garden

It’s All About the Knees (and Garden Photos that Please), Psalms 30 and 29, Praises Divine

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It’s all about the knees, 

Whether you are down praying on them, “Lord Please!”

Or raising up low on them, Oh Geez!

Oh Lord, please Lord, help our knees. 

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Our knees must bend and sway,

Carry burdening weight each day, 

If they give in or give way,

Let us know we will walk more freely someday. 

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Whether you stroll, wander, or run,

Walk chasing the morning to evening sun, 

On a mission or just out for fun,

Let us walk the walk, talk the talk, and then some. 

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So, let us take a few days of ease,

Listen to the seasonal breeze,

And praise and pray emotionally on our crucial knees,

Help us walk the path best, oh Lord how You please.

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Life is all about talking to the Lord in ease.

Life is all about flexibility of following Him, and yes, the spiritual and physical knees.

Amen

(Attached are photos that please, from a walk yesterday where I did use my knees, up and down hills and chairs with still ease. A walk that I promised myself, an emotional gift to take a couple hours off for myself to get to the garden near work, a cultivated gorgeous rolling landscape…  Here I emotionally and physically prayed praises and thankfulness to the Lord for His faithfulness and mercy and blessings in my many trials and troubles, now blessings and incentives to keep moving: moment by moment, rest by rest, knee by knee, day by day appreciative of the Lord taking care of me, my family, my work, finances, ALL, AND OUR FUTURE TOO. Amen)

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Psalm 30

New King James Version

The Blessedness of Answered Prayer

A Psalm. A Song at the dedication of the house of David.

I will extol You, O Lord, for You have lifted me up, And have not let my foes rejoice over me. O Lord my God, I cried out to You, And You healed me. O Lord, You brought my soul up from the grave; You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.

Sing praise to the Lord, you saints of His, And give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name. For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life; Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning.

Now in my prosperity I said, “I shall never be moved.” Lord, by Your favor You have made my mountain stand strong; You hid Your face, and I was troubled.

I cried out to You, O Lord; And to the Lord I made supplication: “What profit is there in my blood, When I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise You? Will it declare Your truth? Hear, O Lord, and have mercy on me; Lord, be my helper!”

You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, To the end that my glory may sing praise to You and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever.

Psalm 29

New King James Version

Praise to God in His Holiness and Majesty, 

A Psalm of David.

29 

Give unto the Lord, O you mighty ones, Give unto the Lord glory and strength. Give unto the Lord the glory due to His name; Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.

The voice of the Lord is over the waters; The God of glory thunders; The Lord is over many waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful; The voice of the Lord is full of majesty.

The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars, Yes, the Lord splinters the cedars of Lebanon. He makes them also skip like a calf, Lebanon and Sirion like a young wild ox. The voice of the Lord divides the flames of fire.

The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness; The Lord shakes the Wilderness of Kadesh. The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth, And strips the forests bare; And in His temple everyone says, “Glory!”

The Lord sat enthroned at the Flood, And the Lord sits as King forever. The Lord will give strength to His people; The Lord will bless His people with peace.

Work the Soil, Mark 4

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It’s the growing season, yes we love to work the soil. I put more into the veggie garden than I get out of it, and yes the soil is more expensive than the seed!!! So this year I’m changing it up for container gardening for peas and beans and strawberries. My garden needs weeding too, because I do see strawberries making a comeback there too, strawberries propagate by runners, a shoot to become rooted, and sow down the lane… 

We in faith, like the plants need good soil to root, plant ourselves and fruit. We in faith also have to branch out into new soils or spread seeds outward because new soils mean we are reaching, spreading the ABILITY to grow, not just tending close by. 

We know we are to spread seeds, but God does the ultimate miracle of growth… Jesus spoke of the Kingdom of Heaven – so many parables about seeds and soil and growth – as well as spreading them. I find too that the Lord has invested SO MUCH into the soil – so MUCH in so much as sending Himself down here to accomplish growth for everyone – the opportunity for salvation – the teaching to repent – the gift of the forgiveness of sins. The stage is set – the soil is poured and the nutrients are available. The Lord wants to have a well-watered season, and fruit in good yields.

I recently heard an interview with Rick Steves, travel expert, and Martin Sheen, TV and film star, about India and how experiencing travel puts into perspective our needs and wants. Travel is a whole level of privilege. It taught them to count blessings looking at the situations of impoverished people, and how they were grateful for having a passport and ability to get on a plane for their work – to travel the world . We can see the scenes on TV, but the in-person experience of the people changes your perspective. We grow by experiences.

We also surely grow in faith by experiences. We understand that Jesus loves all people (and there certainly are a lot of people in the world), and so we must keep working the soil – around us and sending seeds ahead – spreading faith – and enriching our own.

May we, like Jesus’s disciples, keep leaning into the learning and then sharing all that we have insight for – may we keep growing to keep teaching…

Amen

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Mark 4 excerpts

The Parable of the Growing Seed

He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”

The Parable of the Mustard Seed

Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.”

With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand. He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.

Morning has Broken, but God Hasn’t

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“…praise every morning, God’s recreation of the new day!…”

Some major storms last night, but I was not and am not usually afraid. Not going to endanger myself, but I’ll certainly look interestingly outside the windows at the lightning when I’m not charting the thunderstorms on the radar. 

We do need the rain, and it IS summer. 

If summer is July and August, for the main event, like it is us having a weekend Saturday and Sunday, in terms of weather. Then surely June to summer would be like the Friday night warm up. Praise for the new season of summer. It will get too cold too fast. Praise for summer and wet gardens to walk though. Love the lyrics of Morning Has Broken – God walking in the gardens.

We can take the weather and weather it. Really rarely does lightning actually strike us people – but I’ve seen a tree get hit only feet away from me, and wow the heat was intense !!! So I respect lightning.  That day, we didn’t know the storm would open up so quickly. We didn’t have alarms or radar. We were in a pavilion at a BBQ. Now we have lots of warnings, especially glued to our phones. Then we watched the skies. Run to the car or not? I opted for the car. Probably not the right choice but I survived. No, I’m not extra fearful now, it was just something that one deals with and moves on.

Respect over fear. Smart over stupid. Living over cowering. Just accept summer is summer. Live it!

Maybe like thunderstorm radars, we ALREADY know each day will bring us CHALLENGES. But do we move out into the day anyway? Yes. and we should. This is why we have roofing and good tires and common sense. 

If common sense is useful, then our sense of place is just as important – and our witness of knowledge of God as calming AND our witness of God as POWERFUL – these thoughts keep us moving in our day.

If we remember that God can overcome all that is dark by being LIGHT, and He can overcome hate by being LOVE, surely we can look past the night to see the dawn, and we can calm our fears to accept His peace.

It can be dark, but morning comes. The life we live can be broken, yet the heat can be broken and the morning will be broken in our favor, because our God will never be broken unable to help. Yes – broken in body as Jesus was – but God whole never broken in purpose or plan. And God has walked all these gardens before.

Amen

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Morning has Broken, hymn

Author: Eleanor Farjeon (1931)

1 Morning has broken

like the first morning,

blackbird has spoken

like the first bird.

Praise for the singing!

Praise for the morning!

Praise for them, springing

fresh from the Word!

2 Sweet the rain’s new fall

sunlit from heaven,

like the first dewfall

on the first grass.

Praise for the sweetness

of the wet garden,

sprung in completeness

where God’s feet pass.

3 Mine is the sunlight!

Mine is the morning

born of the one light

Eden saw play!

Praise with elation,

praise every morning,

God’s recreation

of the new day!

Morning has Broken, Cat Stevens

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=qARB7XPfYjo&si=RLYyLQn8gFIcjYgU

It’s LIVING Tears Springing Forth

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It’s 2 months since Christmas today, that was like ancient history, dried up memories too. (Except I just realized my Christmas lights are still up, oops). Everyone is now looking towards SPRING. My recent lunch with friends was next to a beautiful garden center, teeming with life. What isn’t joyfully teaming and fresh with life is in the phase of gearing up waiting to bud. It was filled with hydrated living greens and pinks and yellows as well as carefully preserved dried mosses and grasses. The garden center embraced us in a sweet garden hug just like our friendship does with each other.

Yesterday I had a great church gathering, also with new and cherished old friends, we are God’s family even if we just met. So yesterday it was not lost on me that I had a few duplicated seeings of scriptures. Hmmm… I could say that’s so cute ‘by coincidence’, but I know better. God is a LIVING Moving God. God is speaking His Word, but not just for crafting a goosebumps response, but causing a listening in the moment of His motivating and His buffering Way. GOD’S GOT A POINT TO WHERE HE IS POINTING US. He both hugs us with life, like that garden store did, AND He leads us in ways unknown but steady and sure, like the water that flows through the plants. His Living Water flows through us. Where we bud is up to Him. Sometimes we even bud out in Living tears. Living Tears Springing Forth. The right moving Spirit moves us too. God’s Timing. God’s Hydration. If we prefer to stay silent, even the rocks will cry out. We shouldn’t stay silent. We should not be cold when God’s warming us. (We also shouldn’t put a light under a basket to hide it).

Both these duplicated scriptures from yesterday (replication for God to give me a theme day) speak volumes about WHOLENESS and LOVE, about seeing in part now but in whole later. Sometimes, like the garden shop needs water, our Living Water knows to soak us in Spirit, and give us excess for later: excess to spill out in tears if called upon. Even succulent plants know to store up their water, so we soak in these scriptures:

For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. 1 Corinthians 13:12 KJV

No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us. 1 John 4:12 NIV

Expression in part can be in tears – Jesus had them, why wouldn’t we? 

Now God’s Love is not always a path of cushy ease, there are tough times. There’s pruning in our lives, like the winter vinedresser of the Lord knowing best, to make us stronger and more fruitful come spring. Sometimes we feel the JOY, but also feel the uneasiness of doing what we feel is His calling over ours. God says: Stay being led. Stay in the moment. Stay on the path. Keep walking. LOOK UP, not at the world. Understand there’s a mission bigger than just for you, but through you. Go there… 

A song that a friend shared speaks volumes for this. From the band FFH “What it feels like” – the lyrics: “To find out that if I accept my brokenness, I get more of me, I get all of You”  – Amen to that!  – “This is what it feels like to be led.”

Yes! It’s not always, nor should it be for us to do God’s work for favor or affirmation by people. It is an embrace of fellowship yes, but a path of His calling not ours. And so we walk the path. Flow the Living Tears in Hydration. Accept that “in part” is all we get to see now, but someday we will see and know IN WHOLE. 

If Spring is anticipated just around the corner, imagine how AMAZING God’s Kingdom will come…  Let us keep blooming and budding forward!

Let us share our Living God Love with the world who is desperately parched and in need.

Amen

“What It Feels Like” – lyrics – FFH

So this is what it feels like to walk the wilderness

This is what it feels like to come undone

This is what it feels like to lose my confidence

Unsure of anything or anyone

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So this is what it feels like to walk the desert sand

This is what it feels like to hear my name

To be scared to death ’cause I’m all alone

But feel love and peace just the same

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This may not be the road I would choose for me

But it still feels right somehow

‘Cause I have never felt You as close to me as I do right now

So this is what it feels like to be led

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So this is what it feels like to just fall apart

To be totally unglued

To find out that if I accept my brokenness

I get more of me, I get all of You

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And this may not be the road I would choose for me

But it still feels right somehow

I have never felt You as close to me as I do right now

So this is what it feels like to be led

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So this is what it feels like to just walk away

From everything I thought kept me safe

To depend just on You for every meal

And find that it’s better this way

Oh, it’s better this way

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This may not be the road I would choose for me

But it still feels right somehow

‘Cause I have never felt You as close to me as I do right now Like I do right now

This may not be the road I would choose for me

But it still feels right somehow

And I have never felt You as close to me as I do right now

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So this is what it feels like to be led

This is what it feels like to be led