strawberries

Picture Fruitfulness in Us, Psalms, Lamentations, Romans, and Ecclesiastes

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Lamentations 3:22-23 “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

It may be early, but it’s summer and early morning we (the cat and I) can go outside. My peas and strawberry plants are reaching fruition in fruiting and the birds are chirping, the cat is happier outside. It is not too buggy yet, I wrapped up with an old sheet for a blanket for protection anyway. Life is good within the small slice of the 6am morning before time marches on. 

The cardinal chirping was clear, there are distinct calls for each bird, was it warning or song? (Many think the cardinals are visits from our family members – well they would be warning us too as well as encouraging us to keep moving forward and be fruitful. Truly the warnings and encouragements of life are to keep moving forward always anyway…)

There are dangers in the world, for birds yes, and for us too. The best warning is to guard against the drain of our fruitfulness, for stresses and unknowns come but we are to stay solid upon the Rock of the Lord’s support and the fertile ground of His enrichment. We need to always grow and grow in all ways – especially in Patience and in Piety. There are times that things work out and other times we have “what ifs?”… and yet each morning is reset as new, there is a time to just pause and pray. This is the time to stop racing thoughts, just work, praise, pray, play, and participate in life. There is a season for everything, like Ecclesiastes 3 recounts – and we are to ask the Lord to help us “number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” – which to me means to strike when the iron is hot, and change directions when it is not!

Proverbs 19:20-121 Listen to counsel and receive instruction, That you may be wise in your latter days. There are many plans in a man’s heart, Nevertheless the Lord’s counsel—that will stand. 

After my fruitful container garden (may not look pretty but it is pretty secured against the groundhog and rabbits) is harvested from strawberries and peas – the early season is done, in a couple of weeks, maybe the tomatoes will be planted, got to still buy those, and maybe my sitting outside will be different again. Life and seasons change quickly. But pray the sun still rises and mornings still come with new mercies and more and different fruitfulness. 

These garden fruits take time to develop and within us, if we picture fruitfulness – we can gain it – by wisdom – and ask for the Lord to lay HIS Fruit upon us for His usefulness of our work for HIM (and ourselves). The fruits of the Spirit (Romans 12) are: JOY, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Generosity, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-Control. These are all to be applied and accepted with LOVE. That is the harvest of the Lord in us.

Amen 

Solomon laments not always understanding life and surely observes life in Ecclesiastes 3 – but especially he knows that God is in charge – and knows there is a time for everything:

Ecclesiastes 3 NIV

A Time for Everything
There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens:

    a time to be born and a time to die,
    a time to plant and a time to uproot,
    a time to kill and a time to heal,
    a time to tear down and a time to build,
    a time to weep and a time to laugh,
    a time to mourn and a time to dance,
    a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
    a time to search and a time to give up,
    a time to keep and a time to throw away,
    a time to tear and a time to mend,
    a time to be silent and a time to speak,
    a time to love and a time to hate,
    a time for war and a time for peace.

What do workers gain from their toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him.

Whatever is has already been,
    and what will be has been before;
    and God will call the past to account.

And I saw something else under the sun:
In the place of judgment—wickedness was there,
    in the place of justice—wickedness was there.

I said to myself, “God will bring into judgment both the righteous and the wicked,
for there will be a time for every activity, a time to judge every deed.”

I also said to myself, “As for humans, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals. Surely the fate of human beings is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; humans have no advantage over animals. Everything is meaningless. All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. Who knows if the human spirit rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?”

So I saw that there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy their work, because that is their lot. For who can bring them to see what will happen after them?

The Lamb IS the Light, Revelation 21

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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

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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.