Love Each Other

March 10, 2021 / mcalcagno / Leave a comment

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. ¹⁰If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. ¹¹I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. ¹²My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. ¹³Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

John 15:9-13

DSC_0316 publish

“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. ¹⁷This is my command: Love each other.”

John 15:16-17

(This photo was taken in May of 2020 at the High Falls in Tettegouche State Park in northern Minnesota)

Contentment

February 25, 2021 / mcalcagno / Leave a comment

“But godliness with contentment is great gain. ⁷For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. ⁸But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. ⁹Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. ¹⁰For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”

1 Timothy 6:6-10

DSC_0836 publish

“Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,

“Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you.”^[a]

Hebrews 13:5

(This photo was taken in August of 2016 near Glacier National Park in Montana)

Do Good Things

January 30, 2021 / mcalcagno / Leave a comment

“Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ²⁵Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. ²⁶Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.”

Galatians 5:24-26

“Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. ²Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”

Galatians 6:1-2

DSC_0035 (2) publish

“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. ⁸Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. ⁹Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. ¹⁰Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”

Galatians 6:7-10

(This photo was taken in May of 2020 at Palisade Head along the North Shore of Lake Superior)

Life By The Spirit

January 28, 2021 / mcalcagno / Leave a comment

“For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love. ¹⁴For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”^[a] ¹⁵But if you are always biting and devouring one another, watch out! Beware of destroying one another.”

Galatians 5:13-15

DSC01214 publish

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”

Galatians 5:22-23

(This photo was taken in April of 2016 at a lake in central Minnesota)

Be Filled With The Spirit

January 16, 2021 / mcalcagno / 2 Comments

“Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, ¹⁶making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. ¹⁷Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. ¹⁸Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, ¹⁹speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, ²⁰always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Ephesians 5:15-20

DSC_0001 publish

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.“

Galatians 5:22-23

(This photo was taken in June of 2016 in a neighborhood near Plymouth, Minnesota)

Hope

January 6, 2021 / mcalcagno / Leave a comment

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Romans 15:13

DSC06178 publish

“Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.”

Psalm 23:6

(This photo was taken in February of 2013 in a neighborhood near Plymouth, Minnesota)

Do Good Works

January 1, 2021 / mcalcagno / Leave a comment

“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.”

Ephesians 2:4-5

DSC_0203 (2) publish

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹not by works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

Ephesians 2:8-10

(This photo was taken in July of 2018 on Lake Superior near the Apostle Islands)

Love One Another

December 10, 2020 / mcalcagno / Leave a comment

“For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.”

1 John 3:11

“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. ¹⁷If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? ¹⁸Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.”

1 John 3:16-18

DSC06483 publish

“And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. ²⁴The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.”

1 John 3:23-24

(This photo was taken in March of 2013 at the Botanical Gardens in the Bellagio in Las Vegas, Nevada)

The Goodness Of God

November 22, 2020 / mcalcagno / 1 Comment

Goodness Of God by Jenn Johnson

“The Lord is good to all;
he has compassion on all he has made.”

Psalm 145:9

“The Lord is good,
a refuge in times of trouble.
He cares for those who trust in him,”

Nahum 1:7

“Taste and see that the Lord is good;
blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.”

Psalm 34:8

DSC_0199 publish

“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his love endures forever.”

Psalm 107:1

(This photo was taken in May of 2020 at sunrise along the North Shore of Lake Superior)

Renew Your Perspective

November 21, 2020 / mcalcagno / 2 Comments

“The Lord is my light and my salvation—
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life—
of whom shall I be afraid?”

Psalm 27:1

DSC_0061 publish

“I remain confident of this:
    I will see the goodness of the Lord
    in the land of the living.
¹⁴Wait for the Lord;
    be strong and take heart
    and wait for the Lord.”