A Pliable Heart

"Delight yourself also in the Lord, 

And He shall give you the desires of your heart".

Psalm 37:4 

Delight is not just a feeling that brings pleasure to me.

“delight” to be soft and pliable, to bend easily. 

Am I delighting in His grip about me?

Is my heart pliable in His hands?

‘Happy’ feelings do not always come with this process of being ‘soft and pliable’ in His hands. It is our obedience He is after…feelings are extra and not always necessary.

 

When I am delighting in HIM, I am willing to let Him mold my thoughts, my desires, my will…I am delighting in what He has in mind for me.

 What a freedom...what a sweet surrender com

es from delighting in the Lord! 

A Sign of His Promise...

He has promised us spring... “As long as the earth endures…it will never cease.”

Today we found a sign of His promise.

It was hidden under the shadow of a large tree; amid  leaves and twigs, pushing up from the thawing ground.

 Not one of His promises has failed. They have been thoroughly tested and still,  each one remains.

His promise may not be completely fulfilled in my life today. But His Spirit is laboring...leaving signs of the promised work He has begun...and will finish.

"Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."

Phil 1:6 

Simon Says...

The children love to play Simon Says. 

Every word from Simon is quickly acted out, with laughter and smiles.

Simon says…lift your hands.

Simon says… jump on one foot.  

As the sun rises this morning, 

Jesus says…Here is the Good way, now walk in it.

I want to be like these children...

straining to hear and obey only His commands, and rejoicing to quickly act on them.

 " This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world and this is the victory that has overcome the world—your faith."  John 5:3-4

Love is Traceable

In order to clearly 

see love one must look back , 

for true love is traceable… 

dot by dot, action by action along a lifespan. 

Love is faithful...

Love takes leaps...

Love trusts the ropes that God hangs...

Love stays in the boat...

till the very end.

Love holds tight...

Love has no meaning if it has no history. 

 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  Love never fails. 

God provides

The other day Dad gave away the last of our firewood. Someone from town called and asked if we had extra.

 "We sure do, bring a truck and I’ll load you up" 

I happened to know that we did not have extra.

He dug what was left out of the snow.

The man brought his truck and trailer. After he left I don’t think we had even a stick of wood outside. 

Today I heard a knock on the door.

There stood a brother from the church…his four sons still in the truck which was pulling a huge trailer of split firewood.

  "Where should we put it?" he asked.

"Wow", is all I could say. 

Dad gave a little.

God gave above and beyond. 

fast living

My great Grandma passed away last week. 

Life is a vapor...here today, gone tomorrow. 

It is good to be reminded of this. 

My great Aunt Amy shared some wisdom as we sat on the couch near my great grandmother’s coffin.

 I had just observed the rising death rate of people in the 20^th century.

Her response spoke volumes…

“They live too fast”

“How do you live slower?” I asked.

“Well... You enjoy what you have…

You work hard, a

nd you don’t get excited about things that aren’t exciting…

I laughed and hugged her tight. 

In order to live to our fullest-

We must tune our hearts to a different beat, 

match our stride to a different march.  

Who cares how it looks to the world...

It's His eyes we want to capture.

about the pics

dangerous beauty

Earlier this week we had a rain storm. 

If you were to walk outside and put your hand out, it would have seemed just like any other gentle downpour. But the major difference in this rain storm was the temperature.

The result was beautiful.

But there is such a thing as dangerous beauty.

           

The tree limbs quickly became weighed down and some broke off.

We even lost power for a short while. 

This kind of beauty appeals to the eyes but when the winds come, it is very destructive, and when the sun comes it will quickly melt.

 True beauty is found in the heart...in the meek and quiet. It will last through the wind...

it will withstand the sun.  

It does not bring destruction. 

                                            It nourishes others. 

 "Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight". 1 Pet 3:4

New Growth

I often kneel down to peer at the soil where I’ve dropped my little seeds…day after day my eyes scan for the first sign of life. I never grow tired of watching my seedlings push from the soil and stretch their little leaves towards the light. 

Isn't God’s reaction similar when seeing signs of new growth in His children’s lives?

His eyes are straining to see the littlest development…

It delights Him to see the smallest growth. He rejoices over us and tenderly encourages our increase. 

After a while when true leaves are formed and the greenhouse is bursting with green foliage, I get too busy to notice each plants new development.

                                                                                             But God never misses anything. 

I need my eyes to be trained accordingly. I want the new growth in a person’s life to catch my eye before I see what is lacking.

I do not what to be so focused on my own life that I miss the wonderful beauty of another’s progress.