Category: Thanks

Posted on in Challenge, Faith, Just do it, Poetry, Prayer, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Thanks, Worship, Yield

Most Recent Poem

I was having a spiritual struggle and one person or the spirit from one person seemed to be the biggest challenge. I could not name the spirit but I knew it was there. Finally it was apparent I needed to get alone with the LORD and have a prayer time to throw this thing off. I was prepared to spend many hours if necessary, but surprisingly it only took a couple hours. This is the resultant poem.

Rooftops ©23-4-20 Molly Lin Dutina

Above the rooftops
Beyond my thoughts and dreams
You move by Your Spirit
Unseen yet beyond powerful
Invited by my yieldedness
You ask no invitation
Welcomed by my obedience
You come cleanse my house
Straightening my crooked paths
Wayward thinking
Thoughts that give negative entrance
You swing the Mighty Sword of Spirit
Sweeping away all hindrance
To Your will and ways.

Above the rooftop of my hair
(Which You have numbered every strand)
Your towering angels like ancient trees
Stand guard to alert me to invasion
I am kept by a love divine
I dwell under the shadow of the Almighty
Your wings enfold and embrace me
If I go astray You shepherd me back
If necessary You will even carry my smelly self
Returning me to the fold
Feeding me with the finest food
Brushing out the tangles in my wool
For You love me
You even pour Your love 
Like a bucket of soapy water
Throughout my heart by Your Spirit
No shame remains
After You work within me

May your week be filled with time for prayer and the rewards of having been in His presence.

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Art, Faith, Memories, Nature, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Thanks

O’Keeffe

At the Cincinnati Art Museum we recently saw a collection of photographs by Georgie O’Keeffe. I was struck by this quote from her. If you have ever seen her paintings of flowers you will have a better understanding of the quote.

“Well – I made you take time to look at what I saw and when you took time to really notice my flower you hung all your own associations with flowers on my flower and you write about my flower as if I think and see what you think and see of the flower – and I don’t,” O’Keeffe scolded. For the artist, her renderings of flowers were about detail, light and shade, and formal juxtaposition. though many critics read other meanings into these works, O’Keeffe maintained that they signified only the artistic potential not with pencil or paint, but with her camera.

2006.6.1074, 2006.6.1071, 2006.6.1072 on museum wall

200 paintings of flowers and over 2,000 paintings during her career.  “In the 1930s, she wrote of her desire to paint the humble flower enlarged and up-close. “I’ll paint it big, and they will be surprised into taking time to look at it,” she wrote. “I will make even busy New Yorkers take time to see what I see of flowers.”

Her first quote was proven true by my visit to this exhibit.

What is it?

For years and years I saw this painting and believed it was a morning glory. This exhibit set me straight! It is actually a Jimson Weed.

So when I paste it in with it’s automatic caption you can see it is listed as

2014.35 Georgia O’Keeffe Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1, 1932 Oil on canvas 48 × 40 in. (121.9 × 101.6 cm) Framed: 53 in. × 44 3/4 in. × 2 1/2 in.

What do you think and see of her flower?

How does this relate to Christian life? Throughout the old and new testaments we are referred to as similar to flowers. But if a flower is captured on a canvas it does not fade like a real flower.

Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For, ‘All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever.’ And this is the word that was preached to you.

1 Peter 1:22-23 NIV

Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. 23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. 24 For,

“All people are like grass,
    and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;
the grass withers and the flowers fall,
25     but the word of the Lord endures forever.”[c]

Flowers and grasses do what the Scripture says, but we are born again from IMPERISHABLE seed. We are not like those real flowers or flowers on canvas. We are born again through the living and enduring word of God. That is what the word says. Who am I to argue with it?

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Beagle, Book quotes, Challenge, Cooking, Faith, Family, Humor, Journal, Just do it, Listen, medical treatment, Memories, Music, Nature, Poetry, Prayer, Special Event, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Thanks

Resurrection Sunday

Sometimes when I was growing up I got to go to sunrise service on Easter morning. I think my favorite one was held at French Park in Cincinnati. The weather was often chilly and even at times rainy, but we were determined to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord as the sun came up!

My mother worked for many years at a flower shop in Norwood, Ohio. One year she brought home some purple hyacinths and plucked each flower off, wrapped it in wet cotton, wired and taped it. Then she assembled them as an Easter corsage for me. To this day the fragrance of purple hyacinths remind me of her. Though she lived a troubled life I believe her faith in Christ took her to be with Him when her life on earth ended.

None of these things help my soul celebrate the life, death and resurrection of Jesus as much as my gratitude lists. When Ann Voskamp wrote One Thousand Gifts I wonder if she knew how the practice would revolutionize the American Christian church? Certainly it changed her life, but do we ever truly know the impact our writing will have upon others? I wonder.

Have you practiced writing down the gifts in your life that Christ Jesus has bestowed upon you? Have you given Him thanks this Easter? Here are some of my thanksgivings.

  • Sunshine
  • Rain in due season
  • Salvation for my soul
  • You give strength to hearts that are true to You
  • Your righteous shall live by faith
  • our home
  • the longevity of my marriage
  • Justice that rolls down and righteousness as an ever-flowing stream
  • God with us
  • You know the hairs upon our heads
  • The Convent of the Transfiguration
  • my sisters in Journey Together in Stitches
  • crochet and knit group at senior center
  • Your Spirit that gives me life
  • Your breath in our lives
  • My children
  • My grandchildren
  • Laundry now on first floor
  • small gardens to delight my soul
  • the bluebirds at the office window
  • rabbits in Angela’s yard
  • THE BEAGLE
  • Grogu to make me smile
  • Noodle the Corgi that makes me smile
  • music
  • music memories from over the years
  • The Holy Spirit speaking in my soul
  • My Bible and Bible Gateway tool
  • Rheude’s small group
  • Lucky learning to play with her toys
  • Cooking
  • Great Smoky Mountains and spring wildflowers there
  • Medical care
  • freedom of religion
  • clouds
  • spring peepers
  • gifts
  • dark chocolate
  • coconut!
  • travels we have done
  • travel planned to Hawaii
  • blogging friends
  • New Mexico friends
  • Neighbors who are friends
  • running water in our home
  • crocheting
  • sewing for our home and others
  • museums of art
  • Cincinnati Nature Center
  • red winged blackbirds
  • butterflies
  • armor of God
  • Abraham’s example of faith and obedience
  • Andrew Peterson’s music
  • Learning to be a living sacrifice
  • loving husband
  • forgiveness
  • the Great I am
  • firemen
  • police officers
  • electronic books from the library
  • my sister
  • pinwheels
  • soap bubbles
  • even to old age He will keep me
  • black licorice
  • Spirit of God who raised Christ from the dead LIVES in us
  • I can entrust my soul to my faithful creator
  • iPad with keyboard
  • ear buds for listening while walking the dog
  • Living Water
  • Seashells
  • heating pad
  • ocean sounds
  • He walks with me and talks with me
  • rainbow in the sky reminds me of rainbow around the throne
  • the Psalms
  • friends serving in Nepal
  • New Covenant in my mind and on my heart
  • Jesus is made unto me wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption
  • “Pajama church” when you can’t make it to service
  • His still small voice
  • Bob’s sense of humor
  • a good fresh salad
  • piano music
  • people I know I can ask to pray – knowing they will do it
  • cellos
  • live drama performances
  • good ham salad
  • music by Brandon Lake
  • writing poetry
  • Mizithra cheese sauce on angel hair spaghetti
  • broccoli slaw, just yum
  • Spirit of God helps me write

That is my partial list. How about you? Get a little notebook and begin to list your praises and things you are grateful for! It will work wonders for you 🙂

Death could not hold Him!
Posted on in Amazing Creations, Challenge, Faith, Just do it, Listen, Music, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Thanks

Holy Saturday

This day is another time for reflection before the Resurrection Celebration. According to Britannica “The observance commemorates the final day of Christ’s death, which is traditionally associated with his triumphant descent into hell.”

The Apostles Creed says”He descended into hell and on the third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven.”

He rested on the seventh – God rested.

The video below linked with Andrew Peterson’s music really touches my spirit.

Many churches celebrate an Easter Vigil with prayers and baptisms, lighting of a fire, etc. I think I prefer Peterson’s reflection. I am unaware of anyone making music about what Jesus did when He descended into hell. We know from Scripture He set the captives free.

Whatever you believe about His death, what He did before He resurrected, how His ascension takes place, I pray you will put your trust in Him. He is able to prove Himself to you, even you.

Here is an animation of one person’s idea of Holy Saturday. Yes, it is six minutes long, but I think they captured the ideas wonderfully. Hope you will watch it.

May this last day of Holy Week provide time and quiet for you as you prepare to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus!

Posted on in Collection of Quotes, Faith, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Thanks, Yield

The Passion of the Christ

Jesus promises the Spirit in John 14 and 16. How did we get stuck on Friday? How do we move beyond it?

The movie was supposed to be true to how things likely happened when Jesus was crucified. It was gory and grotesque and certainly showed man’s inhumanity to the Son of God and Son of Man. And to think this was done frequently throughout the ages. Worse yet, it is still done today.

ISIS militants have been known to crucify those who attempt to resist them.

However, there is also another place where crucifixion is known to occur. Yep, you guessed it, Saudi Arabia. Under the Saudi penal code, crucifixion is a legal form of punishment and execution. In one case that has drawn international attention, the Saudi government sentenced a 17-year-old boy named Ali al-Nimr to crucifixion for his participation in anti-government protests. In Saudi Arabia, crucifixion takes place after death with the dead body being crucified in a public place to serve as a warning to others. Amnesty International has condemned the act as “the ultimate form of cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.”

10 Barbaric Forms Of Punishment Still Practiced Today – Listverse

So why would God the Father allow this to happen to His Son? Hebrews says of Jesus

… fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Hebrews 12:2 NIV

What joy? The prophecy in Isaiah 53: 10-12 might help our understanding.

10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him with affliction.
When you make his life an offering for sin,
    he shall see his offspring and shall prolong his days;
through him the will of the Lord shall prosper.
11     Out of his anguish he shall see;
he shall find satisfaction through his knowledge.
    The righteous one, my servant, shall make many righteous,
    and he shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will allot him a portion with the great,
    and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,
because he poured out himself to death
    and was numbered with the transgressors,
yet he bore the sin of many
    and made intercession for the transgressors.

Isaiah 53:10-12 NRSVUE

Jesus loves you that much. All He is asking is that you surrender to Him. Let Him live through you by the power of His Holy Spirit. This has nothing to do with chocolate or bunnies, eggs or candy.

Read that quote from Isaiah again. I think if you read it slowly and ponder the meaning you will have a glorious Easter Season!

If you remain at the cross and the blood, ask yourself if that is what Jesus would want? Yes, He is holy and righteous and to be adored. What about the promises He gave us? Did He die so that we could sit at His grave forever? Are you willing to move beyond the blood, brutality and death?

I think the Father had more in mind than that, much more. His ways are truly higher than our ways and His thoughts than our thoughts. Father help us to move into the truth You desire for us.

Posted on in Faith, Family, Illness and Health, medical treatment, Prayer, Thanks

Black Ice Consequences

This winter our son fell on black ice while walking into work. He suffered both knee injury and shoulder injury.

For those of you living where ice does not happen, good old Wikipedia describes it as: Black ice, sometimes called clear ice, is a thin coating of glaze ice on a surface, especially on streets. The ice itself is not black, but visually transparent, allowing the often black road below to be seen through it. The typically low levels of noticeable ice pellets, snow, or sleet surrounding black ice means that areas of the ice are often practically invisible to drivers or people stepping on it. There is, thus, a risk of slippage and subsequent accident due to the unexpected loss of traction.

He has been under medical care ever since. This afternoon he will finally receive shoulder surgery. There is a tear and they are going to repair it. Please pray for successful surgery and rapid thorough healing. He has been in pain for months.

If you have ever had shoulder surgery you know that getting comfortable afterwards is a major deal. He will not even be able to use his right hand for a long time after the surgery. And yes, he is right handed.

He is hoping for some major pain relief from the surgery and we are lifting that to the Father also.

I ask your prayers for him and his family (wife and son). I look forward to updating you with great news soon! He has been in physical therapy for his knee (same fall) and it seems to be healing nicely.

Concern for our kids never goes away, even when they are in their mid-40s!

Making the decision to have a child – it is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.

Elizabeth Stone
Posted on in Challenge, Faith, Just do it, Listen, Music, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Thanks

Easter is around the Corner!

During the pandemic many choirs picked up this song by Andrew Peterson and created videos on YouTube. I just have to share it with you again to bring honor to our Christ! I just love Andrew’s smile in the top video. There is more than one person shedding tears during this song. Yes, there are 3 versions! Why not? Review the lyrics and confirm your heart in the truth! So many Scriptures in this song!!

Pandemic Version
Youth Version
Posted on in Amazing Creations, Beagle, Faith, Family, Illness and Health, Just do it, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Thanks

Give This Thought and Practice

Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life.

Omar Khayyam

This moment. Right now. Just now.

How many of us even think about that idea? We are so far off in “If only” and “What if” that we are usually barely conscious of right now. But we can be conscious of right now? We most likely will have to train ourselves to do this present moment thinking. I cannot overstate the benefits!

Can you stay focused on God for more than a moment?

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.

Mark 12:30 NIV

This moment is your life and your chance to love the Lord your God. This moment. Right now. Just now. Many people before us have tried multiple methods to accomplish this. What is your method? Have you developed a practice towards keeping happily with His presence in each moment? Turn your heart towards Him as you sip iced tea or hot coffee? As you walk through a door frame do you remember you are walking in His presence.

Photo by Benjamin Rascoe on Unsplash

There are countless methods to mind the moments. What is yours? As we turn our hearts and minds continuously towards the Trinity we will find more satisfaction and happiness in each moment. Take the challenge for yourself. Practice His presence and find ways to be happy in this moment with Him.

Recently I was hit with a bout of nausea and other sickly symptoms. I had to stop everything I was doing to cope with my body and symptoms. Talking with a dear cousin she also was ill for a few days. She mentioned that she just cried out to the Father, “I know You have taken care of me and met all of my needs. I know You will do that just now, even while I am not feeling well.” And indeed, God did. Though she was not as energetic as usual, she was able to take care of herself and her attitude by staying conscious of God’s good care.

“Be happy for this moment.” Were either one of us happy to be sickly? Absolutely not! Rather than wasting time awfulizing or bemoaning our state of being we both made a decision to stay aware of our good Father and invite Him into the situation.

Photo by Valentina Ivanova on Unsplash
Posted on in Beagle, Humor, Thanks

Humor While Walking Lucky

Like most modern subdivisions we have a drainage pond. There are usually Canada Geese there spoiling the sidewalk with there stool. Sometimes on the water we get Wood Ducks. They are so lovely. Last year they hatched their eggs at our pond but I think the local coyotes got most of the goslings. The wood ducks seem particularly fond of one yard where they keep the feeders filled year ’round.

While walking Lucky the other day, I wondered if the Wood Ducks thought they were camouflaged? You decide!

Mr Baker, why do you have decoys in your yard? Oh, those are real!!
Posted on in Amazing Creations, Book quotes, Faith, Nature, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Thanks

Turning Away?

Is seeking for treasures in plain sight a turning away from the things of reality, especially challenging things? Not at all! The goal of seeking treasures in plain sight is to bring the reality of a relationship with the Almighty into the everyday world. Learning to seek the blessings surrounding us, regardless of the bleakness and in times in spite of the bleakness that sometimes accompanies human day to day life. Our paths are strewn with delights if we will open our eyes to see and believe.

Paul wrote:

Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

Philippians 4:8 NRSVA
God used a donkey, (Numbers 22:21-39) He wants to use you, too!
Petrified Wood – Lord, protect me from congealing or solidifying!

Brother Lawrence, named Nicholas Herman, “Seeing a dry, lifeless tree in the dead of winter, and realizing that soon it would burst forth into life as the sap rose in the spring, Herman knew that he was spiritually dead and asked God to give him a rebirth. It happened, too.” https://www.guidelines.org/devotional/brother-lawrence/

photo by r m dutina

I am ever aware that the LORD blesses me with seeing things for encouragement. He did not have to let me see this land snail in the heart of the nasturtium backlit by sunshine, and yet He did.

Blessings surround you and me. As I watch snow squalls whip about our yard, the male and female bluebirds are perched at the top of the oak tree. The tree is barely more than a stick!

Keep your eyes open for blessings abounding to you!

Praise God from whom all blessings flow
Praise Him all creatures here below
Praise Him above ye heavenly host
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen.