Something About The Joy

Today I found an article in Christianity Today that contritutes more to my thinking on the Petals topic. Somehow it's related. Not sure how yet. Something about trusting instead of fixing. Believing instead of doing. Check it out if you like. http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/october/22.60.html Dang. I keep forgetting how to put web addresses in so you can access them directly. Help?

I’m sitting on the back deck having some quiet time with the Lord. Beautiful sunshine! One of the many things I have to be thankful for this Canadian Thanksgiving weekend. But thanks is not uppermost in my mind. As we begin to talk (or as I begin to talk) I notice the petunia needs pruning. So many dead leaves and blossoms. So I start pulling them off as I mutter. “God, please help my dear ones. You know how long and hard I’ve prayed for them and yet nothing has happened. Can’t you do something? I’ve invested so much in them you must know how important this is. They need your healing in their lives so badly. It seems to me like you should be doing something about this.” I mutter away, out loud, which means I can hear how it sounds, so I end up doing quite a bit of repenting: for my impatience with God, for my self-pity, for my lack of faith. Then all of a sudden I’m in tears. From out of nowhere. God, you know how much I love these people. It’s because I love them. I kno...

It may be my imagination, but it seems lately I’ve become aware of the quiet moving of God in my life in a new way. I don’t know if He’s moving in a new way, or I’m just becoming aware of it. But it’s intriguing, and something I want to follow up on. Often, these days, when I’m working at the computer, or out and about around town, I get a sudden, sweet urge to go to prayer in a more focused way. The kind of prayer I’m drawn to in these moments is different than the more or less continual chatter I bombard Him with all day long—the kind that often degrades into self-talk, because I’ve become more focused on my problems than the One I’m talking to about them. These moments are delicate, so fleeting that they’re gone almost as soon as I realize they’ve come. Kind of like butterflies landing on your shoulder. And I’ve found they totally evaporate when they come and I think to myself, “Hmm. That’s nice. I’m going to go to prayer as soon as I finish this article, or when I get home fr...

A Sonnet to Sophia Marie Jessie Mohr written the day she was born, October 4, 2007 by Grandma Jaques The rain-bowed clouds embrace your birth today. They promise grace for sunny skies and dim. Life spreads her wings to start you on your way, God takes your hand to lead your heart toward Him. Through your dear body run the threads of life That join us all in common ancestry. And through your spirit, as you’re led by Christ, Those threads will lead into eternity. The gracious plans the Master has for you Are mirrored in the glowing rainbow skies. We see them faintly veiled from earthly view As we look down into your misty eyes.