Extravagant Love

It was a beautiful day and my grandkids (Damian was 8 and Skyler was 4) wanted to ride their bikes to the park. When we arrived at the playground early that morning, the equipment was still wet from an overnight shower. Water puddled on the slide.

"Sorry, Skyler," I explained, "You won't be able to go down the slide." She was about to cry, but before I could finish my sentence, up the ladder went Damian, and down he came right into the puddle. I was just about to fuss at him when he took her hand and said, "There you go, Skyler; my jeans soaked up all the water. Now you can slide!"

They moved to the west coast and I haven't seen them in many years, but I am proud of Damian, now serving in the US Navy overseas, and Skyler who is a high school senior.

Ephesians 5:2 tells us: "Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn't love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that."

Little Acorns

My childhood home was surrounded by many oaks trees. Our swing hung from a branch of one tree that was over 100 years old.

"Great oaks from little acorns grow" - Oak trees don't produce acorns until they are 20 or more years old, but if you walk under an oak that is seventy or eighty, you might need to open your umbrella to keep them from bouncing on your head. 

The sight of a big old oak  still encourages me that God's children will bear fruit even in old age, ESPECIALLY in old age.

The seeds that fell on good ground are the people who hear and understand the message. 

They produce as much as a hundred or sixty or thirty times what was planted. 

Matthew 13:23

Rainy Days in September

I finally got out for a walk today 

and this is what I saw along the way.

This tree is loaded with persimmons.

A reminder that it's 90 days til Christmas!

Roar

When I was six years old, our class took a field trip on the bus to Grant Park Zoo in Atlanta. I was excited on my first trip to the zoo and I ran ahead of my class and entered the Lion House. Back then, the lions were housed in cages. I walked right up to the bars of the cage, and the full-grown lion let out a ROAR that echoed through that stone building. I still remember that deafening sound and running away in fear!

Sometimes, I face circumstances where I am afraid to stand up and do what I know is right. God gave me a picture that if I would stop running away from problems and stand up and face fear, that a hundred angels would stand up with me. Even better than that, my Savior Jesus stands with me, and He is the Lion of the tribe of Judah!

Judah means PRAISE. Even when I feel uncertain, as I begin to praise, I have a Heavenly Choir of back-up singers.

You are a precious jewel

Queen Elizabeth has so much jewelry that she had a special room made 40 feet below Buckingham palace to store all her precious gems.

The value and quantity of these jewels is mind-boggling, but God says that His children are His jewels, precious and honored in His sight, because He loves us so.

Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another,

And the LORD listened and heard them;
So a book of remembrance was written before Him
For those who fear the LORD
And who meditate on His name.
“ They shall be Mine,” says the LORD of hosts,
“ On the day that I make them My jewels.
And I will spare them
As a man spares his own son who serves him.”
Zechariah 3:16-17

Sweet-Smelling

There are certain fragrances that instantly bring back memories of people I loved. Mother's perfume, Daddy's soap-on-a-rope, grandma's face cream.

The Bible says our simple heartfelt prayer is a pleasing fragrance rising to the throne of God.

Let my prayer be accepted as sweet-smelling incense in your presence.
Psalm 141:2a God's Word

MOTHER'S PECANS!

It's a good thing I love pecans! We had pecan trees in our yard when I was growing up. It was the kids' job to pick them up from under the trees and shell them.

We had a little competition from the squirrels!

Mother would make the best desserts chock-full of pecans - fudge and cookies, pecan pies, German chocolate cake, and fruit cakes.

Grace

My grace is sufficient for you, 

for My power is made perfect in weakness.

2 Corinthians 12:9

God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
Psalm 46:1

My sister sent me Bible verse cards to color.

I have enjoyed coloring them so much, and mailed some to ladies at church who are in the hospital or for birthdays or sympathy cards. I colored the card in my header photo and sent it to Mildred. I was pleased that she framed it and displayed it in her kitchen.

God's Precious Treasure

Max Lucado said  "When we get to heaven and look back we won't regret what God didn't give us. We will be stunned by what He did."

Lord You were God's precious treasure
His loved and His own perfect Son
Sent here to show me
The love of the Father
Just for love it was done
And though You were perfect and holy
You gave up Yourself willingly
You spared no expense for my pardon
You were spilled out and used up for me.

-Gloria Gaither

sung by Steve Green

Steadfast Love

Your steadfast love, O Lord, 

extends to the heavens,

Your faithfulness to the clouds,

Your righteousness is like the mountains of God;

Your judgments are like the great deep;

Man and beast You save, O Lord.

How precious is Your steadfast love, O God!

The children of mankind take refuge

under the shelter of Your wings.

Psalm 36:5-7

Your Steadfast Love by Don Moen

https://youtu.be/_B8Om6M5wzk

NEW EVERY MORNING

It is said that the prophet Jeremiah wrote these words as he watched the destruction of Jerusalem and the exile to Babylon:

This I recall to my mind,

Therefore I have hope.

The LORD'S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease,

For His compassions never fail.

They are new every morning;

Great is Your faithfulness.

Lamentations 3:21-23
Sung by Maranatha Singers

https://youtu.be/PemhmovZRec

Isaiah 41:10

My son Cameron's pics from New Jersey,

I was blessed by this Bible verse this morning:

Fear not, for I am with you;

Be not dismayed, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you,

Yes, I will help you.

I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Isaiah 41:10

Praying for those in the path of the hurricane.

Forgiven

God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 

1 John 1:5-9

The Lord's Prayer - John 17

In the garden, just before his death,
Jesus prayed for you and me today.

I have given them the glory that You gave me, that they may be one as We are one - I in them and You in Me - so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that You sent Me and have loved them even as You have loved Me.

John 17:22

God who said, "Light shall shine out of darkness," is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
2 Corinthians 4:6

Filled with Praise

God's brilliant splendor fills the heavens,
and the earth is filled with his praise.
Habakkuk 3:3b NLT

Thankful we came through the storms okay yesterday. There were tornado warnings all around, and flood warnings, but all is calm this morning in southern Indiana

Have a beautiful Sunday.

Do it again!

One September day, I had the pleasure of going for a walk with two of my granddaughters. The breeze was chasing the falling leaves down the street and our feet made a crunching sound as they trudged through dry leaves by the curb.

Suddenly a whirlwind formed and moved down the street right before our eyes, catching the leaves up with it, swirling them around. After the whirlwind had passed, two-year-old Ashlynn looked up to the sky and pleaded, "Do it again!"

My oldest granddaughter, Kye, was a Winnie the Pooh fan and loved the story of the Windy Day. I recently realized that the actor who did the voice of Gopher is the same actor who played Ernest T. Bass on the Andy Griffith Show.
https://youtu.be/E7UqHM5bjcY?t=1m34s

Apples

My son and I used to watch the movie PRANCER every Christmas. I like the part where Jessica and her dad are in the apple orchard and she asks him if they are poor.

"Heck no. We've got apples, we're gonna eat apple sauce, apple cider and apple pie, and there's stewed apples and baked apples and dried apples, and apple butter.". 

In the fall of the year I get hungry for baked apples with brown sugar and cinnamon.

Making Biscuits

"If I had a nickel for every biscuit I ever made, I would be RICH!" Mother used to say.

She was up every morning by six, and I could hear the rolling pin on the counter as she rolled out the dough and cut out the biscuits. Then she would save the last scraps of dough and let me make it into a ball for Midnight, my black cat.

The kitchen was the happiest, sunniest room in the house, with the morning sun shining through the back door and the double windows over the sink.

I hope that I thanked my Mother for all those good hot breakfasts.

Mother, your biscuits were worth much more than a nickel!

Scattering Good Seed

God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love, which ye have showed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister. Hebrews 6:10

We plant good seed in our loved ones, and then we have to leave them in God's capable hands.

We plow the fields and scatter

The good seed on the land,

But it is fed and watered

By God's almighty hand.

The Fair

The Southeastern Fair was a big event in Georgia back in the 1950's. 
My great-grandfather, "Papa Billy", really looked forward to the livestock show every year, 
even after he was too old to do much around the farm anymore.

Daddy was driving and I was sitting in the front between him and Papa. We arrived just as the sun was going  down, and the lights of Lakewood Fairgrounds were flickering on.

I was excited about using my own money I'd saved to pay my way into fair and buy cotton candy. Papa had given me some silver dollars throughout the year to save for the fair. Suddenly, it occurred to me that I had left my money at home. When I realized that I could not pay to get in the gate, I began to cry, thinking that I would have to sit in the car alone.

Papa put his arm around my shoulders and whispered, "Don't worry. Do you see this secret pocket inside my vest? I will just put you in my pocket!"

Of course, he paid my way into the fair, and he watched as my brother and I rode the Greyhound roller coaster. We even got to see Rin Tin Tin perform!

All these years later, many times I still find myself in a mess of my own making. Yet when I cry to Him, God's Word assures me that He will protect me in a high rocky fortress, but I like to picture myself tucked into God's vest pocket, near His heart.