Touching…Marvelous…
Watching babies once they find their hands is too fun – everything to the mouth. They don’t just want to hold the toy, the dog’s ear, their mom’s hair – they want to taste it, make it their own.
I’ll never forget my ten month old daughter discovering a furry rug her grandmother had gotten for her. Laying down on it, rolling around, she finally put her thumb in her mouth staring up in delight.
Touch, such a sweet gift — as we grow we downplay it, we don’t act on it, we hide our reaction. Cool breeze, a hug, sunshine warming away the shivers – we take these gifts for granted.
Daily we have opportunity to touch — another life with acceptance, the hurting with understanding, the lonely with our company. It’s in the touching, the reaching for another that we find our own need met. God has set eternity in our hearts and like babies we need to experience it, make it our own.
Eternity is now, not some distant time. Those who have Jesus Christ as Savior may close their eyes one final time on earth but they open them in the Savior’s arms. The first touch in ever after… If this is so, then I should touch each life I have the privilege of knowing like it matters forever…
“He has done marvelous things; His right hand and His holy arm have worked salvation for Him.” Psalm 98:1 NIV There are fifteen Bible verses with the word marvelous – all attributed to God’s ways and deeds. The way of a butterfly on wing, a rose that fills the room with sweetness, a swirling wind of leaves – all creation saying He is marvelous.
Sharing what He has done and touching a life with the good news of His salvation… a touch of marvelous…
What’s On Your Lips?
Some days start out with bread, peanut butter, and honey – I always find a drip left no matter how much I wipe with my napkin…Before heading out the door, I spin the tube of pink up and smooth on a smile…No easy way to enjoy the cone of frozen cream and sugar without having it smeared over my lips…
But these are the not the things that people notice on my lips…
What’s on our lips is heard more than seen. ‘Can I help you carry that?’ ‘Just calling to see how you are.’ ‘I miss you too.’
Do you watch somebody talk to you by looking in their eyes or at their lips? Maybe it’s just me but I seem to always be watching their lips. How we use our lips defines how others will be drawn to or deflected from our hearts…
Most grand is if we use our lips to glorify the One who fashioned them when He knit us together in the secret darkness of our mother’s womb. Psalm 34:1 NIV says “I will extol the Lord at all times; His praise will always be on my lips.”
Psalm 63:3 NIV is the why of His praise always being on our lips “Because Your love is better than life, my lips will glorify You.”
It’s amazing how many Bible verses there are about lips – a good number of them are not how I want my lips described. Sad to say our lips don’t always appear as though we love God let alone anyone else…
So today I’m asking ‘What’s on your lips?’ Encouragement – discouragement, respect – contempt, anger – understanding, kindness – harshness, praise – apathy?
Think about this “Gold there is, and rubies in abundance, but lips that speak knowledge are a rare jewel.” Proverbs 20:15 NIV The knowledge of the Creator, the knowledge of extending grace, the knowledge of forgiveness, the knowledge found only in a Savior whose lips spoke ‘Forgive them’ even as He spread His arms wide with nails in hands…
May our lips have praise on them today. Here is a lovely, ethereal song – it gets stuck in my head and I am blessed…
If you stopped by because you read my devotion today over at Encouragement Cafe, WELCOME! So glad you are here!
Peace Whispers…
Yesterday mama and papa bird landed outside my window to entertain me for a few minutes. His was bright red with black eyeliner. She was plumper with a brown back and blonde breast – but it was those tail feathers and beak that caught my attention…bright orangey red. Truly she looked like she kept lipstick in her nest.
I watched as they hopped around and flitted to and fro and then zoomed off as suddenly as they had arrived. It was such a vivid picture of how creation doesn’t worry or fret – daily His little critters build their nests, find their food, and show off to us…to remind us – remind us of how much beauty is all around us, how much our desire to be our own god has spoiled things, and how much He loves us that He would grace our world with such beautiful reminders…
Just before dusk the rumbling started, the sky lit up and I was called outside. Sitting on the porch I closed my eyes and listened as the rumbling got louder, increasing in frequency. As my husband joined me he pointed up high in the tree where a large bronze hawk sat keeping watch, waiting for the storm to pass. He was majestic and showed no fear. He wasn’t tucked in far amongst the branches, but rather just perched on one below a clump of leaves acting as his umbrella.
Slowly the drops began to fall and that wonderful smell that only summer rain brings made me breathe deep and exhale peace. I sat quietly…swirling breezes playing in my hair, rain coming harder, wind sweeping it down the street. Fresh, all the air was fresh. Satisfied, all the ground was satisfied. Soothed, the God who commands the storms, who pulses the lightening and rumbles His power, who provides – soothed my anxious mood.
Clouds lifted, drops became mist, the hawk took off over the rooftops. How do we in our anxious world find peace? By looking at all He has made realizing He has it all under control. Peace comes in the whispers of His assurance and the shouts of his beautiful creation…
Summer Ribbons…
Summer – this gift tied up with ribbons of life…
Creation is never more alive than in the heat and busyness that is summer. Bunnies abound in our grasses right now. Birds chase around comically. All busily eating and putting on winter’s fat for the lean cooler months.
All of us are busy too – going on vacations, or to the beach, or to a picnic, or baseball game. Slurping watermelons and spitting their seeds. Fanning as we sit in the shade. Dipping toes and whole bodies into cool water.
Each of these are gifts – and the opening – the untying of their ribbons is the fun. To wake up on a summer morning and rush outside to feel what little chill there is to the air – a curly blue ribbon of sky above. To listen to the cicada bugs rattle away telling of afternoon rain coming – a silky brown ribbon of wings. To smell the clean air as the storm pelts all wet – a twist of ribbons white and flowing. To taste the peaches and the Vidalia onions and the cucumbers and tomatoes – a rainbow of ribbons wrapping us in delight.
Days of summer fly by, one tumbling into the next – I don’t want to them to fade away unnoticed. I want to tug each ribbon open daily and drink in the gift of this humid, sunny, go barefoot, stay up late listening to the crickets time.
Ann Voskamp wisely said “May we see calendars not so much as rows of boxes to fill up with things to do – but as boxes that we get to unwrap – the present moment is always the gift.” Each day our wonderful Creator gives us ribbons and ribbons to tug open His gifts – given to delight us in ways He created us for, too often we are scurrying after that which has no eternal value.
I still love the old saying ‘Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift that’s why it’s called the present.’ Take time each day to see the abundant, lavish ribbons of His love and savor sweet summer a little longer…
Mason Jars…
It’s hard for us to let things sit empty – we have this need to fill them… Jugs become loose change collectors, boxes become mail catchers, some jars become candle holders – others become flower vases…
Never does a bouquet look lovelier than when it’s in a mason jar. The simplicity of a jar topped off with the intricacy of God’s handiwork, the perfect pairing.
It is the same with people, we are vessels longing to be filled up. Sometimes we fill up on work, on people, on money – funny how we never feel filled up…
Sometimes we fill up on social media, entertainment of one kind or another, the latest gossip…still empty…
God longs to fill us – with His mercy, His love, His forgiveness. Oh when we let ourselves be filled with His offerings how every little nook and cranny finds fulfillment. Yet we can’t get enough. The more He gives of Himself the more we can be filled. The more we are filled the more we can offer to others…
I want to be the mason jar, no frills or airs – just a vessel saying ‘Fill me Lord with love, joy, peace’. Let me be a bouquet of patience, kindness, goodness. That others will see gentleness, faithfulness, self-control… Let my filling be that of the Holy Spirit who has been given to us as a deposit so that we will never doubt the return of our Savior.
We are God’s handiwork, made in His image – to be image bearers to a world trying alcohol and pills, power and popularity, never feeling like they are filled up. Let us be so filled that others are drawn to find out what our sweet fragrance is.
God’s handiwork, His vessels, His ambassadors to the lady in line, the waiter at our table, the receptionist at the office. What the world needs now… a Savior, sweet Savior…
And the Hands That Made It…
Recently I was challenged to set a timer for five minutes and do…nothing. To sit back and breathe and listen – to let the tension roll away and be filled for good use…
I wondered during that time about things…I glanced at the beautiful quilt and I could feel God say ‘whose is it?’ and I replied in my heart ‘Yours and so are the hands that made it’…
My eyes wandered to pictures of children and grandchildren and again I was asked ‘whose are they’ and I replied ‘Yours and so are the bodies that made them’…
I noticed a silk flower arrangement I made about year or so ago, definitely not my skill set, but it turned out so lovely and He asked ‘whose is it?’ and I replied ‘Yours and so are my hands that made it’…
We are His, dear ones, and He wants us to know – to know beyond a shadow of a doubt how loved, how protected, how cherished we are… Though the tensions of the world may say otherwise, this is only temporary.
Finally my eyes wandered to a picture of my mother when she was a little girl. This time I asked ‘whose is she?’ and He replied ‘Mine and I made her and all eternity is hers’… Sweet comfort for the soul of a daughter wanting to know she will see her mommy again someday.
Emily Freeman is the author challenging us to be still and she said “Stillness is to the soul as decluttering is to the home.” Take the challenge, set the timer, declutter your soul…breathe, empty your hands to the Hands that made you…
If you stopped by because you read my devotion over at Encouragement Cafe, WELCOME! So glad you are here!
H. U. G….
Handing. Us. Grace. – every blooming flower, newborn cry, mountain meadow, crashing wave, bird in flight, frog croaking, butterfly fluttering – hugs from our Creator…
I’m a hugger – I especially love hugging someone unexpectedly. I don’t understand non-huggers – cause I know deep inside they need a hug, and they know it too. I also don’t understand timid huggers – you know, kind of come at you from the side, or lean forward so only shoulders touch, or make it quick with a pat on the back…
Look, if I’m gonna hug you it’s going to be full on, squeezing, and all that stuff – or I’m not going to hug you at all. A hug is a way of extending grace to each other. Especially those we are closest to. Sometimes I may not think my hubby deserves a hug, but I give him one anyway (knowing there are many more times I don’t deserve one and he still gives me one anyway).
Our love, kindness, feelings are so fickle. One minute we’re all sunshine and sweet thoughts and the next we’re on a tirade of ‘how dare they’ or “I can’t believe they’ or ‘how could they’. Grace is favor extended when most undeserved. You know, like what God does for us every minute of every day.
I can guarantee you that our offenses against a Holy God far outweigh all the wrongs done to us by friends or foes. Yet He still grants each next breath, a perfect sunrise, and even a mouthwatering dessert now and then.
He Hands.Us.Grace (H.U.G.) – can we hand.out.grace (h.o.g.)? Melt a frown, calm the worry, renew the passion – h.o.g. someone’s attention with a hug… Enjoy this link to a video that will definitely wrap you in His hug today…
http://www.andiesisle.com/creation/magnificent.html
If you stopped by because you read my devotion over at Encouragement Cafe, WELCOME! So glad you are here!
So-ing Lessons…
A lot can be learned from a thirteen year old…
They like to use the word ‘so’ – a lot. ‘So, grandma, how did you and grandpa meet?’ My story made him smile wide and relax in his seat. (So, I guess I’m a good story teller.)
‘So, grandpa, see if you know the answer to this, you would have been around then… Back in the prohibition all alcohol was illegal. Which alcohol was still illegal after prohibition?’ Uh, grandpa wasn’t even born til 1956 and where do they get this stuff – must have been in his history class this past year.
‘So there’s this kid at school whose the same age as me. He has a mustache and chest hair already and he’s not even as tall as me. He looks a lot older, like seventeen. But he’s really my age.’ Hmmm, we’re happy that this year our just turned teen has grown several inches and his voice changed but that’s it for now…
It’s amazing how the metabolism of a thirteen year old can consume a week’s worth of groceries in one day with a super large bowl of ice cream just before they go to bed and not only can they sleep well, but they never put on any weight. So I guess he may be two inches taller before he goes back home to his parents.
Thirteen year old boys also have come into their own with humor and telling jokes. It’s like the light bulb came on and they can’t get enough. Everyday he has a new one ‘So, grandma, what do you call a cow with no legs?’ Honestly I thought my answer of ‘sitting bull’ was good, he rolled his eyes. ‘No, the answer is – ground beef.’ So, now he has us searching our memory banks for long lost silly jokes…
In the quiet of day just before bedtime we have deep discussions. A serious side comes out. He reflects before answering and sharing and then when we all pray he says something like this: ‘So, God, thank you for all the fun of the day, all the good food and things you’ve given us. Watch over my family while I’m away and help other people around the world with their problems. In Jesus’ Name, Amen’
So, being a grandparent is pretty cool, to see the world through eyes only beginning the adventure… Lessons learned in a short summer stay, memories to last a lifetime…
In God Do We?
Are we losing it – t r u s t ? A nation pulling further away, at times unrecognizable any longer as believers in the one true God. That’s what we see and hear on the networks, the papers, the hype… That’s what we see in the actions of our government… But is that what is in the hearts of Americans?
Maybe some, but certainly not all. Read beyond the networks wanting ratings and political favors and you read of hard working men and women trying to raise a family, to run a business, to make a day’s wage. Talk to people in the grocery store line and in the bank lines and you hear of belief or hope that surely God will take care of us…
America, from the beginning, has been a nation of imperfect people and not all came here to have freedom to worship the one true God. But more did than didn’t and this nation ran well and prospered from the constraints in place when a body of people base the rule of law, justice, freedom on Christian values.
America, I fear, is beginning some dark days as we ‘tell’ God by our rulings and our actions and our restrictions that we no longer need Him. Amazing when bad things happen people are quick to say ‘where was God in this?’ but just as quick to shout ‘separation of church and state’, just as quick to oust him out of our schools, our ceremonies, our government – calling on Him only when tragedy strikes.
Hope lives in the America’s hearts and God tells us “If my people, who are called by my Name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” (2Chronicles 7:14 NIV)
This is a call, dear friends, to be humble, to seek His face, to turn from all the wicked ways we have allowed to creep in and beg our Father to hear us and to ignite a mighty revival in this country – that this nation may be known as a Christian nation. If He does not, if we continue to snub our noses at Him, then our shining light to the world will be extinguished.
Somber words for my usually light hearted posts but timely… Celebrate our freedom as Americans this 4th of July, and praise God for our true freedom in Him…
If you stopped by because you read my devotion today over at Encouragement Cafe, WELCOME! So glad you are here!
Sea Shells & Other Collections…
My husband says I should take a few bags with me to the beach – but he doesn’t mean empty ones for more shells. He thinks I should return a few bags just to be fair to others who are missing out…
People usually go to the beach to tan or to play in the water or to relax by the surf – I don’t understand… So much treasure just waiting to be picked up. My son once found a beautiful watch for me in a bed of seaweed. My mother used to live near the Oregon coast, she collected agates she found at the seashore.
A good friend has collected ‘sea glass’ and turned it into a jewelry business. Ever see those guys out there with their metal detectors? I bet they find some good stuff…
When I go to the mountains there aren’t any shells…But there are leaves in the fall. I have a huge, old dictionary whose pages have leaves pressed between them. They’re beautiful. If it’s not fall, I can collect some rocks – well, we don’t have rocks in Florida so they are quite a find.
Once we were in Asheville strolling down the street – there were these brown prickly balls with a little stem lying everywhere. They looked like brown fuzzy maraschino cherries. Perfect for a bowl on my table.
Acorns are really cool looking, but we don’t have any oaks around us so I only have a couple. I recently started collecting seeds from my flowers – why not? I can store them and replant them the following season and not have to buy as many plants. I love cat tails – not the animal kind, the kind that grow on those blowing grasses. Stick them in a vase, they last forever.
Late in the year I pull out a collection of pine cones that I’ve had for over twenty years. While I certainly cannot put down the store bought collections we all have, I must say that the ones God has sprinkled about for us to enjoy are much more unique – and they’re free! Creation – the best collecting grounds there are…
If you stopped by because you read my devotion today over at Encouragement Cafe, WELCOME! So glad you are here!
parisrenae 