C.S. Lewis and a Homespun Tree

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 I do not know why there is this difference, but I am sure that God keeps no one waiting unless He sees that it is good for him to wait. When you do enter your room, you will find that the long wait has done you some kind of good which you would not have had otherwise. But you must regard it as waiting, not as camping. You must keep on praying for light: and of course, even in the hall, you must begin trying to obey the rules which are common to the whole house. And above all you must be asking which door is the true one; not which pleases you best by its paint and paneling.

Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis

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On Unconditional Reverence

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  'In Ecclesiastes, we are confronted with our powerlessness. Neither the human race collectively nor any of us individually can ever be sure that performing actions "A" and "B" will lead to "C" in this life. It might, but it might not ... 

'The key to human conduct, therefore, lies not in figuring out what will produce this or that result tomorrow -- it lies in the fear of God and obedience to what He has commanded. By frustrating our ability to create the future we want in this world, even by the means of religious activity, God is calling us back to the main thing that was lost in Eden; simple, unconditional reverence. We must adjust our minds to the doing of what is right because it is right, and not because it will turn earthly events in our direction. The sooner we give up our "comprehend and control" approach to life, the sooner we'll be ready to hear the gospel.'

Obeying the Gospel, Gary Henry 

Excerpt from October 30

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Signs of Spring | 2020

Despite the fact that life seems to have stopped in so many routine aspects - God keeps moving the seasons along, reminding me that EVERYTHING has a season. Nothing lasts forever. And there is SO MUCH beauty in that!! ❤

Ya know what they say about April showers ...

Loving the symbolism in this ... all the new green growth coming from the middle of spent, dead stems and flowers. 

Lots of green!

Keeping me company ♥

Yellow.

Roads go ever ever on,

Over rock and under tree,

By caves where never sun has shone,

By streams that never find the sea ...

♥

O Church Arise

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O Church Arise, and put your armor on;
Hear the call of Christ our Captain.
For now the weak can say that they are strong,
In the strength that God has given.
With shield of faith and belt of truth,
We'll stand against the devil's lies:
An army bold whose battle-cry is Love,
Reaching out to those in darkness.

Our call to war to love the captive soul,
But to rage against the captor;
And with the sword that makes the wounded whole,
We will fight with faith and valor.
When faced with trials on every side,
We know the outcome is secure;
And Christ will have the prize for which He died:
An inheritance of nations.

Come see the cross where love and mercy meet
As the Son of God is stricken;
Then see His foes lie crushed beneath His feet,
For the Conqueror has risen!
And as the stone is rolled away,
And Christ emerges from the grave,
This victory march continues till the day
Every eye and heart shall see Him.

(Keith and Kristyn Getty)

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Hard but excellent ...

"We have a spiritual adversary, Satan, who seeks our downfall, and to that end he labors with malice and energy. His purpose is to undermine our faith with doubt, replace our courage with confusion, and drag us downward into despair. He is, to say the least, up to no good.

But we are taught to take a stubborn stand against the attacks of our enemy ... We may be vulnerable, but we're not helpless. We are free to choose the joy of truth over the sadness of deception."

 Reaching Forward, Gary Henry: Excerpt from Jan. 08

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To Have Chosen ...

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“Pain and suffering produce a fork in the road. It is not possible to remain unchanged. To let others or circumstances dictate your future is to have chosen. To allow pain to corrode your spirit is to have chosen. And to be transformed into the image of Christ by these difficult and trying circumstances is to have chosen.” 

Tim Hansel 

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The Saturday Evening Post | Springtime + C. S. Lewis

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" ... This law was called the Law of Nature because people thought that every one knew it by nature and did not need to be taught it. They did not mean, of course, that you might not find an odd individual here and there who did not know it, just as you find a few people who are colour-blind or have no ear for a tune. But taking the race as a whole, they thought that the human idea of decent behaviour was obvious to every one. And I believe they were right. If they were not, then all the things we said about the war were nonsense. What was the sense in saying the enemy were in the wrong unless Right is a real thing which the Nazis at bottom knew as well as we did and ought to have practiced? If they had had no notion of what we mean by right, then, though we might still have had to fight them, we could no more have blamed them for that than for the colour of their hair."

~ Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis

Flowers ...

Primroses.

Fresh eggs.

Getting ready for the hummingbirds.

Raking grass in your bare feet ... best feeling ever.

The Treehouse Garden is looking great ...

... except now I need to move the swimming pool again! ;o)

You have called me to this passage ...

Jesus, Draw Me Ever Nearer: A Cappella

Jesus, draw me ever nearer,

As I labor through the storm.

You have called me to this passage,

And I’ll follow, though I’m worn.

Jesus, guide me through the tempest;

Keep my spirit staid and sure.

When the midnight meets the morning,

Let me love you even more.

Let the treasures of the trial

Form within me as I go,

At the end of this long passage,

Let me leave them at Your throne.

May this journey bring a blessing;

May I rise on wings of faith;

And at the end of my heart’s testing,

With Your likeness let me wake.

~ Margaret Becker

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