“No person [should] walk out into the world to begin the day until he or she has stood beneath the cross to receive God’s love.”
— Max Lucado
That’s where everything fades into the background, as that image of God’s love and provision fills our perspective we begin to see clearly what matters.

Everything we face in life, every joy, every burden, every tear is safe there; can be taken care of there, can be celebrated there. Sometimes we dance to it, sometimes we drag ourselves to it, sometimes we find ourselves at its foot wondering how we even got there, but always He meets us there and says, “I got you covered.”

Print by Charles White

“When you are in the final days of your life, what will you want? Will you hug that college degree in the walnut frame? Will you ask to be carried to the garage so you can sit in your car? Will you find comfort in rereading your financial statement? Of course not. What will matter then will be people. If relationships will matter most then, shouldn’t they matter most now?”
Max Lucado

When my Mom was in the hospital I realized again how true this is. My Mom has some awesome friends, but that is because she has always gone out of her way to make them. Everyone to her is a potential friend with a story to tell. Each time I went to her room she was out visiting someone else. There is risk involved in this. When you reach out, you never know how you will be recieved. You have to like yourself enough to be okay with the possible rejection. You have to trust God enough to obey when He whispers for you to seek a person out. My Mom has lived her life, sometimes stepping through fear to venture out into the uncharted territory of humanity, and it shows.

They showed up, were there; some of them bearing gifts that came with personal sacrifices of their own. Some waited just outside the door, not wanting to disturb, but praying just the same. Letting her know softly that they were there. When I think of what some of these people have been through in their own lives, it moves me so much that they continue to give and give. They supplied food, presence, support and laughter, especially laughter. These are the things that make someone rich in old age.

Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith. Hebrews 13:7

He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me. 2 Samuel 22:20

I always wanted to know how I would feel to see ocean but no land. I have always been a bit afraid of open spaces. My heart always drops a bit when I am going around a steep mountain road and it unexpectedly opens into a huge vista. It is a feeling of loss of control, heart in throat, plunging into the unknown.

But not when God is there…..I will never forget taking a cruise and stepping out onto the balcony for the first time and seeing nothing but water. It was a bit like the first time I crept to the edge of the Grand Canyon and looked out, but not quite. It is something everyone should experience once, and it was one the highlights of the cruise for me.

Not the food, or the entertainment, or the beautiful decor of the ship. It was stepping out, just seeing that water. Sea, sky, me and God.

Another thing was the strange sensation of sitting in the room and seeing water rushing by. Ship going one way, water another. It was captivating……walking on deck and seeing the light in the sky at midnight, the splash of a whale’s tale rising from the deep; the anticipation of seeing it come closer (that never happened.) The island where the Puffins live, bald eagles in flight landing in their “car-sized” nests.

I fell in love with the clear air and sapphire skies of Alaska….God’s creation is really something to behold! A reflection of His love for us. Just imagine, show and tell in the Garden of Eden……”Hey Adam, hey Eve, just wait till you see this!” And not only that, our God loves us so much He actually rejoices over us with singing!

Zephaniah 3:17 The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.”

Our confidence lies in the fact that God hears the whispers we pray when there is no time for anything else. Whispers in the daylight and Whispers in the dark when all is silent and the heart slows its beating in the calm of “lights out.”

We throw arrows up and He catches them and puts them safely in His Heavenly quiver…He knows when there is no practical time to pray and we are running here and there doing things that need doing, and yet our heart is praying without ceasing and our soul is on it’s knees.

Miraculously we rise up with eagles wings and soar with the Spirit, somehow we get everything done, our bodies going through the motions and His Spirit carrying us through.

Prayer is the soul catching it’s breath.

“but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” Isaiah 40:31

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4:4-9

I will be gone for two weeks helping out my Mom who is having her second knee replacement surgery tomorrow. I hope to get a few posts in here and there. May the Lord bless and keep you and make His face to shine upon you all!

It is hard sometimes even to love those we love. We get irritated sometimes and then we feel bad at being irritated. Things get in the way and prevent us from loving the way we know we should. It’s like static on a radio. So frustrating to almost get the station dialed in, one minute it is there, clearly it comes across like a miracle, only to have it crackle and fade, gone again. Those old dial radios!

And then there is the baggage. Baggage of all of our past experiences with that person. Old wounds, old hurts. We come to them hoping for a change, for them and us; hearts open but guarded, only to be smacked down again. Little things become big in a hurry. But there is hope. Hope because God is enough. God is love itself, the very essence of it.

So I pray for Him to show me, and sometimes miracles do happen when I get out of the way. He loves through me. Not only do I show it, I really mean it. We connect Spirit to Spirit and God teaches us how to love the way He does. The kind of love that washed not only the feet of John and Peter, but Judas feet as well.

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:34,35

“And I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless.” I Thess. 5:23

The sky this morning looked just like this and I thought it tied in beautifully with my devotional yesterday by Oswald Chambers, here is the first part of it:

“Your whole spirit. . .” The great mystical work of the Holy Spirit is in the dim regions of our personality which we cannot get at. Read the 139th Psalm; the Psalmist implies – “Thou art the God of the early mornings, the God of the late at nights, the God of the mountain peaks, and the God of the sea; but, my God, my soul has further horizons than the early mornings, deeper darkness than the nights of earth, higher peaks than any mountain peaks, greater depths than any sea in nature – Thou Who art the God of all these, be my God. I cannot reach to the heights or to the depths; there are motives I cannot trace, dreams I cannot get at – my God, search me out.”

There is no place we could ever go where God’s grace could not reach us…..He is beyond our wildest dreams and imaginations.

Walk Softly by Bev Doolittle
Some people see the wolf in the center of this image right away, others only when it’s pointed out. Perspectives are like that too. Two people can read the same thing and have two completely different reactions.

My post the other day produced a very strong reaction from my dear friend who reads my blog everyday. I was surprised by her reaction, but when I thought about it, it made sense knowing the person she is. She is one of those wonderfully engaging people who dares to get involved in the lives of others, even if it hurts. She routinely goes out of her way to make sure others are okay even if it means making personal sacrifices. I thought I would post what she wrote today because I really appreciated what she had to say. To me that is the wonderful thing about blogging. It sparks conversations that sometimes you would not otherwise have, and that is a very good thing!

Her email response below:

Stop trying to protect, to rescue, to judge, to manage the lives around you . . . remember that the lives of others are not your business. They are their business. They are God’s business . . . even your own life is not your business (Frederick Buechner quote)
I could not disagree more with this statement as a whole!
1….Protect Meaning and Definition. (v. t.) To cover or shield from danger or injury; to defend; to guard; to preserve in safety; as, a father protects his child.2….Rescue-deliver, redeem, ransom, reclaim, save mean to set free from confinement or danger. rescue implies freeing from imminent danger by prompt or vigorous action. Deliver implies release usually of a person from confinement, temptation, slavery, or suffering 3…..Judge : to form an opinion about through careful weighing of evidence and testing of premise 4……Manage- to handle or direct with a degree of skill: as a: to make and keep compliant b: to treat with care : husband c : to exercise executive, administrative, and supervisory direction of
2 : to work upon or try to alter for a purpose
3 : to succeed in accomplishing : contrive
4 : to direct the professional career of …..I get that we need to hand things over to God! Ask for help, let God do what He can do best BUT!!!!! If we all took this literally in today’s time it would be a bigger mess than this world already is, we could just walk around and tend to animals and carry on conversations with them, why talk to one another? Just think if Jesus did this when he was here on earth as a man! I have experienced just this in my life and I do not believe this is how God wants us to live…………

Yes I had to get this off my chest!!!!!!
THERE DONE!
I Love You my best friend.
Elaine Dupree

*LIVE SIMPLY. LOVE GENEROUSLY. CARE DEEPLY.*
*SPEAK KINDLY. LEAVE THE REST TO GOD.*

Arizona Republic Photo
I don’t know, it was supposed to be a blue moon but it looked like the same old yellow to me. But it is stunning all the same. I went out and looked after it had risen and it was silvery white, but not blue. Oh well, it is always great to meditate on God’s creation whatever the color.

A psalm of David.
1 O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory
above the heavens.
2 From the lips of children and infants
you have ordained praise
because of your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.
3 When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
4 what is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?
5 You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor. Psalm 8:1-5

Things that just make me feel good…….adding to my list of gratitude today:
Don’t robins make you feel like they have something important to tell you?
Libraries are my happy place…
Cat hugs are always great!
How can you see this and not feel all warm inside? The miracle of new life…..
I want to go back to Kindergarten!
Sitting at the bottom of Yosemite valley, I greet my familiar granite faces in wonder, again. I wait, cupping my chilled hands around my cup, and wait for first rays to reach me where I sit.
Cabins in snow, always a favorite…..

More things……Baby animals of all kinds, kites flying against a summer sky, puppy breath, the hush of snow fall, the wonder of God’s whole creation, cry of coyotes in the wee hours, owls, angel statues in cemetaries, birdsong in the morning, falling asleep talking to God, hugs that are serious like they really don’t want to let you go, the reassuring sound of the ocean washing over all my worries, good advice from someone who really cares, books and more books, musical laughter, and most of all the knowledge of where all these things come from, that is the best gift of all.

“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” James 1:17

#170 toward 1000 and beyond,