View the post for February 14 for an explanation of my Lenten Project As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. This single daffodil stands alone as a herald of spring. It is alone under the protection of the tree but nearby a whole host of daffodils raise their heads. There will still be cold snaps to come, for this is East Tennessee after all, and another month before most of the other wildflowers break through the ground. As I look at this daffodil I am reminded of the day when Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey, the day we call Palm Sunday. There was great joy in the crowd with people shouting his praises. I wonder what we would have seen if we could have seen Jesus’s eyes that day. He knew what was coming. He knew that these crowds would soon call out Crucify Him! So in one way he was alone in a great crowd of people but in another way he knew that he was doing the task the Father has given him. He knew that he would step out alone to bear the world’s sin. He also knew the true joy that was coming of a new heaven and new earth. He knew we would never have to be alone again.
Prayer Suffering Savior Thank you for standing alone, dying alone on the cross so that we can stand in your presence filled with joy at your unfailing love. Amen
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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 For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; It was time to go find the spring wildflowers in the mountains. As soon as I stepped on the trail this little scene greeted me, raindrops from the previous night’s rain still sitting on the leaves. They glistened as they reflected the morning sunlight catching the water that gives life to the plant.
After a long winter, spring rains bring the promise of new life to the mountains. The water on the leaves became for me a sign of hope. It reminded me of the promise in the vision of John that Jesus, both our lamb and shepherd, will lead us to springs of living water. We all have times when the sadness and hardness of life seem to leave us thirsty and parched. In those times we can trust that Jesus will lead us out of the desert to springs of living water that only he can provide. If you magnify the image and look very closely you will faintly see an image of me with my camera reflected in the raindrop. I think that we need to remember that Jesus also called us to reflect his love. Is there someone day with whom you can share a cup of living water in Jesus’s name? Prayer Lord Jesus Shepherd and Lamb, Refresh our souls with your living water and give us hope to share with others we meet this day. Amen When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” It was just another daily walk, nothing special until I saw the morning sunlight shining through the trees. This was a moment of seeing for me. I now see why God gave me my camera. He used it to draw me into his world. I began to see things, common things like trees, that I never really paid much attention to before. At the same time he was sharpening my eye he was teaching me to see scripture in new ways. When I walk in the world God created, I see him. I see him especially now in trees. If you look long enough you will see trees all throughout the Biblical story, from creation to the Garden of Eden to the cross and to Revelation. Tress give us life and beauty and it was on a tree that Jesus gave us new life. In the words of Martin Luther, “Our Lord has written the promise of resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf in springtime.”
Now my challenge is the same one the shepherds faced. They had an amazing experience with the angels, now what were they going to do about it. They decided to go and see. How will I go and see? I have lived most all my life within 60 minutes or less of the mountains, yet I never had the desire to walk in them until my camera drove me to them. Now walking in nature has become more than a desire; it is a need. God can speak to us anywhere but I have found that I listen better when I walk in his world. It is when I walk in God’s world I see light . . . and trees. How will you go and see Jesus? Prayer Dear God Thank you for trees and the beautiful things you teach us through them. Open our eyes and our ears to listen to you as we walk in your world. Amen Show me your ways, LORD, teach me your paths. We got up in the darkness to head to Clingmans Dome for sunrise. As with all sunrises, you never know what you will see. We got there early and there was some color in the skies but not what I had hoped to see. We stayed until darkness changed to daylight and then headed down the mountain. It was just a short way down when the sun shining through the trees caught my eyes. You see, I have learned that sometimes the images we had hoped to capture are not always the ones we get. If we fixate on the disappointment of not getting what we had hoped and worked for we can miss the beauty that is there. This day that lesson paid off and this was the image that I got.
In these days of pandemic, what we wanted, what we were looking, for was certainly not what we got. So we must ask ourselves, what have we learned? This can be a time for us to ask God to show his ways and be willing to see what he wants to show us even if it is not what we expected. We have the opportunity to leave old paths behind and find in this new day new paths of God’s truth. Prayer Great Teacher We humbly ask you to take these days and teach us new ways to love and serve you. Amen Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Have you ever watched a leaf fall from a tree, followed it with your eyes from the branch to the ground? If the conditions are just right it seems to dance through the sky all the way down. It has let go of the branch and now it is being transformed into nourishment for the forest floor. The leaf has a new purpose now. Paul urges us to be like the leaves. To let go of the patterns of the world and let God transforms us into his purpose. It isn’t an easy thing to do but when we do we will be able to find God’s will and purpose for our lives.
Prayer Holy God Give us the joy of the leaf that dances to the ground as we surrender to your will. Transform our lives as we let go and find the purpose you have for us this day. Amen We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. Every morning that I can I go to Cherokee Dam to walk on the cross-country trails. On some mornings the sunlight drenches everything in golden light and the sky is filled with color. It makes everything feel fresh and new.
I have heard this phrase, “walk in the newness of life,” at just about every baptism I have watched. During my walk this morning this phrase kept playing in my ear. I think I have heard it so often that I sometimes forget what an amazing promise it is. The Greek word translated as newness is kainotēs. It speaks of a life that has a fresh quality. Jesus’s resurrection provides for us not just more life but a new kind of life. Our sins are buried with him. Our burden of sin and guilt is lifted. Like my morning walks, Jesus brings us a fresh, new life each day as we walk with him. Prayer Lord Jesus Thank you for new mornings and new life. Help us keep the wonder and excitement of the newness of life as we walk with you through our day. Amen On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” Then they remembered his words. I had gotten to our favorite sunset spot in plenty of time to catch the sunset. Waiting is a big part of landscape photography. You have to wait on the light. You have to wait on the clouds. You have to wait on the wind. For me that day the waiting wasn’t hard. It turned out to be worth the wait to actually see the rain clouds and the soft, muted colors of the sky. There are times when waiting is difficult. As the first Good Friday came to a close, Mary Magdalene and the other women had spent most of the day watching and waiting for Jesus to die on the cross. Now they waited as Joseph and Nicodemus carried the body of Jesus to the tomb. Since it was almost the Sabbath they would have to wait one long, sorrowful night and day to finish what they felt still needed to be done for Jesus’s body. As soon as the morning came they went to the tomb and they couldn’t believe what they found. Their wait was over. He Is Risen! On this Easter Day we wait again. We wait for the pandemic to be past. We see the rain clouds in the distance and wonder when they will get to us. We wonder how long it will be until we can meet again to worship. We plead with God to help us and he will in his own time. We can wait on God with security and hope for we know that Jesus has won the victory. We will see each other again one morning and celebrate Easter in a new and more vibrant way!
Prayer Lord Jesus We wait on you. We praise your name even in our fear and our tears. We put our trust in you and claim your victory over death. Amen This year I wanted to find a way to observe Lent in a way that would help me walk with Jesus in a deeper way. During the month before Ash Wednesday, while I was recovering from hip replacement surgery, I had lots of extra time to read and study. One of the resources that I found during this time was a video by the Bible Project, “The Tree of Life.” I can’t explain the impact that the video had on my relationship with Jesus. As a result I decided to begin this project on my blog. This was going to be my special way to observe Lent. So on the day after Ash Wednesday, February 27, I began the project. I didn’t really have a plan or any idea how the project would work, just a desire to share what God was teaching me about him through trees. Tomorrow is Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week. Today I will end my Lenten Project in a world that is very different from the world of Ash Wednesday. In a world suffering under the grip of the COVID-19 pandemic, we face difficult days ahead. Our daily lives barely resemble our lives of a month ago. The virus has taught us that self-sufficiency is a false God and that we are our brother's keeper. We are searching for someone to trust. We have a God who can be trusted. We also have a God who suffered for us, who faced the darkest of days. In the week ahead we will look again at the last days of Jesus. We will see the most important tree story in God’s word. We will see Jesus riding on a donkey with people throwing tree branches to welcome him to the Temple. He knew it was now time that he would become the new Temple. He spent the last Passover with his disciples seeing the tree that was ahead. They left and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover. When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. And he said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.” After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you. For I tell you I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” 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.” Luke 22:13-19, NIV We will see Jesus betrayed and abandoned and alone. We will see him carry his cross and die on a tree, the most important tree in the Bible. Because Jesus died on this tree we have a new life. We have hope. We have a loving God to trust even in our darkest days. The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.” So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.” One of the traditions of my church is to take the tree that we covered with the shroud of death on Maundy Thursday and on Easter Sunday cover it with flowers that everyone brings from their yard. As our symbol of the cross transforms from a symbol of death to a symbol of life so Jesus transforms our lives. This year we will have to postpone our Easter celebration, but we will still celebrate new life together when we have walked through these dark days and can meet again. May this upcoming Holy Week and Easter be a special time for you to experience the suffering of Jesus, to rest in his love, and to trust him to walk with you in the days ahead. Prayer
Lord Jesus Comfort us, strengthen us. Thank you for your great sacrifice of love. 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 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 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. You can find a short nature trail to Dugger’s Creek at the Linville Falls Trailhead on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Most people never even see this little trail since it is at the opposite end of the parking lot for the bigger, more impressive Linville Falls Trails. When we took this short trail we came upon this little waterfall, hidden away. I couldn’t see its source but its peacefulness and hidden-ness drew me to crawl under the bridge to get a closer look. This was as close as I could get without wading through the creek so much of it still remained hidden.
Paul tells the Colossians that they are now “hidden with Christ in God.” What an image, just like this little waterfall we are hidden with Christ, part of it seen, part of it unseen. We have a relationship with Christ now since we have accepted Christ, but we have to trust God and wait for him to be fully known. Christ is the source of our life now and God promises that we will always be hidden with him. One day all that is hidden will be revealed. What a glorious thought to be hidden with Christ, something wonderful to set our hearts on, something more wonderful than any earthly thing. Prayer Loving Father Draw us closer each day to Christ. Move us to set our hearts on Christ in whom is hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Amen Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. It is wildflower season, otherwise known as spring, in the Smokies. Yesterday I took my first “photographing wildflowers” adventure of the season. It was the perfect day for this, cloudy with rain drops still on the vegetation. There were only a few flowers in full bloom, but there were buds. Each spring I get another chance to develop my photography skills, for taking good images of wildflowers is a challenge for me.
Seasons are one way that I think that God uses nature to teach us about his love and ourselves. Every spring the plants that have lost their bud and lain dormant during winter sprout again. So in our lives we have the chance to be new, to lay our sins at Jesus feet and experience his forgiveness. We have reason to sing new songs when we see the beauty of the spring wildflowers that God uses to paint his world. Prayer Creator God Thank you for teaching us of your love through the seasons of your world. Make our hearts new again. Teach us to sing new songs of your love. Amen Oh sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth! Today I got to watch the sunrise over the mountains. It wasn’t going to be a good day for pictures because there were no clouds to make the sky light up with color. It was also very cold up at the top of the observation tower with 20 mile per hour winds. So my pictures aren’t very good, but it doesn’t matter. I got to see another day begin in a beautiful place and I am grateful. Today, raise your voice in praise. Sing a new song, for he has made you a new creature and given you another day to love and serve him.
Prayer O Great King We sing praises to your name. Amen and Amen. Because of the tender mercy of our God, My husband and I have just entered a new day and time in our lives as we are now retired after many years of teaching. It is this retirement time that have allowed us to have adventures and do things that we never could while we are working. It is a new day for us.
In his latest album Ken Medema captured exactly where I find myself right now. Since his words say them so much better than I can, here are the words from his song, Ocean Beach, on his album, Nothing Like the Rain. (You should go to his website or purchase the album from iTunes.) Ocean Beach I stand by the ocean, looking back at the land I remember my childhood when I played in the sand Heedless of danger, I ran to the sea to leap in the whitecaps that set my soul free Now I am older and cautious in so many ways But I know there are beaches and whitecaps and journeys for these my best days This is my choice I want to leap into this strange new day To taste and to turn, to love and to learn what I could not know yesterday No turning back, yesterday’s gone I’ll relish this day, I’ll treasure this dawn What a romance taking the chance of life I walk in the city, down the streets I have known I remember my young days when these streets were my own I knew I was called here, this place held my heart And now when I walk here I feel like a stranger, it tears me apart I will not return here, that die is cast But I’ll run to the present and love it as much as I treasure the past I will run with a stranger and I will walk with a friend I will dance til I stumble and I’ll get up again I will not run for shelter when the path is unknown For I am surrounded by friends and companions, I am not alone I want to love the night, I want to seize the day I want to run the race, don't want to dream my live away This is my choice I want to leap into this brand new day To taste and to turn, to love and to learn what I could not know yesterday No turning back, yesterday’s gone I’ll relish this day, I’ll treasure this dawn What a romance taking the chance of life I stand at the ocean, I look back at the land Prayer Lord of Sunrises and New Days Thank you for the beauty of a sunrise on a new day. Give us courage to treasure each day as we walk into new adventures you have prepared for us. Amen 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. Wonderful! Seeing a newborn baby is amazing, a beautiful new life. Yesterday our second 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.”
Prayer Loving Father, Thank you for the blessing of children in our lives. Help us become good parents and grandparents. Amen Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The water that flows in mountain streams looks almost alive. It jumps and flows and almost dances over the rocks. It brings life to the mountains. Jesus promised the woman at the well a water that was alive like the life-giving water in mountain streams. Only his water would never run dry like mountain streams sometimes do. He promised her and promises us that when we drink his water we will never be thirsty again. Indeed his water will well up in us to eternal life.
Prayer Life-Giving Lord, Teach us to seek you first to quench our thirst. Sustain us with your love. Amen When you send forth your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the ground. Every so often, now more that I have my camera, I am amazed again by the beauty and order and wonder of God’s world. There are so many lessons to learn here. The coming of spring is a reminder that God provides for everything on earth. The bud of the flower tells us that something beautiful is coming. He is renewing the earth after the cold of winter. Just as the Spirit renews the face of the earth, he also renews our lives and brings us the promise of new life in Christ.
Prayer Great Lord, Renew our lives with your Holy Spirit. Bring forth beauty in our daily lives as you bring forth beauty each spring in the buds of flowers. Amen For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Jeremiah 31:33, ESV Hidden within this daffodil bud is a beautiful flower. Where I live daffodils remind us that after the long, dark winter spring is on the way. When the Lord spoke these words through the prophet Jeremiah, the people of Israel were in exile and experiencing times of darkness. God made a promise to his people that he would make a new covenant and put his law within their hearts. Through Jesus’s sacrifice we can experience the new covenant. God will write on our hearts. He will make us his people. The long, dark winter has passed. God will bring us to full bloom and make us new creatures through Jesus Christ.
Prayer Our God, Thank you for your promise of new life through Jesus Christ. Come into our lives and write your word on our hearts. 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