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Posted on 01/01/2022 11:37:54 AM PST by JustAmy
1/01/2021 | The Mayor; Luvie; JustAmy
Posted on 01/01/2021 6:43:29 AM PST by JustAmy
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TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Miscellaneous; Poetry; The Poetry Branch; Click to Add Topic
KEYWORDS: amysplace; friendship; january2022; poetry; Click to Add Keyword
Ugh. I don’t see how, but God always does what’s right.
Amen.
Bible in a Year:
They will be like a tree planted by the water.
“The wind is tossing the lilacs.” With that opening line of her springtime poem “May,” poet Sara Teasdale captured a vision of lilac bushes waving in gusty breezes. But Teasdale was lamenting a lost love, and her poem soon turned sorrowful.
Our backyard lilacs also encountered a challenge. After having their most lush and beautiful season, they faced the axe of a hard-working lawn man who “trimmed” every bush, chopping them to stubs. I cried. Then, three years later—after barren branches, a bout of powdery mildew, and my faithless plan to dig them up—our long-suffering lilacs rebounded. They just needed time, and I simply needed to wait for what I couldn’t see.
The Bible tells of many people who waited by faith despite adversity. Noah waited for delayed rain. Caleb waited forty years to live in the promised land. Rebekah waited twenty years to conceive a child. Jacob waited seven years to marry Rachel. Simeon waited and waited to see the baby Jesus. Their patience was rewarded.
In contrast, those who look to humans “will be like a bush in the wastelands” (Jeremiah 17:6). Poet Teasdale ended her verse in such gloom. “I go a wintry way,” she concluded. But “blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,” rejoiced Jeremiah. “They will be like a tree planted by the water” (vv. 7–8).
The trusting stay planted in God—the One who walks with us through the joys and adversities of life.
Reflect & Pray
What do you know about God that stirs your trust in Him? How will you plant your trust deeper in His steadying soil?
Heavenly Father, when my life feels barren or buffeted by stiff winds, please plant me deeper in Your steadying love.
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Bible in a Year:
Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.
Charla was dying, and she knew it. While she was lying on her hospital room bed, her surgeon and a group of young interns poured into the room. For the next several minutes, the doctor ignored Charla as he described her terminal condition to the interns. Finally, he turned to her and asked, “And how are you?” Charla weakly smiled and warmly told the group about her hope and peace in Jesus.
Some two thousand years ago, Jesus’ battered, naked body hung in humiliation on a cross before a crowd of onlookers. Would He lash out at His tormentors? No. “Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing’ ” (Luke 23:34). Though falsely convicted and crucified, He prayed for His enemies. Later, He told another humiliated man, a criminal, that—because of the man’s faith—he would soon be with Him “in paradise” (v. 43). In His pain and shame, Jesus chose to share words of hope and life out of love for others.
As Charla concluded sharing Christ to her listeners, she posed the question back to the doctor. She tenderly looked into his tear-filled eyes and asked, “And how are you?” By Christ’s grace and power, she’d shared words of life—showing love and concern for him and others in the room. In whatever trying situation we face today or in the days ahead, let’s trust God to provide courage to lovingly speak words of life.
Reflect & Pray
What difficult and humbling circumstances are you facing these days? How can you rest on Jesus during this challenging season?
Jesus, I praise You for Your example of grace and humility. Please help me reflect these qualities in my words.
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Bible in a Year:
[God is] a father to the fatherless.
Guy Bryant, single and with no children of his own, worked in New York City’s child welfare department. Daily, he encountered the intense need for foster parents and decided to do something about it. For more than a decade, Bryant fostered more than fifty children, once caring for nine at the same time. “Every time I turned around there was a kid who needed a place to stay,” Bryant explained. “If you have the space in your home and heart, you just do it. You don’t really think about it.” The foster children who’ve grown and established their own lives still have keys to Bryant’s apartment and often return on Sundays for lunch with “Pops.” Bryant has shown the love of a father to many.
The Scriptures tell us that God pursues all who are forgotten or cast aside. Although some believers will find themselves destitute and vulnerable in this life, He promises to be with them. God is “a father to the fatherless” (Psalm 68:5). If, through neglect or tragedy, we’re alone, God is still there—reaching out to us, drawing us near, and giving us hope. Indeed, “God sets the lonely in families” (v. 6). In Jesus, other believers comprise our spiritual family.
Whatever our challenging family stories, our isolation, our abandonment, or our relational dysfunction may be, we can know that we’re loved. With God, we’re fatherless no more.
Reflect & Pray
What does it mean for you to have a heavenly Father who loves you and will never leave you? How does He meet your deepest needs?
Father God, I need a good father, a true father, one who will not leave me. I’m grateful You’re this Father for me.
Hello FRiends!
After a couple nice days, we are back to the 90s tomorrow and Tuesday.
Hope you had a nice weekend!
🌸🌝🌺
Wow! That’s pretty hot for y’all isn’t it!?
Yep, 90s is a bit warm. So far this year we’ve had 3 hot spells. A week ago it was hot too. I like 70s best. 🙃
Me too. High 70s to mid-80s. But our summers are just nasty hot. LOL!
Bible in a Year:
Love does no harm.
Years ago, I’d made the painful decision to cut ties with someone close to me, after attempts to address deeply hurtful behavior were merely met with dismissal and denial. Today, after hearing she was in town visiting, my thoughts had spiraled into hashing and rehashing the past.
As I struggled to calm my thoughts, I heard a song playing on the radio. The song expressed not just the anguish of betrayal, but also a profound longing for change and healing in the person who’d caused harm. Tears filled my eyes as I soaked in the haunting ballad giving voice to my own deepest longings.
“Love must be sincere,” the apostle Paul wrote in Romans 12:9, a reminder that not all that passes for love is genuine. Yet our heart’s deepest longing is to know real love—love that isn’t self-serving or manipulative, but compassionate and self-giving. Love that’s not a fear-driven need for control but a joyful commitment to each other’s well-being (vv. 10–13).
And that’s the good news, the gospel. Because of Jesus, we can finally know and share a love we can trust—a love that will never cause us harm (13:10). To live in His love is to be free.
Reflect & Pray Reflect & Pray
How have you experienced or seen a difference between sincere and self-serving love? How can a community of faith help us learn to love others wholeheartedly?
Loving God, help me to learn the difference between real and counterfeit love and to share Christ’s love with those around me.
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That is exactly how I did Monday morning today!
Slept late.
😅
Good for you! So did I! :) It’s great, huh?
Happy FR Birthday!
🥳
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