This blog is designed to create community for believers and provide support for seekers. I encourage all readers to share their faith in an effort to lift and encourage one another.
I’m back! Last week was rough, but I am feeling better and getting energy back. Nasty food poisoning had an ugly hold on me.
Happy Tuesday! Have a wonderful day!
Here’s some food for thought for today.
“Each day holds a surprise. But only if we expect it can we see, hear, or feel it when it comes to us. Let’s not be afraid to receive each day’s surprise, whether it comes to us as sorrow or joy. It will open a new place in our hearts, a place where we can welcome new friends and celebrate more fully our shared humanity.”
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.
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.”
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.
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.
Growing Our Faith Together 