Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established. When I visit the churches in the cove I like to sit and think about all the people who have made life changing commitments sitting on the simple benches. Just like these hard benches, we need to do the hard work of looking at our lives. How would our lives be different if we committed each area of our life - our work, our family, our church, and our leisure time - to the Lord? When we carefully commit each area of our lives to the Lord then the plans we make will be true and sure. We won’t be easily shaken.
Prayer O Great Master Planer, Help us do the hard work of examining our commitment to you. Show us ways that we can serve you in each area of our lives and establish our plans. Amen
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Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it. My grandmother grew up in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park before it was a park. She loved wildflowers and knew all their names. She used to tell me about her favorite flower, the pink lady slipper, and how they used to be easy to find in the park. I had always wanted to see one but they are more rare and harder to find now then in my grandmother’s day. So when I read on a post from a hiking group where one might be, I decided to go and search for them. They were on a trail that I had never been on before and no one could go with me. I knew this would be my only chance to go so I headed out alone. I had never hiked alone before and was pretty scared, but my desire to see the lady slipper motivated me to go. I was willing to take a risk to search for this flower. And I found one, not only one but several and many other beautiful wildflowers that I had never seen before. I cried many tears of joy that day. I got so much more than I ever expected and will never forget that day for I had found the pink lady slipper.
In this parable Jesus tells us that the kingdom of heaven is like this - when we search for the kingdom of heaven we will find Jesus, of greater value than anything we could posses. When we see how much Jesus loves us we will want nothing else than to walk with him, whatever the cost. And like all the wildflowers that I photographed that day, Jesus will give us so much more than anything we give up to follow him. Prayer Jesus, Pearl of Great Value, Open our eyes to your love, a love that is more than we could ever deserve. Give us the desire and courage to follow you with all our heart. Help us make you the pearl of great value in our lives. Amen Scripture:
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. I Peter 5:6-7 About This Image: The aperture of a lens is the opening through which the light passes to record the image on the sensor or film. The width of the aperture can be controlled, either automatically by the camera or manually by the photographer. When a photographer closes down the aperture and gets the sun in the right spot of the frame the result is a sunburst. When I photograph the sun with a small aperture and get a sunburst, like I did in this image taken from Waterrock Knob on the Blue Ridge Parkway, it reminds me of a king's crown. In the democratic society that we live in today we don't easily accept the authority of a king. Instead we seek to be our own king. Following God means that he becomes our king; we humble ourselves before him; we accept his authority; we become obedient to him; and we submit to his ordering of our lives. We like to quote the words from 1 Peter 5:7 and tell ourselves to cast our anxieties on God. But before we can cast our anxieties on God we must first follow the command of verse 6 and humble ourselves before him. God won't take away anxieties that we won't give him and to give him our anxieties means we accept his ordering and timing. As the rest of the verse tells us, God can be trusted with our anxieties because he loves us and cares for us. Scripture:
Make me to know your ways, O LORD; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long. Psalm 25: 4-5 About This Image: It was the second day of our recent road trip to the west and the interstate in Iowa was like driving the Daytona 500 with transfer trucks. So we got out the map and headed for Highway 30, this 2-lane road also called the Lincoln Highway. It was one of the best decisions that we made on the trip because we got to see so much more with much less stressful driving. These two lane roads are not the way most people want to travel today. We are in a hurry to get to our destination. We sometimes want our relationship with God to be like this, quick answers to hard questions. When we truly ask God to lead us and teach us, it will take time. We will have to learn to wait, to be silent. Faith develops over time. I like these words from Brian Erickson from Feasting on the Word Year B Commentary: "Our identity will not be defined by what we claim to believe, but by the road we take. Faith is more than mountaintop moments; it also encompasses times of solitude and struggle. The right road will not always look like the right road." During this season of Lent may we take time to let God teach and lead us down the right road that he has for us. |
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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