Showing posts with label growth in Jesus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label growth in Jesus. Show all posts

Saturday, May 2, 2020

The Meadows Shout for Joy

Psalm 65:9-13
You care for the land and water it;
    you enrich it abundantly.
The streams of God are filled with water
    to provide the people with grain,
    for so you have ordained it.
You drench its furrows and level its ridges;
    you soften it with showers and bless its crops.
You crown the year with your bounty,
    and your carts overflow with abundance.
The grasslands of the wilderness overflow;
    the hills are clothed with gladness.
The meadows are covered with flocks
    and the valleys are mantled with grain;
    they shout for joy and sing.

The gold finches sing outside my window.

Springtime—I walk outside and study my tiny flower garden. Which beauties will bloom soon? What leaves need to be tied down to allow others to sprout? What annuals do I want to add this year?

No matter what goes on around the world, my flower bed continues to grow. The rain showers fall and the sun shines. Soil enriches the plants, and the blooms burst with beauty.

A few weeks ago, I hung a finch feeder outside the living room window. From my chair, I watch, with delight, as the little gold and brown and red house finches stop by for breakfast and dinner. They flit and flutter, sometimes knocking each other off the bag, as they vie for the thistle seed. Those sweet birds add joy to my day.

In Psalm 65, David writes about God's constant presence. He's always with us. I witness Him in my natural surroundings. Go outside and look up. The clouds appear in the sky as does the sun. Look around. The grass, meadows, wheat, oats, corn all continue to grow. And if you live in the Midwest, you know the rain tumbles down on any given day.

No matter what we endure, God remains the same. He offers hope and joy for this weary world. Find a tree and thank God for the shade. Listen to the call of a bird or watch it take off in flight and witness the wonder of creation. Smell a bloom in the garden and thank God for the beauty. Take a bite of salad and remember who provided the nutrients for growth.

Seeking joy? Look to God's creation.

The birds rejoice with singing.

Saturday, July 22, 2017

A Measure of Growth

Colossians 1:9-14
For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

When we vacationed in Maine, Tim and I took a "Lobster Tour." Our first afternoon in that beautiful state we boarded the Lucky Catch, on the Casco Bay in Portland. The little red boat held about fourteen tourists ready to learn about the trade of lobstering. First, we filled mesh bags with chubs and herring, then tied them into the traps. The captain taught us about the traps, how the larger lobsters get caught and the little ones have an escape hatch. The whole experience was hands-on. When we pulled in the traps and found a female, they showed us she was a layer and threw her back. Then the captain demonstrated which of the larger male lobsters to keep and which to send back to the water.


The captain grabbed the lobster and a gage. He hooked one end of the measuring tool to the socket behind the lobster's eye, then drew the other end straight down along the crustacean's carapace (back). The minimum length had to be three and a quarter inches for him to keep it. Otherwise back to the deep they went for a chance to grow.

Like those lobsters that get thrown into the sea, God wants me to keep growing. My Father knows where I am as a believer. He knows my heart and sees my soul. When I think of ways to grow spiritually I call up the verses in Galatians where Paul names the Fruit of the Spirit. My love needs to multiply. Does God draw me through the fires of life to increase my compassion for people? I'm willing to say yes. Does he require I wait to develop patience? Of course. How about experiencing hurt and pain to remember to be kind and gentle. Yes! God wants me to grow in my relationship with Jesus. He wants me to strengthen my knowledge of his word. Does he use a gage to measure my growth? No, instead he checks my heart. Jesus knows me. He loves me and he wants me to be filled with joy. And that takes growth—in learning his word, in prayer, and in obedience.


Galatians 5:22-23  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.