You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.
~C. S. Lewis
Tag: Canada
Following the Sun
Happiness is untested delight. Joy is delight tested.
~ Jack Hyles
The sunflowers are back in the Kootenays. Yes, I know they are really called arrow leaf balsam root but locals call them sunflowers because they follow the sun.
I love this time of year! My friend told me they were in bloom. I’m grateful I felt well enough this weekend to hike up to the first butte where they are known to congregate.
It’s been a year of testing, a year with moments that would not usually fit in the delightful category. And yet there is joy in the midst of challenge. I am learning to choose to notice the delight God takes in his creation, for example.
I am learning that joy is not dependent on circumstances. Joy rises above mere logic and statistics of probability.
Joy, real joy, is knowing that the Source of joy is trustworthy.
Joy is seeing the big picture and knowing that in the end all will be well.
The road between here and there can be steep, trying, and even painful, but in the end, all will be well. Our heavenly Father sees the beginning from the end and the end from the beginning. His love wins.
This is the season of new hope, freshly sprung and following the sun.
Hope. Spring. Eternity.
God is good.
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Silence Calls
So much to do, but the snow falls softly and the silent forest calls.
The Fruit of Silence
The fruit of silence is prayer.
The fruit of prayer is faith.
The fruit of faith is love.
The fruit of love is service.
The fruit of service is peace.
~ Mother Theresa
~ Latvian composer Pēteris Vasks’ setting Of Mother Theresa’s poem
The season of rest lingers.
Receive.
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Secret Stairway
For you are my dove, hidden in the split-open rock. It was I who took you and hid you up high in the secret stairway of the sky. Let me see your radiant face and hear your sweet voice. How beautiful your eyes of worship and lovely your voice in prayer.
~Song of Songs (The Passion Translation)
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Oranges!
It’s winter.
We have oranges.
“So?” you may ask.
I asked the same question when the Lord kept drawing my attention to the bowl on the kitchen counter.
I realized, as I peeled a huge navel orange, that my grandmother, living with her malnourished family in two thin-walled granaries pulled together on the frozen prairie in the 30s, would have seen these colourful globes on her table as a miracle.
I realized, as I pulled the juicy segments apart, that unlike my friend, who is now on tube feedings, I can eat oranges.
I realized, as I bit off a piece and the wonderful scent filled my sniffer, that unlike another friend, whose sense of taste has been distorted by chemo, I can taste oranges.
I realized, as I cleaned sticky orange juice off my fingers, that unlike a new Facebook contact, I can afford to buy a bowl of oranges grown in some semi-tropical climate and flown (in the sky!) to my grocery store in Canada. My medication costs under $2500 per dose and is covered by our healthcare. The same drug, at the same dosage, costs over ten times as much in her country and is only partially covered by medical insurance with extremely high premiums.
“So?”
So, there is always, always, something to be thankful for. I see it now.
Thank you, Lord!
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To All Generations
Oh, how I love this next generation! Such beautiful, caring, sincere hearts.
Lord, bless them and cover them with the purity that enables them to see you. May they align with your plan to accomplish your will on earth as it is in heaven. May your goodness be evident in their lives.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
(Matthew 5:8)
The counsel of the Lord stands forever,
the plans of his heart to all generations.
(Psalm 33:11)
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Essential Travel
Conditions are not ideal for travel this time of year, yet many people make the journey back “home” or the to the people who represent home. Sometimes a joyful reunion lies at the end of the trip; sometimes a duty-motivated sojourn stirs up painful memories. We still go.
Joseph and Mary made the journey back to the place of their roots. Conditions and timing were not ideal, yet this essential travel was part of God’s plans, not only for them, but for the world’s sake. Many people find themselves on paths they had not anticipated this time last year. I am one.
Sometimes I have been a reluctant traveller, but it is on this path that I am discovering the faithfulness of God and his majesty in the unexpected. I can honestly say he has never left me. When I offer him child-like trust he takes me by the hand and teaches me things that I could not have seen on my previous route.
It’s not an easy road, but it is a beautiful one.
Lord, direct me throughout my journey
so I can experience your plans for my life.
Reveal the life-paths that are pleasing to you.
Escort me along the way; take me by the hand and teach me.
For you are the God of my increasing salvation;
I have wrapped my heart into yours!
(Psalm 25: 4, 5 The Passion Translation)
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Prince of Peace
Oh, Lord, our Lord, how Majestic is your name in all the earth!
Prince of Peace
“How blessed you are when you make peace! For then you will be recognized as a true child of God.” – Jesus Christ
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Nor Height, Nor Depth
For I am convinced
that neither death,
nor life,
nor angels,
nor principalities,
nor things present,
nor things to come,
nor powers,
nor height,
nor depth,
nor any other created thing,
will be able to separate us from the love of God,
which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(Romans 8:38, 39 NASB)
The height of the abuse of power. The depths of depravity. Neither are a match for love.
Charis: Subject to Change 