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
0 Comments
The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: “Come, go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.” So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. The vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as seemed good to him. We had seen many beautiful things on our road trip but that last drive out of Theodore Roosevelt National Park just seemed to take forever, no cities, no houses, just prairie. Then we arrived at Spearfish Canyon filled with golden Aspens along Spearfish Creek. It was so good to see this new landscape. We knew that the wilderness would come again but for now it was just good to see trees and water.
Our life’s journey takes us through times of wilderness and times of abundant, golden joy. Each place is different and in each we find a new purpose. There was a time when I was a teacher, the purpose God had for me. In these days of retirement God has been reworking the purpose he has for me. God will use all the clay he gave me, all the years of teaching, to make me into his vessel. I must stay soft clay for him to rework me. If I resist and harden my way of being, sticking to only the vessel that I was, I will never find that new purpose. Spearfish Canyon was beautiful but the wilderness would come again as we made our way through the Badlands and prairies to home. I was thankful for the golden days there but I knew the journey wasn’t finished. We still had more wilderness to go through before we were home. For now my camera and my writing are my purpose and as much as I love these things I will try to keep the clay soft and my life open to his purpose. How do you stay open to God’s purpose? Prayer Lord God, Master Potter Keep me soft and pliable to your will. Make me into the vessel you want, the purpose you have for me. Amen After leaving Sukkoth they camped at Etham on the edge of the desert. By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people. Our trip through the wilderness was possible because someone before us had built roads. They kept us from getting lost in scenery that can look so much the same. They allowed us to see beauty in a place that can seem desolate. Not only did we have these special roads we had maps to help us find our way in a place we had never been.
Exodus tells us the story of the Israelites journey through the wilderness. It is the story of how a tribe of people were ransomed, freed from slavery, by their God and how he led them through the wilderness to the Promised Land. It isn’t always an easy story because it required that the people trust God. Even though they had a pillar of cloud and fire they, like we do, failed many times to trust Him. Still God led them through the wilderness. On the last night that Jesus was with his disciples he tried to prepare them for what was coming. He knew that there was so much that they needed to understand to face the wilderness of his death and resurrection that was to come in the next three days. He promised them and us that He will not leave us alone in the wilderness but will send his Spirit. There will be times when we must walk through the wilderness of doubt and tragedy, but Jesus has promised a way through. Like the roads and maps that we followed through the Dakotas, we have the Scriptures and the Holy Spirit to lead us through our wilderness to home with Jesus. Prayer Lord Jesus Help us to trust you to lead us through the wilderness to you. Amen Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. This hike was not my normal Smoky Mountain hike. There was a sign with a map and trail description and the trail was easy to see; but it was still scary. The air was hot and dry and the wind was strong. We didn’t see another person on the hike; we were all alone. On the way we saw things that we had never seen before. However there was a great relief as we came to the end of the hike and saw our car waiting for us.
Lent is a time when we need to go on such a hike through the wilderness of our sin. It is much easier to hike in familiar places and spend time looking at the sin of others; but we can only experience God’s forgiveness if we see we need to be forgiven. Opening your heart to God isn’t easy. When you look really hard you will see sin that you had kept hidden from everyone even yourself. At the end of our journey we see Jesus ready and waiting to forgive our sin. He makes our hearts new again and gives us the safety of his unfailing love. Prayer Lord God Help us to open our hearts to you as we walk through the wilderness of our sin. Thank you for forgiving us and giving us new hearts more open to you. Amen View the post for March 2 for an explanation of my theme for Lent. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. After miles of following the Missouri River through North Dakota I remember the surprise of our first view of the badlands of the North Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park. There in front of me I could see each distinct layer of rock that made up the butte. As the winds and water of the wilderness expose each layer they tell us something of the climate and environment that made the layer the color that it is. It is the many layers that give this place its special beauty.
The wilderness is a place where our faith is refined; our need for God is exposed. Our times in the wilderness reveal layers of who we are. It is our faith, refined by the wilderness, that even though these times are hard they are worth more than gold. Prayer Lord God of the Wilderness Refine us and make the layers or our lives beautiful as we journey through the wilderness. Amen View the post for March 2 for an explanation of my theme for Lent. I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. We arrived at Badlands National Park at the end of the tourist season. The summer and fall crowds were gone and most of the services in park would be closed or cut back to a bare minimum the next week. So when we made it to the usually crowded parking lot for the three most used trails and overlooks in the park there was no one there. No one even showed up the whole time we watched the sun rise and experienced the beauty of golden hour. Before I started seeing God’s world through my camera lens I didn’t make it a point to get up before dawn just so that I could see the sun rise. My photography developed that habit in me as it has developed many other habits that lead me to see beauty. Now I see things that I never would have seen before. This day that habit payed off. I took image after image surrounded by the magnificent beauty of the wilderness that I never expected to see.
David wrote Psalm 63 when he was in the wilderness of Judea. Although we don’t know for sure, many commentators think that he wrote this during the time when his son, Absalom, was trying to take the throne. David was running for his life from his own son. He was in the wilderness facing one of the most difficult times in his long life. It was his habit of worship that reminded him of the many times he had worshiped in the sanctuary. It was those memories that would sustain him in the wilderness where he found himself. As the habits developed through my photography have taught me to see beauty in unexpected places, so our habits of worship will sustain us in the wilderness time of our lives. Like David we will remember the times when we have seen God’s power and glory in our worship and know the wonder of his love for us, even in the wilderness. How has the habit of worship sustained you? Prayer Lord God We come, wherever we are, to worship you again. May our lives glorify you this day. Amen (You can see more images from that day in a video I made on the Songs 3 page of my site.) View the post for March 2 for an explanation of my theme for Lent. And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.” I could tell that it had been there a long time and it wasn’t the first one that I had seen on the trip. I just didn’t know that sagebrush bloomed as it beamed like fire in the warm, golden-hour sun. I found it there by the shelter that early morning in the wilderness.
As I found my ‘burning bush’ that morning, the Lord found Moses in the wilderness through something common yet transformed. Moses was in the wilderness because he had run as far away as he could leaving the ways of Egypt and his people behind. He had married and started a new life here in the wilderness. On this day he was out doing his ordinary job of shepherding when he noticed it, that common bush now transformed. This encounter with God in the wilderness was the beginning of a new way of life for him. It meant that he would have to go back and face his old one. He did not want to go and made many excuses for why he wasn't the one God should choose. Even with the miracle of the burning bush and hearing God’s voice he still tried to say no to God. Ultimately he did follow God’s call out of the wilderness and accepted the mission God had for him. And with the call came a promise that he would make a return trip to this very place, Sinai. On this return trip God would be leading Moses and the people of Israel to freedom through the wilderness. Prayer Lord of the Wilderness Break into our lives this day with the mission you have for us. Lead us through the wilderness to the place you have promised, the place where we will live with you. Amen View the post for March 2 for an explanation of my theme for Lent. The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; Sunrises are quiet times. Many times you may be the only one at your location. You rise early in expectation of what you will see in the sky. Sometimes the colors fill the whole landscape while other times the sun remains behind dark clouds. There is nothing that you can do to make the colors appear or the sun rise above the clouds. You must just sit and wait in the quiet for the light to transform, little by little, the view before you. .
We need quiet times like these, times to seek God in silence. The poems of Lamentations are from the heart of one who had seen the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple of God. His grief was great there was nothing he could do. So he sat in silence and waited quietly. We all find ourselves in times like this, in the silence of the wilderness. It is hard to sit and wait quietly; but, like the poet ,we can trust our God who comes to us in the wilderness. When we sit quietly with him in the darkness, he will gradually transform our hearts as the sun fills the landscape with beauty. Prayer Lord God We wait on you in the beauty of silence. Fill our hearts today with your love. Amen The LORD said to Aaron, “Go into the wilderness to meet Moses.” So he met Moses at the mountain of God and kissed him. Then Moses told Aaron everything the LORD had sent him to say, and also about all the signs he had commanded him to perform. The rock formations of the Badlands stand clear and distinct from the sky. Their cliffs are sharp and dangerous. The vegetation is sparse and water is hard to find. This is the wilderness - not a place we want to visit. That is what I thought until we took our last road trip to the Dakotas. Surprisingly, while the land was harsh I found beauty there. I also found quietness and time to think. In the scriptures the wilderness many times is a place of clarity, a place of finding a sense of mission and purpose.
Sometimes people found themselves in the wilderness not of their own doing; but other times we read God led people into the wilderness. Such is the story of Aaron and Moses. Moses had meet God in the wilderness and was on his way to fulfill the mission God set for him there. Now God was sending Aaron to meet his bother Moses in the wilderness to find the mission that God had for them. During this season of Lent I want to explore what it means to be in the wilderness. My posts during this season will include scripture about being in the wilderness and images of the wilderness I found in the Dakotas. I pray these images and scripture will help us see the beauty and clarity that can only be found in the wilderness. What does being in the wilderness mean to you? Prayer Lord God of the Wilderness Clarify our vision of you and the purpose you have for us this day. Amen But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. They’re back, the daffodils in the cove; singing of joy and hope! They have made it through the long winter and came up through frosty ground. They are not native to the mountains but were brought here by early settlers as a way of reminding them of the land they left. You will likely find them close to old homesites. These I found in my favorite place to look, under the large trees close to Hyatt Lane. Every spring I journey to the mountains to find them again, sheltered under this tree. They bring me hope after long winters.
After voicing his lament over God’s seeming absence in Psalm 13, David ends his lament with words of trust. He has seen God’s goodness in the past, and like the daffodils in spring, sings his doxology of God’s unfailing love. Today I join the daffodils in their doxology. Prayer Lord God. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise him all creatures here below. Praise him above ye Heavenly Hosts. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. The first time you look at this image it seems like it must be a sunset - the sun is bright and the sky is dark. Actually this is the picture of a sunrise. It was supposed to be raining that morning so I hadn’t planned to walk down to the lake to catch the sunrise. I woke up early anyway and the sky out the camper window looked strange so I got up an walked to the shore. This is what I saw, this odd image of light and dark.
Sometimes your life is just odd. You are walking along a path with many good things and then trouble and sadness appear. You didn’t expect this curve in the road. It makes you stop. It makes you weep. It makes you wonder why. In these times you need an image like this one. You need a bright light bringing beauty our of darkness and the promise of a new day. For me this light is Jesus’s love and promise that joy will come again. Prayer Lord Jesus I hold on today to your promise of laughter after weeping, of light out of darkness. Amen Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. He appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons. This image was taken on one of the most special days of my photographic life. We had gotten up very early so we could catch a sunrise on the Notch Overlook in Badlands National Park. Everywhere we looked that morning we saw amazing beauty in the sky. I had been looking to the east when my husband said to look in his direction to see these unusual clouds. If I had not been with him I might not have turned around. Indeed the whole trip would not have been possible if I had not been with my husband. There have been many other times when the images I have taken were only possible because I was with him, times when he carried my tripod or watched over me as I tried to get in just the right position for the shot.
In the gospels we read about several times when Jesus took his disciples away from the crowds to mountains to be with him. While we don’t know everything that happened in those special times with Jesus we do know there were times when Jesus explained the parables. I like to imagine there were also times of just being in nature and enjoying being together. It was these times with Jesus that prepared the disciples for the mission they were given to share Jesus with the world. He knew the times of uncertainty and opposition they would face and these times with him would be what would give them the strength to meet the task. Like the disciples we need time with Jesus to fulfill the purpose he has for us. It is in these special times we spend with Jesus by reading his words and letting them invade our heart that we see clearly what he wants to teach us and find the strength to carry on. How long has it been since you spent time with Jesus? What can you do to spend time with him this day? Prayer Lord Jesus Thank you for calling us to be with you. Show us the mission you have for us today and strengthen us with your presence. 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 I will give thanks to you, LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds. It was a chilly morning in early November when I took this image of a tree at Cherokee Dam. It reminded me of another day I that I had taken a picture of a tree at the dam, an even colder Sunday afternoon, January 7, 2012. I had just bought my new camera, my first DSLR, to take pictures at my son’s wedding. I had always had a camera, even a digital camera, but this one was different. Unlike my previous cameras that worked mostly in “automatic” mode this one had all kinds of options. I decided that if I had a camera with this many possibilities I needed to learn to use them. I had no idea that this was the beginning of a journey to places I had never planned or expected to go.
When I look back on that day, now 10 years ago, I don’t think it was a coincidence that it happened in the season of Epiphany. My camera has been a gift that God has used to help me develop a new and deeper perspective of His world and His word. While learning to use my camera, I also found new writers like N. T. Wright, Diana Butler Bass, Scot McKnight, Michael Card, Nancy Guthrie, Makoto Fujimura, and Tim Mackie and Jon Collins of the Bible Project who have opened up a whole new way of reading the Scriptures. I give thanks with all my heart for the epiphany that God has given me through my camera and the resources he has put in my way. I pray that my images and words tell of God’s wonderful deeds. What has God used in your life to bring an epiphany, a new way of seeing who He is? Prayer Lord God I give thanks to you with all my heart for the beauty of your world and your word. Amen But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. This is one of my favorite pictures of our first road trip through South Dakota. It happens to be in Custer State Park in the Black Hills. I have actually printed this image and it hangs in my sunroom. I love to look at it and come back to it again and again. Each time I look at it I remember the story behind it - how I wanted to get to a certain place for a sunset but a buffalo traffic jam kept us from getting there; how we found this random wide spot in the road to turn around and give up; how I walked up this little path and saw this tree and wide open valley before we turned around; how God gave me this image instead of the one I had wanted.
We all have experiences like this, experiences we treasure in our hearts. The visit of shepherds was an experience that Mary treasured in her heart. It must have been hard to have this incredible story of being chosen to be the mother of the Messiah. It was quite a different story than most people expected. It was even hard for her to believe at first when she asked the angel, “how can this be?” Maybe it was these experiences, the things she treasured in her heart, that kept her going at times when things were not as she expected. On our recent trip to Custer State Park in South Dakota I wanted to go back and find this little spot again. However there was a road closure on that part of the loop road. I was disappointed that I wouldn’t see this view again, but God gave me new experiences, new images. I will still go back to places that I treasure but I will also pick up my camera and walk into God’s world to see new things that he has for me to treasure - new experiences with him. What are some experiences that you treasure? How can you be open to new experiences of God breaking into your life? Prayer Lord God Break into our lives and give us new treasures of your love that we can share with those we meet this day. Amen “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. The trees formed a frame around a vista that that I had never seen before, so different from my tree-covered mountains. Before our trip, I had thought of North Dakota as a boring wilderness. As I stood there that morning it was like looking through a window into a new world filled with beauty.
Here is where we stand this day, looking out on a new year. The wilderness becomes a place of beauty when we see it framed by the stories of those who journey with us. Through Jesus we have the promise of a new life, a living hope. We need each other to form a frame around the new way in the wilderness God is making for us. How can you, walking together with others, make your community a place of newness? Prayer Lord Jesus Give us the courage to look with others at the new places you are leading us as we journey ever closer to you. Amen And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. A baby - Jesus came as a baby to a first time mother - the creator of the world as a tiny baby. Jesus, fully human and fully God, Savior of the world. Sit in awe and wonder. Merry Christmas.
Prayer Lord Jesus We bow and worship you this day as the shepherds did when you were born. Amen 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 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?” While I was deciding on places to visit on our road trip through the Coteau des Prairies of South Dakota I discovered the Fort Sisseton Historic State Park. When we go on our road trips we try to stay off interstates so I search for state parks. I found this one and we put it on our itinerary. After the tour of the buildings and what remained of the fort I was drawn to all the big beautiful trees. I didn’t expect to find trees like this in the prairie but they there were - outlasting the military fort built to conquer. I found this beautiful large tree that stood out from the others. I stood in front of it and walked around it several times to try to decided on the best vantage point to capture its beauty.
Adam and Eve had this important tree in the garden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. As they stood in front of it one day they were forced with a decision - whose view was best, theirs or God’s. They made the wrong decision and chose their own way. Each day we stand in front of our own tree. We must decide if we are going to follow our way or God’s way. There are times when we make the right decision and times when we make the wrong one. The story for Adam and Eve didn’t end with their wrong decision. You see, God still came looking for them. There were consequences for their wrong decision (read the rest of the story) but he never left them and through Jesus he made a way back to him. Even when we choose to follow our selfish desires and walk away from God, he doesn’t walk away from us. What will you choose when you stand in front of your tree today? Prayer Loving Father Remind us of your love for us as we stand in front of our own tree and decide how we will live this day. Thank you for always coming for us when we choose to leave you. Thank you for Jesus who made a way back to you. Amen He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: The Appalachian Mountains are my home. I love seeing mountain peaks in the distance, walking on mountain trails, watching water flow over rocks in mountain streams, finding wildflowers in the spring, and seeing the beautiful colors of autumn. The mountains represent a sense of security for me. So traveling to the prairies of North and South Dakota was a very different experience. The land was flat and I could see for miles. I was surprised at how much color I could see. The sky seemed so big and there was almost a constant wind, strong enough at times to blow you down.
As the mountains represent a sense of security and home for me, the wide open spaces of the prairies came to represent a time to open wide my heart. It was hard sometimes to walk against the wind and to feel small underneath a big sky filled with clouds. The prairie reminded me of the words and mission of John the Baptist. He was preparing the way for Jesus by asking people to open wide their hearts, to repent. As we prepare for Advent we need to open wide our hearts. It isn’t easy but this is the way to see God’s salvation. How can you open wide your heart today? Prayer Messiah Jesus Blow in our hearts this day and open them wide. Forgive us the sin we see in our lives and fill our wide open hearts with your love. 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