Category: Trees

Giving God Praise

Along With All Creation

Thursday, May 22, 2025

At the break of dawn, to the setting of the sun,

And even all through the night of doubt and sorrow.

Psalm 74:21 (see also Psalm 67)

Do not let the downtrodden be put to shame; let the poor and needy praise your name.

Let the nations be glad and sing for joy. (Ps. 67:4)

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Matthew 15:25-28

But the Canaanite woman came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” He answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed instantly.

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Words of Grace for Today –

…

The challenges – all those under a deadline – and all besides the immediate ones to be dealt with – the challenges keep me awake, wondering how to improve the poor results methods I’ve used when I have barely anymore resources or smarts on how to meet the challenges.

And then the morning fire started,

I stood, peering, turning, overwhelmed by the music, wondering …

the geese squawked in a line, not a ‘V’ high overhead, passing in and out of the clouds covering the whole sky, calming the light …

cattle mooed insistently off down and beyond the shores adding a cacophony to the

song birds chirping, singing, swaying the air …

as loons called disturbed by something or was it just they were waking to a new day?

Wondering what great praise the music brings to the Creator, Saviour, Sustainer, 3 in 1.

The light, calm, grey, settled over the fog covered green, green grass in the lower north meadow

giving the orchestra an album cover …

before I decided the fire was probably well started, the ash door could be closed, and I could go in and take the morning medication and crawl back into bed, an opposite standing encore, laying down and letting the music of praise go on and on

and

on.

Healing the music brings, flowing freely, gently over all that is, was, and will be.

So it’s a reset to stand and wonder how

God brings all that music together as the dawn breaks

at 4:40 am.

…

And how is your morning, your day, and your night going?

Fools All

Thinking They’re Wise

Tuesday, April 15, 2025

The Most Foolish of Follies.

True Wisdom is As Accessible As Beauty,

Everywhere!

Jeremiah 8:9

The wise shall be put to shame, they shall be dismayed and taken; since they have rejected the word of the Lord, what wisdom is in them?

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1 Corinthians 1:20

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

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Words of Grace for Today –

…

The world’s ways spawn many people who think they are wise, who are told by many others they are wise, who’s counsel is taken by many especially those in power.

But they are nothing but mere fools, thinking they know so much, in such good ways, as to bring the world forward to some nebulous goal.

God’s Word brings a different kind of wisdom:

Jesus sees the crowds, climbs the mountain, sits down, and begins to teach. Actually, he begins to turn everything upside down. Or is it right-side-up? All of a sudden, the meek, the poor and the heartbroken are the blessed ones — and our enemies are the ones we should pray for. The Sermon on the Mount is one of the greatest gifts of scripture to humanity; just ask Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and Leo Tolstoy. But who is making any use of it today?

In a time, like every other, when an eye for an eye still seems to hold sway, what is this seemingly bizarre logic of Christian non-violence, beginning with Jesus’ counsel to ‘turn the other cheek’*

if not the wisdom of God for us all.

* CBC IDEAS’ Newsletter description of IDEAS’ “Turn the Other Cheek: The Radical Case for Nonviolent Resistance” episode for 14 Oct 2022 and rebroadcast Good Friday 18 April 2025

Being Exalted or Halted

In God’s Good Time

Thursday, April 10, 2025

Meanwhile, Serving With Humility

Living the dream,

solitude

surrounded by green pastures

beside still waters.

First Chronicles 29:12

Riches and honour come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might; and it is in your hand to make great and to give strength to all.

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1 Peter 5:6

Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you in due time.

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Words of Grace for Today –

…

I prayed, God give me a billion dollars. (It used to be for a million but with inflation, well you know….)

God answered, “In a minute.”

Nothing happened. I’m still as poor as ever. So I asked a wise person why God did not follow through with God’s good promise.

The wise person said, “God will in God’s good time. For God a billion years is like a minute, and a minute is like a billion years. In a billion years your billion dollars will be yours in heaven. It’ll be worth a dime today, and worthless in heaven. God always keeps God’s promises.”

…

Oh, it’d be great, wouldn’t it, to be great

With riches and honours beyond number!?

God calls us,

not to make ourselves great,

not in anyway,

but rather to serve others

so that even the poorest

have the basics of life,

blessed life,

life abundant.

That can cost us everything.

It did Jesus.

It did numerous saints who have gone before us.

It will us

if we serve Jesus, by humbly serving others, as the Spirit guides and equips us.

In God’s good time.

In God’s good time God gives us wonders upon wonders to enjoy each day.

Where Are You

Looking For

Wednesday, April 9, 2025

Wisdom and Guidance?

See The Light.

Live In The Light.

Be Made Radiant.

Psalm 34:5

Look to him, and be radiant; so your faces shall never be ashamed.

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John 13:15

For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.

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Words of Grace for Today –

…

The routine of life,

which we make happen when there is no routine,

lest we go crazy,

some of us more than others,

…

The routine of life

does not give us wisdom on how to live well.

The routine of life only teaches us

to survive.

…

So where do we look for wisdom and guidance?

Conspiracy theories built on our fears, fears augmented by fake news and social media echo chambers?

Human constructed ways and means of building fortunes, fame, or satisfaction?

…

Human constructed ‘divine wisdom’ that looks exactly like human wisdom on how to get the best for oneself and one’s own?

…

or

From Jesus, still presented by humans in human words, but with a difference from the rest;

namely that Jesus is the example,

and we do not have to strive to emulate him on our own, in fact we simply cannot, not unless we first recognize that on our own we cannot accomplish anything good.

God comes to us, forgives, restores, and revives us, and then sends us out to be that same forgiveness, restoration, and revival for all other people, even if it costs us our lives.

That’s the example Jesus provides for us. We cannot.

But God can

and does

for us

and through us for others.

Thus we become radiant in our routines, and never need be ashamed of what God accomplishes through us, nor our failings that God forgives over and over and over again.

…

So where are you looking today for wisdom and guidance?

Turning Back

Being Turned Back

Tuesday, April 8, 2025

God’s Can, Our Can’t

The Beauty Only God Can Give,

A Day Brought To A Wondrous Close,

Is Ours As We Share It With Those Most In Need.

Second Chronicles 30:9

For as you return to the Lord, your kindred and your children will find compassion with their captors, and return to this land. For the Lord your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you, if you return to him.

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Luke 22:32

Jesus spoke to Simon: but I have prayed for you that your own faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.

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Words of Grace for Today –

…

God is gracious and merciful.

God can save us from ourselves, and from our enemies.

God can bring us to live life abundant

by sharing God’s generous gifts with others in need.

God can!

We cannot!

We cannot save ourselves!

We cannot make our lives better!

We cannot help others!

We cannot even turn back to God.

Only God can turn us back.

Nothing good can happen without God making it happen.

Nothing good happens that is not something we do for others.

Just another day in trying to fix it ourselves and making it worse.

And God saving us from ourselves,

and sending us out to help others.

No Fool

No Fooling

Tuesday, April 1, 2025

Only God Gives Happiness.

The Path Following Jesus

is Soooo Steep,

We Cannot On Our Own Make It,

Not At All.

Psalm 146:5-7

Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps faith for ever; who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free ….

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2 Corinthians 9:10

He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.

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Words of Grace for Today –

…

When we think we can …

we can make things better for ourselves, and our loved ones, and those like us …

we can do God’s Will …

we can do God’s Will, not like yester-years, but now more completely, better, more blessedly …

we can make the world right with our judgments and efforts …

When we think we can

we take the first step into foolishness

and disaster

for ourselves and everyone effected by us.

Only when we turn,

helpless

hopeless

exhausted

hungry for life

thirsting for truth

starving for love …

Only when we turn, saying I can NOT,

Only when we turn to God, and cry for help,

do we start the day well,

reading ourselves to shared the gifts of God,

being Jesus’ hands and feet executing justice for the oppressed; giving food to the hungry,

making, by Grace alone, things better

for all creation.

God’s Holy Temple

Defiled

Saturday, March 29, 2025

All Creation Holy and Defiled

All Is Holy,

All Of It,

Wonders And All

Habakkuk 2:20

But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him!

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Mark 11:17

He was teaching and saying, ‘Is it not written, “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations”? But you have made it a den of robbers.’

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Words of Grace for Today –

…

So often we think of God as being there,

over there,

in that place,

that one holy place,

or one of many holy places.

Like churches, Temples, etc.

We make rules of how we are to behave in those special, holy places.

Good rules and traditions of hallowed places of prayer, worship, singing, giving thanks, feasting, welcoming all and sharing with everyone.

Which frees us to behave otherwise in all our places.

And that we are so good at that even in those special hallowed places we have behaved horrendously.

But!

God is everywhere in all creation.

All our places are first and foremost God’s places.

Our behaviour in ‘holy places’ as well as everywhere, should be governed by our following Jesus example, and the example of many, many saints who have gone before us, and who walk among us even today.

Reverence, prayers of gratitude, prayers of intercession, and acts of selfless love, acts of justice, acts of bringing equality to all.

Keeping God’s hallowed places holy, means keeping all creation holy, us included.

Singing and Saying

To Be Known and Loved

Sunday, March 23, 2025

By God – Nothing Is Greater.

See the Light? The Light Sees You!

Psalm 59:17

O my strength, I will sing praises to you, for you, O God, are my fortress, the God who shows me steadfast love.

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Acts of the Apostles 26:22

To this day I have had help from God, and so I stand here, testifying to both small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would take place:…

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Words of Grace for Today –

…

We all have a basic need to be seen, known, and loved for who we are, just as we are, warts and all.

When we accept that God sees, knows and loves us, just as we are

Then life becomes very interesting, very challenging, very rooted, and wildly unpredictable,

for God not only sees, knows and loves us, but also

sends us

to engage all kinds of people, to see them, know them, and to love them as God does.

Engaging with others does change us at our roots, and gives us a little better view to God’s perspective on us (all people), our lives, on this planet, and on the entire universe.

Singing and Saying what the prophets and Moses did …

Singing and Saying what God does in the past, today, and promises to do in the future …

Singing and Saying like that reflects that when we engage with others, actually keeping silent and listening intently, there is nothing predictable about where, how, and why God will take us today and all our tomorrows,

only that God’s love will always be there, as God walks right beside us into and through it all.

Yep, that brings us to Singing and Saying, all day and all night long.

To Be Seen

To Be Known

Wednesday, March 19, 2025

And Loved

Especially When We Are Cast Out,

Cut-Off,

Alone.

Job 40:3-4

Then Job answered the Lord: ‘See, I am of small account; what shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth.

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1 Corinthians 13:12

For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.

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Words of Grace for Today –

…

There is nothing more frightening than to not be seen.

To have no one see one as a person, as a person of worth.

Or worse, to be seen and valued as worthy only for what one is not. To be a lie.

…

In the Psalm for this coming Sunday we read

 O God, you are my God; eagerly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

Our hearts, minds and spirits know from where we have come, and they thirst to be seen and known for who we are.

Most often we seek to be seen and known by other people. This is not misguided, for God created us people to be for each other God’s presence, God’s voice, heart, hands, and feet, graciously sharing all God’s gifts.

And as Jesus taught, to be God’s loving presence especially for the poor, the ill, the lost, the outcast, the foreigner, and even for our enemies.

What does God do for those, like Job, whom all others have rejected and there is no one to be God’s presence?

God comes and makes God’s own self visible, palatable, healing, loving, and enlivening in mysterious ways, in ways mystics have spoken of for generations.

Just as Paul knew there was no danger in not being seen by other people, because God still sees us, and knows us.

We need not bring our protests to God for how terrible the world has treated us, though we may. God can take it. We can know that God is Great above all, and we are but dust given spirit as a gift from God,

and we therefore can, especially during our Lenten journey, remain humble and still, bending low before the wonders of God all around us,

witnesses to God’s steadfast love for us.

And when we pray it can be in thanks in words the Psalmist gives us this Sunday:

For you have been my helper, and under the shadow of your wings I will rejoice.
My whole being clings to you; your right hand holds me fast.

Come All Who Thirst

Eat and Drink

Tuesday, March 18, 2025

No Money Required

Have No Fear.

All Points To God With Us,

Even The Shadows.

Jeremiah 16:19

O Lord, my strength and my stronghold, my refuge on the day of trouble.

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2 Timothy 1:11-12

For this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher, and for this reason I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know the one in whom I have put my trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard until that day what I have entrusted to him.

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Words of Grace for Today –

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God is our strength, stronghold, and refuge. The strength God gives us is none other than what fuels our lives: living water and nourishing food, freely given.

The invitation is repeated in the Old Testament Reading for this coming Sunday (Isaiah 55:1-9)

Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters;
and you that have no money, come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.

As Paul wrote, we entrust our very lives to our loving, gracious, and generous God.

Though we suffer, we need not be ashamed. The world’s ways are not God’s ways. Always taking, taking, taking giving so little in return, leaving so many to suffer at the hands of those who greedily hoard the necessities of life for themselves.

There is no shame in imitating Jesus, generous, gracious, and loving of all, even one’s enemies.

When the days of troubles descends upon us, from within and from outside, we need not fear. Fear leads to panic. Panic leads to chaos. Chaos leads to loss, suffering, and death. No, we need not start down that deadly path. For our God is not distant. For our God is not impotent. Our God is omnipresent, even with us, and omnipotent. Creator of all. More powerful than the most destructive forces within ourselves, within others, and around us in the universe.

God is our strength, our stronghold, our refuge. God calls, come all you who are thirsty and hungry and afraid … come, eat, drink, and be comforted, for as God spoke to Julian:

“Sin is necessary, but all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.”

[Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love, ed. M. L. de Mastro (Garden City, NY: Image, 1977), 124.]