The grasslands of the wilderness overflow; the hills are clothed with gladness. The meadows are covered with flocks and the valleys are mantled with grain; they shout for joy and sing. As I looked down into the valley from the overlook on Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah National Park, the sun broke through the clouds to light up the valley below. Even through the dark cloud, it was as if the valleys were shouting for joy. It made my heart sing that morning.
I am grateful for these times when the light breaks through and I see God in his world. My heart overflows with the joy of his presence in my life. Prayer Great God Give us songs of joy this day. Fill us with your love and beauty to overflowing. Amen
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And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. When I stepped out the door to see if it has stopped raining I saw the raindrops on my clematis. I decided to get my macro lens and try to capture the fresh raindrops. After I took the image I loaded it onto my computer and opened up my editing software. I first had to crop the image so the drops and detail would be more prominent. Then the colors were a little flat so I increased the luminance and saturation of the yellows. To make the flower stand out more I darkened the blacks and shadows and lightened the whites and highlights. For a finishing touch I added a slight vignette. So I ended up with this transformed image, one that I hope brings out the beauty of the raindrops on the flower.
The amazing thing about following Christ is that we are on a journey of transformation. The more we think about him, the more we read his words, the more we stand amazed at his glory, the more we are transformed into his image. We become the person God sees, the person he created, the person we are now and will be in the future. Prayer God Who Transforms We humble ourselves before your glory. Transform our lives this day as we walk in your light. Amen I reach out for your commands, which I love, that I may meditate on your decrees. Since my first visit to a botanical garden our our road trip to the Great Lakes, I have come to love them and seek them out every chance I get. Even though each one that I have visited is unique they each share some of the same characteristics: they are highly planned, have a variety of plants, are well maintained, and have something of beauty for every season. Botanical gardens are designed for a community and open to the public, some with a fee and some are free. Either way any one who wants to visit is welcomed.
I have come to see the Psalms like a botanical garden. The book of Psalms is highly planned and organized, although it is a little hard to see this if you just read a few. There is a whole gamut of emotions from joy to sadness, from fear to trust, from anger to praise. No matter your age or what emotion or struggle you are facing you can find a psalm. You can find beautiful word pictures even if you are not a poet. To really understand the Psalms you have to meditate on them which takes the kind of daily work that it takes to maintain a garden. So the next time you get a chance to visit a botanical garden or read the psalms, enjoy their beauty and learn the lessons of each. Prayer Great Creator, Thank you for the Psalms. Give us the discipline to study them to see their beauty and through them to see you. Amen I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; We had gone to the top of the mountain to see the sunset. Since we got there in plenty of time I found a good position and sat down to wait. I hadn’t come here with any thought of taking images of butterflies, but a Monarch landed right in front of where I was sitting. Most of the time butterflies never stop moving so getting an image of one is not that easy. This clover must have been just what the Monarch needed and so it stayed on the clover for quite awhile. As I looked through my camera with my lens zoomed in, I was amazed at its intricate design of this butterfly. It reminded me that the God who made this beautiful small creature loves and cares for me. Not only does God love us but he promises to teach us his ways. He always counsels us and looks at us, no matter how small or unimportant we feel, with loving eyes.
Prayer Great God Today may we seek your instruction, trust your love and be open to your counsel. Amen Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High It had been a beautiful day in the mountains so we decided we would go on up the mountain to catch a sunset. The closer we got to the gap the more the clouds rolled in. We almost turned around but decided to drive on through the clouds. When we got to Clingmans Dome the clouds cleared away to the west. We had the most unusual sunset - with high clouds and then some low clouds gently touching the mountains with a bright sun in a clear sky between.
As I watched the sun go down behind the clouds this great feeling of home and safety came over me. I just knew that I was watching God create something beautiful in that sunset - the one I didn’t expect. I don’t live on top of the mountain but I can always rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will put my trust in God and he will be my refuge, my home. Prayer Almighty God I want to always live in your shadow. Wherever I live, on top of mountains or in deep valleys, you have been and will always be my refuge, my strength, and my home. Amen For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies. The beauty of the clouds and their reflection in the lake at sunrise filled me with awe and wonder at our God. As I watched the sun break through the clouds I felt as if I were seeing God’s glory. God’s love for us is so great that it goes beyond any barrier. Sometimes we just need to stop and remember this.
Prayer Great God We exalt you for your love and faithfulness. Help us to reflect your glorious love this day. Amen Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. As I sat inside the camper looking out the window waiting for the big storms to end, suddenly the sun came out and there was this kind of light that I call rainbow light. It is a kind of light with gold and green hues that happens when the sun is low in a sky filled with clouds and moisture. I grabbed my camera and hurried down to the lake and sure enough there was a rainbow. This one was unusual in that you could see the rainbow, the rain from the lower dark cloud, and white fluffy clouds and blue sky above.
As I edited the image I thought about how all rainbows require sunlight and rain - sometimes after a hard storm or sometimes after a gentle shower. All of us have days filled with white fluffy clouds as well as dark stormy and rainy days - sometimes even at the same time. When we have our foundation firmly fixed on God then we can withstand the rain and storm; look through to the white fluffy clouds; and see the beauty of a rainbow. Prayer God of Light Thank you for being our strong foundation and guiding us through the storm to see your beauty. Amen Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. I remember this morning on the mountain. I couldn’t tell from this sunrise the weather for the day - would it be clear or full of rain as the weather predicted. It didn’t matter now as the clouds only made the morning beautiful. It was a new day and it was full of hope for the beauty that I would see that day. It turned out that there were clouds but also blue skies.
As we look forward to the new year it would be easy to be overwhelmed at the state of the world, our community, and even our own failures. There will be days full of clouds and times of darkness in the new year, but we have something greater than a hope for clear-sky trouble-free days. Like a sunrise made more beautiful by the clouds, we have a living hope in Jesus Christ, a promise that no matter what the day brings He will be there to give us new life. Prayer Lord of New Life Fill our hearts with hope today for the new life you have given us through Jesus Christ. We sing your praise for the inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade. Amen I lift up my eyes to the mountains—where does my help come from? I live where I can see mountains everyday and can drive to the top of one in a short time. I think I have come to take them for granted - something that is always there. The ancient Israelites didn’t take mountains for granted. They saw mountains as special places where God meets with man. The scriptures are filled with stories of humans meeting God on mountains; remember the stories of Abraham and Isaac, Moses, Elijah, and Jesus and Peter, James, and John.
Recently I had an experience on a mountain that changed the way I view them. On our trip to the Pacific Northwest I made a reservation for us to stay at the the Paradise Inn at the foot of Mt. Rainier. I had never been so close to a mountain so large. It was majestic and beautiful in many different ways. The rock and glaciers above the tree line are strong and foreboding. Large conifers encircle the mountain at the tree line. The meadows below are filled with color in both spring, summer, and fall and covered with snow in the winter. One of the mornings we were there I got up just before sunrise and walked in the cool, damp air to the foot of the mountain. There was a snow cloud at the very top of the mountain and I even felt a few flakes. The cloudy day left a pink Alpenglow on the mountain and made the autumn meadows at the foot explode with color. I stood there amazed at the beauty and power before my eyes. I have no words that can adequately describe my experience that morning. I felt that I was in God’s very presence. All that was left to do was to worship silently at the foot of this great mountain. I worship a great and mighty God who each day is the source of my help if I only look to him. This experience will remain in my heart as a special gift, a reminder of how much the Lord, maker of mountains, loves me and wants to meet with me each day. Where and when do you look for help? Prayer Lord, Maker of Mountains May the mountains remind us of the love you have for each of us. Help us to look up and see you as the source of everything we need. Amen But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; It was a cold day in November when I took my long lens to the birding park. I didn’t take any images of birds that day but I did take images of thistles. Even though I usually think of thistles as weeds for their prickly buds and thorns, I still took the images mostly to practice using the long lens. Oh, but when I opened the image on my computer I could hardly believe what I saw, beautiful, intricate details, a beauty I had never seen before. It is easy to see the beauty of flowers blooming in a garden but to see that beauty in weeds that day was a special experience.
It is easier to read the parables of Jesus and his words of comfort than it is to read the story of Jesus’s physical pain and hear his anguished cries of abandonment on the cross. Like seeing the prickly thistle magnified on my computer, it is only when we really look at Jesus on the cross that we see the enormity his love. When we let Jesus’s love for us pierce our hearts, as his body was pierced for our sin, we experience the beauty of God’s love. When have you taken time to look at Jesus on the cross and let his love pierce your heart? Prayer Jesus Pierce our hearts with your love and bring beauty out of our lives today. Amen Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked We have just returned from our fourth road trip. Some call them vacations but for us they are adventures. We research, plan, and then we drive. We see things that we never expected, beauty along the road. And, for me of course, there is my photography. Our adventures are filled with long days that begin before sunrise and last until into the night, traveling on unknown roads to places that are new and unfamiliar.
Psalm 1 has become a kind of summary of what I have learned about photography and God’s word on our adventures. Both require focused study, take a long time, and require that you do things over and over again. When I first got interested in photography I would go to specific places to see specific things - a sunrise from an overlook or the big tree in the field. Now after taking many images I see beautiful things in God’s world that I didn’t plan to see. Likewise when I used to read the Bible I would read one passage looking for the main idea or reread my favorite verses. As I have learned more how to see God’s word as one story that leads to Jesus, I see things I never saw before. The world is full of beauty to photograph and there is still much to learn about photography. God’s word is vast, beautiful, and full of insight into who God is and who we are. It is there waiting on us to spend time with it, meditate on it again and again; to learn to delight in it and let it transform us. What adventures await you in God’s world and God’s word? You will find them as you take the time to meditate on both. Prayer Lord God Thank you for sunrises along new roads. Open our eyes to see the light in your word. Lead us on the adventure to learn who you are and who we are in you. Amen There you will worship man-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or eat or smell. But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul. What I have learned about finding beauty in nature is that sometimes you find it where you least expect it. On our road trip to Glacier National Park we were just going to use the Badlands and Black Hills of South Dakota as a place to rest from long days of just driving and do a little sightseeing. I pictured them as a place that was barren and desolate, lacking beauty. So there wasn’t much need in spending more than a couple of days there. While we were there, however, I found myself wishing that we could have stayed longer and given ourselves more time to search and find the beauty of the place.
Searching for God is like that; you have to be willing to stay longer and work at it. You have to be open to finding God in unexpected places. If we only seek the familiar, comfortable, and easy-to-get-to places we will miss the beauty God has for us. Before too long we just stop searching and settle for the God we want instead of the God that is. We make idols out of things that God made instead of God. Moses knew that the people he had led through the wilderness would be like that, searching for the comfortable. He had seen them make idols, things to worship rather than trust God. In his farewell address he warned them that there would come a time when seeking the comfortable and familiar would lead to exchanging the worship of God for the worship of idols of their own making. As a result they would miss the beauty and promise that God had for them. So he told them what to do when they found themselves in a place that was barren and desolate. Work at it! Seek God with everything that you are and have and the promise - there you will find him. We have this same promise, when we seek God with everything that we are and have, God promises to find us. Instead of bareness and desolation we will see beauty. We are going back to the Dakotas on our next road trip. I am sure that the beauty that God shows me there will teach me more about who he is and who I am. Prayer Lord God Give us the courage to seek you with all our hearts, to look for you in unexpected places. Show us your beauty in the places where we least expect to find it. Amen The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, “What is this? A new teaching—and with authority! He even gives orders to impure spirits and they obey him.” I found this small bud in a flower garden around an old homestead in Roan Mountain State Park. Maybe it was the unusual line of red along the edges or the small drops of morning dew still hanging on to its petals that drew me to it. I have no idea what kind of flower this bud became, but I was amazed by its beauty, its newness, its promise.
For those of us who have been Christians and heard the gospel for a long time, we can forget how amazing the story of God’s love is. May we recover the amazement of the people who first heard Jesus teaching. See his beauty. Stand in awe before the hands that created our world and then hung on a cross. As I don’t know what kind of flower this bud became I don’t always know where Jesus teaching will lead, for truly it is a new teaching. No matter where Jesus leads we know that he is faithful and true. If we bow before him in awe and wonder he will conquer our demons and bring us new life. Prayer Amazing God Fill us again with the wonder of your great love that sent Jesus to teach us how to live. Amen In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. I am grateful that I have been able to see many beautiful parts of our world, mountains, lakes, oceans, forests, and prairies. So many times the beauty and the majesty of God’s world leaves me amazed and speechless. I remember when I first saw the Grand Tetons from Colter Bay and couldn’t stop taking pictures. Every time I looked through my camera that was more beauty.
Since the pandemic I have missed being with my camera in God’s world. There won’t be a road trip this year as in the past three years and even traveling to the mountains close to home has been difficult. So instead of spending time with my camera I have spent time studying God’s word, more specifically the creation stories in Genesis. In the past I have spent more time studying the New Testament. I saw the Old Testament, especially Genesis, as something that was hard to understand and the source of huge, mean-spirited debates. Gratefully I have found some great resources that have helped me change that view. I am coming to appreciate how important understanding Genesis is to understanding Jesus. Genesis is an introduction to the great story of how much God loves us and his world. The first words of Genesis, so familiar that even non-Christians can quote, are so important to our understanding of God. The first line of any literary work is crucial to understanding the whole of the work. It sets the stage for everything that will happen in the story. And so it is with the first words of the Bible, an introduction to the whole of God’s story of who he is and who we are. I know that I have come to take these words for granted with a "so what” kind of reaction and never thought about their importance as an introduction to God. In these words we get our first insight into who God is - Creator. There is much more to learn about God in the creation stories of Genesis and I hope to share a little of my journey with you. Prayer Creator God Open our eyes to the wonder and beauty of your world and your word. Thank you for the magnificent and beautiful words that we read in Genesis and the insight they give us into who you are and who we are. Amen Finally they said, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” We were returning to our motel from a day of sightseeing when we turned the last corner and I saw the harbor. In the week we were in Acadia we passed this little harbor on almost every trip. It was usually filled with little boats and it definitely wasn’t on the list of must see places. But this night it was beautiful to me. It is a simple picture of mostly just sky and water but it is one of my favorite images from the whole trip. There are times in our lives, times like right now, where everything is complicated. The harbor is full of little boats and we long to see the simple beauty of the quiet harbor.
John the Baptist knew that his purpose was to call the people to make a way for the Lord. His voice calls to me in these complicated times. I need a quiet harbor, a place to clear out the jumble of my life and confess my sin of seeking my own way. I need to make a way in my heart for Jesus. In him only will we find a secure harbor and the quietness and peace that we seek. Prayer Lord Jesus Help me clear my heart and listen to your voice. Be the harbor that I seek and show me the beauty of following you. Amen View the post for February 27 for an explanation of my Lenten Project And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” Today I saw something that I have missed before in these familiar words of Jesus. On the night that he was betrayed, the night he would face his greatest temptation, the night before his crucifixion, he gave thanks.
He gave thanks. Because Jesus gave thanks in his darkest hour we have a hope that allows us to give thanks in the dark days we face now. Today I give thanks for the simple beauty of the blossoms on my cherry tree. What will you give thanks for this day? Prayer Jesus, Our Lord We bow our heads in gratitude today for your great love that gives us hope. Amen View the post for February 27 for an explanation of my Lenten Project Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” “In many ways are trees are like Jesus. They give, and they keep giving. They give life and beauty. They give shade and rest. They make and clean the air. They hold back erosion. They offer shelter, food, and projection.”
From Reforesting Faith by Matthew Sleeth Ask yourself this question when you see a tree today - How can I give beauty and shade and rest to those around me? Prayer Lord Jesus, Giver of Life Make us like trees that give beauty and shade and rest to all those we meet today. Amen View the post for February 27 for an explanation of my Lenten Project Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. When God put man in the garden he planted trees. These trees were pleasing to the eye. God wanted man to have beauty and to appreciate beauty so he planted trees. We need to have beauty in our lives. Sometimes that means we have to search for it. Remember God’s purpose for man was to till the garden.
Prayer Creator God Thank you for trees that bring beauty into our lives. Amen I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. One of the places that I wanted to see on our visit to Acadia National Park was the Duck Brook Bridge on one of the carriage roads. The only way to see the carriage roads is to walk, ride a bike, or ride a horse. Luckily I read about a way to get to this bridge by going down a dead end road where there were a few places to park on the side. On the first day we went to see the bridge it was cloudy and gray. The bridge was still pretty and I hardly noticed the marsh on the side of the road where we parked. Since I really wanted to see the bridge and the brook below in good light we went back a couple of days later when we had a blue sky. I was amazed, not at the bridge, but at the marsh on the side of the road alive with color. It was the light that brought the colors of the marsh alive and made them vivid almost beyond belief.
Sometimes our lives are more like that cloudy day at the bridge. We know that there is sun but the skies are gray. Maybe they are gray because of difficult times or maybe they are gray because of our choice to walk on our own that day, away from God’s light. God, like the sun is always there, even when we don't see him clearly. The scriptures tell us that there will be a day when we will always walk with God. The color will always be vivid and there will be no more gray days. There will be no need of the sun for the glory of God will be the light. There will be a new heaven and a new earth; a city where God will reign and his glory will fill our days with vivid, beautiful color. Prayer Lord God Almighty Make the vivid colors of fall on a clear day fill our eyes with your beauty and remind us of the day when we will live with you and see beauty in your perfect light. Amen No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day. On a recent trip to the Shenandoah National Park we were on a ranger guided tour of the Big Meadow. While the ranger was telling us about all the plants in the meadow I looked over on the hill and there was this tree. It was beautiful against the blue sky and white, fluffy clouds. We continued the tour but I just couldn’t quit looking at the tree. It was drawing me to it. As soon as the ranger led tour was over I headed up the hill to the tree. I just stood there grateful to get to see this piece of God’s beauty.
Jesus is like this. He draws us to him; to his beauty; to his great love for us. The more we look at him the more we want to walk with him. The more we walk with him the more we experience his love and the more we are drawn to him, to the wide open spaces of his love. Prayer Lord Jesus Draw us closer to you each day. As we walk closer to you make our lives reflect your love and draw others to you. Amen |
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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