Category: Prayer

Posted on in Challenge, Faith, Memories, Prayer, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth

Join In

Lectio 360 “Today is Friday the 25th of September, and this week we are praying through a collection of the great prayers of the Old Testament – exploring motifs of honesty and hope, remembrance and thanksgiving, desperation and celebration, joining our…
… voices with priests, poets, prophets and saints who learned to pray to God openly and unafraid.”


Do we pray openly and unafraid? This was something the people of the Bible learned. Have you? Can you speak to the heavenly Father without editing your words and feelings? God can handle whatever it is you are dealing with.

When I was 9 months pregnant and I found my mother dead on our sofa bed I had plenty to say to God. I did not actually formulate those feelings into words until some months after our daughter was born. I had to learn that God was not afraid of my strong feelings.

There were so many platitudes spoken to my pregnant self at Mom’s funeral. It was very difficult to sort out truth from fiction. It was truly not until I came across the verse in Ezekiel 18: 32a NIV that I began to understand. For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord.

The relentless torment of the enemy of my soul asking, “How can you be a mother without a mother?” kept me unsettled and seeking the Lord. I finally cried out about 10 months after her death as I agonized in my grief, shouting from the depths of my soul to the Lord of heaven and earth, “You PROMISED that You would comfort those who mourn. (Matthew 5:4) Where are you?” doubled over I cried until there were no more tears. Then the Lord came to me with the comfort that only the God of all Comfort could offer. (2 Corinthians 1:3) Thus my long journey with the Savior of my soul was reignited.

I learned God could handle my anger and grief. I discovered that the comfort from heaven is real. Thus I began to learn to pray open and unafraid about anything and everything.

How have you learned to pray to God, open and unafraid? Do you feel as if you can go to God with all of your circumstances and reactions and stumbling blocks?

If not, what might be keeping you from going?

We can learn to trust the one who loves us the best and the most. “The Almighty HAS done great things for us and holy is His name.” (Adapted from Luke 1:49) Try expressing yourself with authenticity and transparency to God. You might very well be surprised at the welcome and acceptance you will receive, not to mention comfort and guidance.

Well, I could go on and on but I would rather you have the experience for yourself. Keep on seeking, keep on asking, keep on knocking. (Matthew 7:7 NLT) Discover the joy of coming to know God’s heart towards you.

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Challenge, Faith, Just do it, Listen, Music, Obedience, Praise, Prayer, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth

All Are Welcome

We are made to tell the world that there are no outsiders.

ARCHBISHOP DESMOND TUTU

During the communion prayers we sometimes pray, “Jesus taught us that the liberation of the whole world will not be in the brutality of violence. Rather, it will be in showing kindness to our neighbor, in standing up against injustice, in returning hate with love, in transforming one heart at a time. It will be in the simple but holy task of dining together, sharing bread and wine, truly seeing one another as beloved by you.”

One of our favorite lines in the Communion service is when the priest declares. “This is God’s table, not ours. All are welcome.”

Oh Father, we have such a long way to go to bring you delight. Purify our hearts we pray that we might not sin against you. Open our eyes to see our fellow humans as made in your likeness. Help us to esteem others as better than ourselves. (Philippians 2:3)

We have also been learning a song by Michael Stillwater that goes, “One by one everyone comes to remember, we’re healing the world one heart at a time.”

This is a German speaking group. We also sing it in rounds at church. I found myself singing it one day last week and had to stop to remember where I had heard it!!

May your eyes be opened and your heart know that there are no outsiders. Just humans walking each other home.

Posted on in Aging, Book quotes, Faith, Focus, Humor, Joy, Marriage and Memories, Music, Praise, Prayer, Thanks, Trust, Yield

Morning of Our 56th

Awoke singing this in my heart:

I could have danced all night
I could have danced all night
And still have begged for more

I could have spread my wings
And done a thousand things
I've never done before

I'll never know what made it so exciting
Why all at once my heart took flight
I only know when he began to dance with me
I could have danced, danced, danced all night

Yes, after 56 years I am more than willing to dance with Robert Milan. We have FUN together. Sometimes he carries his teasing and jokes too far for my emotion at a given moment, but overall, we have fun.

We create humor and jokes between ourselves. We are friends, yes, even best friends. There are times he gets on my last nerve and I get on his, but we each get over that and move on.

On this date in Edges of His Ways Amy wrote:

It is the little things of life, the minute, unimportant-looking things, that are most likely to shatter our peace, because they are so small that we are very likely to fight them ourselves instead of looking up at once to our Strong God, our Barrier between us and them. “Close the gate, or bar up the way, as the cloudy pillar formed a barricade between the Egyptians and Israel” is Kay’s note.

The deaths of Ginny and Chuck Lynch have taught us how short life is, how unexpectedly death can come and now is the time to love and laugh, to cherish and sing.

When I saw Bob Dutina for the first time, at a distance, it really was love at first sight. I have never understood exactly how our lives came to be together; however, I am grateful and blessed to have been given the gift of this incredible marriage.. Thanks be to God!

Psalm 90:12. So teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts to wisdom.

Posted on in Book quotes, Challenge, Faith, Listen, Memories, Obedience, Prayer, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Surrender, Trust, Yield

Henri Nouwen

Lectio 365 wrote this quote from Nouwen on his feast day:

The love that often leaves us doubtful, frustrated, angry, and resentful is the second love, that is to say, the affirmation, affection, sympathy, encouragement, and support we receive from our parents, teachers, spouses, and friends. We all know how limited, broken, and very fragile that love is… The radical good news is that the second love is only a broken reflection of the first love and that the first love is offered to us by a God in whom there are no shadows… The knowledge of Jesus’ heart is a knowledge of the heart. And when we live in the world with that knowledge, we cannot do other than bring healing, reconciliation, new life, and hope wherever we go.
https://lectio365.24-7prayer.com/share/devotionals/2026-09-21/morning?locale=en

It has at times been difficult to offer the love God gives us to those around us. We knew for more than six months that both Chuck and Ginny had fatal diseases. We made an effort to take them meals, visit them when hospitalized, send texts, cut flower arrangements, anything we could think of to cheer them. It was not always easy to extend our hands and hearts to them, but we felt the Lord was asking us to do it. So we did, even when our own hearts were reluctant.

Now Chuck is dead. Ginny is dead. Our local restaurant keeps this sticker on the counter for anyone who wishes to take it home. It has been on our kitchen counter for many months urging us into obedience to God. John Wesley is reported as having said,

“Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can.”

Our time for doing good for Chuck and Ginny is over. He sent us a basket of African violets and philodendron vines just before he died. He had no idea that Bob had recently told me he would like to have another African violet! It is such a gift of love. The card on the flowers reads:
“Thank you guys for your compassion, prayers, and most of all for your love. We love you, Chuck and Ginny” I see the flowers and miss them both.

The house across the street where they lived is empty now. The sons have all gone home to prepare for another funeral or celebration of life, this time for Chuck. I keep getting startled when I realize there is no one there.

Icon of Henri Nouwen by Kelly Lattimore

I hope our efforts reflected what Henri Nouwen wrote. This is not to brag to you, but to show that we never really know what the outcome of our loving, our extending the hands of Jesus to another … we never quite know what the impact will be upon the other person. All we can do is try to follow the example Jesus gives us and obey the promptings of the Holy Spirit. May the God and Father of us all be pleased. (Ephesians 4:6)

Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. James 2:15-17 NIV

Posted on in Book quotes, Challenge, Faith, Praise, Prayer, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Worship, Yield

Secret

 But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. “And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. Matthew 6: 6, 16-17 RSV

These words jumped out at me: Father who is in secret, Father who sees in secret, Father who is in secret.

Pray to your Father in secret. Talk with God in secret. Do we?

Once a friend named Char told me she talked to God all day long. Then she asked, “Am I doing it right?” I told her she was practicing faith exactly right. We are told to talk with God about everything, all the time. Not to be seen and lauded by others, but for that personal, holy, Spirit- filled relationship with the Lord God Almighty. This is what Jesus died and rose again for – to give us this ability through the power of the Holy Spirit.

in the 1600s Brother Lawrence taught, “That we should establish ourselves in a sense of God’s presence by continually conversing with Him. That it was a shameful thing to quit His conversation to think of trifles and fooleries.”

“With him the set times of prayer were not different from other times; that he retired to pray, according to the directions of his superior, but that he did not want such retirement., nor ask for it, because his greatest business dd not divert him from God.”

Can you imagine having developed your prayer life to where nothing could divert you from conversing with God? Have you arrived there? I certainly have not.

“As he proceeded in his work he continued his familiar conversation with his Maker, imploring His grace, and offering to Him all his actions.”

Yes, Lord, yes! That we might please always be in this secret communication with the throne. I never want the sacrifice of Jesus to be in vain as far as my life goes. As I bend the knee of my heart before You I reach for Your Presence within and around me. Amen.

Here is a short video about the story of Brother Lawrence. I have it starting at the discussion about conversing with God.

Posted on in Aging, Challenge, Collection of Quotes, Faith, Just do it, Listen, Look, Praise, Prayer, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Surrender, Trust, Yield

Fear of Change

A quote from the series “The Hammond Family Farm,” “He knew that teenagers thought everything that happened today meant that was how things would be forever. Boone knew far better than that.”

That is so like our thinking. Even in my 70s I often think like a teenager, grasping things as if they will be this way forever. Good and bad things. I forget things change, whether I like it or not.

Then there is this:

In 2018 I journaled the following. “Change is inevitable. Come to expect it.” If only I had that tattooed on my hand, I could see it daily and perhaps remember that when I am strolling in my comfort zone, that too is subject to change. Perhaps the seasons changing so dramatically are our reminder from God that nothing remains the same except God.”

Life is full of mystery. The mystery is our invitation to let go and to embrace uncertainty with the fullness of our being. This is how hope becomes our bearing. It’s how it becomes our compass in uncertain times. Joe Primo

“Hope becomes our bearing and our compass”

“Joe Primo is the CEO of Grateful Living. He is a passionate speaker and community-builder whose accomplishments made him a leading voice on resilience and adversity. Gratefulness for life, he believes, is foundational to discovering meaning and the only response that is big enough and appropriate for the plot twists, delights, surprises, and devastation we encounter along the way. ” https://grateful.org/joe-primo/

I have come to regard Joe with high praise. He was a Hospice Chaplain for many years. That gives a person a unique insight on the best ways to LIVE. The bold text above summarizes his embrace regarding the importance of gratefulness. Please read it one more time slowly.

The purple quote above says let go and embrace uncertainty with the fullness of our being. I am not there yet! Indeed, I have not arrived. Yes, Lord, I need hope for my compass.

“Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul.“ Emily Dickinson

Right after I noted this Dickinson quote for the blog it showed up in a TV show. Just like God to send me a reminder. “Let go and to embrace uncertainty with the fullness of our being.”

Are you willing to try it this week? And the week after that? And the week after that? I am praying that the next time you see a feather you will remember Emily and Joe, see the hope that perches in your soul, embrace uncertainty with the fullness of your being.

Peace is an invitation in daily life to breathe deep, right here, in the uncertainty. MORGAN HARPER NICHOLS

Peace. Hope. Uncertainty. They are our companions. “We Can Complain Because Rose Bushes Have Thorns, or Rejoice Because Thorn Bushes Have Roses.” No one is certain who created this sentiment, but many encourage us to be grateful for life and embrace the changes that come our way, uncertain though that way may be.

Bob Dylan is quoted as having said, “There is nothing so stable as change.”

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Faith, Focus, Nature, Obedience, Praise, Prayer, Trust

Hummers Know?

The hummingbird is flitting from one jewelweed flower to the next, and there are hundreds of flowers out there. I read they know every flower they visit. How do they remember all of those flowers? So tiny, pausing only a short moment to drink from each, how do they keep track?

Flash of green darting among the green leaves and orange flowers, you are a marvel.

It has been reported they can recognize humans!

Hummingbirds have excellent memory and pattern recognition skills. There is evidence that they can remember and recognize individual humans, particularly if that person frequently interacts with them or feeds them. However, more research is needed to fully understand the extent of hummingbirds’ ability to differentiate between people. https://www.hummingbird101.com/do-hummingbirds-recognize-individual-people/

What?!? Those tiny creatures who migrate thousands of miles can know me? We have seen them come to the kitchen window and look in as if to find us or remind us to refill their feeder.

Hummingbirds remember every flower they visit and when it will have fresh nectar again!?!

Perhaps even more impressive than their spatial memory is hummingbirds’ temporal memory—their ability to track when flowers replenish their nectar. Studies by Dr. Susan Healy and colleagues revealed that wild hummingbirds can remember the refill schedules of hundreds of individual flowers, returning to them just as the nectar reaches optimal levels. https://www.animalsaroundtheglobe.com/hummingbirds-remember-every-flower-7-326678/

They report that the hummingbird’s brain is roughly the size of a grain of rice. I want to know if that is cooked or uncooked rice? Imagine their ability in contrast to ours! I can walk from the office to the bedroom and forget why I was going to the bedroom. Remember every flower? Human faces? What an amazing creature!

Each time I think I am finished blogging about these amazing birds who frequent the late summer jewelweed I find even more reasons to marvel over them.

They were His idea from the beginning!

And God said, “Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the dome of the sky.” 21 So God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, of every kind, with which the waters swarm and every winged bird of every kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” Genesis 1:20-22

Thank you God for the blessing of birds and flowers!

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Challenge, Faith, Nature, Obedience, Prayer, Spiritual discipline, Surrender, Yield

Who Could Have Imagined?

Such devastation from floods, fire, drought, scorching heat?

“Scientific evidence for warming of the climate system is unequivocal. The number of record high temperature events in the United States has been increasing, while the number of record low temperature events has been decreasing, since 1950. The U.S. has also witnessed increasing numbers of intense rainfall events.” https://science.nasa.gov/climate-change/evidence/

Floods from a portion of glacier breaking off, sending water and mud to wipe out people and towns? Total devastation and enormous loss of life. Earlier no one in my generation would have thought this was even possible as a result of climate change. Yet, here we are.

Water from tremendous thunderstorms inundating portions of America. Cars, homes, towns underwater. Wind and storms continue with hurricane season arriving earlier each year.

Prayer certainly helps as people face the loss of everything they own. Some even suffer the loss of loved ones.

As I watch a goldfinch hang upside down on a “volunteer” sunflower in our flower bed, I am reminded that we are given the responsibility to be keepers of the earth. For the most part we have done a lousy job through our greed and overall disregard as to the effects our consumerism has on the planet. Lord God Almighty, forgive us and help us mend our ways I pray.

Look at shells on sidewalk. Then focus above the shells to see the bright yellow bird! (I could not capture the image of the bird upside down.)

This report in the L A Times says: In the Rocky Mountains, years of extreme heat and drought have baked the landscape, drying up streams that feed the Colorado River and desiccating pastures where cattle graze.

The unrelenting dryness has brought hardship upon cattle ranchers, who say their livelihoods increasingly are under threat.

As the U.S. Supreme Court considers a case in which major oil companies are being sued for the effects of global warming, a group of Colorado ranchers is voicing support for the the idea that the fossil fuel industry should be held to account.

The ranchers depend on snowmelt that feeds the Colorado River and its tributaries to nourish grasses and hay pastures for their herds. But this year the Rockies had the least snow on record, and they’ve watched springs dry up and creeks dwindle.

The lack of water has ravaged grasslands and left ranchers unable to grow enough hay, forcing them to buy feed for their cows at high prices.

It’s been so dry that Valdez no longer can get water in his irrigation system for his animals to drink. He has turned to buying water and hauling it with a tanker truck to fill troughs for the cows.

Floods, drought, storms,record high temperatures, wars and rumors of wars … Lord, deliver us and forgive us we pray. Help us to recognize our part in this massive destruction. Show us each how to amend our ways and live with an awareness of our responsibility for the calamity.

Book of Common Prayer Page 827, Prayer 41. For the Conservation of Natural Resources

Almighty God, in giving us dominion over things on earth, you made us fellow workers in your creation: Give us wisdom and reverence so to use the resources of nature, that no one may suffer from our abuse of them, and that generations yet to come may continue to praise you for your bounty; though Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Posted on in Challenge, Faith, Focus, Just do it, Obedience, Prayer, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Trust, Yield

Present

This morning my meditation sites seemed to all converge. Don’t you just love when that happens? God uses all the sources around us to point to the Divine will for us.

Challenge to me is can I stay right here in the present moments as they unfold this day? Not worry about if I can attend the book discussion group this evening. Having no fret about completing my writing so I can teach a new pattern to someone tomorrow morning. No concern about something I said or did yesterday. Just right here. Right now. This present moment, enjoy this gift.

Then the Scripture meditation on another app:

12 Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal, but I press on to lay hold of that for which Christ has laid hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider that I have laid hold of it, but one thing I have laid hold of: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal, toward the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Let those of us, then, who are mature think this way, and if you think differently about anything, this, too, God will reveal to you. 16 Only let us hold fast to what we have attained. Philippians 3:13-16 NRSVUE

Paul urges us to turn loose of the past, anything we have already laid hold of we should keep, but not dwell there in that past accomplishment. Press on toward “the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.” Right here I want to embrace You Lord and Your will for me.

It has been said that if you do not know what God is asking you to do right now then obey the last thing that you heard. In other words, if I do not have new marching orders, do the last thing I heard. How do you accomplish that? Are you obedient to what you have been told or are you always seeking for something else, some new thing you might like better?

Trying to find artwork to illustrate this blog entry I found runners and then more runners (that does not apply to me as I barely walk right now) then even worse, a guy walking a tightrope over the Grand Canyon (I fear heights). For me to ‘press on toward’ means do not stop where you are for more than this moment. On toward the goal.

Along with Paul I do not consider this a done deal. It requires my discipline and obedience daily, at times hourly. “Let those of us, then, who are mature think this way.” Ouch that could hurt on days when I am stuck in some other kind of thinking! The good Lord does not leave us to ourselves. Paul goes on to write “and if you think differently about anything, this, too, God will reveal to you.”

Holy Spirit come please, correct my wrong thinking and help me to follow hard after the thoughts of the Lord God Almighty. Deliver me from brain habits and flesh habits and world habits. Help me recognize and cling to Christ-like habits. Make me wholly Yours. Amen.

Posted on in Faith, Joy, Listen, Music, Obedience, Praise, Prayer, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Yield

There Was Jesus

Last spring our contemporary worship band made a point of learning this song. We sang it this week as our offertory hymn, noting the death of Dolly Parton. The song was written by Zach Williams. In an interview he stated that he just kept hearing Dolly Parton singing it with him. He eventually contacted her. After hearing the song, reading the lyrics she said yes she would be glad to record it with him.

According to Williams, Parton was looking for more faith-based projects when his team reached out regarding the song. 

“We all knew it was a big ask and we were shooting for the moon to try to get her on the song,” Williams explained. “We originally heard that 90% of the stuff that comes her way, she turns down just because she has so many people asking to do songs with her.”

Williams recounted Parton telling him, the day she received the song, that she didn’t even make it through the first chorus, before she knew it was a special song and a “God-send.” 

“She said ‘I wake up and I pray every day that God just gives me the opportunity that I need for that day…I felt like that was the one that He wanted me to do,’,” Williams noted Parton said, when in the process of creating the track. –from https://americansongwriter.com/there-was-jesus-dolly-parton-zach-williams-song-interview/