But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob's descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” This Christmas season I have been drawn to the carol “I Wonder as I Wander” over and over again. Every time I hear it I am reminded of an experience from our trip to the Badlands. The night was clear and the moon was new, a perfect night for seeing the Milky Way. So we went to the Notch trail where there is a boardwalk and even a bench to sit and watch night come. My feelings of wonder grew as I sat there. The dictionary definition captures a little of my experience that night:
Wonder: (noun) “a feeling of surprise mingled with admiration, caused by something beautiful, unexpected, unfamiliar, or inexplicable.” It was truly a night of wonder for me, one of those special times when you feel God’s presence. There are many times and places that you can see a sky full of stars and even the Milky Way but this time was different. An interesting thing about the word ‘wonder’ is that is also can be used as a verb. Wonder: (verb) “desire or be curious to know something.” I think of Mary’s response to the angel’s announcement. She wondered at the wonder of the announcement. She didn’t understand, she wondered, yet she trusted. I am sure that there were many more times during her life that she must have wondered again, but yet we know she was there when Jesus died on the cross. Familiar things, like a starry night, can often loose their wonder. And so it can be with the story of Mary and the birth of Jesus; it can become so familiar that we loose its wonder. Read, or better yet, listen to the story again as you wonder and wander. What do you wonder? Prayer Lord Jesus, Fill us with wonder again at your love for us. Amen
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Sing praises to God, sing praises! When I think about kings I imagine palaces filled with gold, stunning in their beauty and filled with light. The palace of Our King is so much greater than any building for our Great King created the universe. He has given us a beautiful place to life and fills our world at this time of year with the brilliant colors of autumn. As the sun warms our hearts God's love shines in our lives with the golden light of autumn.
Prayer Great King This day we bow to you and seek to serve you with our obedience. We sing your praise in the golden light of autumn. Amen The Lord reigns, he is robed in majesty; I love the small, intricate blooms of Queen Anne’s Lace, daucus carota. The common name was said to have come from Queen Anne of England who loved to wear lace. When I think of queens and kings I think of crowns, robes, and golden light.
On my morning walk I saw this flower with the golden light of the sun illuminating the bloom making it shine like a crown glittering with diamonds. I thought about the majesty and glory of the God who created Queen Anne’s Lace. Like this flower God is robed with light and majesty; but unlike this flower his majesty will never fade. He is our King, established firm and secure. May Queen Anne’s Lace remind us to worship you as King. Prayer Majestic King We bow before you and worship you. Thank you for the beautiful world you have created. 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 The seas have lifted up, Lord, the seas have lifted up their voice; I stood on the trail and watched in amazement at the power of the waves as they crashed against the shore. It was a little scary to even watch them from the safety of the trail. As each wave hit the shore it drowned out all other sound. There was such beauty and power in the waves that day that I just wanted to stand and watch them. I stand in awe of the creator of the sea; this mighty God that knows and loves me. The Lord reigns over the waves and I want him to reign over my heart this day.
Prayer Mighty God We worship you and stand in awe of your power and might. Reign in our hearts this day. Amen Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; I loved this short hike to a waterfall in the White Mountains not because of the waterfall but because of the trail itself. It was a wide trail that cut through the forest, a forest of trees that towered overhead. As I walked through that forest I was overwhelmed by the size of those trees. Like those trees God’s greatness is overwhelming. We can’t begin to fathom how great he is. Yet in our smallness his great love surrounds us as I was surrounded by those trees on the trail.
Prayer Great God We praise you for your greatness and your love for us that no one can fathom. Amen Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen. The sun burst through the clouds and the camera makes its rays look like a crown, the crown of our mighty God who created the mountains. Instead of bowing down to the mighty God, King eternal, too many times we make things kings that aren’t worthy of honor and glory. We need to ask ourselves each day are we bowing down to the one true King or to one we have made ourselves. We will only find peace and security when we bow down to the one true King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God.
Prayer King Eternal We bow today to you and seek to bring you honor and glory with our lives. Amen “To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One. Have you seen the Milky Way? It takes some effort. You must find a place that is really dark, a place where all the familiar things that you can see in daylight are no longer discernible. In our busy world we don’t often take the time to sit in a single place long enough to watch the sun set and the sky become dark. When you do find that really dark place to sit, look to the southern sky and you will see the Milky Way. Sometimes you can’t see it - the sky is filled with clouds, the moon shines too brightly, or it isn't the right time of year. On that really dark night as you look to the heavens in amazement, this beautiful sight imprints an image on your heart of the greatness of God who calls each star by name as he brings them forth each night. This same God knows your name and you are as important to him as each star. He made you in his image. The next time there is a clear night and a new moon go to a really dark place and look to the heavens. Take a picture with your mind’s eye and store it in your memory. See the power and majesty of God. Worship him and he will bring beauty to all your darkness.
Prayer Creator of the Heavens We stand in awe of the heavens, the countless stars, and your mighty power and strength. We worship you and thank you for knowing us by name. Amen Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, who formed you from the womb: I am not exactly sure why the tree in the field across from the Lawson place in the cove is so special to me. I still stop to take a picture of this tree every time I go to the cove. To give you an idea of its size, I can easily walk under its branches without bending over. The last time I visited the cove, this tree had something else to teach me. This day this large, strong tree was dwarfed by the clouds that heralded the coming storm. I stood there amazed at the vastness of God who made all things and my own smallness in relation to the tree. And then I hear his promise that this God who made all things will hold my right hand. Overwhelmed.
Prayer Lord God, Maker of All Things Thank you for taking hold of our hands and leading us through the vast and beautiful world you have created. May we humbly reach out and accept your love. Amen Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! As we made our way up the trail to Hidden Falls we were passed by a group of very strong men all in red shirts with backpacks. After a while of steady up hill we got to a broad place along the trail overlooking the lake where we could take a rest. I looked up and saw those tiny red specks on the mountain and realized those were the men that had passed us. So big and strong when we first saw them and now against the mighty mountain they were only specks of color. (Look closely at the bottom of the image for the red specks)
When I look at God’s world I feel like those men so small against something as majestic as the mountain they were climbing. I question how could God care for mankind so small and insignificant in this vast created universe. David also asks this question in the middle of his beautiful Psalm 8. Instead of an answer to the question, the psalm just begins and ends with praise. There are times when we will all question God, doubt his care for us, be overcome with our insignificance. In those times we speak the words of this psalm and doubt and praise exist together. Anxiety is replaced by awe. And we continue climbing trusting in the God who made the mountain. Prayer Majestic Lord When we look at your amazing world we stand in awe of your majesty. We sing your praise even when we don’t always understand how and why you care for us. Replace our anxiety with awe. Amen When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? My macro lens has given me a way to see very small things that I wouldn’t have seen before, like the ice that formed on this small petal of my hydrangea bush. There are lens which can magnify things even more, not to mention microscopes that have given us the power to see things that can’t be seen with the naked eye. Then I switch to a wide angle lens and see the vastness of the sky. The complexity of our world, both great and small, is beyond our comprehension. Like King David we marvel at a God who cares about man. And then we hear Jesus tell us how even the smallest part of us is known to God. Look to God’s world today, both the great and small, and be amazed at the Great Creator God who loves you beyond your ability to measure.
Prayer God of Great and Small We marvel at the beautiful, complex world you have created and that you love us beyond measure. Show us your beauty and your love today. Amen The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Without a word nature speaks volumes, from a sunset that paints the sky gold and orange and the mountains purple to the smallest plant and creature. In these wonders we see the glory of the Great Creator God. But God speaks in a more specific and personal way in his word. Ground you live in his words today. Make them a part of your life and you will find a stronghold that will never give way.
Prayer Creator God, We thank you for the glory we see in the heavens, for the joy we see in the sky. Implant your words in our lives today so that we may reflect your glory. Amen Ascribe to the LORD, O heavenly beings, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength. I stand in awe at the majesty of mountains. Maybe it is because I will never have the skill or strength to climb them. Maybe it is because I feel so small when I stand in front of them. Maybe it is because of the dangers of wind, ice, snow, and wild animals that lie within them. Maybe it is because when I am close to them I feel closer to my God who created them and see his majesty and glory. King David grew up living in nature as a shepherd seeing the natural word God created. In Psalm 29 he exhorts us to ascribe glory to majestic, God creator of the world. Ascribe means more than just to give, it means to bestow. God’s doesn’t need man to bestow glory on him but ascribing glory to God makes God’s glory more real to man. When we truly worship we stand in awe of a God who not only created majestic mountains but whose love for us is beyond human understanding.
Prayer Great Lord and King We praise you for majestic mountains. We worship you and stand in awe of your love. Amen Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously; let this be made known in all the earth. Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.” As I read these words this morning, “he has done gloriously,” I started thinking about all the glorious things in this world. I decided that a good picture for this verse would be one that I took on our trip to the Rocky Mountains. While those mountains are surely awe-inspiring and are certainly glorious works of our God, I decided that I didn’t images taken from a long distance away. There are many places close to home that certainly reveal God’s glory. I think sometimes we think we can only see God’s glory in special places and at special times. I have learned that we can see God’s glory everywhere, if we just look.
I remember the evening I saw this sunset sitting on the curb at the pull off on the Blue Ridge Parkway with my camera on the tripod. I remember the tears of joy silently running down my face as I looked into this sky. And as beautiful as that evening was, the more glorious thing, the thing that makes me sing for joy no matter where I am, is that God is in our midst, this great God, who “has done gloriously” when Jesus walked in our midst and gave his life for us. Prayer Glorious God We sing for joy for your glorious works. Open our eyes to your glory today. We kneel in awe that you would walk in our midst. Amen The floods have lifted up, O LORD, the floods have lifted up their voice; On a journey to the Northern Great Lakes, I stood in awe of these great inland seas. On some beaches the waves lap gently against a sandy shore, but on others the waves crash against the rocky shoreline. We truly serve a mighty God who speaks to us in gentle waves and those that crash hard against the shore.
Great and Might Lord Open our hearts to your voice. We bow in awe in your might as we join the waves in praising you. Amen But I will sing of your strength; We got up very early and drove to this place that I had read about with a large, rocky, peaceful beach that faces east and was good for sunrise. After driving down unfamiliar roads for a while we found that place, but when we got out of the car the sound was deafening. We thought it was thunder but soon learned it was the sound of crashing waves against sea cliffs. The large beach was covered in high water, the winds were strong, and the waves were powerful. I thought about the power and strength of our God who made these amazing waves. We were afraid but we walked on and did find a place that wasn’t quite so high and I took pictures of the sunrise. God has truly been my strength and fortress on many days like this when I found myself in unexpected places with crashing waves and strong winds. He has been my refuge and turned difficult times into times of beauty and peace. In the morning I will sing of his strength.
Prayer Great and Mighty God, In days of high winds and strong waves, be our fortress. Show us beauty in your power and steadfast love. Amen For who in the skies can be compared to the Lord? In the past few days the conditions have been perfect for beautiful sunsets. The sun has reflected off the clouds in such a way as to color almost the whole sky. While we can compare sunsets for their beauty, there is nothing that can compare to our awesome God. May beautiful sunsets remind us of the beauty and greatness of our God.
Prayer Great God Thank you for skies filled with beautiful colors that remind us of your greatness. We worship you, Lord over all things. Amen For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. As I looked out over these mountains in Glacier National Park, the vastness and beauty of this place overwhelmed me. Before me stood rows and rows of mountains filled with thousands upon thousands of trees, all kinds and sizes of wildlife, beautiful wildflowers, and mountain streams and waterfalls. While the vastness and beauty of these mountains are amazing the immense love of Christ is even more wondrous, a love that surpasses out ability to understand.
Prayer Creator God, Though we may never fully understand the immensity of your love for us, give us the strength and courage to walk in your love each day. Fill us with the fullness of your presence. Amen “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” Our plan was to catch the boat across Jenny Lake and then do the 0.5 mile hike to Hidden Falls. We had caught the sunrise early that morning and wanted to start on our hike by taking the first boat, which we thought was at 8:00am. When we got to the dock we learned that today the first boat wasn’t leaving until 10:00. So we decided that instead of waiting we would just take the 3 mile hike around the lake to the falls. As we followed the trail we got to a point high above the lake where we could see the vastness of the lake and surrounding mountains and the first boat of the day cut across the water. It was the Alpha boat, the first boat of many more to come that day. While we weren’t on the first boat we got to see it cross the lake and make the beautiful waves as it crossed. Like the boat, the Lord God is the Alpha, the beginning, the first one. We weren’t there when God created the world but we can now see what he has created and we can rest assured that he will always be the Almighty God.
Prayer Lord God, Alpha and Omega, When we look out on your world, may we take strength in the fact that you are the God who is and and who was and who is to come. Amen Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. Truly seeing this sunset was a special time for me to stand in awe of the beauty and majesty of God’s world. But I have also stood in awe of God’s beauty in a flower so small that most people just walk by. God created a beautiful world and we need to always remember that this world is his, from the most majestic mountains to the smallest flower. And then we can only bow our hearts in praise to the greatness, power, glory, victory, and majesty that is God’s alone.
Prayer Great King, We exalt you above all others, for everything is truly yours. 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