Thoughts

Riding along the roads between Florida and Texas this past week gave me plenty of time to view the bare trees of winter. They lined the roadways, their branches intertwined and reaching skyward, some straight, others gnarled and aged. I enjoyed the beauty of their architecture, and I am always amazed at the uniqueness and variety of their shapes and sizes. The storms the trees have weathered were evident in the scars the trunks and branches showed. Some were bent and twisted

“Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits” (Psalm 103:1 – 2, KJV) Someone asked me this week, “What does it mean to bless the Lord? How can we bless God?” That’s a really good question, and […]

Paul lived in troubled times. During his time in Ephesus, Nero, a wicked tyrant, was the emperor of Rome. Jewish leaders sought to persecute Jews who turned to the Christian faith, and paganism was rampant. I don’t know if there was a right and a left, but there was certainly a right and a wrong […]

“Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. 4 Delight thyself also in the Lord: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” – Psalm 37:3-4 Honoring God is a privilege. Trusting in Him is a treasure. Delighting in Him is an everyday joy. […]

We downsized and moved into a new home, and I thought that the days of items piling up in closets and drawers were over. We had given away, sold, and thrown away so much stuff. Now everything had its own place. Fast forward a few years and here we are cleaning out closets and […]

“Truly my soul waiteth upon God: from him cometh my salvation.” – Psalm 62:1 If I could paint a picture of faith, I wouldn’t paint a picture of a beautiful cathedral or a church on a picturesque hillside. My portrait would not be of a mansion or of a life without care and problems. While […]

“While I live will I praise the LORD: I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being.” – Psalm 146:2, KJV The world is filled with chatter these days. Politics, philosophy, health advice, exercise advice, weight loss advice, the latest movies and television programs, sports, weather, you name it, we are talking […]

When our daughters were young, they went on many adventures with their dad in search of mullet and other fish in the bays and inlets of the gulf coast near our home. They learned to spot schools of fish and cast the net to catch them. They waded through grasses and water, often chest deep, […]

I have been watching this rose for weeks. It was the first tight bud that appeared as the bush began repairing itself after the winter hibernation. I was so excited. I waited. And waited. Slowly color appeared and the bud began to open little by little. It braved the blustery winds of March and survived […]

During the week of the crucifixion, the week that we call Holy, life went on as usual in Jerusalem. The people had welcomed Jesus in with palm branches and celebration and He was teaching in the Temple. Temple soldiers were scurrying, and Roman soldiers were watching, but everyday people continued their lives, not anticipating the […]

A Hug from HeavenSpring’s warm breeze embraced me,swirling around me in the quiet of the morning,caressing my face and armswith its gentle passing -a hug from Heaven.Shadows from clouds filtered the lightas they floated by,journeying to who knows where.My breeze,for now I claimed it,helped them on their way.In the stillness I listened.Hens quietly gossiped over […]

In America, we have been trained to shun controversial subjects in what is considered polite conversation. At the top of the list of subjects to be avoided is anything to do with God. We have allowed our society to effectively cut Him out of our everyday talk, voluntarily limiting our freedom of speech, although people […]

I walked outside into the crispness of a new spring morning.Leftover raindrops captured the rising sun’s rays making prisms of light on the fresh green leaves.The budding grass sparkles with moisture from yesterday’s rainstormand the world is alive with the colors of spring.For weeks we have battled the falling leaves of the Live Oak trees, […]

I woke up to a gray, hazy day preparing to attend the funeral of a lifelong friend. I wasn’t sorrowing as those who have no hope. I know my friend is with our Savior. But still, her passing is the turning of another page in this life, the ending of an era, and my heart […]

We take great pride in our ability to fret and worry, almost as if to fail to do so indicates a lack of care on our part. God, however, calls us to look beyond our circumstances and trust Him with the cares of this life. When God called the Israelites to cross over into the […]

Perhaps you’ve experienced it. That faint sense of letdown when the last gift is opened, and the Christmas music is no longer playing on the radio. The aisles in the stores are picked over and marked with clearance tags while personnel quickly clear out merchandise to make way for the next holiday. At home, the […]

On days when I struggle, when I see people as difficult and demanding, when my head swims with confusion, and I just want peace, there are some actions I must take. I must As I think about this today, here is a short list of blessings: I am not making light of the many problems […]

And he (Jesus) answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself (Luke 10:27) This command first appeared as part of the Shema, which remains a central prayer of Judaism, in the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 6. Moses repeated it multiple times to the Israelites, and Joshua […]

I am not one for making New Year’s resolutions, but as I contemplate the year before me, I am drawn to Paul’s words in the Philippians, chapter three. “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; (Philippians 3:10 KJV). Rather […]

On Christmas we remember and celebrate the birth of our Savior, what many think of as the beginning of his life. While it was the start of his life as a human being on this Earth, it was also a continuation of his eternal being. John chapter one tells us that he was in the […]