Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. Colossians 3:11, NIV Instead of walking the trail loop in the usual way I decided on this day I would walk the loop in the opposite direction. Even though I see these trees every morning on my walk on this foggy, frosty morning I saw them differently. The deciduous tree now without its leaves seemed to be bending over and having a conversation with the conifer. Two trees so very different yet standing together in the same place. Both are beautiful in their own way, neither one better than the other. I think this is the way we are meant to live, standing beside each other. For in the eyes of Christ we are all one, each one with value, each one dearly loved.
Prayer Loving Father, Help us to bend over and talk to each other; to care for each other the way you care for us. Help us to value both our differences and the way we are all one in Christ. Amen
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I will meditate on your precepts, and fix my eyes on your ways. Every time I go to Cades Cove I stop at this oak tree in the field at the Lawson House. I still remember the first time I noticed it. I had just started to go to the mountains for the expressed purpose of taking images. It stood alone in the field, big and strong. I love this tree and when talking to friends I call it “my tree.” I have seen it in every season. Sometimes I just drive by and stop for only a short time. Sometimes I walk through the field and touch it. I come in mid-day, morning, and evening. Each time I come I see something different and learn something new.
Repeat. Like every time I go to the cove and stop at this tree we must do the same thing with God’s word. Repeat. There will be times when we only read or remember a verse and times when we must study hard. Repeat - this is how we make God’s word a part of us. And unlike any other book we study God’s word is “alive and active, sharper than any double edged sword.” When we fix our eyes on God’s word we find a delight and joy in its promises and precepts. How do you spend time in God’s word? Prayer God We thank you for revealing your presence in your marvelous and mysterious word. Help us not to forget to spend time meditating on your word. 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 |
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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