Love Your Enemies

Lord, bless those who persecute me, who gossip about me, who give me dirty looks, who lie about me. They are your creations. Help me to love them the way you love them. Meet their needs and allow them to know your great love.

Ordinary Things

“It is inbred in us that we have to do exceptional things for God: but we have not. We have to be exceptional in the ordinary things, to be holy in mean streets, among mean people, and this is not learned in five minutes”
― Oswald Chambers

Father, teach me to do my best to honor You in the mundane, ordinary things of life.

Hope

Hope is the thing

That pushes its head

through the earth,

Unfurling its pale green

For all to see.

It’s the expectation of blooms,

Unwinding from a tiny bud,

Blooms more vibrant and colorful

Than imagination.

Hope is the realization

that dead, shriveled things,

 long buried in the ground,

Will one day rise again

 to a glorious new world

with no more tears.

It’s the expectation of

that new world,

Far more glorious

than Spring.

Today, may you find hope in Jesus.

Peace

“Lord, make me an instrument of your peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
when there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
Grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand,
to be loved as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying [to ourselves] that we are born to eternal life.”
― Francis Of Assisi

Friday Friends’ Favorites

Philippians 2: 3&4 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

Father, teach me to be humble and look to the interests of others.

First Kiss

Frost has kissed the forest.  Leaves and grasses have succumbed to its deadly touch. Yellow and brown leaves flutter from the trees. The stream is littered with autumn’s golden snowfall. As I wander off the soft, sandy trail, my feet crunch noisily through the leafy debris.  Looking up, I see trees lifting dark, barren branches skyward. Others sport a few green and yellow leaves, but these too are destined to drop to the forest floor.

It’s silent here. No birds call. No animals chatter to their mates. High above in the treetops the wind blows, rustling the remaining leaves. This rustling soon grows to a roar as the wind rushes past barren branches. So much around me seems dead, lifeless. Yet, I know the forest lives.  As I walk, I hear crackling in the dead leaves and know small animals run and hide from this human invading their territory. I stop a moment at the stream, listening to the rushing waters bouncing over the rocks. The sound soothes my soul.  I look at the brown grass and the barren trees around the stream and I imagine their roots digging deep into the soil. Above the soil they appear dead, yet their roots continue to draw nourishment into the living plants.

So it is with my soul. At times it becomes brown and looks lifeless. Life is difficult, and I struggle from an unresponsive spirit and lack of enthusiasm. But then I go to a still place and listen. Just like the wind rushes through the trees, God’s voice rushes through my soul, giving me peace. I listen. I learn. I allow the roots of my soul to draw up spiritual nourishment. I rejoice, waiting patiently for that first green blush of spring to sprout in my soul.

Thank you, Father, for giving reassurance of Your soul-lifting presence, even when life appears drab, dreary, and lifeless.

Psalm 30:5b NIV “Weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.”