“For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”
Psalm 103:11-12
(This photo was taken in October of 2014 at the Nakalele Blowhole on the island of Maui)
“But you, o Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.”
Psalm 86:15
(This photo was taken in September of 2014 in a neighborhood near Minneapolis, Minnesota)
“Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”
Psalm 51:10
(This photo was taken in August of 2016 in Mount Rainier National Park in Washington)
“Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”
1 Corinthians 13:6-7
(This photo was taken in June of 2013 near Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado)
“If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
1 John 1:8-9
(This photo was taken in July of 2016 at Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming)
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
John 16:33
(This photo was taken in April of 2016 during sunrise on a lake in central Minnesota)
Often when we think of giving, because we live in a material world our thoughts lead us to the monetary value of things we can give. Or we believe the more costly the gift the more the person or people will know how important they are to me. We easily fall into this trap because we see it happening around us and we see it advertised on TV and in events everywhere.
My personal favorite line from a jewelry store commercial…”Let her know how much you care by buying this diamond crusted, gold covered….” Non-essential material things do not show a person how much you care for them. You want to know the best gift you can give to someone you truly care about? The one thing in every relationship that only you can give to any other person and typically it is worth way more than you give it credit for…what is that greatest gift?
Time.
God knows how special Time is…every day you get up is the gift of Time from him.
Your time is the one gift only you can give to others…stop and think for a moment who you have been giving your Time to in the last few days and weeks. Maybe it is exactly the people you should be spending Time with or maybe you are now thinking of somebody that you have been missing and know you need to spend some time with…no matter which it is, don’t forget that the One who provided you this ability to give time to others also would like some time with you. When I woke this morning I could hear the following hymn from my childhood playing in my mind as a message from me to God…
Here I Am Lord — Music & Lyrics by Dan Schutte
I, the Lord of sea and sky,
I have heard My people cry.
All who dwell in dark and sin,
My hand will save.
I who made the stars of night,
I will make their darkness bright.
Who will bear My light to them?
Whom shall I send?
Here I am Lord, Is it I Lord?
I have heard You calling in the night.
I will go Lord, if You lead me.
I will hold Your people in my heart.
I, the Lord of snow and rain,
I have born my peoples pain.
I have wept for love of them, They turn away.
I will break their hearts of stone,
Give them hearts for love alone.
I will speak My word to them,
Whom shall I send?
Here I am Lord, Is it I Lord?
I have heard You calling in the night.
I will go Lord, if You lead me.
I will hold Your people in my heart.
I, the Lord of wind and flame,
I will tend the poor and lame.
I will set a feast for them,
My hand will save
Finest bread I will provide,
Till their hearts be satisfied.
I will give My life to them,
Whom shall I send?
Here I am Lord, Is it I Lord?
I have heard You calling in the night.
I will go Lord, if You lead me.
I will hold Your people in my heart.
With whom will you spend your greatest gift today?
Peace.
From time to time I come across an image or a scene of nature and it automatically can be associated to life…not sure why this happens or how my train of thought gets there sometimes but wanted to share a recent one.
In the picture above, that is a picnic table under several feet of snow on a deck. This amount of snow can come over many days from several different storms or as it has happened this winter it can fall all in one or two consecutive days! It will be several weeks or a few months before this table will once again be free of piles of snow. With the gradual warming in temperature (we hope) and the longer days of spring not far off it will eventually melt away…if we go out and give a hand it will happen much faster. Either way the snow will be gone at some point and we will be able to sit out at that table in our swimsuits eating ice cream in the warm afternoon air…hard to imagine looking at the picture but nonetheless true.
In our lives we can get buried under problems, worries and fears. They can come down on us over many days or very quickly. Depending on our attitude, these problems, worries and fears can take several weeks or months or even years to melt away…if we chose to be bitter and angry and “cold-hearted” that definitely will make the melting take longer. If we try to be positive and we are willing to accept help from those qualified to help us in our lives the problems will melt away sooner and we will once again be able to enjoy the blessings in life.
No matter how you look at them both situations need a center piece…
One needs the sun and the other needs The Son!
“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.”
Colossians 3:15
Peace to you.
We all spend so much time in our daily life worrying about this and that or scurrying here and there. All the while the single greatest command God gave is “Love one another”…..I spent time tonight experiencing an Immersion into the city with three incredible youth from our church. The assignment…we were given $8 and a mass transit pass total for the four of us to eat and get around a specific neighborhood. We were to find dinner somehow some way and as we walked through the neighborhood we were encouraged to talk with people to learn about the city. Tonight we didn’t necessarily “follow” the path suggested for us and because of that the holy spirit was able to guide us and lead us to a woman I will call Mary.
We encountered Mary sitting on a camp chair on the sidewalk in the middle of an affluent neighborhood…..we stopped and talked to her about the city and how things have changed in her life. She told us she has been homeless since the war ended, which war we don’t know. She explained how she had been beaten by people in order to steal her things and her food. She told us about her friends in the neighborhood and she even told us what areas of the city to avoid for our safety! Imagine a woman who has been living on the streets and suffering worried about our safety. We should all consider being so generous. The youth had decided that we should find some food and share our meal with Mary. Again, we had $8 to buy our meal. The only place we found was a drug store and for a total of $6.91 we bought a package of buns, a packet of deli turkey meat, a 2-liter bottle of ginger ale (Mary’s request) and a large bag of chips. We returned to Mary. The four of us each had a bun with some turkey on it and everything else, including more buns and turkey we gave to Mary. We asked her if she would pray with us and she agreed and provided the names of others we should include in our prayer. Eventually we needed to be returning from our assignment so we said goodbye to Mary and began the journey back.
Through our entire time with Mary the one thing I can’t get out of my mind is the reactions and facial expressions of the hundreds of people passing by while we spent our time chatting and eating with Mary. So many of them looked so surprised or shocked and how sad is that…..it makes me realize we all need to do a better job of opening the eyes of our hearts to the people in our world that need our help, myself included. We can’t help them all but our little group spent a wonderful evening talking and sharing a meal with a woman that the world around her has no idea even exists. Help us Lord, help us see the Mary’s of our broken world.
Peace.
