Living Simply
Hearts sometimes get “swamped“ and lose their direction. But even in swamps God raises up beauty.
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11
Consider the swamp hibiscus.
Lord Jesus ~ continue to remind me that You are in control.
I can trust You when things around me fall apart.
Help me to fix my eyes on You the One who has sustained me and given me strength. Help me to love those who are called unloveable and to reach my hand out to them as You have so often reached Your hand out to me.
Spring! I enjoy watching as the flowers come up from the ground. Such a beautiful dark purple hyacinth color ~ they look so majestic.
In the beginning, God created …
With all the turmoil in the world, I love how God puts me in the path of beauty that brings hope and gratitude to my heart.
Like the tulip, we have the opportunity to spring up to share God’s beauty with others.
God has given each of you a gift from His great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. 1 Peter 4:10
Sometimes it can feel overwhelming to look at our broken world and wonder if there’s any hope. But it starts with us ~ each one reaching one.
This quote resonated with me:
When you’re overcome with the weight of the world’s brokenness, do for one what you wish you could do for everyone. For one, you can love, serve, and walk alongside to wholeness, freedom, and health. For one, you can raise a banner of respect, hope, and justice. Wisdom by the Vineyard.
I recently received an email with an offer to order a new book written by Francis Chan. The book is called Until Unity.
One of the quotes mentioned by Chan in this email was:
We divide easily because we love shallowly.
Isn’t that the truth? If our love weren’t so shallow our division would be, could I say, non existent.
Yet as humans we wallow around looking at each other and pointing in judgment at all the things someone says or does.
Have we as Christians not spent enough time with Jesus to know how we should treat each other?
I pray that we are able to show God’s love to others ~
As the geese wait for the ice to melt, so the world waits for the COVID virus to “melt” away. Yet ~ how much work is still be necessary.
Grief ~ sometimes unrecognized ~ has set in to so many people’s hearts.Grief of time lost with loved ones, lack of human touch, physical and emotional death. Even spiritual death in some cases as questions of “where was/is God in all of this?” have arisen.I have seen people who I thought were level headed turn into angry and sometimes act, do I dare say it, nuts? Lack of reasoning sometimes looks like reasoning in our turbulent world.
I look forward to a time where we can empathize and sympathize in more tangible ways for, let’s face it, we have not walked in each other’s shoes. It is only as we “rub” shoulders with people that we can have any understanding of why they think/act as they do.
As society “opens up” this will hopefully be less difficult for us to do. Let’s choose to allow ourselves to become vulnerable ~ to see people and love them as Jesus did and perhaps, yes, perhaps there is hope for us.Let us be what has been called “balcony” people. Cheering and affirming each other on instead of “basement” people, drawing people downwards with criticism and judgments. I’m excited to see how people have changed in this pandemic and am ready to do my part in helping us all move forward in hope, compassion and love.
How about you?
Patience. I purchased this amaryllis in early December and thought it was dead as it was not growing. But I watered it once a week and, although I was ready to give up, my mother said “wait.†Then it started getting “leggy†and a bulb started to grow. It’s a beauty now. Just goes to show everything has its own journey even if it seems slow to us.
There are so many lessons I learn from God in nature.
“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.†â€â€Romans‬ â€12:12‬ â€NIV‬‬
Do you sometimes feel that in spite of all your best efforts, you’re starting to sink?
It can happen anytime ~ people get in the way of your progress, procrastination creeps in slowly and then one day you barely have your head above water.
Here are some words of encouragement ~
Keep your head up, your eyes straight ahead,
and your focus fixed on what is in front of you.
Take care you don’t stray from the straight path, the way of truth,
and you will safely reach the end of your road.
Do not veer off course to the right or the left;
Step away from evil and leave it behind.
Proverbs 4:25-27
Keep moving forward ~ even if it’s at a turtle’s pace. Any progress is progress. You can do it!
“Each morning consecrate yourself to God for that day. Surrender all your plans to Him, to be carried out or given up as His providence shall indicate. Thus day by day you may be giving your life into the hands of God, and thus your life will be molded more and more after the life of Christ.”
From the book Steps To Christ by Ellen White
Most days, winter mornings in Lake Elmo are serene.
From the crunchy sound of walking on frozen snow to the snow laden tree branches, an awesome silence permeates the air.
An occasional early arriving woodpecker might make its debut early in the afternoon.
This is the time when the soul receives refreshment from above – refreshment as only a Creator can give.
And then peace fills my heart and readies me for the chaos of the day.