rewarded with unexpected beauty. Yet, I see similar beauty whenever I walk the wider, more familiar paths. I realized that I had allowed myself to become immune to the beauty around me, just because seeing it often had made it become ordinary.

It seems this is true of my life, too. Sometimes I allow myself to become immune to the ordinary beauty around me. Do I even stop to notice the roses, let alone inhale their perfume? Do I appreciate the deep green of summer’s grass? Or hear the whisper of the wind rustling in the trees? How often do I pause to appreciate a child’s laughter or notice the color in a friend’s eyes?

Creator God, help me to slow down, appreciate, and thank you for the beauty all around me every day. The birds’ cheerful song, the vibrant flowers’ colors, the love in my husband’s eyes. Don’t allow them to become mundane in my life but give me eyes to see Your amazing gifts surrounding me every day.

Happiness

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Happy Tuesday! Don’t you just love Norman Vincent Peale’s positive attitude?

“The way to happiness: Keep your heart free from hate, your mind from worry. Live simply, expect little, give much. Scatter sunshine, forget self, think of others. Try this for a week and you will be surprised.”

― Norman Vincent Peale

Through the Psalms

Another taste of the Psalms today. Have a lovely Friday, my friends.

Psalm 17: 6-7

“I call on you, my God, for you will answer me;

Turn your ear to me and hear my prayer.

Show me the wonders of your great love,

You who save by your right hand

Those who take refuge in you from their foes.”

How wonderful to know, Lord, that you will listen to my pleas and answer my prayers.

Your love is boundless, Lord, I pray that you will reveal more of your love to your humble servant.

Healing What Ails Us

Healing What Ails You

Earlier, I caught a nasty virus, the kind that plays havoc with your digestive system.

Of course, we were out of town when it hit. During our granddaughter’s dance competition, we sat in the balcony watching so many beautiful dancers. While waiting for her solos, it hit hard.

The closest bathroom was upstairs. I had to run up two flights of stairs to get there. Unfortunately, it hit every ten minutes for a couple of hours. I made many hurried flights up those stairs. Luckily, no one else was around, so I had some privacy.

Clearly, my body was trying to get rid of whatever was causing all these problems. Later, at the doctor’s office, I learned that norovirus was the culprit. After some prescribed pills, bowls of steaming hot soup, and a week of rest, I felt 100% again.

If only it were that simple with the soul. If only we could vomit out all the nasty thoughts and evil desires. If only that would happen without us even having to think about it.

Impure thoughts in? What if the soul would just automatically spit them out?

That would be easy, wouldn’t it?

Unfortunately, we can carry impure thoughts and evil intentions within us that poison our souls and harm those around us.

Unlike a virus, they don’t automatically purge themselves from our souls. But God, in His infinite wisdom, shows us how to purify our souls.

Prayer and self-reflection begin the process.

Asking God to forgive us cleanses our soul.

Opening the bible and reading God’s word continues the healing.

Just as our bodies get rid of the viruses and germs that cause illness, so our souls have ways of cleansing our sin and spiritual disease. God, our great physician, provides ways for us to draw closer to Him.

What are you doing to cleanse your soul of spiritual illness?

Thank you, healing God, for revealing our sin and spiritual disease. Thank You for providing healing for what ails our souls.

Who Do We Work For?

Happy Tuesday everyone! Some words of wisdom from A.W. Tozer for you today.

“We have become so engrossed in the work of the Lord that we have forgotten the Lord of the work.”― A.W. Tozer

Have you ever gotten so tied up in the work that you have forgotten the Lord of the work? It’s easy to do. Lord, keep our focus on you, whatever we do. May you always be more important than what we do for others, for your kingdom, or for our church.

God’s Word

Good Monday morning, my friends!

Have you noticed how you can read the same passage of scripture at different times in your life, and you’ve learned something different every time?

Lord, thank you for your living word that teaches us. May we have eyes to see and ears to hear your truth, and the willingness to act upon it.

Through the Psalms, 16

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Happy Friday! Here’s some wisdom from the Psalms

Psalm 16: 5-8

“Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup;

You make my lot secure.

The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;

I will praise the Lord, who counsels me;

Even at night my heart instructs me.

I keep my eyes always on the Lord.

With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.”

Thank you, Lord for providing us with safety and wisdom.

You are worthy of praise!

Mired in Muck

Mired in Muck

After an extremely dry fall and winter, it finally rained. All day the water poured from the heavens in a steady stream. Water ample enough to soak the earth and fill the streams refreshed the dried landscape.

I waited for a couple of days after the rainfall to venture out to the nature trails. Many of the trails are sandy, so I hoped it wouldn’t be too muddy for my walk. Fortunately, most of the trails were dry enough to walk without totally coating my shoes in mud.

Occasionally, though, I passed those dark curves in the pathway where the sun rarely shines, and where there is no sand. In these wide, shaded places the pathway was nothing but dark, oozy mud. Carefully, I skirted around those muddy quagmires, stepping on grassy spots, twigs or rocks to keep from sinking into the muck.

As I maneuvered around the muddy places, I remembered a time, as a little girl, when the mud was oh, so attractive! Walking in my rubber rain boots, I loved to squish through the mud, thoroughly enjoying the gooshy, slippery black mess. On one occasion, however, I learned not to stomp through the mud.

On that day I stepped into the middle of an especially gooey mud puddle, and stepping forward, I heard a loud sucking noise. My foot refused to move, for my boot was totally captured by the squishy mud. When I struggled to release my boot, my foot came out of my shoe and my boot and I found myself in the middle of the mud puddle with neither boot nor shoe. My feeble little-girl strength was not enough to extricate my boot and shoe from its muddy confines. Fortunately for me, my older, stronger brother pulled my boot out of the mud (after a good laugh at my expense) and I was able to continue home. Once there, I had a muddy mess to clean up before I could step one foot in the house. That day I learned not to walk through mud puddles.

Adults generally steer clear of the mud when they can. It’s the metaphorical mud that becomes enticing. As we wander on life’s pathway, we will invariably get stuck in the mud. At times, we all like to wander into the muck and get dirty. What is that mucky mess we wander into? That varies, depending on the person and the pathway he or she walks. Some of us step into the middle of self-righteousness—“my way is the right way and I won’t listen to anything else.” Others love to wallow in guilt, self-pity, or gossip. Still others become mired in the muck of addictions: food, material goods, entertainment, pornography, alcohol, cigarettes, or illegal drugs.

Whatever mud lies in the pathway, it is wise to avoid it at all costs. Once we step into the middle of that mud puddle, we become hopelessly mired in the muck. Fortunately for us, there is One strong enough to get us out of the muck, help us find our way home, and cleanse away all the mud.

Lord, cleanse us from all our muck and guide our paths to higher ground.

I John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”