One Small Leaf
Father, I am grateful for innumerable things with which You continue to bless me. From my sleep last night to Your presence in worship this morning, to Your companionship as I trekked around the back of our lot this afternoon. I am blessed by all things great and small!
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We have a fairly large drainage ditch that crosses under the highway from the large field across the road from our home. A lot of water passes through it but there’s been a problem…until this weekend I have not taken the time to clear it of leaves and branches from this past fall. We have also had a couple of trees fall across it in the back of our lot, causing more debris to collect. Needless to say, with all the rain we have had this winter it has backed up and flooded that portion of our lot. Walking back there yesterday I discovered a mucky, muddy mess!
Ideally, I should have addressed some of the problems early last fall. If I had pulled out some of the leaves and made sure branches were cleared out, the flow would have been good and there would have been far less mess with which to deal. They may not be big things in and of themselves – I mean really one single leaf isn’t a big deal – but get several thousand leaves stuck behind some strategically – but naturally – placed branches and they can add up to some major issues!
How often do we let that happen in our spiritual lives? There are things that need to be dealt with, but we don’t take the time to address them. They may be little things but they can pile up quickly. How often do we hear Your still small voice encouraging us to take care of what needs taken care of but we put it off? And it accumulates and piles up and gets bigger and bigger and messier and messier until eventually, it starts to affect other areas in our lives.
Lord Jesus, help us to be attentive to Your direction in our lives. May we be quick to act when You tell us to. May we not procrastinate. The longer we wait the more difficult the task will become.
Of course, the more debris that we accumulate, the more we ignore You, the further we will separate ourselves from You. It will become more and more difficult to hear You. Lord, help us!
Let’s take care of that one small leaf before they begin to pile up! Amen!
Mar 10th, 2019, Sun, 8:12 pm
Me and Starlings
Thank You, Father, for Your never-ending love! When the world gets crazy, I find my peace in You.
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I take great joy in seeing birds at the feeders out my office windows! As I’ve mentioned before I regularly see Cardinals, Yellow and Purple Finches, Red-breasted, Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers, Juncos, Nuthatches, and many more. But the ones I absolutely cannot stand are the Starlings!
When I first identified one for my mother-in-law, she thought they were beautiful, a juvenile’s coloring makes it look almost lacy. With their iridescent feathers, they do have a certain beauty but…they don’t belong here. They just take over when they are around. They inhale the seed I put out and scare the other birds away!
In the early 1890s, Eugene Schieffelin released 100 European Starlings into New York City’s Central Park. His goal, as a part of the American Acclimatization Society, was to introduce all the birds mentioned in the plays of William Shakespeare to North America. He didn’t realize how invasive they would become. It is estimated that there are now over 200 million of them in North America.
So, is this just one of my “soap boxes”? Really, I do have a point. Sin and Starlings have something in common. Sin does not belong here! Millenia ago it was brought into our world by the willful actions of the first man and woman – Adam and Eve. And talk about an invasion! Every human being to ever walk upon this earth has been contaminated by it. It takes over our lives! And try as we might, we cannot overcome it…at least not on our own!
That is why Jesus came. Only He did not yield to the temptations of sin and only His sacrifice, paying the penalty of sin – death! – can conquer it once and for all! Only by accepting His gift of salvation from sin can we be victors!
But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. 1 John 1:9 NLT
Lord Jesus, help us to eradicate sin which is so pervasive in our world and in our own lives. May we seek Your forgiveness and then be diligent in making others aware of the freedom found only in You. Amen!
Mar 7th, 2019, Thurs, 10:05 am
History of “Jesus Loves Me”
I watched a video earlier today and a part of it was the old children’s hymn, Jesus Loves Me. I’m sure that if you’ve been around church for very long you know this beloved hymn.
Jesus loves me! this I know,
For the Bible tells me so.
Little ones to Him belong;
They are weak, but He is strong.
Refrain
Yes, Jesus loves me.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
The Bible tells me so.
Jesus loves me! He who died
Heaven’s gate to open wide.
He will wash away my sin,
Let His little child come in.
These two stanzas and the refrain, according to one hymnal, were written by the original author, Anna B. Warner.
I went through one of my books of hymn stories, Then Sings My Soul*, and found this. I thought it would be nice to share.
Anna and Susan Warner lived in a lovely townhouse in New York City, where their father, Henry Whiting Warner, was a successful lawyer. But the Panic of 1837 wrecked the family’s finances, forcing them to move into a ram-shackle Revolutionary War-era home on Constitution Island on the Hudson, right across from the Military Academy at West Point.
Needing to contribute to the family income, Anna and Susan began writing poems and stories for publication. Anna wrote “Robinson Crusoe’s Farmyard,” and Susan wrote, “The Wide, Wide World.” The girls thus launched parallel literary careers that resulted in 106 publications, 18 of them coauthored.
One of their most successful joint projects was a novel titled Say and Seal in which a little boy named Johnny [Fax] is dying. His Sunday school teacher John Linden, comforts him by taking him in his arms, rocking him, and making up a little song, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so…”
The novel became a bestseller, second only to Uncle Tom’s Cabin; when hymnwriter William Bradbury read the words of John Linden’s little song (written by Anna), he composed a childlike musical score to go along with them. “Jesus Loves Me” soon became the best-known children’s hymn on earth.
Despite their success, the Warner sisters never seemed able to recover from the staggering financial reverses of 1836. Years later a friend wrote, “One day when sitting with Miss Anna in the old living room, she took from one of the cases a shell so delicate that it looked like lace work, and holding it in her hand, with eyes dimmed with tears, she said, ‘There was a time when I was very perplexed, bills were unpaid, necessities must be had, and someone sent me this exquisite thing. As I held it, I realized that if God could make this beautiful home for a little creature, He would take care of me.”‘
For forty years, Susan and Anna conducted Bible classes for cadets at West Point, both were buried with full military honors. They are the only civilians buried in the military cemetery at West Point. To this day, their home on Constitution Island is maintained by West Point as a museum to their memory.
*Then Sings My Soul: 150 of the World’s Greatest Hymn Stories by Robert J. Morgan, ©2003,
Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc., pg. 139
Click here for another link that shares some interesting information on their work with the cadets at West Point – including Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Mar 6th, 2019, Wed, 1:07 pm
Be a Blizzard for Christ!
What a morning! My bus route went smoothly. I also had the opportunity to spend some time with a gentleman from one of my churches who can’t get out to church any longer. That was all great but I had truck issues getting to his home and part of the way back home. I called out for Your help, Father, and You got me home safely. Praise Your Holy Name!
Mark 4:30-34 (<<click to read the passage)
Many followers of Christ feel they are not that special. They feel that they are just one amongst the multitude and have little impact. But, if you really think about it when we all work together for the glory of God under His umbrella, we can accomplish great things. We are far from insignificant when joined together.
Since we have had snow today, my mind goes to snow! By itself, a snowflake is pretty small. But put a bunch together and you can bring a pretty large geographic area to their knees. Add wind to the mixture and you might even get a blizzard and even more havoc is wreaked upon the populace.
We may be small. We may think of ourselves as being the size of a mustard seed, even. But joined together for the common cause of God’s Kingdom with the wind of the Spirit driving us along and great impact can be made!
Don’t give up! Every one of God’s children plays an important part in advancing God’s will upon the earth. We all have a part to play, rather big or small in our own eyes. God’s will will be accomplished “on earth as it is in heaven”! (Matthew 6:9-13)
Working together, being a blizzard for Christ – if you will, we can bring the world to its knees as it comes to acknowledge our almighty God and Savior!
Mar 5th, 2019, Tues, 12:30 pm
Get the Seed Out
Father, I am so glad that You are who You are and that You are not like me. If You were like me, I would have been zapped to a cinder long, long ago. But You are not like me. You are patient – or really long-suffering is a much better description. You are love. You are merciful and full to overflowing of grace. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Pull me close, for that is where I need to stay. Amen.
Mark 4:26-29 (<<click to read the passage)
We really enjoy the flowers in our yard. They add so much beauty through the spring, summer, and fall. We usually have a few annuals – Karen loves Gerber Daisies! But for the most part, we have perennials.
There are Daffodils, Hyacinths, Crocuses and a few Tulips in the spring. Then in the summer, there are Lilies of the Valley, a Black-eyed Susans, Coneflowers, Sedums, and a few more. Then in the fall, we have a couple of varieties of Mums.
Now when it comes to house plants, we’ve kept most of our succulents alive but most everything dies within a short period of time.
Why should I mention all this? In this passage, Jesus speaks of a farmer. And all the farmer can really do is plant (and fertilize). In the end, it is in God’s hands, not the farmer’s.
We share our faith in many ways. The way we live our lives is huge! But it is also important that we learn to share verbally. Now we may struggle in that area and I do know some who are gifted in this area. But regardless, the seed is sown and if we have the opportunity to continue to interact with these folks, we can nurture as time goes along. But again, in the end, it is in God’s hands, not ours.
Lord Jesus, no matter if we are excellent sowers or find it a challenge to get the seed out, You and You alone will bring about the harvest. Our task is to keep our “eyes on the great harvest to come and [not] let bad soil or weeds discourage [us] from faithful service and witness.”* Amen!
*Life Application Study Bible New Living Translation
Mar 4th, 2019, Mon, 4:57 pm