flowers

Is Dairy Queen Calling My Name?

Standard

I don’t know – but I think Dairy Queen is STILL calling my name – I had it (a simple but classic vanilla with chocolate dip) a year ago now in Las Vegas visiting a friend and it hit the spot then right? – and the mouth feel of the chocolate melting was the draw… But I can’t remember now whether it satisfied me at that point last year – mentally sure probably on a hot day with kids in the care so we went to the drive thru – but the taste I don’t remember – too long ago to remember. I still have the photo – and I know that I was wanting that ice cream before I got it – those things I remember – but what about the result? Hmmm… I don’t remember…

I thought that then yesterday (separate occasion for getting ice cream) that I would enjoy the ice cream from a local place (not Dairy Queen) and I did enjoy it – but then it became too much to finish – it was too much that I couldn’t get the other half into the freezer because I was driving and well I continued to keep eating it – I thought hmmm, maybe my eyes were too big for my taste… And maybe I was craving salty not sweet… Oh well, it is all melted away now in my memory and stomach… (but maybe not my hips, lol)…

So, isn’t that like us – our tastes change – the seasons change – the flowers change…  And these giant mums I saw yesterday are so beautiful right now and the colors are perfect for THIS season – and in spring we would prefer different colors… Our tastes change – by training or by introspection. And the flowers I had all summer will be gone in a freeze snap so quickly – they were beautiful – but temporary but gone after growing so strong for months (I am holding on to them with a cover at night protecting against the frost and freeze for now). Surely these flowers show us how life is so temporary here on earth – how the colors and flowers and tastes change so fast – and how we are not always fulfilled in each season of life… Doesn’t mean we don’t live our best – but we are to remember that there is more to life than each season we are in.

Honestly NOTHING, NOTHING could be the same soul satisfying ‘thing’ or ‘thought’ than like how the Lord fulfils us. What could be? NOTHING…  There is nothing like THE LORD to fulfil every nook and cranny of our souls, of our minds, of our hearts, and of our tastes in the life forever that He gifts… There is no one like THE LORD to call us – call us by name and by a new name in Heaven…

“All flesh is as grass, And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, And its flower falls away, But the word of the Lord endures forever.” 1st Peter 1:24-25a from Isaiah 40:8, NKJV

Meanwhile we travel in this temporary state – doing what we can – living best we can – loving as much as we can. And even in stress, remembering the hard pressed nature of the clay that the Lord has made us – we are to be STRONG because of Him – and FILLABLE like an earthen vessel – fillable with the Holy Spirit to keep moving us.  And as the “Jesus Always” devotion stated for the day (yesterday) – things in life – good and bad – are temporary – and nothing here – good or bad – will ever ‘out do’ the forever life – the ETERNAL WEIGHT OF GLORY.

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. 2nd Corinthians 4

Maybe I will try again for a different ice cream like me switching flower seasons – but honestly I am NOW sensing switching into apple cider season – not ice cream but warm spiced cider for sipping… We long for that satisfaction that we THINK we want – that chocolate-covered shell that Dairy Queen gives maybe I will wait on it until spring and wait for it as a fraction of the thought of waiting upon the Lord.

And I WILL have that warm cider – and the warm soup and cup of tea as good system satisfiers for the moment. Temporary satisfiers WHILE we think of the Lord Who Was and IS and Will Be our BEST Satisfaction of all…

AMEN

You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Psalm 16:11 NKJV

2nd Corinthians 4:13-18

And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed and therefore I spoke,” we also believe and therefore speak, knowing that He who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus, and will present us with you. For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.

Seeing the Invisible
Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

—

Psalm 16 NKJV
The Hope of the Faithful, and the Messiah’s Victory
A Michtam of David.

Preserve me, O God, for in You I put my trust.

O my soul, you have said to the Lord, “You are my Lord, My goodness is nothing apart from You.” As for the saints who are on the earth, “They are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight.”

Their sorrows shall be multiplied who hasten after another god; Their drink offerings of blood I will not offer, Nor take up their names on my lips.

O Lord, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup; You maintain my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; Yes, I have a good inheritance.

I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel; My heart also instructs me in the night seasons. I have set the Lord always before me; Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.

Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will rest in hope. For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

The Lamb IS the Light, Revelation 21

Standard

The end of March is the dawning into spring, and longer days, warmer temperatures, and LIGHT… The weather in March goes out like a lamb, gentle and growing.

And the light? Our hope is not just in the now, our hope is forever for Eternity. The LAMB of the Lord is Jesus, and the LAMB as our NEW LIGHT never goes out. 

The Glory of the New Jerusalem is our scripture for renewal, from John writing in Revelation: But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it. Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there). (Ahhhh wonderful… Read more of Revelation 21 below)

This weekend, I treated myself to flowers both for the spring and super warm temperatures on Saturday, and for the decompression of the successful driver’s test pass for my daughter, whew! Fabulous! (Another new season for our family with all drivers…)…

I saw the pansies, which can tolerate cool temps, and impulsively bought a flat, refilled my flower boxes in joy, and also gifted some to a friend for her spring birthday. And then again Sunday, after the birthday party, driving home I saw a roadside stand with opened pussywillow soft fuzzy buds for sale. So nice. Seemed appropriate to pair with the fuzzy fleece from my Sunday sermon still sitting in the car. Treated myself to another iris for transplanting too from that inexpensive roadside stand… And then at a big farm stand, I bought strawberry plants, to renew that hope in me of growth and fruitful yummy strawberries…  I also got bags of soil and cleaned up the yard and picked daffodils. My favorite flower is the “Forget-me-not”, never seem to be able to grow those, well I got those too…  beautiful even if the flowers are but temporary for the season and for life.

It’s that excitement and hope of the spring flowers and growing season that renews energy in me and in us. We live in cycles of seasons, and cycles of life. Some things die away, others are made new… We need to keep cycling until we get home. Meanwhile we will enjoy as gardeners working the soil on earth, watching renewal. We will enjoy as children of God, the Life He breathes into us. We know that we too will pass away but He won’t – and we have life in HIM.

Someday in Home of Heaven, ALL things will be made new. They will spring forth like we have never seen before. The city walls with the names of the apostles of the Lamb, the gates with the tribes, the peoples and nations of those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life…

Our Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world, will reign in Heaven with our Lord God Almighty. Our Lamb, the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, will bring in the NEW city, and God Almighty and the Lamb will BE the LIGHT.

All tears wiped away, all things made new. New life, new forever, new yet never-changing LIGHT of the LORD. 

Let us hope into Forever, and keep going and keep growing now too.

Amen

————

Revelation 21

All Things Made New

Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”

Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.”

And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

The New Jerusalem

Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came to me and talked with me, saying, “Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife.” And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. Also she had a great and high wall with twelve gates, and twelve angels at the gates, and names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west.

Now the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. And he who talked with me had a gold reed to measure the city, its gates, and its wall. The city is laid out as a square; its length is as great as its breadth. And he measured the city with the reed: twelve thousand furlongs. Its length, breadth, and height are equal. Then he measured its wall: one hundred and forty-four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of an angel. The construction of its wall was of jasper; and the city was pure gold, like clear glass. The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with all kinds of precious stones: the first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth sardius, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. The twelve gates were twelve pearls: each individual gate was of one pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.

The Glory of the New Jerusalem

But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it. Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there). And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it. But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

Memorial Day prayers – Life and all that…

Standard

Ah – Memorial Day weekend – oh how I feel like resting not working, but I know that my yard calls to me – will do that first and then later – maybe – will tackle the garden – but not yet – that bug has not quite bit me – but the flower beds do… Flowers are traditionally planted on Memorial Day weekend – for the living and for the fallen.

Oh how unbelievable war is – and this Memorial Day we honor those who have fallen in war – we remember all of our loved ones no longer with us – it is time for flowers and parades. Parties and picnics too…  And even my old friends camping in Gettysburg this weekend are doing civil war reenactments…  We have a nostalgia for the past. However we have failing memories of the present, we really do. If our news cycle is spinning somewhere else, we forget about the current challenges – I certainly do…

A friend asked me, at work, to help with making a thank you for some children in the Ukraine to boost their spirits – to thank them for gifts that they made our site which were their way to say thank you for some donations – including cleaned up equipment donated to a school. These children are the future and we forget the hardships there and practically everywhere – not everyone forgets but if I forget then others must forget too…  So for me to be the “photographer”, this was the smallest slice of my energy to send prayers and well wishes to those kids in war. Lest we forget that EVERYONE needs our encouragement.

And it IS easy to forget far away places when it is so beautiful and peaceful in our pockets of peace here. Just like last week, when in the center of the city, when I helped with a community garden, the peace was punctuated with birds chirping – having the airspace and trees to roam. Our children too need these places, places like schools and clubs, neighborhoods and church activities…  We raise our kids and then we forget about the other kids…  I don’t know the answer to this but to keep praying… We can’t fix the world but we can fix-up the small places we live in. We can pray-forth the people we can’t touch.

Another prayer would be for those times that we must put distance and not closeness into our lives – for people whom we purposefully don’t have contact with – and know it is for the best – everyone has long stories of these times. And this “healthy” separation of life brokeness can only be placed into God’s Hands. Thanking God for the buffer and asking His forgiveness for the fracture – and knowing there is good space in buffer of space and time and moving on…  Another reason that we need God Himself to be our healing force – we can’t do it ourselves and there are times we don’t want to do it – but one day – if not today – and often it is not today – God’s forgiveness will reign.  We can try to tap into that if we can’t muster it ourselves.

And a last prayer (for this blessed quiet morning) is for the acknowledgement of the challenges that the Lord has gotten us over in the past and therefore we must remember He will get us through the ones in our future – near future and distant future. He will heal wounds, He will preserve peace with a restoration and not a quick fix, He will rule and reign and return. All knees will bow.

Let us bow our hearts in praise, hurt, humility, and hope. Where we can only fathom peace, God IS Peace.

God bless ALL!

Amen