Lessons from a Summer Garden: Hiding Miracles (3)

May 31, 2009:

I held miracles in my hands when I held the little seeds and planted them.. It almost makes me shiver, and thrills me when I think of it- that these seeds are indeed co laborers in one of life's greatest miracles of reproducing life again.

All those little seeds, and the seedlings I'd planted inside weeks ago looked so small and helpless. Of themselves, they wouldn't get very far, but with a little water, and a little sunshine to warm the earth, they are changed into the image of the plant that bore them.

In a way, those seeds are like God's word- that word that is alive, that has power in it to change us in every way. Hidden in our heart, watered by His grace, warmed by the sunshine of His presence, we too, will have new life in us. Beautiful, wonderful new life.

What an illustration of the Miracle of Grace in our hearts. God longs to reproduce in us His likeness, and He can do it, if we lay aside who we are, and let Him change us as He sees fit.

Lessons From A Summer Garden: Break Up Fallow Ground (2)

The spot that Scott and I had selected for our garden to be seemed ideal as far as location goes, but if you have ever dug a garden shovel by shovel, you can imagine a little of the work that was cut out for us. The ground had lain fallow for we could only guess how long, and the roots were thickly matted together and deep enough that our small tiller couldn't quite break all the way through to the soil beneath. Thus out came the shovels and turn by turn we started working across the garden space.

It was long, hard work, going back and forth, turning a little strip of that old fallow ground whenever we could, and trying to keep ahead of the rain that seemed absolutely determined to keep the ground almost too wet for turning. Some parts were relatively easy to turn, but then we hit a patch with rocks and our progress decreased. But for all the trouble, it was good work, and after all, we were together, working and sharing mutually in the joys and "hardships" of creating a new garden.

I'm not sure when we'd have finished turning our plot, and sometimes we both nearly gave up hope on ever finishing what we wanted, but we kept on. Our landlord decided to try out the old plow and tractor and see if it'd work. And as strip by strip, the ground was turned by the plow, two things came to my mind.

One was gratitude for the kindness of people who do not know us well, yet go out of their way to help us where they can. It was a glimpse of Neighborly Love, something that, though extinct in more places than not, is still alive and well in the hearts of some, and it thrilled me.

The other, though, was about that old ground, and with every turn of the plow, the words of a beautiful song that has blessed me through out the years played through my mind:

"Break up my fallow ground.
Give a heart just like your own.
Where your word will find sweet soil
Everywhere that it is sown.

Break up my fallow ground.
Rid my heart of sinful stone.
Break up my fallow ground-
My heart your throne."

Our soil turned out to be beautiful, and I have hopes that the plants will find it to be filled with the things necessary to proper growth and development., just like I pray that the old unturned ground of my heart, when the Master Gardener takes the plow to it, will be changed from stony and undeveloped land into the soil that will allow His work to be complete in me. It isn't easy work, perhaps, and no doubt painful to the heart, but it is good work, and our God never does anything but the best when it comes to the garden of our hearts.

Lessons From A Summer Garden: Evidence of Faith (1)

I love gardens. The miracles of soil and seed and water and sunshine, and the new life that springs forth from the Master's hand have always fascinated and intrigued me for as long as I can remember, and gardens, with their distinct uniqueness and their many secrets caught my attention quite early. As a child, they were my playground, and there I spent many happy hours- not only pulling weeds and watching the plants grow, but learning to recognize the miracles and the hidden treasures that lay literally beneath our feet- and dreaming of gardens and orchards with secret passage ways to beautiful and restful places where the heart could be still.

As I grew older, and more of the reality of gardens and growing things began to stand out to me, my brother and I would pour over seed catalogs, reading and talking about seed varieties, and being ravished by the pictures of abundant produce that seemed so out of place on a dark and cold January evening. I dreamed then of a farmhouse with beautiful fields around and a place where everything I could wish for would grow- for the sort season, and cooler weather of my Alaska home limited what we could fill our garden with.

When we moved from Alaska to Colorado, the happy garden days ceased with the old home we left behind. I missed my gardens greatly, and longed to get my hands into the soil again, and to be a part of the beauty of learning and growing with the plants I tended each day. Thus, after our engagement, I looked forward with great eagerness to the promise of being able to at least help out in the family garden. An unexpected career change made that dream waver a little, as Scott spent a couple days up North Idaho, and I had but a little faith that whatever rental we might find, that they'd be willing to allow us to dig up the yard for a garden.

Yet, God's hand is not shortened. He sees and hears even the little things we wish for, thus, when Scott told me about the rental that would become our first home, and the three questions on my mind were asked: "Did it have a real mail box, could I put up a clothesline, and could we have a garden, even a tiny one?", Scott assured me that the answer was yes to all three, and great was my joy when I heard those words.

The draftiness of the house, it's somewhat odd exterior, and even its very uneven and rolling floor inside (which made our bookcases hard to balance, but there are many ways to work with even rolling floors!)don't matter much to me. I felt very rich and very blessed- for hadn't God blessed me in the greatest way with a loving husband and wonderful best friend, making home the happiest place ever, and hadn't He also heard those small, even unnecessary little heart desires, and chosen to answer them?

I am not sure a garden is really unnecessary, of course, (and I still don't have a clothesline, though I do enjoy retrieving my mail from a real mail box, and finding mail with my new name on it.) But however wonderful, and however much I love working with the soil, and yes, even though having a garden would mean a lot less money spent on produce elsewhere ( and I do begrudge sharing my money for walmart produce, and only find Farmer's Markets to have the real shopping.), I think that it is the lessons that I see that I love as much as the fresh tomatoes I hope to have by mid to late July (and the beans and corn and cucumbers...)

Someone said that a garden is an evidence of faith. They said well, for there is a lot of faith involved in any sort of garden or farming. But I think that we could add that while a garden takes faith, it opens up the opportunity for cultivating many other things in the heart: perseverance, patience and probably just about all of the Fruit of the Spirit, in one way or another. I've found that the garden in my backyard, and the garden of the heart have ties that are unexpected, and similarities that are both encouraging and painful at times. Sometimes the garden reveals to us who we are, who we should be, the Master Gardener, Christ's dream for us, and the steps of growth that our hearts take in the Christian experience. And as we align our efforts in our gardens with the miracle that is new each springtime, it gives us courage and hope, to align our efforts with Him who can take the worst of soil and turn it into the most beautiful of gardens.

One day, Scott and I went back near the old hand well, to where the landlord had said we could dig and plant and mentally marked out our garden spot. It was not quite half of the size of my old garden, and yet, after all, we'd be hand pumping the water, and we weren't sure what would be revealed underneath the thick grass that had grown uncultivated for more than a dozen years past. It was the first step of faith, and just the beginning of steps and lessons to learn that I have no doubt will continue through-out the season and, Lord willing, in the seasons yet to come.

Join me this year in my first lower 48 garden, and share with me the joys and the growth and the things I have yet to learn- both about gardening, and about cultivating my heart.

Remember His Love

Life is not all made up of pleasant pastures and cooling streams. Trial and disappointment overtake us; privation comes; we are brought into trying places. Conscience-stricken, we reason that we must have walked far away from God, that if we had walked with Him, we should not have suffered so. Doubt and despondency crowd into our hearts, and we say, The Lord has failed us, and we are ill-used. Why does He permit us to suffer thus? He cannot love us; if He did He would remove the difficulties from our path. . . .

He does not always bring us to pleasant places. If He did, in our self-sufficiency we should forget that He is our helper. He longs to manifest Himself to us, and to reveal the abundant supplies at our disposal, and He permits trial and disappointment to come to us that we may realize our helplessness, and learn to call upon Him for aid. He can cause cooling streams to flow from the flinty rock.

We shall never know until we are face to face with God, when we shall see as we are seen and know as we are known, how many burdens He has borne for us, and how many burdens He would have been glad to bear, if with childlike faith we had brought them to Him. . . . God's love is revealed in all His dealings with His people; and with clear, unclouded eyes, in adversity, in sickness, in disappointment, and in trial we are to behold the light of His glory in the face of Christ and trust to His guiding hand. But too often we grieve His heart by our unbelief.

God loves His children, and He longs to see them overcoming the discouragement with which Satan would overpower them. Do not give way to unbelief. Do not magnify your difficulties. Remember the love and power that God has shown in times past.

--White

Joy in the Morning

The sun has been shining, the birds singing, and away by the peaceful shores of a large lake, my heart found peace and rest again from the weariness of the past few weeks and months of family-heartache. With the light of the new week, the sunshine of the new day, a million golden flowers are blooming across the pasture.

Last week it rained, it poured buckets from what looked like an endless gray sky. But, even in the darkness of the rainy days, those golden flowers still bloomed.

It doesn't seem to matter to them whether or not the day is beautiful or not. They simply bloom, opening their golden petals faithfully every single morning with the first rays of sunlight, right where they are. They don't wish for a different life. They are content to take each day as it comes- sunshine or rain, and to make the very best of it.

The past week was one of the hardest and most painful of my life, for I had to say good bye to people I love dearly. Life and choices have separated them from me. only God knows if shall ever be restored to my life again in this world. But, sunshine or rain, I must choose, as the golden flowers do each day, to bloom- to let God use me how He desires, to smile and to seek joy, and beauty and happiness, and to live, truly live, even if my heart aches, and my eyes are full of tears, and my heart is broken. For He knows, above all, the pain and the sorrow, and the beauty that is there, even with the deepest pain.

"Weeping May endure for the night, but JOY cometh in the morning."

I think I found a little glimpse of that this past week, in the face of those dandelions.

It's Mother's Day

There's a beautiful post over on YLCF with quotes on being wives and mothers in honor of today. They're all beautiful quotes, but one of those is a real treasure. Go read the post and see if you can figure out which one. ;)

Another post over on Pleasant Times gives all kinds of tips and hints on making Mother's Day very special- and giving gifts that last not just the day, but a whole lot longer. Just remember, sometimes it's those little things that didn't cost you anything except time, thought and effort that mean the most to parents in the end.

But today, as I think of my own mommies (for I have two of them now) and of the friends that have become mommies, who are near and dear to my heart, I am praying for wisdom, for strength, for grace for them to raise the little people in their care for HIM. It's a task that seems daunting, but it is the "beautifulest" third-degree (The first degree is the on-going study of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the second degree is an on going study and the work of honoring and loving our husbands and making home the happiest and best place ever) one could ever take on. I'll leave you with this quote that has inspired and encouraged me, as not- a- mommy-yet, but one who loves and cares for children.

The mother's work often seems to her an unimportant service. It is a work that is rarely appreciated. Others know little of her many cares and burdens. Her days are occupied with a round of little duties, all calling for patient effort, for self-control, for tact, wisdom, and self-sacrificing love; yet she cannot boast of what she has done as any great achievement. She has only kept things in the home running smoothly. Often weary and perplexed, she has tried to speak kindly to the children, to keep them busy and happy, and to guide their little feet in the right path. She feels that she has accomplished nothing. But it is not so.

Heavenly angels watch the careworn mother, noting the burdens she carries day by day. Her name may not have been heard in the world, but it is written in the Lamb's book of life.

-White

The Journey

Sometimes the journey of life is painfully hard, and it is difficult to "count it all joy", but there is joy, joy in the journey, if we only look for it.

That's my life right now. A painful journey it may be at times, but there is an amazing amount of joy in my journey too. I only have to look beside me when I wake up in the morning to see it. I only have to glance out the window as I work, to see it. I only have to look across the table at dinner time at the face of the girl I grew up with to see it. I only have to look at the golden faces of the dandelions in the lawn to see it. I only have to look up, and I see it, no feel it in the depths of my soul.

The road may be rough and thorny, life may take from me some of the things I held as dear and precious, but God never takes away anything without giving us grace, strength to go on, and yes...beautiful joy to help heal some of the wounds.

The past is past. What is done is done. It's today that I have. It's just beginning, and it's going to be a beautiful, joyful day on the Journey.

Happiness is a Choice

Happiness is not a destination. It is a method of life.
Author: Burton Hills

Happiness is a choice that requires effort at times.
Author: Anonymous

Most people would rather be certain they're miserable, than risk being happy.
Author: Robert Anthony

Better to choose happiness, and endure the effort and the struggle. Being miserable is just that- miserable. I'm choosing happiness, and living in the sunshine. By His grace, this is where I want to stay. It's a beautiful thing, but even better when you have friends along the way. Join me?

Because He Lives

It's Spring again- the time of new beginnings, of starting, of growing, of changing.

The winter has been long and dark, and the sunshine feels glorious and warm. I can't get enough of it. There are birds singing, and the yaks in the pasture on the other side of the barn that sits near our little house have a tiny new baby, the cutest thing ever. The snow that has long buried the landscape is melting away, revealing beneath it the good earth again, and a lot of activity.

Little seeds, laying under the cold blanket of snow are bursting forth into new life, and we are surrounded by abundant evidence that He lives.

It is a happy time for me, and I can't help but sing with those birds, and wait for the barefoot days of summer to unfold when I can abandon shoes for a while and wear light, summery skirts and sandals instead, and dig in my garden and watch the flowers grow in the meadows.

Yet, when I go out to wander a little each day, under all that snow there were the old leaves of autumn, the dead grass from last season, and sticks and stones that have collected over the months of cold and wind. There's work to do if we want to see the real beauty of the grass waiting to burst out under there.

Spring time is the time to clear all that rubbish off, to get out the rake, and pull it all away, and let the newness of life spring forth in all it's beauty, uncluttered by the past, and unhindered by obstacles that were thrown in its way during the winter. And to think, that underneath all that is the promise of another season, another harvest, of blessings from the Giver of all Life. Without Him, there'd be no Springtime, no leaves or old grass to rake, no promise of barefoot days or even a bird to sing cheerful songs.

Yes, He lives.

And... because He lives, we can face tomorrow, we can face our future, the unknown of yet another season of life, we can embrace our joys and our sorrows, and face them with hope, and with trust, and with confidence that He who recreates newness each spring will recreate it in our hearts as well. Those little seeds He's been planting in our lives, seeds often planted in difficulty, in trial, in the darkness of pain and affliction and heart ache, will spring forth into beautiful flowers of love, of patience, of joy, and humility.

Unlike the Seasons, which come and go in their time, we sometimes choose the season of our hearts, clinging to winter with all its bitter cold and darkness as if our life depended on living in the shadows. We long for the joy and beauty of Summer time, but disdain the change of Spring.

We may find that in the dark, long winter, we've lost our freshness, our first love for Him, and we need a good Spring Cleaning, but fear the pain that we know that rake might bring, or of what might be revealed of who we really are, if it pulls back those old, dead leaves of the past that we've been holding close, causes us to fight for "our rights", and hold on to the past disappointments and failures as if they are treasures worth dying for. But all we've got is old, dead leaves, when we could have beautiful, bright new grass and the best of flowers.

We can't get to Summer without Spring. As much as He wants to, the sacrifice, the death and even the resurrection of our LORD cannot bring new seasons to our life if we don't embrace the Spring Time of change and let Him renew us.

If we were to try to do it all ourselves, we'd get nowhere, for just as the garden can't turn itself or get ready for new little plants to grow, or just as the lawn cannot rake itself clean of all those dead leaves, we can't truly get rid of all the old winter-time baggage on our own.

But that is why He lives.

He wants to recreate that life that He has, in you. Right now. Get rid of all the old things of the past, and uncover the treasures of the future.

Let Him get out that rake, stop holding on to whatever it is that seems to painful to let go- those grudges, those disappointed hopes, those broken dreams and wounded feelings and remember that they're really just dead things that will only hinder us in the end..Embrace His Life, and the beauty of True Spring will break forth in your heart.

But there is an even more beautiful work that is done.

The old, dry, dead leaves from the past season, once raked up can be gathered together, and with proper care and treatment become nourishing food for the growth of the new plants. A good compost can do wonders for a garden, and can give valuable nutrients to any plant, causing it to grow bigger, and better and more beautiful than it would otherwise.

Our Savior does just such a thing with those old leaves of our past. He turns what seems to be the worst into something beautiful, something that strengthens and encourages the New Life that He has created in our hearts. Those very things that were hindering us from growing, that hurt us and kept us feeling wintery, He turns into one of the biggest blessings in our lives.

Those heartaches, those sorrows, those broken dreams- all of those things we could not understand when they faded and fell lifeless onto the ground, when we let Him have them all, He turned into something good. Satan meant it for evil, but God knew better.

"Where man sees but withered leaves, God sees sweet flowers growing." ~Albert Laighton

Because He lives.

(Posted originally on YLCF)

Photo By Chantel Harding of Katie B enjoying a Montana Daisy Field and a beautiful Spring Day

Let Me Be Like You

Teach Me, Lord
To do your will,
No matter what may come.

Show me Lord,
Your chosen path,
No matter how difficult.

Shape me, Lord,
Into your form,
No matter how much pain.

Give me Lord,
Your joy
No matter how much sorrow.

Grant me Lord,
Your blessing,
No matter how small.

Let me be like You.

For Such a Time As This

God's ways are not our ways. He works in a way that from our perspective should never work. He can overturn what was meant for evil, and make it into something good, beautiful, a blessing. The impossible is possible for God.

Often God's purposes are worked out through the lives of those who are willing to do what God says, counting the cost, yet stepping forward, knowing that to do God's will is to be a part of destiny, a part of the outworking of His great plan.

Often we meet trials and troubles with confusion and discouragement. We look at where we are, against our desire, and wonder why. Only God knows. Yet, like Joseph, like Daniel, like Esther, perhaps God put us right here, for such a time as this.

Scott & Chantel

“This day I will marry my best friend, the one I laugh with, live for, dream with, love”

God's way is perfect. Exceedingly, abundantly above all that I could have asked, or even dreamed.

Let Me Be Like You

Teach Me, Lord
To do your will,
No matter what may come.

Show me Lord,
Your chosen path,
No matter how difficult.

Shape me, Lord,
Into your form,
No matter how much pain.

Give me Lord,
Your joy
No matter how much sorrow.

Grant me Lord,
Your blessing,
No matter how small.

Let me be like You.

The Red Envelope

I came across a site, thanks to a link posted on a forum about natural womens health issues, dedicated to a project I hadn't heard of before- The Red Envelope Project.

The concept is simple, yet touching. It involves a empty Red Envelope, addressed to our President, Barak Obama, symbolizing the life of a child who never had a chance to make a difference in the world, because their right to live was robbed them by an abortion.

Responsibility starts with conception. It's true.

While the project may not make a difference in the laws of this land, it is a silent protest to the laws that allow others to take life for granted and treat responsibility lightly. It is a project that may be worth something, somewhere, somehow. I don't know.

Abortion is a controversial issue, even amongst Christians. It shouldn't be. God created life, and He sustains it. He has great plans for each little life, even if conceived in less than ideal circumstances. Who are we to decide that this plan is over?

Call to Service

The Call to Service


The call to Christian service
Is a call from God above.
He sends us forth to serve a world,
And save that world through love.
He calls for you, He calls for me;
‘Tis God’s own voice that says “Go ye.”

The call to Christian service
Is a call from men without.
“Come o’er to Macedonia” –
Can you hear their dying shout?
They cry to you, they cry to me.
Let’s go while still they plead, “Come ye.”

The call to Christian service,
Is a call we hear within.
Our own hearts seem to whisper,
“Go and save this world from sin.”
May your sincere response now be,
“I’m wholly Thine, Lord, please send me.”

- Adlai Esteb

True Love

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day, and people around the world may stop to celebrate Love. Yet, while the world celebrates, few perhaps really know what true love even is, let alone how to experience it, not just as a fleeting, momentary pleasure on Valentine's Day, but as their life.

I don't claim to know and understand Love, True Love, in it's completeness myself. I believe that, as with many things in life, True Love is a journey that we often don't even know the beginning of, and that will last us for our whole life.

Learning, growing, experiencing, broadening and developing into greater sweetness and beauty each and every day, True Love is something worth any cost, and True Love costs everything.

It is easy to love someone who loves us, but when that love is tested, when it is crossed, when it is tried to it's very core, that is when we find the substance of our Love. True Love may flicker in the strong wind, but it won't go out. Instead, it'll get brighter and hotter, and deeper.

Of ourselves, we have absolutely nothing like this True Love in our hearts, yet it costs nothing that even the poorest on earth cannot afford.

In order to truly love, we must be willing to give everything that we are, all that we have, our whole life and pour it out as a gift, expecting nothing in return. Sometimes, we will not seem to get anything in return for the Love Gift of our all in this life, but God has promised that our reward is in a better place than this, and whether we realize now or later, True Love is never wasted, and never lost, never regretted.

God is the Author of Love. God is Love. And if we desire this Love, we can look to Him to supply it.

He doesn't promise it won't be painful to Love, only that it is the most beautiful thing, the most happy thing that we can ever do. And it's true. If you have tasted and experienced True Love, you know, as I do, that nothing, nothing in this World can compare to real, true, pure Love. God's Love. It's a beautiful journey, no matter the pain or the struggles.

There's times when we'll each struggle- for the old kind of "Love" and True Love cannot live in the same heart without a struggle, for only one can be Master, and yet the roots of the old love go deep and only time, God and learning the New, True Love will ever remove it from us.

And if you haven't yet asked to try it, don't wait another minute. Go to Him, and seek Him in the quietness to give you what ever you lack, and to enroll you in His School of Love. He'll do it for you, and teach you more than you could ever imagine.

Like the Wild Flowers

A girl I didn't know sent me a note one day last April. When I read it, it was one of those moments that sent shivers down my back... only God could have known what I needed just then, and it was this quote from one of my most loved "stories"... Hind's Feet on High Places.

Just then it struck a chord in my heart-- and tears filled my eyes and encouragement strengthened my heart as I was reminded that the greatest victories that the world never sees are some of the best, the most beautiful after all. Like the wildflowers, who cheerfully go on, living each day for His audience alone, so may God help me to live. Even if no one ever knows.

And the girl who sent it to me? I'm thankful to say that not only did my heart find encouragement and the blessing it needed that day, it also found a friend. Ah, God is good. :)

"Much-Afraid looked at the Shepherd earnestly. 'I have often wondered about the wild flowers...it does seem strange that such unnumbered multitudes should bloom in the wild places of the earth where perhaps nobody ever sees them...They have so much beauty and sweetness to give and no one on whom to lavish it, nor who will even appreciate it.'

The look the Shepherd turned on her was very beautiful. 'Nothing my Father and I have made is ever wasted...and the little wild flowers have a wonderful lesson to teach. They offer themselves so sweetly and confidently and willingly, even if it seems that there is no one to appreciate them.....

All the fairest beauties in the human soul, its greatest victories, and its most splendid achievements are always those which no one else knows anything about, or can only dimly guess at. Every inner response of the human heart to Love and every conquest over self-love is a new flower on the tree of Love. Many a quiet, ordinary, and hidden life, unknown to the world, is a veritable garden in which Love's flowers and fruits have come to such perfection that it is a place of delight where the King of Love himself walks and rejoices with his friends.

Some of my servants have indeed won great visible victories and are rightly loved and reverenced by other men, but always their greatest victories are like the wild flowers, those which no one knows about."

This Day

This day is fragile,
Soon it will end.
And once it has vanished,
It will not come again.

So let us love
With a heart pure and strong
Before this day is gone.

This day is fleeting,
When it slips away,
Not all our money
Can buy back this day.

So let us pray
That we might be a friend,
Before this day is spent.

This day is frail,
It will pass by.
So before it's too late
To recapture the time

Let us share love,
Let us share God
Before this day is gone.

This day we're given is golden,
Let us show love.
This day is ours for one moment
Let us sow love-

Before this day is gone.

Lowell Alexander

Mercies in Disguise

"Afflictions are oft mercies in disguise. We know not what we might have been without them. When God in His mysterious providence overthrows all our cherished plans, and we may receive sorrow in the place of joy, we will bow in submission and say, "Thy will, Oh God, be done."...

The Lord looks upon our afflictions. He graciously and discriminately metes them out and apportions them. As a refiner of silver He watches us every moment until the purification is complete. The furnace is to purify and refine, not to destroy and consume. He will cause those who put their trust in Him to sing of mercies in the midst of judgments. He is ever watching to impart, when most needed, new and fresh blessings, strength in the hour of weakness, succor in the hour of danger, friends in the hour of loneliness, sympathy, human and divine, in the hour of sorrow. We are homeward bound. He that loveth us so much as to die for us hath builded for us a city. The New Jerusalem is our place of rest. There will be no sadness in the City of God. No wail of sadness. No dirge of crushed hopes and buried affection shall ever more be heard. "

-- E.W

In His Hands

I have held many things in my hands, and I have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God's hands, that I still possess.
Martin Luther


Putting things in God's hands is easy, yet it's not. There's something in us that tries so hard to cling to what we feel is ours by right, or even by choice. Yet, we loose these cherished treasures, and brokenly try to figure out what to do with the pieces that are left.

The best thing I ever did was to put my life in God's hands, to put my love, and the desire to be loved in return, to put all that I knew there. I thought I was giving it up, and laying it aside, but God gave it back to me more beautiful than I could have ever dreamed. Often I stand in awe of this, often tears come to my eyes as I realize that beyond what I saw, He gave and gives me so much more than I could ever have had if I'd held on.

It's not that I have no struggles, that I don't still try to hold on when I shouldn't. Often I find myself clinging to some cherished dream, only to realize that in doing this, I'm loosing and I'm likely keeping God from giving me the good thing that He wants me to have.

So this year, once again, I am learning to put things in God's hands. He is the LORD of all things. He is the one who possesses all things. He knows my needs, and understands my heart-longings much more than even I do myself. He delights to give the desires of our hearts... if we let Him, made beautiful into the thing that in His infinite wisdom, He knows is for our best.

There's much to learn, much room to grow, but it's my prayer, my heart-desire to let God have all, to give back to Him, and really, it wasn't mine to start with. He has promised to take care of us, and I know, truly know, that He never lets His side of the promise down.

What are your dearest treasures? Your cherished dreams? Put them in God's hands. It's the best thing you'll ever do.

Whispering Hope

Soft as the voice of an angel,
Breathing a lesson unheard,
Hope with a gentle persuasion
Whispers her comforting word:
Wait till the darkness is over,
Wait till the tempest is done,
Hope for the sunshine tomorrow,
After the shower is gone.

If, in the dusk of the twilight,
Dim be the region afar,
Will not the deepening darkness
Brighten the glimmering star?
Then when the night is upon us,
Why should the heart sink away?
When the dark midnight is over,
Watch for the breaking of day.

Hope, as an anchor so steadfast,
Rends the dark veil for the soul,
Whither the Master has entered,
Robbing the grave of its goal.
Come then, O come, glad fruition,
Come to my sad weary heart;
Come, O Thou blest hope of glory,
Never, O never depart.

--by Septimus Winner, 1868

One Of Those Moments

It's one of those moments when the fog clears a little and you see, though perhaps not the reason, the working of God through years past. You see Him working in their lives, and it hits you hard: responsibility. And it thrills, frightens and sends, or it should, send you to your knees.

She's sixteen now, but when I first heard of her, she must have been ten or eleven years old. I still am not entirely sure how it happened, but one day I received a typed letter on a little piece of stationary from someone I had never heard of before, or heard from after. Where they heard of me, I have guessed a few times, perhaps getting close, I don't know, but why they wrote to me, I'm beginning to see as more than just a coincidence in life, but as work of God.

God doesn't do anything without purpose, without plan. It's us who don't see that, sometimes, and in our near-sitedness, and miss the part of the plan He wanted us to play. Other times we work His plan without even realizing it. Until later.

So it was with me. The letter that I got had a request for me to write to two young girls who had recently been through the trauma of a broken home, who needed a friend and a mentor. I was far away from the state of Virginia, and it was doubtful that I would ever make much difference. But I did write. I didn't expect that I'd hear anything back, for I was a stranger, far away, and the girls were young. For months I didn't hear, but one day the reply came. We wrote back and forth, she always asking about my pets, if it was cold in Alaska and if I was homeschooled, and me writing about life and the little, happy things that I thought she would like to read about.

She has faithfully called me every few weeks for six years, sharing stories of her beloved cats, her sister, her grandparents and as the years passed, something grew in her. A deep, abiding childlike trust and love in God. Other people came and went from her life, but He was always there. Her deep desire is for others to come to love God as she does, and she prays and works the best she knows for this end. I know God honors her simple trust. Someday, I don't doubt that her crown will have stars in it.

We've never met, she and I, for I've never made it back to Virginia for years, and they don't travel. Yet, somehow, in her little heart, love and attachment have grown with the years. She treasures the times we talk, tells me her little troubles, and wants to be a part of my life.

Yet, every time we talk, I think back to that mysterious letter, I think of where she's come from, and how easy it would have been for me to be too busy. Only God knows why He chose to bring our lives and hearts together. Yet a thrill of responsibility rests on me, and I pray that I won't miss God's purpose in it all. I want her there with me when we meet Jesus for the first time. It won't be because of me, but if somehow.... in those hard years of her little life, I made some sort of a reason to learn to love Him, then it is enough for me.

My influence, what ever it may count to be in the end, LORD make it count for you.

Does it Count?

I live in the mountains, far away from friends, family and I don't get out that often. I treasure quiet, peace and nature, but sometimes I look at my little life and I wonder, does it count?

Do I make use of my opportunities, the little ones, the big ones, the ones that seem insignificant or even the ones I would rather ignore? Do my stumbling, halting attempts at bringing cheer and making a brighter, happier day for someone else bring the sunshine I wish they did? In light of eternity, do they count?

Does it make a difference to someone that I lived?

It's not that it matters, really, not that I lived, but that because I choose Jesus, my life somehow cast a little ray of hope into some dark soul, and that little ray made the difference.

My talents aren't the kind that would hold a crowd spellbound, or would give me the eloquence to speak to the high class of this world. I couldn't write books that would move the hearts of the world, or sing songs that would pierce through the enchanted curtain that blinds men's eyes to God and somehow touch a heart. I only have a little voice, a little song, a little page to write.

Yet, it's that little that could count.

Thousands of years ago, a widow woman stepped quietly into a building. She wasn't trying to be noticed, she wasn't trying to do great things. She was simply a poor widow who took her little, and gave it. That little penny was her all, and it counted. Not just for a penny, but for something greater than any of the rich gifts that were given from a heart that did not give it's all. It wasn't the gift that counted so much, it was the fact that she gave her all- everything she had.

My little gifts, and yours may be more like the widow's mite compared to the rich gifts another may seem to bring. They might seem hardly worth giving. Yet God has not given it to us to compare our gifts, but to give Him all we have, all we are, all we hope and dream. It may be that someone has given a bigger portion, but what if we give all that we have?

That's what counts in God's eyes.

Another Year has Slipped Away

The sun has set behind the mountain,
Fading is another day.
And Like the setting of the sun,
Another Year has slipped away.

The Sunset painted pictures in the sky,
Vivid memories to the hours passed.
The Year, too, paints a picture of life
That unaltered will always last.

While the day is fading,
While the year is slipping away,
Take a moment to look back-
And see the record of the day

The New day will soon be dawning,
With new pictures in the sky.
Another Year's page will soon be open,
And once again the days go by.

Only paint the finest picture
With the moments of the year.
Don't be content for any other
Than the best of records clear.

-CMH

We Have Seen His Star

Two thousand years ago men, 'heathen' men were studying to know Him. They wanted to understand who He was, and what He was to do. They grew to love Him, and they understood what His own people didn't take time to know. Two thousand years ago, they saw His star and left their own homeland on a journey to find this child-Saviour that I believe they must have come to love and trust as their own. They went to Jerusalem to inquire where he was, but found that the very ones who should have known and been the first to welcome Him seemed to have no idea of His birth, or of the Star that had been their guide all along their journey. It must have been confusing and discouraging to those men, who only knew that they must follow and find Him, to realize that His own knew Him not, yet they kept on following, and they found Him, while so many others did not even take the time to look, and they knew that Messiah had come... not just for the Jews, but for them, for all of us.

Two thousand years have passed. Yet on the day when much of the world pauses to celebrate the event that gave hope to the whole world, they do not remember or even think of Him or of the Star of Hope.

So caught up are we in the celebration that often we loose sight of the reason, and of the Star that still shines. We forget that He is coming again, and we do not know the "signs of the times".

Two thousand years have passed since the wise men followed the Star to find their King. It won't be long now until He comes again in glory and majesty to claim His own here on this earth, and that Star that guided those wise men still is guiding those from 'afar' to seek Him, to know Him, and to find Him.

To us He has given to be a light, to let that Star of the East reflect in our lives so that they, too, can find our Saviour. Let's live so that light never grows dim, or fades away, for in this weary world, Hope keeps the heart alive.

The Messiah

I sat in my seat in a big,old Church in Colorado Springs last Christmastime, waiting for the music to begin, and as it did, my heart soared with the music and my mind to the many other times I had sat and listened to the music of The Messiah.

Thirteen years have passed since the first time I sat in a church to hear that Oratorio, and the music has never left my heart since. I've only missed it once, after all, in those years, even with major moves and a lot of life changes since then.

What it is about it, I never can quite explain, for both the music and the words have so much power packed into them that I do not know how any one can listen to it unmoved and unchanged by what they have heard, but I cannot.

Every time, I see the darkness of the world, I see the confusion, the blindness to the 'signs of the times'. Then I hear the angels sing, and my heart sings too... "Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth Peace, Good will to men".

I see the time of waiting, when we look for his appearing the second time. I see the sorrow, the pain, the brokenness. I see confusion again, yet tears come to my eyes, for I too, "know that my Redeemer liveth", and I rejoice as my heart feels the glory of that moment when "the Trumpet shall sound".

Then as I stand with the crowd, I never can quite keep the tears back, or help but sing with the choir "Hallelujah" and "Amen", and once again the music and the words of one of the greatest pieces that I have ever heard ring in my heart through out another year, bringing courage, peace, and strength, for He lives still.

Enough

Today I looked back on my life once again. I traveled down some of the old pathways and saw again some of the old joys, the friendships, the happy moments and little things that have carried me through the years. I tasted a little of the old sorrows, and it turned my heart back to God to thank Him... for all the happiness and beauty that He has given back to me, for allowing me hard times, and saving me from my own disasters so that I could taste beauty again.

I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright.

I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun more.

I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive.

I wish you enough pain so that the smallest joys in life appear
much bigger.

I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.

I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.

I wish you enough hellos to get you through the final good-bye.

I thought of the times I stood in the rain, soaked to the bones, and yet the rain and the wind did my heart good. I thought of the times I stood alone to watch the sunset, and felt my heart carried away in the glory and beauty of something that I would never see again. I thought of the times I wandered through the woods and sat under the trees to look up at the sky and to hear the birds sing, and how it brought peace and quiet to my heart. I thought of the friends I've made, and the happy times I've had that did make my heart stronger to face good byes I've said, knowing that forever is not too long to erase the memories of laughter, prayers and unforgettable moments. I thought of the times when I felt alone, and He taught me that I never truly am, for He is always there. I thought of how after a long, dark valley, He brought more joy and happiness and peace than I ever dreamed would be mine. I thought of how He has given me enough, more than enough, and how He still pours out His blessings of beauty, tears, happiness, peace and love. If I could wish one thing for any of you, it would be that you too, have enough, and so much more. I wish you enough.

Be Kind

'Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.'

In this light, today, LORD make me gentle, make me patient, make me have a never-failing kind of love that only you can give. Of myself, I have none of this, and when I feel overwhelmed, so tired, and so alone it's hard to to always keep perspective, and to keep a smile that goes deeper than my face. But you have promised LORD, and I trust in you that you will give what I feel so lacking of right now.

He is faithful

The sunset the other night was glorious. It lit up the sky with shade and texture that defy all but the Master Artist, and caused the mountains and hills to light up with the fading glory of another day. I stood on the top of our hill, up on the rocks, and it took my breath away as I watched it slowly faded away, ever changing as it went. It wasn't the just the end of the day, but the glorious prelude to a beautiful day to come.

Another chapter of my life is closing. All the things I've lived, experienced, learned and loved are changing, ever changing as this sunset begins to throw it's colors over the sky, but they too, are just a part of the beauty that comes as a new and brighter day begins to dawn. As my heart echoed the night I watched the sunset, so my heart echos in this closing chapter, Great is Thy faithfulness.

It brings tears to my eyes as I look back on my life and see God leading and guiding, through the sunshine and the rain, through the darkness and pain, and through the beauty, light and joy. It thrills me to see what He knew all along, that He was preparing me for this day.

There were so many times when I didn't understand it all, and I cried a lot of tears when I felt so very alone, yet even then I knew with the depths of my heart that He is faithful. He does not change. I couldn't see His hand always, and sometimes I wanted my own way and time. But how thankful, how very thankful I am that He is faithful... and so very patient and gentle.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving day, and I have no great words to say, except to repeat that echo in my heart that once again, Great is Thy Faithfulness, Oh LORD.

Enjoy your thanksgiving. Treasure each moment, and look for a quiet moment to know in your soul His faithfulness to you this year, to give you courage for the next.

Thanksgiving

Dietrich Bonhoeffer
In ordinary life we hardly realize that we receive a great deal more than we give, and that it is only with gratitude that life becomes rich.

Gerald Good
If you want to turn your life around, try thankfulness. It will change your life mightily.

W. T. Purkiser
Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving.

Henri J. M. Nouwen
Gratitude goes beyond the 'mine' and 'thine' and claims the truth that all of life is a pure gift. In the past I always thought of gratitude as a spontaneous response to the awareness of gifts received, but now I realize that gratitude can also be lived as a discipline. The discipline of gratitude is the explicit effort to acknowledge that all I am and have is given to me as a gift of love, a gift to be celebrated with joy.