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.
“Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” Ephesians 5::2
However you choose to honor God with your offerings, monetary or otherwise, may that offering be as fragrant to our Lord as a freshly baked pie is to us. I think that walking “in the way of love” every day would be especially fragrant to God.
What do you see as ways we can “walk in the way of love”?
1, 3 &4, 9
“Lord, our Lord,
How majestic is your name in all the earth!
When I consider your heavens,
The work of your fingers,
The moon and the stars,
Which you have set in place,
What is mankind that you are mindful of them,
Human beings that you care for them?
Lord, our Lord,
How majestic is your name in all the earth!”
I love all the praise in this psalm! It begins and ends with the joy of the Lord’s name. As many of you know, this first verse is the lyric of a beautiful song that fills me with delight.
Speaking of delight, if you haven’t had the opportunity to view the stars at night away from the city lights, you’ve missed a wonder of creation. As David notes, viewing the wonder of God’s beauty in the sky: the sun, the moon and the stars, is so humbling. Every day God paints a gorgeous sunrise and an amazing sunset. How can we be arrogant when we view the glory of the heavens?
“Lord, our Lord,
How majestic is your name in all the earth!”
Thank you Lord, for the beauty of your creation. Open our eyes that we may see the beauty of the heavens. Let us notice and appreciate the flowers and trees, the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea, and the animals on dry land. All praise and glory to the Creator God.
Sometimes this can be challenging. When the world, or your own personal world, feels as if it is falling apart, remember the joy of having a savior and the beauty he places around us. Drink in his creation and his word. Yes, think of all the excellent things he has gifted us. Have a wonderful day, my friends.
Thank you. Lord, for the glory of your creation that surrounds us every day. Thank you for the promise of eternal life and for gifting us with abundant life on earth. Thank you for your faithfulness. Keep my mind focused on you, in all your glory.
The Seedling—ON BLOG
Sitting on the glider on the backyard swing set, I bask in the beauty of an early spring day. As I rock gently back and forth, the soft squeaking of the glider mesmerizes me, like the gentle creaking of a comfortable rocking chair. High in our mulberry trees, the male cardinal calls for his mate. A beautiful bush grows three feet taller than our privacy fence, its branches laden with pale green leaves and thousands of tiny, fragrant white flowers—sweet-smelling, like honeysuckle. A black butterfly, splashed with white spots and bold, orange stripes, lights on the flowers; he is hungry for their nectar.
The sunshine warms my face and arms. A breeze blows—not a typical spring gale, but a gentle breeze, enough to ruffle my hair and start the cottonwoods softly whispering. Far overhead planes from a nearby airport drone, whisking their passengers to some distant city. The bark of the neighbor’s dogs occasionally punctuates the quiet morning; they beg for our attention.
My husband works in the garden, turning up the rich, brown soil. It’s time for the second round of beans to be planted. One by one, he drops the seeds into the soil, and then buries them deep in the brown earth. Soon we’ll enjoy the tender vegetables.
Consider the miracle of the seed. Buried two inches beneath the surface, the lifeless seed slowly awakens to new life. As the sun warms the soil, the seedling begins to stir until it cracks the seed open, much like a chick cracks the egg which shelters it. After the seed has cracked open, the seedling toils to break free into the fresh air and sunshine. Bent over, it slowly pushes through the earth, letting its back do all the work. Within a week the soil cracks and splits, evidence of the seedling’s labor. In another day the pale green seedling appears, still bent over. Soon the seedling completely emerges from the dark earth. Straightening its back and unfurling its leaves, it stands erect, lifting its head toward the warmth of the sun. Carefully, we nurture the seedling. Providing water and keeping the weeds away, we anticipate a harvest of delicious green beans.
Observing the plant life that God has created makes it so much easier to understand spiritual truths. Planting a seed and watching it germinate and grow is a metaphor for resurrection. Watching seeds emerge from their burial and watching perennials, dead through the winter, emerge to new life prepares our feeble human minds to understand resurrection and anticipate the glorious new life that awaits us in heaven with God. We need not fear death. We need not fear being buried in the earth, for we know, like the seed, we will rise to a beautiful new life, basking in the Son’s bright light.
Father, thank you for the burial and resurrection of your son. Thank you that we who believe no longer need fear death, for, like the seed, we too will one day emerge from our graves to a new life with you.
I Corinthians 15:20 “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.”
Some inspiration this spring morning from Charles H. Spurgeon
“Every promise of Scripture is a writing of God, which may be pleaded before Him with this reasonable request, ‘Do as Thou hast said.’ The Heavenly Father will not break His Word to His own child.”
Father, thank you for your Word and for always keeping your promises. Great is your faithfulness.
This verse reminds me of the Dr. Suess book, “Green Eggs and Ham.” You, know, where the character repeats, “I do not like green eggs and ham” throughout the book–at least until he finally tastes them. Then he loves them.
This is so true for our friends who’ve never tasted God’s goodness. They think they don’t like it, but they don’t know until they actually taste it.
Father God, I pray for my nonbelieving friends and relatives. May they know the amazing taste of your goodness. May they learn to eat and enjoy it “here and there and everywhere.”
Chapter 7, vs 1-2 & 17
Lord my God, I take refuge in you;
Save and deliver me from all who pursue me,
Or they will tear me apart like a lion
And rip me to pieces with no one to rescue me.
I will give thanks to the Lord because of his righteousness;
I will sing the praises of the name of the Lord Most High.
In this chapter, it is so evident that David has a heart after God. Even in his despair at the beginning of the psalm, he continues to take refuge in his God. In spite of all the enemies and wickedness surrounding him, David turns to God to rescue him.
In the midst of his anguish and fear throughout most of this psalm, by its conclusion David readily lifts his voice to sing and praise his God. Perhaps this is one reason why the psalms are so beloved. We can all relate to David’s times of difficulty. By the end of the psalm, however, he gives us this beautiful example of lifting our voices to praise our God.
Lord, let us not be hard on ourselves when we cry to you in difficult times. Instead, let us remember David’s example of praising you even in the most trying times. Thank you for shielding us from evil and for loving us.
Winter went out like a crazy man: winds howled, gusting to 60 miles an hour, and in spite of above freezing temperatures, it snowed most of the day.
Fortunately, Spring has not disappointed, and she has entered like a lady. Temperatures in the 50s with a blue, sunny sky. My pear tree is starting to bloom, there is green on the clematis, peonies are poking their heads up from the ground and the forsythia is blooming.
Thank you, Father, for renewing the earth, and bringing forth what is good: flowers, trees, and grass to enjoy, and bountiful food to eat. Thank you for your faithfulness.
Psalm 85:11-12
“Faithfulness springs forth from the earth, and righteousness looks down from heaven.
The Lord will indeed give what is good, and our land will yield its harvest.”
A Child’s First Steps
Do you remember watching a baby learn to walk? First, he holds Mom’s hand tightly, walking with the reassurance of that grip. Soon he lets go, taking tentative steps on his chubby legs. Back and forth he walks, from Mom to Dad and back to Mom. He has complete confidence; his parents will protect him. After his confidence grows, he ventures out on his own.
The steps are slow and the child is wobbly, sometimes swaying to capture his balance. He falls often, usually by plopping onto his padded bottom. But he doesn’t give up. After falling, he may crawl toward his goal and then get up and walk a few more steps. So it goes: walk, walk, plop, crawl, crawl, walk, walk, plop. Repeatedly, he toddles his erratic walk. Sometimes he’s off balance and lurches to one side; sometimes he rushes to keep from falling forward. But he walks. He learns. Before long, he is running. He runs everywhere. He is so full of the joy of running that he forgets to crawl.
When we first accept Jesus as our Savior, we are born again; becoming babies in the spiritual world. As spiritual babies, we learn to walk spiritually. Our heavenly Father watches over us as we learn. Like a baby, we are tentative at first, unwilling to venture out on our own. Just as the earthly father encourages his children to walk, our heavenly Father encourages us on our spiritual walks. Like our earthly fathers, He holds his out arms, hoping we will bravely walk toward Him.
With God’s guidance and encouragement, we gather the courage to take tentative steps. We wobble, just as the baby does. Yes, we fall down. Unfortunately, unlike the baby, we sometimes refuse to move.
The key to improving our spiritual walk is to keep trying, just as the baby does. When we lose our balance and fall, we cannot just sit. We get up and continue to walk; if we cannot walk, we crawl. Learning to walk with God is a slow process: walk, walk, plop, crawl, crawl, walk, walk, plop.
The baby does not give up when he falls; neither should we. Over and over, we step toward our Father. No matter how wobbly and unsure our steps, we make progress toward Him. Before long we find ourselves walking toward God with confidence, perhaps even running with joy.
Oh God, our Father, guide us as we learn to walk with You. Teach us, encourage us, help us stand back up when we fall.
II Peter 3:17, 18 “Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.”
“…the deepest spiritual lessons are not learned by his letting us have our way in the end, but by his making us wait, bearing with us in love and patience until we are able to honestly pray what he taught his disciples to pray: Thy will be done.”
~ Elizabeth Elliot ~
Lord, I thank you for the hard times in my life, for those are the times I have learned to wait patiently and have better learned to pray “Thy will be done.”
Growing Our Faith Together 