Scripture:
Praise the LORD! For it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting. Psalm 147:1 About This Image: This is a clover, so small that is often ignored. It can be found anywhere, probably in your yard or along the highway. With a macro lens you can see its intricate beauty. When we see such beauty the result is joy and the outcome of joy is praise to the creator. It is good to sing praises to God for the little pieces of beauty we see along the way. Look for those little pieces of beauty as you walk in the ordinariness of your everyday and then sing a song of praise to our God.
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Scripture:
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things. Philippians 4:8 About This Image: The ice covering Cataract Falls looks pure and clear - clear enough to see the water flowing underneath the ice. In reality it is not pure and it would be a mistake to try to drink the water. It isn't always easy to think only about things that are praiseworthy, pure, right, noble, true, lovely and admirable. We are too easily distracted by the things that don't have these qualities. Sometimes it is even hard to tell if something is true and pure. The more we "think on such things" the easier it becomes to distinguish between the excellent and praiseworthy and things that are ignoble, wrong, and impure. Scripture:
He made my feet like the feet of a deer and set me secure on the heights. Psalm 18:33 About This Image: I am not a wildlife photographer, but with this image I just happened to get lucky. I saw this buck in the snow close to the entrance of the loop at Cades Cove. We had just had a light spring snow and the roads were clear so we got to see the Cove in the snow. Even though the snow wasn't deep I know that I still couldn't have climbed this little hill without falling. This buck was having no trouble. He was secure under his feet. Security is something that we all seek. We will not only find security in God but we will see the high mountains of his love. Scripture:
The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. Isaiah 40:8 About This Image: I took this picture last summer at Roan Mountain State Park. It was a beautiful and hot summer day. If you were to go to the same place now I know it would not look the same. The little daises would be gone, the grass mowed for hay, and the leaves off the trees. God's word is always beautiful. It will always be there for us. Many people in church today will say this verse after scripture reading. When things are repeated often we sometimes lose their meaning. May God's word speak to you today in a special way. Scripture:
The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing. Zephaniah 3:17 About This Image: Waterfalls can be loud and exciting or quiet and calming. I love to walk by quiet streams like this one on Roaring Fork in the Great Smoky Mountains. This verse has been one of my favorite verses for a long time. I love the imagery of God singing over me, like a mother sings over her newborn. But when I went to read this verse again today another phrase spoke to me - "he will quiet you by his love:" I thought how else can we find quiet except when we are sure we are loved. When we need to be quieted, like when we are stressed, isn't it when we are focusing on something other than God's love for us - trying to make our own way instead of trusting him. Scripture:
The one who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep within him.” John 7:38 About This Image: Twin Falls at Rock Island State Park is a very unusual waterfall in that the water doesn't come from a river or stream. In 1925 a dam was built on the Caney Fork River and water diverted from the nearby Collins River found its was through the porous limestone rock to make this 80 foot waterfall. The water actually flows out of the rock. Just like this waterfall, Jesus promises to supply the believer with living water that will refresh and refill others who need it. We are to be fountains of life giving water to all we meet. Scripture:
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever! Psalm 111:10 About This Image: Everyday begins with a sunrise, even on days when we can't see the sun rise because it lies behind a bank of clouds. The conditions must be just right for a beautiful sunrise like this one on the lake at Fall Creek Falls State Park. For true wisdom, just like a beautiful sunrise, the conditions must be right. Wisdom begins when we revere the all-knowing God. As we follow his laws we develop an understanding and insight that is more than knowledge. Our only response become praise. Scripture:
Great are the works of the Lord; They are studied by all who delight in them. Splendid and majestic is His work, And His righteousness endures forever. Psalm 111:2-3 About This Image: There is nothing to me more majestic than mountains. Maybe that is because I have always lived close to mountains. This past fall we made a road trip to Glacier National Park and these mountains, like these around lower Grinnell Lake and Grinell Glacier, are truly majestic. One thing that I have learned about mountains, though, is that you don't go to them unprepared. There are dangers there for the hiker who hasn't studied them and knows what to expect on the trails. God's word is like his works, they are splendid and majestic and a delight to all who study them. Scripture:
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. Psalm 139:13-14 About This Image: Beautiful! Seeing a newborn baby is amazing, a beautiful new life. Today our first granddaughter was born and she is beautiful. Knit together and wonderfully made in the image of God. His "works are wonderful, I know that full well." Scripture:
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:12-14 About This Image: I took this picture 6 years ago to the day, Sunday, January 22, 2012. I had gotten my new DSLR on the previous Saturday and spent that afternoon reading the manual (yes I read manuals) and charging the battery. After church on this day I went out to Cherokee Dam and just started taking pictures. I decided to post it today, even though I can tell you a hundred things that are so wrong with it, because it was the beginning of a new direction in my life. When I purchased the camera to take pictures at my son's wedding I never expected how God would use my camera to bring me closer to him. These verses have been special to me for the last several years. They remind me that Jesus took hold of me and made me his own. I am so very thankful for the gift of photography that he has given me. As I look forward to the future I want to "press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." And for now, at least, I think that photography will be one thing that God will use as I make my way toward him. Scripture:
And going on a little farther, he [Jesus] saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets. And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him. Mark 1:19-20 About This Image: I love snowy days that provide me a new way to see the world, like this ice-encased dogwood bud. In the image you see the reflections of other branches in the ice and if you look closely you can even see the reflection of my camera. You also see the promise of new life in the bud. I have read this story of Jesus calling the disciples many times but until now I had never thought about how Jesus called the disciples to a whole new way of life that day. They left their world of work and family and followed Jesus to new ways of working and living. They didn't just add on something to the way they were already living, but it was a whole new way of life. Jesus calls us into new ways of being and he gives us everything we need to live in him. Scripture:
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. Psalm 51:10-12 About This Image: Sometimes it is easy to tell that water is dirty because it is brown and mucky. Other times, when the water is clear and flowing like this image of water flowing over the cascades at Fall Creek Falls State Park it is hard to tell if the water is really clean and pure. Our sin is like this - sometimes we see it clearly, but other times we don't want to look. David wrote this Psalm after he committed adultery and had an innocent man killed to cover this sin. He didn't see his sin until the prophet Nathan pointed it out to him. We can be like that too. We need to ask God to create a clean heart in us. Only then can we live in the presence of the Holy God and rejoice in our salvation. Scripture:
Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known. Jeremiah 33:3 About This Image: One thing that learning to use a macro lens has given me is the ability to see details of things that were hidden from normal sight. I never knew that the center of a sunflower was made up of so many parts or the petals had veins and were covered with pollen, until I took this image of the sunflower at Seven Islands State Bird Park. (Click on the image to see it at full resolution, be amazed) To really study God's word I have found that you have to begin as if the scripture were a conversation. If you ask God to show you what you need to understand as you study a specific scripture, he will show you things that you would not learn on your own. I am grateful for the scholars who have written commentaries and preachers who preach wonderful sermons. I use these tools when I study God's word. But the commentaries and sermons will only tell you about a passage. When you call to God, he will answer and show you what you need to hear from his scripture in your life, the Bible is unlike any other book in that way. Calling to God and asking him to teach you things that you need from a scripture passage is like using a macro lens - it allows you to see great and hidden things that you would never see without calling to him. Scripture:
For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken. Psalm 62:1-2 About This Image: I had seen this tree many times on trips to Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountains, but not until this day in the fog did I see its beauty. It is in a field where the horses graze at the beginning of the loop road and I usually rush by to get to more scenic views. This morning the loop road was closed to all but walkers and bicyclists. The fog covered all the business of the field that I usually see and because we were walking, there was no rushing. It was so quiet and still. It is not easy to be still and wait, especially in silence, in our busy world. To wait in silence requires trust in a God who is stronger than you, who loves you with a steadfast love. Silence, an inner stillness, peace, only come when we put our focus on God. It can't be achieved any other way. Scripture:
Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. John 14:23 About This Image: We all want a place to call home, especially in cold, snowy weather. I have been thinking this week about what home is. Maybe the first thing we think of when we think of home is a place, the house we live in. But for most of us home is more than a house; it is a place where we are surrounded by those we love. I can feel at home when I am with my children and their families even though we live in different houses in different cities. Home is also something that you must make - you must be intentional and do things that will make a good home. In this scripture Jesus promised us that when we love and follow him, he and the Father will make his home with us. Just let that sink in the next time you walk into your house; Jesus will make his home with you in your house. You can always know his presence wherever you are. Scripture:
For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. 1 Corinthians 12:12-13 About This Image: I enjoy cold weather and in this last blast of icy temperatures I was excited to get to the mountains to take images of icy rivers. Ice is intricate and beautiful, especially up close. This image was taken at Cataract Falls in the Great Smoky Mountains. I was excited to get to try out my new macro lens in these conditions. I use a camera that has interchangeable lens, so I can just have one camera body and can change the lens depending on what I want to photograph. Like my camera body with interchangeable lenses, the church is made up of people of many different types but all united in Christ. God gives us all different talents and it is when we put those talents with others that we can make the most beautiful images. Scripture:
Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43:19 About This Image: The terrain in the Badlands National Park is what I think of when I read about wilderness in the scripture. While we were there this summer we made sure to stay only on the clearly marked paths. This is a place looking off the path into what seemed to me to be a maze of desert sand and high rocky pinnacles. God, through the prophet Isaiah, promised his people in exile that he would make a way for them - a clear path where non existed. He promised to provide relief for them. God keeps this promise to us today. He can make a new way for you and provide your needs for the journey. Scripture:
The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see. John 1: 43-46 About This Image: The first thing that Philip did after following Jesus was to go find Nathanael, who just couldn't believe that Philip had found the Messiah right there in Galilee. Philip's response, come and see. Nathanael did go and Jesus found him along the way. Nathanael was amazed that he found the Messiah in this unexpected place. Where do you think this picture was taken - along a quiet stream somewhere in the mountains? No, it was taken in the middle of the small town where I live in an area that was once abandoned and filled with trash. I had heard that they were cleaning this place up, so I decided to go and see for myself. I was amazed at what I found. Be open to Jesus, follow him, and you will also be amazed at what you see in unexpected places. Scripture:
I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds. I will be glad and exult in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High Psalm 9:1-2 About This Image: An open door to the Carter Shields cabin in Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park reminds me to be grateful. This cabin has become an artifact for visitors to learn about life in the mountains, but when I look through this door I think about children running in and out and parents working hard to provide for the basic needs of their family. The mountains are truly a wonderful place to be. Today on this very cold, wintery day, I am grateful for the warmth of shelter and of family. It was King David that wrote this Psalm of gratitude. Remember that David didn’t always live in a palace, at different times in his life he was running through the wilderness to escape those who wanted to see him dead. Like David, I will remember all the things God has done, the shelter and beauty he gives me, and I will sing praise to him from a grateful heart. Scripture:
For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. 1 Corinthians 13:12 About This image: Fog can be a wonderful thing for a photographer. Fog changes the way you see things. Because of the fog on the day I took this picture, I saw the daffodils across the road from my camper at Fall Creek Falls State Park. They seem to stand out against the gloomy day that had been disappointing because I had gotten up early to see a sunrise that wasn't going to be beautiful. The daffodils became a promise of hope and joy and the limbs of the trees became intricate, beautiful sculptures for me that day. It was foggy the rest of the day; it is unusual for fog to last that long in this area. As it turned out, I took some of my favorite pictures ever on that amazing, foggy day. I learned to love and see beauty in the branches of trees without leaves. The way we know God now is like that foggy day. We know him incompletely, like Paul explained in his letter to the Corinthians. But what we see of God now brings hope and joy, like the daffodils did for me on that day. Oh the wonder of knowing fully as we have been fully known by God. Like David in Psalm 139 (yesterday's scripture) I am overwhelmed with such a thought. |
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Soli Deo Gloria,
1 Corinthians 10:31
© 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 Karen Milligan
1 Corinthians 10:31
© 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 Karen Milligan