Have you ever taken your life back once you said God could be in charge? In 1981 I did just that. Here in 2022 I have no recall of what the circumstances were. I would love to say that was the one and only time I ever did that, and that would make me as the saying goes, “one big fat liar.”
I was delighted to see this come up when I was searching online for pictures to populate my writing. I own one of these prints! Your are His lamb too and He will hold you!
Jesus Calling for June 7 reads in part: “Who is in charge of your life? If it is you, then you have good reason to worry. But since I am in charge, worry is both unnecessary and counterproductive.” And then Sarah Young goes on to share the advice she heard from the Lord: “When you start to feel anxious about something, relinquish the situation to Me. Back off a bit, redirecting your focus to Me. I will either take care of the problem Myself or show you how to handle it. In this world you will have problems, but you need not lose sight of Me.”
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
John 16:33 NIV
So who is going to rule on your plain of self? Have you yielded your all to Jesus Christ?
“I’ve lived through some terrible things in my life, some of which actually happened.”
― Mark Twain
I love that quote. It reminds me of the vivid imagination I have that can turn to darkness in the blink of an eye if I am not vigilant to control it by the power of the Spirit. This report from the Huff Post (formerly The Huffington Post) upholds Twain’s wisdom.
“Five hundred years ago, Michel de Montaigne said: “My life has been filled with terrible misfortune; most of which never happened.” Now there’s a study that proves it. This study looked into how many of our imagined calamities never materialize. In this study, subjects were asked to write down their worries over an extended period of time and then identify which of their imagined misfortunes did not actually happen. Lo and behold, it turns out that 85 percent of what subjects worried about never happened, and with the 15 percent that did happen, 79 percent of subjects discovered either they could handle the difficulty better than expected, or the difficulty taught them a lesson worth learning. This means that 97 percent of what you worry over is not much more than a fearful mind punishing you with exaggerations and misperceptions.”
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.“
Amy Grant recorded this song years ago. It was written by Bannister E. Brown. The contrast Bannister draws between the old creation and the new creation is worth thinking about and is mentioned many times in Paul’s New Testament writings. Are you making decisions to walk in the New? Jesus made a way as the “second Adam” for us to choose this new way of living.
So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.
Galatians 5:16-17 NIV
The You Tube link is below.
Old Man’s Rubble Lyrics
Are you living in an old man’s rubble
Are you listening to the father of lies?
Are you walking with unnecessary burdens
Are you trying to take them upon yourself?
If you are, then you’re living in bondage
And you know that’s bad for your spiritual health
And are you trying to live by your emotions
Are you putting your faith in what you feel and see?
Then you’re living just to satisfy your passions
And you better be careful ’cause you’re being deceived
CHORUS: Are you living in an old man’s rubble
Are you listening to the father of lies?
If you are then you’re headed for trouble;
If you listen too long you’ll eventually die
Are you puzzled by the way that you’re behaving
Do you wonder why you do the things you do?
And are you troubled by your lack of resistance
Do you feel that something’s got a hold on you?
Well deep within you, there’s a spiritual balance;
There’s a voice of the darkness and a voice of the light
And just by listening, you have made a decision
’cause the voice you hear is gonna win the fight
CHORUS
If you’re living as a new creation
If you’re listening to the father of light
Then you’re living in a mighty fortress
And you’re gonna be clothed in power and might
But are you living in an old man’s rubble
Are you listening to the father of lies?
If you are then you’re headed for trouble;
If you listen too long you’ll eventually die
If you’re living as a new creation
If you’re listening to the father of light
Then you’re living in a mighty fortress
And you’re gonna be clothed in power and might
But are you living in an old man’s rubble
Are you listening to the father of lies?
If you are then you’re headed for trouble;
If you listen too long you’ll eventually die
But if you’re living as a new creation
If you’re listening to the father of light
Then you’re living in a mighty fortress
And you’re gonna be clothed in power and might
Our choice. Daily. Even hourly.
Your Choice, rubble or obey the Father of Lights!
Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.
John Denver, may he rest in peace, wrote “Anne’s Song” with part of the lyrics being:
“You fill up my senses like a night in a forest, like the mountains in springtime, like a walk in the rain, like a storm in the desert, like a sleepy blue ocean. You fill up my senses, come fill me again.”
I often think of this as a love song between myself and the Trinity. Bob and I took a walk on a paved trail above Harsha Lake at Eastfork Park last week. It was such a delight to my soul. Brought refreshment on the deepest level. When we first arrive at the parking lot Lucky cries and whines in excitement. Bob teases her to be a good dog while we walk and she remains in the car. She would likely tear up the car and try to break a window if we ever left her behind!
Besides being a bright sunny day with flawless blue skies, the first thing we heard after we crossed the bridge was a Bob White!! As a child I would lie in bed on spring and summer mornings and hear this distinctive bird calling. As the website https://www.farmanddairy.com/columns/can-the-bobwhite-quail-come-back-to-ohios-fields/35205.html reports, “Bobwhite fell by a devastating three-quarters in the 20 years between 1984 and 2004, a dismal crash that illustrates the trouble quail are in.” AND “Bobwhite quail are just one of many sub-species of quail but the only one native to Ohio. The call of a bobwhite quail, just two notes in length, sounds just like the word “bobwhite.” Though we never laid eyes on it, the song was unmistakable! I could have stood there for hours!
Also heard the Wood thrush, though we never saw it. I heard thrush all the time at our last home. Charming, bell-like song.
Wild geraniums were in bloom as was a white violet and white clover.
The Honeysuckle fragrance was strong and enticing. The dog roses were competing in the most fragrant category.
A bullfrog burped in the pond through the weeds. Do you get the idea of “God fills up my senses”?
Red-winged was putting its entire being into his song.
But ah, the Great Blue Herons always capture my heart. In the distance one was wading along the shore of the lake. If it turned sideways it would seem to vanish. Then another one in flight came right in front of us. Neither of us were able to get our cameras out fast enough!
The video below was made in the Philippines. Honestly, it is so difficult to get a good video, in focus of these giant birds in flight, I just had to share this one. They remind me of a prehistoric being! Maybe related to the Pterodactyl? Steve Vantreese of The Paducah Sun writes:
“He is more pterodactyl than tweety bird, a killing machine to all manner of smaller beings that will fit in that bayonet of a beak.
“The great blue heron is our top shelf predatory wading bird hereabouts. The long-legged thing is the largest North American heron — not a crane — and well adapted to habitats all over our continent.
“Our great blue is a relative whopper, weighing as much as a goose but more elongated. This heron is up to about 4.5 feet long, and that is about the height at which it stands on those lanky bird legs. When it flies, it spreads those wings an impressive 6 feet or more.”
As we turned towards the return walk up the path the burbling stream reminded me of my constant access to living water.
The sun was getting hotter but a cool breeze accompanied us.
Lucky was going nuts with her beagle nose to the ground. All the scents of other dogs who were walked here, but more so the wildlife that traverse this path when humans are not around!
I saw one milkweed shoot along the trail and instantly missed our milkweed garden at the other house. Perhaps we can grow some here if the new backyard garden ever gets put in?
Never once heard the Bobwhite on our return walk. My senses drenched, we returned home with one exhausted dog. Not that the walk was too long for her, I think she wears out her brain sniffing!
Not treasures in plain sight, but perhaps treasures in our ears and eyes!?!
There have been times the last few weeks when I was uncertain that I could take a deep breath. Wounding words have been flung at me with no explanation of their origin, seemingly no possibility of reconciliation that makes any healthy sense. Only texting offered. Most of us know you cannot resolve conflict with texting alone. I am always amazed at how the Lord can reach me even when I seem to be in a dark and dismal place. Recently (and often) He does it through the books I read.
Jodi Picoult wrote Wish You Were Here. This new novel is about life during the Covid pandemic, dreams and adventure, along with the horror of being a doctor treating Covid in NYC. In it she spoke of how land iguanas adapted to sea life. “Their lungs got bigger so they could take deeper breaths and sink deeper.”
Lord God, expand my lungs and help me to go deeper in prayer and center down silence, that peaceful place where You speak to my soul. I cannot change or fix the troubling situation, but I can draw nearer to You for comfort and wisdom and direction.
Again, Jodi wrote, “You can’t move forward without losing something.”
Perhaps lose the fantasy about what I wanted, the person I thought was under my roof? Get clear about the reality of who that person was and has become?
Letting go, letting go, letting go, like leaves that fall all around me in autumn. Nothing I can accomplish by clinging. Just let go and be at peace.
Each previous wounding episode I would say, “Take another step back, back away. Nothing more I can do here.” And so perhaps the time has come to truly step away and turn loose of all hopes, dreams, plans in relation to this person? In case you are wondering, Bob and I are just fine, thank you very much!
In 2018 I wrote about spending time with the Lord in our meeting place. Here is the poetry musing written in 2011 re-posted for your consideration.
This photo for my Trysting place is in the city. The treetop shows a dense shelter. The tree in the bustle of Southern California is meant to signify that I can go to my meeting place with the Risen Christ in any location.
I cannot take a camera to our trysting place My attempts to draw it are incomplete You meet me there in a sturdy platform room protected, sheltered, made from the wood of Your cross and also like the palm of Your hand where You fold Your wings of love around me
The wooden floor of the platform tree is always smooth and comfortable no splinters, fine weather leaves dancing in holy wind my joy to be there
I stand, lie, sit, sing, weep, wait and always You are there
Occasionally I must place myself upon the altar table Your soul correction treatments are swift and sweet when I yield to You I can make myself miserable imagining what might happen if I yield to you. Awfulizing is never a clear mirror of truth.
When I get centered in silence we often travel down the center of the trunk as if by elevator arriving at the stream of living water that nourishes the tree refreshes my soul brings to my being all things I need
My surrender to this trysting place is sometimes jagged, prolonged, not smooth or graceful
Yet once I give myself to the quiet and arrive I always ponder what spawned my reluctance?
Eleven years trying to express this phenomenon and I am still not satisfied that I have gotten my experience across.
We ventured off our usual evening walk and took to the side street that leads to the bank, dollar store and post office. I came upon this sad sight and thought of all the nest builders in God’s kingdom who abandon their efforts for other, lesser things.
So sad
Have you given up too soon on your efforts to sanctify a place in your heart to meet with the heavenly Father and Savior of your soul? Have you forgotten to invite the Holy Spirit to commune with you in the center down silence place? Have you set aside a few minutes each day to truly get quiet?
Are there truly more important things than this?
Further along our walk towards home, Lucky and I came upon this.
Robin’s egg blue looking dismal
There is life and that more abundantly (John 10:10) awaiting you in your relationship with the One from on high. Please do not let the enemy of your soul kill, steal and destroy that life.
There are times when I wonder what I am going to write the next time I sit before my computer. Then the material is dropped before my eyes and I wonder anew at the Lord’s power. Abide, wait, commune, listen, pray, reach out to the Lord and He will meet with you. He promised.
Recently I was asked to write a devotional for one crochet and knit group that I attend. I had been reflecting upon the following verse for some time. We had a lively discussion and everyone seemed to enjoy the time we spent looking at this verse. Perhaps you will, also?
“Thus says the LORD: Stand at the crossroads,
and look, and ask for the ancient paths,
where the good way lies; and walk in it,
and find rest for your souls.
But they said, “We will not walk in it.”
Jeremiah 6:16 NIV
What does this say to you currently, in 2022?
Read the passage again slowly, perhaps even aloud.
Reflect on your current journey and write a thought to correspond with each line. What do you think this means?
Stand at the crossroads
And look
And ask for the ancient paths
(Ask) where the good way lies,
And walk in it,
And find rest for your souls.
But they said, “We will not walk in it.”
To me the first line means – wait, don’t move, just stand
“And look” not moving, just looking and listening
“And ask for the ancient paths” again, not moving, how did the ancients do my situation, ASK
“Where the good way lies.” Wait! There is a good way through this I might have missed on my own?
“And walk in it” Oh, do obedience in the moving forward
“And find rest for your souls.” Now that is a tremendous reward to find.
My “life verse ” is Isaiah 30:15
For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel:
In returning and rest you shall be saved;
in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.
But you refused
Isaiah 30:15 NRSV
So here it is again – The people said, “We will not walk in it.” That dreadful song refrain “I did it my way!” Disobedience, even when shown the best path that leads to rest for the soul. So human. So wrong.
What choice will you make at the crossroads? Move ahead in your own power or look, ask, ask again, before you walk forward? It cannot hurt to “wait and ask for the ancient path, where the good way lies.” Are you willing to try this method?
We have had a terrible time finding snapdragon bedding plants this year. Tried 3 different places and they had not a one. Lowe’s had them earlier in the year – all gone now. Finally our friends at Ellis Farm & Garden in Williamsburg had some. I just wanted to plant a pot to have for cut flowers through the summer. Bob picked them up. I planted two pots worth. Looking forward to watching them fill the pots and bloom.
There has been great excitement at the bird feeders.
Male Bluebird
We put out dried meal worms to try to attract the bluebirds. They have found the worms beneath the feeder, but not yet from the feeder tray as far as we have seen.
I was fascinated the other morning trying to figure who WAS eating the meal worms. Chunky bird I did not recognize, almost too large to perch on the feeder tray. With binoculars and bird book I finally identified female red wing blackbird!
Would never confuse her with the male counterpart!
We put up the hummingbird feeder again this year. So far we had no customers. Bob decided to make fresh food and hang it again. Voila!
No, these are not our photos, but I wanted you to see what we are so excited about on Platform Street!
And the grand finale was the red headed woodpecker, which we have NEVER had at a feeder before!
He was brilliant in the noonday sun!
The lilac bush out front (that was supposed to be a Vitex, more like a butterfly bush) looked unusual at first glance. Then I realized the stem was wider because of the caterpillar on in! See the black arrow below.
Next day there were 2 on 2 branches!
Now there are none! Did the bluebirds eat them? We will never know!
And, by the way, the bluebirds have decided they prefer the suet block to the dried meal worms! Go figure! The Titmouse on the other hand decided those worms are so tasty he/she cannot resist even when I am seated, writing right beside the window.
Fearless bird!
Keep your eyes open for those treasures in plain sight!!
Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Matthew 6:26, 33-34
But wait! There’s more! As I sit writing this morning (Monday, May 23, the male bluebird found the meal worms in the feeder and graced me with a photo looking right at me!
Treasures in Plain Sight, A Christian Blog 