Multitude Mondays

Let your light so shine….

“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:14-16

Today in my morning devotion time I opened the Word and started to read it like any other book.  I saw the words, but not with my heart, with my eyes and my mind. I find that is the danger for me and reading plans. I am task oriented, I have an agenda, I have a list. I like to check things off, and this was one more thing I was going to check off  “my list for the day.” Then the Spirit nudged me……like He so often has to do. I should have known I could not get away with that.

I went back and I prayed for the Spirit to open my heart to those most precious words of His and I read again. This time I felt what I was reading. Sometimes I lose touch. I think, “Oh, I have read these passages so many times, I know this.” And God says, “No, you don’t, read it again.” He is so very patient with me.

I waited for a passage to speak to me, and it didn’t take long. This from Matthew 5:22. “But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.” Wow!  I immediately thought of my daily commutes on the freeway. There is certainly no lack of fools in our world today. Think of the current ledger of politicians running for office and see if a modern day equivalent of  “Thou fool” doesn’t float right to the surface of your tongue. If it didn’t you are a much better person than I! In fact, I was talking to my Mom just last night about “one of those fools” I didn’t care for who is running for a seat in the senate.

It is so easy to get caught up in negative talk and commiserate about how bad things are in our world today, but there is still much that is good in it. The world needs our words of light. When we speak words of light into our world, it pushes the powers of hell back and brings the Kingdom of Heaven in. Conversely, when I call someone a fool, a bit of the darkness of hell flows into me. I can feel it.

I think sometimes we don’t speak more positively to the people around us because we don’t want to be accused of wearing rose colored glasses, or not being in touch with reality, or being a “Pollyanna.” But this is not the case, we know exactly how bad things are, and just how bad they are going to get. We have read the book of Revelation!

So speak the words of light today…….we have them straight from God’s Word! One of the best ways to speak light in the darkness is to count out our multitude of blessings. Today I continue the count with Ann and many others……open windows after a long hot desert summer, fresh baked honey cookies, a few surviving petunias after the bunnies got done with them, outdoor conversation around the fire, a God who loves me more than I can imagine in spite of all my failings, flannel shirts, a little niece who went to school one more day, wind chimes accompanied by a cool breeze, no more hum of the air-conditioning, holidays that are coming, and a peaceful weekend after a difficult week! #507-516

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Multitude Monday

Photo courtest of Vermont Outdoor Guide Association

I see the man of sorrows and his long troubled road
I see the world on his shoulders and my easy load…..Sara Groves, “When the Saints”

Lately I have been speculating on what it really means to follow Christ. It’s a question I ask myself here in my sheltered comfortable corner of life. This is hard to put into words. I have been mulling it over for several weeks now. God has placed in my heart a question and a challenge. I have been aware of another road that is taking shape just beyond the edge of my thoughts. I see Jesus and others walking on it and I find myself wondering what my life would look like if I really stepped beyond the borders of my safe existence and said yes to giving Him everything.

For He is always asking something……I just don’t always listen. I was challenged yesterday when I saw a quote from Katie’s blog, in it she says,  “If we are really following Jesus, we will go to the hard places. Being a Christ follower mean being acquainted with sorrow. Because we must know sorrow to be able to fully appreciate joy. Joy costs pain, but the pain is worth it.”

I have the luxury of asking the question, the ones already doing the work of Christ know they are doing what He asks, they don’t need to ask the question……But asking the question is good. Just the asking takes courage sometimes. I don’t believe God wants us to browbeat ourselves and render us immobile with guilt. He wants us to look in our hearts and find out what He is asking of us right now, this very moment. There is always something He is asking us to do.  Being obedient to the simple things……. Knocking on a neighbor’s door, making a phone call to that person that God whispers to my spirit, driving across town to pray with a friend who is struggling.

Lord, help me right now to be obedient and open to Your Spirit. Help me never be afraid to ask the hard questions, for they can lead me closer to You. Keep my heart soft and my tongue filled with kindness and help me to see through Your eyes of compassion the needs right around me. Amen

“When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” Matthew 9:36-38

I continue my endless counting today, with Ann and many others……….for there is much to be thankful for today and everyday…..Your tender mercies, friendly faces that smile back, cool breezes through the window, words that inspire, joy in simple accomplishments, yellow sliver moons, purple mountains at sunset, stars that shine in the desert, groceries in the pantry, courageous people being the Hands and Feet of God all over the world, Moms that send leaves in the mail. #496-#506

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Desert Prayers……

“O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” Psalm 63:1

From my prayer journal: The heat has returned, it was fooling us before. We got a few days of cool breezes and thought the relentless stifling breath of heat was over. Should have known better, still, it is cooler in the mornings and evenings and for that I am grateful. Relief is coming soon.

It seems God has taken away my mourning doves. I haven’t heard them for a few weeks as I usually do during morning prayer. This morning all I heard was the warm wind in the chimes and the gunning engines of a few speeding cars on their way to the freeway. Not very conducive to silent prayer and meditation……but then I heard the Spirit ask my heart…..Is it the birds you come out to hear or My voice? Then I thought: maybe He sent the doves away for a purpose. Maybe He sent them away to teach me that life, like prayer, is sometimes as dry as toast. It can’t always be cool breezes, comfort, and cooing doves.

“Yes, Lord, I get it……You got me again.” Once again I learn the lesson, Jesus plus nothing. I settled into prayer with a new purpose. I drew Him into everything I was hearing, and not hearing. Every neighborhood sound represented something God wanted me to hear. I was warm, and uncomfortable, I heard speeding cars, the wind was drying out my plants, and it was okay. It became very okay.

I started to be conscious of every car I heard. For in each car there was a life, a family represented there. So I started to pray for those lives, that today they would somehow, somewhere, feel God’s presence. That if they don’t know Him, that today they would run into someone who did.

I said the Lord’s prayer, and I became conscious of the beauty of other voices around the world saying the same prayer, so I prayed for unity in the church. I heard people rising in worship, I heard the hushed echo of kneelers pulled down in quiet sanctuaries, and the whispered prayers of the persecuted church. Prayers said by the bedside of the sick. One faith lifted in hope and joy that we believe in a God who hears the prayers of His people.

Does it matter what you or I pray here in our small corners of the world? Absolutely it does. The Bible says…….”Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” Who makes us righteous but Jesus? I stand today in the cloak of His righteousness, for He is the only one who is qualified to do that. Praise His name.

Thank you Lord, for answered prayer and for always bringing us new lessons. For turning our dry toast into a full coarse meal, and our deserts into springs of water that never fail…..”Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.” Psalm 23:5

Join Ann and me today as we continue to offer our thanks for His gifts…….#484 prayer lessons, #485 assurance of cooler weather to come, #486 safe return home for loved ones, #487 community of believers offering up faithful prayers, #488 the innocence of children, #489 appliances that work, #490 clean water, #491 cars that run, #492 honest work and the strength to do it, #493 the ability to laugh, #494 good samaritans, #495 means to help those who have nothing….

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Wrapped in His grace

Any patch of sunlight in a wood will show you something about the sun which you could never get from reading books on astronomy. These pure and spontaneous pleasures are “patches of Godlight” in the woods of our experience. C.S. Lewis ~ Letters from Malcolm

Whatever task you have placed before you today remember that God’s grace is big enough to fill it. It doesn’t matter how daunting, how unpleasant, how impossible. You may feel as if you might as well be faced with climbing Mount Everest, but God says, “My Grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may dwell in me.” 2 Corinthians 12:9

I think we can all boast about this one thing. Our weakness. Ever lose count of how many tears you have cried over one issue? God never loses count. He knows the exact number and He longs to wrap you in His Grace today. Whatever you are facing, His Grace is more than enough. We are abounding in it! We don’t even have to do anything to get  it, we all ready have it! All we have to do is rest in it.

When Briggs was a kitten (cat on left) was very small, he had an overabundance of energy. In fact he played so hard he used to exhaust himself to the point where he would pant like a dog. I literally had to calm him down like you have to do with an overactive kid sometimes. I used to wrap him in a towel like a kitten burrito until he could catch his breath and give the other cat a rest.

God did that for me today. He made me His burrito. Prayer time this morning was not so much prayer, it was more like just being quiet and resting in His grace. I needed calming. I got a clear picture while I was praying of Him coming behind me wearing a cloak made from the pure light of Heaven. As He enfolded me in it, I felt myself calmed with His Presence, wrapped in His Grace. I was God’s burrito today.

Let Him wrap you in it today…….”And God is able to make all grace abound to you, that always having all suffciency in everything, you may have a abundance for every good deed.” 2 Corinthinans 9:8

Thankful for His Grace that covers……#473 circle prayers, #474 clasped hands, #475 words of love aimed toward Heaven’s throne, #476 knowing He will never leave us, #477 clean sheets and beds to sleep in, #478 food cooked with love, #479 cats that curl by your side, #480 armloads of books, #481 knowing miracle still happen because you see them in your own life, #482 candles softly flickering in evening light, #483 music that lifts to the heights of Heaven……

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Resurrection in the Desert

Everyone needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where Nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul alike…..John Muir

September breathes new life into the desert. It is our time of resurrection. Too long hidden under the hum of unnatural air, trapped inside four walls. September finds us able to walk outside, able to take a complete breath of air that is not oppressive heat. The animals feel the joy and relief of it too, as evidenced by their morning frolics, they step a bit lighter along with us. This is a joy that only those who dare to live in this harsh environment can fully know and appreciate.

Ours is an Autumn of resurrection, new beginnings. Annuals appear, bold swatches of color that could never survive the summer, this is a fall of a different kind. No swirling leaves of red yellow or brown, now we have roses. Though I ache for those leaves that I once knew to mark my own special Advent…..I feel it in my heart just the same.

I recognize God’s hand in it and that is, after all, the miracle of Advent. I feel His birth, death and resurrection each time I step outside my door these past few mornings……It is sweet relief.  And such  thankfulness at this grace…..that I can share this message of the One behind it all.

I pray today for everyone who has yet to know you Lord. I pray that I might be a humble instrument to be used by You for that solitary purpose. Help me to be a guide, a small gateway to You;  to help them see that they only have to look aside for one moment, to stop and focus on one thing, one aspect of nature and be still in it, and see You in it.

I pray that they might see that Your thoughts are already turned toward them. All it would take is one misstep in the dance of our planets and we would be no more……that is reason enough to believe. Amen

……..since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. Romans 1:19,20

Continuing to number my praises today with Ann and company……#461 the sweet breath of open windows once again…..#462 morning prayer free of heat…..#463 the sweet fellowship of other believers…..#464 a once more reasonable electric bill…..#465 the magic of fall however it comes……#466 yellow butterfly outside the window just now….#467 the anticipation of holidays and pumpkin pie…..#468 good neighbors….#469 health to enjoy all this….#470 sending prayers down the river that reaches Heaven….#471 eating outdoors again! #472 not having to water as much…….

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Good News for anyone with a need….

 “And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read. And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written….”  Luke 4:17
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor……
Notably, he stopped before He finished the entire verse which ends with …..and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn. Isaiah 61:1,2 
Why did He stop there? Because it wasn’t the time for judgment yet, it was the time for open arms reconciliation for a people who desperately needed God’s love and forgiveness. Although Jesus said that time would surely come, His first coming was to draw us close, back into the loving arms of God.
“Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” Luke 4:20,21
I can imagine the stirring and rustling, nervous clearing of throats. They knew Jesus, they knew His family, they knew what they expected of the future Messiah and this wasn’t it. It was a huge stumbling block that they just couldn’t get around, even though they were amazed at His authoritative teaching. This was not good news for them. Jesus kicked the gate wide open for everyone to be able to receive salvation. They thought God’s favor was for themselves alone.
Jesus knew those words spoken in His hometown synagogue would be inflammatory, but He had to speak them anyway. Ever feel led by the Holy Spirit to say something that you knew would cause an unfavorable reaction?
He further incites them when He insinuates that it was because of their hard hearts that they refused to see who was standing right in front of them…..Their Messiah had come, but their own pride refused to let them believe it. “All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. They got up, drove Him out of the town, and took Him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw Him down the cliff. But He walked right through the crowd and went on His way.” Luke 4:28,29
There are many people right up to the present day who refuse to accept who Jesus really was, but the fact is, Jesus is God. Not only that, He is the only way to Heaven. He is God with arms of grace, extended for all who call upon His name. He wants to draw us close. He longs for it more than we can ever know, and all we have to do is reach out and take it. But to some people this is not good news. This kind of thinking is not popular in our politically correct, inclusive world. If we tell people this we will be labeled narrow minded, bigoted, backwards, simple-minded and archaic. If that is true, then I guess Jesus is all those things too!
The greatest tragedy is that some will miss out on God’s grace and forgiveness only because of the barriers in their own minds and hearts. Jesus removes walls. He removed them then and He removes them now. When He was on this earth, He systematically removed every single barrier the religious system of the day had set up. He took time for anyone with a need. He sat with sinners, the unclean, the broken, the sick, even with the ones who thought they had it all figured out.
He wants to draw you close today. Do you have a need? He stands ready to meet it, whatever it may be…..
I continue the counting of blessings today…..that I can recognize the mark of God in all these moments, #451 encouraging words from other bloggers, #452 the grasp of a hand across a table, #453 prayers that I know are heard, #454 the life in His words, #455 the kindness of strangers, #456 sunrise of pastels that change with each second, #457 the busy cactus wren outside my window, #458 talk of God between friends, #459 music that brings us to the throne #460 all who find rest from their labor today….

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Prayer for the Orphans

Painting by Thomas Kennington

Lord, I pray for your dear ones waiting for loving arms to surround them and for the fear and hopelessness that comes when no one arrives….Every child deserves to know that they have a place in someone’s heart, that they are worthy of love, that they don’t have to go through a hard life alone. I pray that we, your church would swallow up every last orphan, Lord until there are none left to wonder if they are loved, if they are worthy.

I pray for the courageous ones who have already stepped up, been obedient to Your word, sometimes at their own personal sacrifice. They are storing up treasure in Heaven as they care for Your own little treasures here on earth. I know Lord, that there are many different kinds of orphans and I pray for these too. These orphans of divorce, who sometimes wonder where they belong or who they belong too as they are passed back and forth from home to home to home, and I pray for the guilt that comes for all involved, and for Your healing touch for everyone in this kind of heartache today.

I pray also for those orphans who have two parents, but absent ones, indifferent ones, ones who know nothing about their own children as they run around doing everything else, but spending time with them, nurturing them, caring for them, knowing what they like to do, what little joys they hold dear.

I am humbled and so grateful Lord that I had parents who loved me and a home, a place. Everyone needs and deserves this, Lord. And remind me that to whom much is given, much is required….

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. James 1:27

Go here, here and here to see some wonderful people who are making a difference.


Celebrating my praise and thanksgiving today with hopes that others can know, #442 the feelings of belonging that come with a father’s loving touch, #443 a mother’s arm around the shoulders, #444 a brother’s gentle teasing and the love that is behind it, #445 a home to run to in the rain, #446 a mother’s call for dinner, #447 knowledge that you have people behind you when life gets tough, #448 a knowledge of a Father in heaven who loves them, #449 knowing even when you are far away, that place remains in your heart, #450 knowing someone cares about what matters to you.

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Prayers with no words….

Windows at St. Mary’s Church, Google Images

Forever O Lord, Thy Word is settled in Heaven……Psalm 119:89

This morning I let my prayer be silence. I meditated on everything I have prayed for before. God has them, I know it. Safe in His golden bowl, He keeps them. This morning it seemed right to just give Him a silent offering. I made a blank canvas, as blank as I could anyway, thoughts always seem to crowd in, and carved out an empty place for God to fill.

Today I rest in who He is, I meditate of His power, glory, omnipotence, love….

Sometimes you just need to see what comes back in the silence, so I made my soul as still as an empty church. Sometimes you just need to make yourself a living Psalm, fill yourself up with your need for God, your need for answers, your need to know He is listening. So today I sat in the hush of His peace, silence of no words. The mourning dove cooing on the eaves of the neighbor’s roof prayed eloquently for me today.

In meditating on His strength, I become acutely aware of my weakness and utter inability to do anything apart from Him. That is a good place to start the day.

After all, as the Psalmist says…..Forever O Lord, Thy Word is settled in Heaven……Psalm 119:89Whatever happens and however out of control you feel, God remains in control. This is a comforting thought.

Thankful today for the peace that only He can give……#411 doves gentle call, #412 prayers in silence, #413 soft music that soothes, #414 the wisdom of His word spoken through wise friends, #415 cats soft purr, #416 real hugs, #417 laughter that heals the soul, #418 much needed rain in the desert, #419 family that taught me His love, #420, the Holy Spirit who puts our soul at rest…..
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The Gift of Memory


Remembering, we settle into the rocker on the front porch, the front porch of our minds, and gaze out at the view. Sorting through, we pull up the pleasant memories and settle in for awhile. The view is great, and it’s good to remember. Memory is one of God’s best gifts. Practicing selective memory we can even edit out the ones that weren’t so great and go on to the ones that were. Or if there weren’t any, we can even manufacture our own version of the past.

My friend and her brother had an interesting conversation with their Mom once. Their memory was decidedly much different than hers was. You see she worked all the time, wasn’t home, they signed their own report cards and what they heard most of the time growing up amidst the chaos was, “Get out of the house, I need to sleep!” She was saying that she made them cookies growing up. They both looked at each other incredulously, for she had never made a cookie in all their childhood. She didn’t like desserts, so they didn’t get them either. But they do remember making macaroni and cheese together in the middle of the night, that’s one memory they hold onto.

Ask yourself what your child will remember of their childhood. What sights, sounds, smells, images will take them back, and will it be good? Will they remember laughter, or stony silence? Animated dinner conversation or the crackling air of irritation, impatience, anger. Will they remember trips taken as a family with pleasure or will they associate those trips with a sense of anxiety?

The wonderful thing about all memories good, bad or indifferent, is that they can draw us closer if we let them. Even the bad times have a wonderful way of bonding us together when we have traveled down the road a bit. We just have to let them do their work.

God has a memory book called the Bible. It is His Book of Remembrance. If we keep it close we will always remember who He is and who we are. It is His way of saying, “This is what happened, and it is a part of you too, it is your heritage, filled with stories of My people and yours. Read it, live it, and it will become part of you. Most importantly, it will carry you into eternity with Me.”

Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Deuteronomy 11:18

Not only that, the Bible is a living book, just like we are all living memories of what has come before and what will come after….

Keeping memories alive today with the counting……#401 opening tent flap disheveled to first heavenly cup of coffee, #402 a juice bar at the end of a hike, #403 rain on tent roof, #404 Mom’s hands curling my hair for picture day, #405 brother and I getting in trouble for laughing at Grandma’s table, #406 warm fronts, cold backs around campfire, #407 getting inside inner tube and rolling down Aunt’s hill, #408 something baked from scratch waiting on counter after school, #409 the sound of metal skates on cement, #410, watching Dad sketch and make a beautiful drawing from nothing…..

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Facing Death with Christ


Had a post in mind today but something I read superceded everything else I was feeling and my perspective has changed, for the moment anyway. Perspectives have a way of changing on a dime, sometimes. It’s God’s way of reminding us what is really important. I could almost hear God saying, “Take that!” He threw the windows of my soul open and I could feel the stale air being replaced by the fresh air of His Spirit.

The story was called “Facing Death with Christ”, (On my way to Heaven) by Reverend Mark Ashton vicar of Saint Andrew the Great in Cambridge, England. As Author and friend Tal Brooke writes, “Mark was from the generation of Oxford men following that of John Stott and Dick Lucas, who were determined to bring back the gospel to the Church of England. Over 700 strong from Cambridge University swelled the pews of this church that occupied so critical a crossroads. It was packed everytime I went.”

In December 2008 Mark had a routine gallbladder surgery and cancer was found. It was past the point of surgical removal or any kind of treatment. He remembers telling the surgeon after he had been told the news that, “what he had just told me was, for a Christian believer, not bad news but good; it was not the end of the story, but the beginning.”

Following are some of the quotes from the article, which is very long and unfortunately I couldn’t get an online version. However, you can order the booklet here at Amazon UK.

“We all die as great sinners saved by the great grace of a far greater God. Funeral eulogies rarely present an honest picture of a person’s life. The good is magnified, the bad excluded. But when Christians are remembered as they really were: including their failures and follies, their bad moods and intolerance, their moments of harshness and unkindness, then Christ is made more glorious. For He is the one who has saved us despite our sin; who has loved us even more in their weakness.”

“While physical things spoil and go dim, spiritual things grow brighter and clearer.”

“I can now see that much of what I have striven for and much of what I have allowed to fill my life these 40 years have been of dubious value, I am not now going to gain any further reputation of achieve anything more of significance, and I realize how little that matters.”

“I need to keep short accounts now, because I may never have time to make amends or apology in this life. The Bible speaks to me about this with every great authority and relevance. Each day as I open it, God speaks straight into my heart by his Word. And it tells me what lies beyond this life, I can see the end of life. It looms over the horizon…..I know that it is God’s work and not mine that will get me there.”

It’s unfortunate that it takes something of this magnitude to make our perspective so clear, but most of the time it does.

Mark Ashton went to be with the Lord on Easter Saturday, April 3, surrounded by his family. His last words were, “I am nearly home.”

“For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.” 1 Corinthians 15:16-19

Keeping count in my heart today……
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