Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. Last night was new moon so we decided to make our way to Clingmans Dome so I could try my hand again at photographing the milky way. We got there a little before sunset and there were a lot of people there. While I was waiting with my camera set up a young man from Louisiana named Nick started a conversation by asking questions about the area. He was a very friendly and outgoing young man. He asked if I could send him my pictures so I gave him a card with my website and email. I told him about the chance of seeing the milky way in about an hour and he decided to stay. I watched him walk through the crowd stopping to talk to people. He told several people about the chance of seeing the milky way. He and a couple from Australia decided to stay with us to see the night sky. So we all sat together at the place I staked out for a couple of hours talking and laughing and just being amazed at the beauty of the stars. I learned a lot from that young man. When he spoke to people he asked their name and told them his and then he remembered their names. This was such a simple gesture but one that made a difference. This is the way to show the love of Christ, just simply taking the time to start a conversation and remembering someone’s name. Notice I didn’t say it was easy, just simple. It means we will have to let go of our fear, be a little vulnerable, and listen as much as we talk. And just maybe we may entertain an angel or more importantly share the love of Christ with someone who needs to know his love.
And for Nick with gratitude: I pray you have a safe trip and if you go to my portfolio page (Here) you will find my pictures from last evening. Let me know the ones you want and I will send you copies. Prayer Loving Father Open our eyes to the people around us today who may just need a smile, a kind word and someone to remember their name. Amen
0 Comments
The Lord is in his holy temple; Even though I don’t have a good voice or much musical training I still love to sing in my church choir. It is something that I have done for more than 40 years. It is special to me to worship in this way. There are songs that make me smile and songs whose beauty makes it hard to sing through the tears that fill my eyes. But there is another way that I have come to enjoy worship and that is in the stillness and quietness of morning. I stand in awe of God and worship in silence. We need these times of silence and in our very loud and noisy world it is getting harder and harder to find them. We must make the effort to find them and bow in silence before our Lord. For it is when we are silent that we are more able to listen.
Prayer Lord God Grant us time today to stand in silence and worship you in your holy temple, in the beauty you have created for us. Amen But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. The thing that makes a sunrise or a sunset special is the quality of the light. When you see the clouds fill the sky you wait in anticipation for that moment when the sun will break through with brilliant light. The wonderful light makes everything before your eyes beautiful. The sunset fills you with awe and you can only declare the praises of the God who creates this beauty. Special sunsets remind me that God calls us into his light. We no longer have to fear the darkness for we are his and he will always bring light to our darkness.
Prayer Father of Light We sing praises to you for calling us out of darkness. May we feel your light today in a special way and share that light with those we meet. Amen For you have been my hope, Sovereign Lord, my confidence since my youth. We decided to take the scenic detour over the mountains on our way back from spending the week celebrating our grandson’s birthday. The summer flowers were in bloom along the roadside and I saw these flowers of different types all together, each unique with even a lady bug enjoying them (you have to look close, I didn't see it when I took the picture). It made me think of my four grandchildren, each so very different and each so precious - one who shows every emotion on his face and runs into your arms, one young man who loves playing games that involve numbers, one sprite of a little girl who loves to run after bubbles and balloons, and another little girl whose sweet smile and dark eyes will melt your heart when she says “I love you.” Like the roadside flowers, each child made by God is unique and precious. I am so grateful for their presence in my life; but even more grateful for their parents and their other grandparents who demonstrate God’s love.
Prayer Loving Father I praise you for the hope you are in my life and for my parents that taught me to love you. I ask your strength and grace for my children as they seek to teach their children to love and praise you. Amen One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: I almost decided to skip this part of my walk this morning since I had so much on my plate today. I am so glad that I decided to walk this way. I just had my phone so the image couldn’t capture all that I saw, but the sky was beautiful this morning. Sometimes you just need to sit still in the world God made and add his beauty in your life. These moments are often unexpected and bring tears to your eyes. We worship a God who is beautiful and who creates beautiful things - and I am so glad that I walk this way with him.
Prayer Great God Thank you for this beautiful world you made for us. Keep us close to you and show us your beauty today and all the days of our lives. Amen Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. Recently I have been walking on the trails at the dam close to where I live every morning. Each day I walk I see the ‘regulars’; some of them I know by name and some only by seeing them everyday. We all walk different routes and at different speeds; some run; some walk slow; some walk alone; some walk with a partner; some walk in specialty running clothes; and some walk in an old T shirt and jeans. Sometimes I get discouraged when I am passed by the same person and wonder how they can walk that fast. Even in the early morning I get hot and tired and wonder if I am going to make it back to the car. There are times when I just think I am going to sleep late today; but then I get up and see the beautiful morning light and decide to make the effort to walk. There is a joy in my morning walk that I truly miss, even the 265 stairs to the top of the dam in the middle of my walk.
The writer of Hebrews wrote to encourage followers of Christ who were becoming discouraged. They were being ostracized by their community and maybe their family and some were facing persecution. To encourage them he tells them of the great cloud of witnesses that have come before. None of the heroes he described in the previous chapter were without fault. They all followed God at different speeds, some quickly, some slowly, some were important and some were unimportant, and some required signs of assurance from God. Their lives weren’t perfect like this picture I just snapped with my phone; but like my picture they saw a way marked out before them and they kept walking. They walked toward a God who loved them. Dear friends let me encourage you to keep walking when you are hot and tired and discouraged. Your walk doesn’t have to be perfect; you won’t always have get a good picture. Some will pass you and sometimes you will walk alone. Even in the hard times, the 265 steps straight up times, you will find joy when you fix your eyes on Jesus. Prayer Jesus, Who Endured All For Us, Thank you for all the strong witnesses that have surrounded me in my life. Forgive the sins I sometimes cling to and keep me walking toward the light and joy of Jesus who endured all for us. Amen By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. I didn’t label this image with the location like I usually do. Without that label can you know where this road is, where it is going? All you know for sure is that it is a paved road in the fall. I am not sure I would just follow a road without having some idea of where the road would go. I spent many hours pouring over tour books and Internet sites when I planned our last two road trips. Now think about Abraham, a man that God called to leave his home and follow where God would lead. He didn’t know the road or plan the trip. He just obeyed God. God asks us to do the same thing. This is faith - to be willing to take the road that God lays before you without knowing where it is going. Thankfully we do have a guide in God’s word. Study it and then get on the road.
Prayer Master Give us courage to take the road you lay before us. Guide us home to you through your word. Amen The head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is only Remaliah's son. This tree has stood on the cliff at Buzzard’s Roost for as long as I have been coming to watch the sunset here, and probably many years more. It stands twisted and gnarled by the elements, but somehow it still stands. Isaiah spoke this prophecy to King Ahaz and a people in trouble. These words were meant to encourage and warn the king that he needed only to trust God to save him. Going his own way and seeking to make alliances with other nations was not going to save him. Either he was going to choose to stand firm and trust the Lord or he would be destroyed. The sad part of the story is that he chose to go his own way and Judah was overtaken. I think these words had wisdom for King Ahaz but they also have wisdom for us today. There have been times in my life when I was just about to be blown off a cliff and it was only because I held on to God that I could stand at all. So if you are having trouble standing now, take hold of the rock that can never be moved and then you will stand firm. You may come out a little twisted and gnarly like this tree, but there will be a depth and beauty to your life that wasn't there before.
Prayer Lord God When we feel we can longer stand, be our strength. Amen This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. In times when the world seems lost in darkness where do we look to find light. Look to the perfect light of God. Let his love penetrate the darkness. Then, after looking to that light, shine the light of his love in the darkness where you live.
Prayer Lord of Light Shine your light in our world and penetrate the darkness of this day. Amen Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” But he said to him, “Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?” And he said to them, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” I had a hunch that there would be fog at the overlook that evening since it had stormed a lot during the day; and I was right. We got to the overlook soon enough to watch the fog slip in. It was gradual at first only over the river but then overtaking almost the whole ridge. Greed is like the fog. It just quietly slips in and gradually overtakes you. You see some material thing that looks pleasant, some new item of clothing or camera accessory. The material thing isn’t a bad thing, but you just think about it a little more each day. It doesn’t take long for the desire to become a demand and there it is - greed. No one says, "I think I will be a greedy person." We don’t want to admit that we are greedy, after all, it is just this one little thing. We say to ourselves, “I have worked hard and I deserve this.” Like the rich fool in the parable that Jesus told in response to the man’s request for help with his inheritance, you begin to think about building bigger barns, acquiring more stuff. Instead of being grateful for what we have, our greed overtakes us and our things become our idols. We think more about the gift than the giver. We must learn to be on guard against greed to keep it from slipping into our lives, turning our desires away from God and toward things.
Prayer Lord God Teach us to be on our guard against greed; to notice the subtle signs of desire for things becoming an insatiable demand. Reveal our greed that leads to idolatry. Forgive us when we make our things our greatest desire instead of you. Amen |
Get In Touch
If you have something to share with everyone reading the blog, click on Comments to add your thoughts. Remember that your comments will be seen by anyone reading the post. If you want to just share your comments with me then click on the Contact link in the menu above. If you are looking for a particular scripture or post title then enter the word in the search box below. You can also find posts about specific topics in the Topics section.
Topics
All
Archives
March 2024
|
All the photographs in this site were taken by me. If you use or share anything from my website, please link back to this page. You are free to view and share this website by linking but I ask you not to download or redistribute anything from the site. Thanks.
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