Category: Trees

When I Wake Up

I know who I am going to be!

Wednesday, September 20, 2023

The Moon Sets as the Dawn Breaks,

Who Will We Be This Day?

Proverbs 14:26

In the fear of the Lord one has strong confidence, and one’s children will have a refuge.

Romans 8:35

Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

…

Words of Grace For Today

Knowing who we are is a great start to any day.

Often our confidence in who we are is lost in delusions and dreams unreal.

There is only one identity that we can know of ourselves that will bring us life with each breath and that is …

—

Yet there is, before we speak of it, so much that would tear us from that identity.

Not least of all is our own drive and dreams to be something worth being.

Through hardships we forge ahead, proving we are worth the breath we breathe.

Through distress we dig deep, proving we are made of goodness.

Through persecution we deny our persecutors their satisfaction, proving we cannot be conquered (even as we sink deeper into the abyss.)

We try to survive through famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword, but then the course of nature claims us in our deaths.

Oh, how futile all our struggles turn out to be. And how foolish our enemies have made themselves out to be, as they sink faster into the abyss with each move made against us!

There is no confidence we can have, about anything, least of all about ourselves that will save us.

We are doomed, all of us.

—

The one confidence that we have is a confidence given to us, though we do not deserve it, not at all, not at all.

That identity is one given to us by Jesus: we are the bearers and sharers of Jesus’ love for the world and all people ever.

From this love, nothing can separate us,

because God gives it to us each day, each hour, each minute.

Gifts

And Promises

Forever … or Not.

Saturday, September 9, 2023

Everything Points To …

Psalm 105:8

He is mindful of his covenant for ever, of the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations,

Romans 11:29

for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

…

Words of Grace For Today

God remembers and does not revoke God’s promises for us, for more than thousands of thousands of generations.

God does not revoke the gifts given, nor the call to us to share those gifts, the requirements of life abundant, with others.

But we surely can deny those gifts in us and the call given to us.

And from that immense dismay, hurt, sorrow, and destruction have covered each generation.

Let us pray today that God will guide us to share the gifts with those in need, so that our hearts may know the peace that surpasses all understanding.

Truth

They say truth is relative.

That’s a lie.

Monday, September 4, 2023

Each Moment, Even at Sunrise, the Truth is There to Be Seen, Heard, Lived.

Exodus 23:1

You shall not spread a false report. You shall not join hands with the wicked to act as a malicious witness.

Ephesians 4:25

So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbours, for we are members of one another.

…

Words of Grace For Today

In today’s world, like in all generations past, it is all too easy for dishonest people to lie, destroying people all in order to get ahead.

And they do get ahead, in ways the world’s relative truths are twisted so that hell is ahead of life.

For a lie is always a lie, even if one gets away with it to start with. It will always come back to bite the life right out of you. It starts by taking something life-giving out of the people you live with, yourself and then those closest, and it spreads to include all of humanity. The bite back, though, comes back at the liar(s) like she/he/they have laser targets painted on them by none other than God.

Truth may be a bit aggravating, but it is life giving, after one learns to confess one’s own sins and accept forgiveness for them.

Truth is only relative in that all of us are related and anything taken from the truth with a lie costs all of those involves, and all of their relatives.

Truth may be hard to discover among so many lies, but it is there to be paid attention to. It is there in each moment, for those who wish to live in it.

That’s where God blesses us heartily, also this day.

God Abandons?

No, God Engages

Always, to save us from ourselves

Saturday, September 2, 2023

When it seems the world closes in on us, as if God has abandoned us, hope carries us back to trust God always walks with us.

Isaiah 63:15

Look down from heaven and see, from your holy and glorious habitation. Where are your zeal and your might? The yearning of your heart and your compassion? They are withheld from me.

Galatians 5:5

For through the Spirit, by faith, we eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness.

…

Words of Grace For Today

God provides all we need to live, fully, abundantly, graciously, and generously with others.

It is not that we choose to be good and live righteously. It is a gift given to us in our baptisms and renewed many times each day. So we live as saints.

We can and so often do (thus the repeated giving of the gift) deny the gift, turning away from God to follow our own path, which always leads us straight to perdition.

Thank God, God saves us from ourselves.

And so this day also we live as saints, despite having chosen perdition again and again.

Thank God.

Who

Who can we listen to?

Friday, September 1, 2023

In the endless sky, voices come at us from everywhere in this digital age.

Many voices deceive.

One voice is true.

Isaiah 47:13

You are wearied with your many consultations; let those who study the heavens stand up and save you, those who gaze at the stars and at each new moon predict what shall befall you.

Romans 12:16

Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are.

…

Words of Grace For Today

There are so many voices in our heads, from all over repeated again and again, telling us what we need to do to live life fully.

A young Bob arrives home late from work one day – much later than the time it normally would have taken him to walk the five blocks from the bus stop. His wife, Doris, asks him how his day went. He says all has gone well. Her curiosity wins out. “What kept you late?” she asks.

With sparkling eyes, Bob tells her. “When I changed buses, I saw a new vehicle in the car dealer’s lot. I heard a little voice on my shoulder telling me, ‘Go take a good look.’ So I did.”

She jumps in, “So you missed your bus for that?”

“Well …”, Bob continues, “I walked all the way around the car, looked under the hood, read the information sheet and looked at the dealers tag. Then I heard that small voice say, ‘Get in. Sit in the drivers seat. Get a feel for it. See what it looks like from the inside.’” So I did. And then I heard the small voice from the dashboard, “Bob, rhis is a fabulous car! You look good sitting in that driver’s seat.”

Doris broke in, “Well did you tell that little voice, ‘Get behind me Satan?’”

“Yes I did’” the husband answered. “And then I heard the small voice from the back seat say, ‘Bob, you look good from behind too.’ So I drove that car, my car, home … for us.” (original Flip Wilson, mod TL1995)

If we think we can listen to the back seat voices and to Jesus’ voice, and follow Jesus when it is convenient for the rest of our lives, we have not listened well to all those who have gone before us in faith.

Following Jesus is not like a compromise to our way of life, the kind we hope it might be, like putting on a new set of clothes. Instead following Jesus takes everything we’ve got. C.S. Lewis, in his book Mere Christianity, writes “It is the difference between paint, which is merely laid on the surface, and a dye or stain which soaks right through . . . (God) meant us for the full treatment. It is hard; but the sort of compromise we are all hankering after is harder – in fact, it is impossible. It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad. . .” (BOOK IV Chapter 8)

When the Holy Spirit ‘hatches’ us out, life is completely different, even if it looks the same.

And then the voice of the Good Shepherd that we recognize always points to considerations for loving others (without consideration for our selves.)

So too, today: listen to the Good Voice. It’s not the one in the backseat of the self’s car.

Gimme, Gimme!

Gimme Bread?

Give You More Bread,

Haven’t you had enough?!

Thursday, August 31, 2023

It was and will be cold again. And God will continue to bless us. Simple!

Psalm 105:40-42

They asked, and he brought quails, and gave them food from heaven in abundance. He opened the rock, and water gushed out; it flowed through the desert like a river. For he remembered his holy promise, and Abraham, his servant.

Matthew 6:11

Give us this day our daily bread.

…

Words of Grace For Today

One knows, even after one has one’s fill, even at a feast, that one will get hungry again.

That’s how it is.

But,

how come we cannot be satisfied, knowing that there will always be enough?!

Well …

Because, there often has been, in history and in our own lifetimes, not enough!

The thing is when we work so there is enough, and take only what we need, not more, then we end up able to share more with others,

and others are more likely to share with us, when the day comes when we do not have enough

and through it all we have not wasted time and energy and opportunities to try to secure enough for ourselves.

Wasted that time is because there is no such security.

Might as well trust God and get on with as good a life as one can live,

which is (as God created us to live) a life of sharing with others, even to the point of suffering ourselves.

So Jesus messes with our lives (messed from how we want always to hoard for ourselves) and that saves us from messing up our lives so bad life is lost.

Today: trust God’s bountiful blessings.

Why not?

Morning Dew

Monday, August 28, 2023

The Morning Drips Fresh From Imperfections, Too.

Second Samuel 23:3-4

The God of Israel has spoken, the Rock of Israel has said to me: One who rules over people justly, ruling in the fear of God, is like the light of morning, like the sun rising on a cloudless morning, gleaming from the rain on the grassy land.

Matthew 11:29

Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

…

Words of Grace For Today

Rulers dominate to make their wishes realities, with people falling into line to make it happen.

Leaders inspire and listen to the people they lead, bringing the best tomorrows into today, for all peoples.

God rules.

But not by dominating.

Rather with gentleness and humility (if we can imagine the all powerful God being humble!), guiding us to life unequalled in blessings.

So each new morning, with sunshine on the grass moist from the night rains or clouds dark over parched lands or cold gripping even one’s breath in a stranglehold [and all things of mornings], we

can smile

breathe

and

hope again

that this day will

bring love and wonders

to play and dance through our hours

until the night falls fully over the grass, trees and dirt

that is our home.

Eh you say again?

And God answers with a fresh smiling breeze of sunshine warm on our hearts.

Tasting

What Does Life Taste Like, Anyway?

Wednesday, August 23, 2023

Can We Ever Taste The Trees Up Close,

The Cold Fog,

The Distant Shore,

The Clear Moon?

As God’s Works For Us!

Isaiah 63:7

I will recount the gracious deeds of the Lord, the praiseworthy acts of the Lord, because of all that the Lord has done for us, and the great favour to the house of Israel that he has shown them according to his mercy, according to the abundance of his steadfast love.

1 Peter 2:3

if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

…

Words of Grace For Today

We can observe 93 billion light years of universe, though we estimate the universe is more than 7 trillion light years huge.

Why did God create all this?

Before creation it was only void, emptiness, and we can anthropomorphize that God easily could have been lonely. But lonely for such small creatures so capable of evil as us? Really!

The earth’s diameter is only about 13 km, and it’s circumference is 40,000 km. In other words from here to the opposite side of the earth is only 13 km, straight down through the core and back up. Or we can travel from here to the opposite side and back in about 40,000 km. That’s only 42 billionths of one light year. In other words we live our whole lives within 42 nano seconds of a light-year.

Why would God create the entire universe, just for us to exist? Or did God? Maybe we were an afterthought, or a mistake, or a side-effect. (The juries would then be out on whether we are a good side-effect or a bad side-effect or even a deadly side-effect.)

Like a medication that tastes bad but is supposed to do us good, except it turns our stomach so that we cannot hold it down: Maybe that is the kind of side-effect we are in God’s plans for the universe?

Except

when we have tasted how marvellously good God is to us, forgiving us, loving us, renewing us, and sending us out with a purpose grand enough to take more than all the life we have to give, then

we, small as we are, can do none other than go out

recounting the gracious acts of God for us,

for us all.

So it is we go out also into this day, whatever it may bring.

Follow?

Follow, Obey … ?

Hope Like Hell

Tuesday, August 22, 2023

Can We See The Way

That God Calls Us To,

This Day.

Deuteronomy 13:4

The Lord your God you shall follow, him alone you shall fear, his commandments you shall keep, his voice you shall obey, him you shall serve, and to him you shall hold fast.

1 Corinthians 10:13

No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.

…

Words of Grace For Today

Follow, Obey, and Live!

It’s great to follow a wonderful leader.

One who give us good life in following!

If only we can find one, identify one, and know with surety that we are not wrong.

Is it possible not to be wrong?

Can we be 100% sure of anything?

Not at all.

Not at all.

The question for us always is, since we cannot

since we cannot so much …

Then there is only trust.

Trust that God will provide all that we need,

trust that God is and always will be faithful,

So that we can meet the challenges of each day,

especially today?

Green

Growth?

Monday, August 21, 2023

Rain Brings Green Growth

or?

Jeremiah 24:7

I will give them a heart to know that I am the Lord; and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart.

Colossians 4:3

At the same time pray for us as well that God will open to us a door for the word, that we may declare the mystery of Christ, for which I am in prison

…

Words of Grace For Today

Green.

Green growth.

Green growth of life

Green Spring rains

Green Spring rains cleansing

Green Spring flowers, grasses, trees, …

Green Spring sprung rains renewing what was once dying.

Green Spring sprung rains renewing .dying .. hope for life to continue well

or

Green growth of envy and moulds.

Envy and moulds that cover and choke spreading spores that can destroy us from the inside.

Green.

Will we grow green to renew hope in us and around us?