While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him. This one-way road is one of my favorite roads in the mountains. When you pull off for a view you don’t have to wonder which way to turn you just have to follow the road. The road ahead is narrow and moves out of sight and it ends in a different place from where it starts. It is filled with beauty all along the way. All you have to do is follow the road.
Jesus’s call to Simon Peter and Andrew was as straightforward as driving on this one-way road, “Come, follow me.” They didn’t know where it would end but they did know who they were following. Jesus called them from where they were and told them that he would make them into different kind of fishermen. Following Jesus begins where you are now. You only must decide to follow the road he lays out for you. You won’t always see the road in front of you. You must trust Jesus to lead the way. Prayer Lord Jesus Give us the courage to follow you this day. Remake us into what you would have us be. Amen
0 Comments
Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart The sailboat waits at the dock for its owner to come and help it fulfill its purpose. The name, “Endurance,” made me wonder why the owner gave the boat this name. I wonder what he or she has had to endure in the past or is enduring now. When I think about endurance I think about waiting., which may be the hardest part of endurance. The sailboat cannot sail without its master so it must wait. We can endure because we wait for a Master who is faithful and true. In him we find the courage and strength to endure. When we wait for him we find our purpose.
Prayer Lord and Master We wait for you. Show us your purpose for you this day. Amen He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; The plant has made it through the winter and soon the bud will become a beautiful white trillium. Many people will come to the mountains in the spring to see the trilliums in bloom. It will be a new creation out of something old. Only when we have weathered the dark and trusted God to carry us through are we able to sing a new song. The new song we sing won’t be our song, it will be his song. It is when we sing his song that we bring the promise of new life to all those we meet.
Amen Lord God Open our hearts to your song and give us a new song of praise to sing for you have made us new. Amen I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. For years I didn’t know about Sparks Lane. I just stayed on the loop road around Cades Cove and never thought about going on a gravel road that I didn't know where it ended. Then one day I decided to take a chance and take this gravel road and oh what I found. Now it calls me every time I go to the cove to discover its beauty. When you follow its call, no matter the weather, it leads you to beauty. God calls us to follow him. The way he calls is not always clear; it can be foggy and a little scary not knowing where the road leads. He promises us to take hold of our hand for he has a purpose for us. He calls us to be a light for others who sit in darkness.
Prayer Our God and King Take our hands and lead us to be a light for those in darkness. Amen This is what God the Lord says-- The heavens definitely stretched out before us this day. We had stopped for lunch at Branbury State Park in Vermont to enjoy the small lake, the beautiful blue skies, and bright sunny day. The clouds seemed to change all at once and we could see the rain clouds coming. The houses and boats along the shore were now dwarfed underneath those skies. It is hard to explain the feeling that I had watching the clouds come in a way that I have never seen before. I took this picture right before we made a run for our car. The clouds and rain moved on as quickly as they came.
God comes to us sometimes like the clouds that day. We are going about out daily work and then something causes us to look to the heavens and remember the God who spread them out before us. Take time this day to go outside, even if it is raining, and look to the heavens and worship the God who gives us life. Prayer Creator of the Heavens We bow in worship at the beautiful world you have given us, its majestic skies and all that it is in it. Amen Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. I didn’t expect to see very many people on Cadillac Mountain for sunrise that morning. The temperatures were below freezing and the skies were clear so the possibility of beautiful color in the sky was very low. When we got to the top of the mountain more than an hour before sunrise I couldn’t believe what I saw. Instead of the few photographers I thought would see, there were tour buses full of people. Based on the buses and the cars there were at least a thousand people on that mountain top. While I knew that this spot in Acadia National Park was the first place in America to see the sun rise over the horizon I was surprised that so many people would make the effort to get here. Even more surprising was the reaction when the first sliver of light appeared on the horizon - there was applause.
In our world today despair is rampant and darkness seems to have won the day. People are desperate for that sliver of light, wondering if it will ever come. If we follow Christ we know that the Light of the World has come. Praise the Lord who brings light and maybe clap your hands with joy. Arise and shine and share the light of Christ with all you see this day. Make the effort to be the smile, the kind word, the comforting hand for there are thousands upon thousands looking for the light. Prayer Lord God, Give us an overwhelming sense of your light this day and the courage to arise and shine. Amen Restore us, Lord God Almighty; I still remember the excitement I felt when I first saw this tree on the roadside close to my house. While I had passed by it countless times, this was the first time that I noticed the beauty in a tree without leaves. I couldn’t wait to get my camera and come back to try to take its picture. It was the first of many pictures that I have taken of this tree in all seasons at many times of the day.
Whenever I pass by the tree I remember all those times that I was so excited to take its picture. While I still see beauty in the tree I don’t have that same excitement that I had the times in the past when I rushed to take its picture. I think that I see the same thing in my walk with Christ sometimes. There are times when I loose my desire to spend time with Him. I let my mind become cluttered with all the trappings and worries of the world. Instead of thinking about the beauty of the world I give in to the temptation to think about some material thing. The only way that I will regain that joy of spending time with God is when I ask him to restore me - when I realize that I can’t save myself and turn to him for salvation. Show me the beauty of a tree without leaves again. Prayer Lord God Almighty Take away our sin and restore us so we may be saved. Amen When John, who was in prison, heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples to ask him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?” It wasn’t a rare flower or some spectacular find that people made a special trip to see. It didn’t have a fancy name plate like all the other flowers in the garden. It was only a common daisy, a humble daisy, yet it was beautiful. Our expectations can sometimes blind us to what we need to see.
John the Baptist had spent his life proclaiming a Messiah and now he is in prison. It wasn’t what he was expecting. I imagine that when he sent his disciples to ask if Jesus really was the Messiah there must have been desperation in his voice. Jesus words were not a resounding “Yes” - not what I would have expected had I been in John’s place. Instead they were calm and reassuring words for one who understood the prophecies of Messiah. Jesus was doing all the things that the Messiah was going to do, heal the sick and proclaim good news to the poor. He wasn’t the military king that everyone expected. He was humble and in his humility changed everything and gave us a hope. Jesus is Messiah. Prayer Jesus Christ Teach us your humility. Show us where we can bring healing and proclaim the good news in our world today. Amen This is what Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem: I live close to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, one of the most visited national parks in our country with 11 million visitors in 2018. The interesting thing is that most visitors rarely venture more than a mile from their car. They miss so much of the beauty of the mountains just passing through. Oh, what they would see if they would only get out and take a hike or get up early to see a sunrise over the mountains.
Isaiah saw a time where God would establish his temple on a mountain, a mountain to which all people, not just 11 million, will stream. They will come not just to sit but to do the hard work of learning of God’s ways and take a hike on the paths of God. As much as I love my mountains I want to love God’s Mountain so much more. The good thing is that we don’t have to wait until some time in the future we can begin walking God’s paths now as we study his word. Go to the familiar places in scripture and see its beauty but don’t stop there. Take a hike to a new place in the Scriptures and let God teach you his ways. Prayer Great and Exalted God Teach us your ways as we walk toward the mountain of the Lord. Draw us a little closer each day. Amen This is what Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem: A botanical garden for a macro photographer is truly an overwhelming experience. There are amazing images everywhere you look and it is hard to stop taking pictures. Sometimes there are things in the images you take that you don’t even see until you get the image on your computer. I took this image of the dew on some type of orange flower but it was not until I looked at it on my computer that I saw something amazing in what looked like a little black spot on the edge of the petal. As I zoomed in and cropped the image I saw that the little black spot was really a reflection of the orange petals and leaves of another flower in a single drop of dew. It was something I would never have seen without my camera.
Isaiah wrote to the people of something he saw that they couldn’t see. He wrote about seeing the mountain of God. When he wrote of what he saw the people were far from a mountain or a beautiful garden. They were living in a time of great injustice and fear of war. He was sharing the vision that God had given him with a people who had lost their vision. Isaiah looked to God and saw not the situation but, with eyes of hope, he saw the mountain of God. He saw a time when all people would walk in God’s light and be transformed into a people of peace. It is hard to look at our world today full of injustice and war. We need Isaiah’s vision of the mountain of the Lord’s temple. It is when we walk in the light of God that we can see with eyes of hope that God will bring all peoples to him to walk in peace. Prayer Lord God Give us eyes of hope to see your vision. Help us to walk in your light this day. 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