justbranches

Near to the Altar

2009-01-05T18:41:00.005-05:00

How lovely is your dwelling place,
O LORD Almighty!
My soul yearns, even faints,
for the courts of the LORD;
my heart and my flesh cry out
for the living God.
Even the sparrow has found a home,
and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may have her young--
a place near your altar,
O LORD Almighty, my King and my God.
Blessed are those who dwell in your house;

they are ever praising you.

Psalm 84:1-4

The birdhouse is at our back fence, was made by my father-in-law, and now is serving as winter shelter for many sparrows. My husband made and added the plexiglass cross. I used to think of the many English sparrows around our home and feeders as little pests, worthless compared to the other prettier and less common birds. But I have grown very fond of them and like to think of them as symbols for who we are in God's eyes - mostly very common, ordinary created beings, but deeply loved and appreciated by God, our Creator.

2008-12-30T13:26:00.003-05:00

"Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the desert
and streams in the wasteland."

Isaiah 43:18-19

Happy New Year!

May the Lord bless you with a new beginning as you cross

from the old to the new.

Frost lingering in the shadows of the bridge as Sterling State Park, Monroe, Michigan.

Dec. 30, 2008

The Path

2008-09-04T18:15:00.004-04:00

Jesus, you are the path.

I think it's time to get out my lawnmower...

John 14:5-7 Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?"
Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him."

Boundaries

2007-10-15T10:44:00.000-04:00

The Lord frequently uses my dogs to teach me about obedience.
One thing I think about when I walk them is this verse:

"LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup;
you have made my lot secure.
The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
surely I have a delightful inheritance.
I will praise the LORD, who counsels me;
even at night my heart instructs me." Psalm 16:5-7

Strider, the shepherd mix, loves to go for walks. He isn’t very well trained - on a short leash he’s always pulling ahead of me. But on a long leash we have a great understanding. He knows commands for around, over here, this way, stop, wait, come, here. And most of them he learned on his own, then I noticed and reinforced them. The best part is that he loves the walk so much for it’s own sake that he doesn’t much care where we go as long as we are moving forward. I don’t let him off the leash because he’s not very well trained and I want him to stay safe. But he is content on his long leash and willing to live within the boundaries I set for him. He rarely tries to insist on his own direction. If I say ‘this way’ he just changes direction and keeps on moving. I walk Lucy, too. She’s a different story completely...maybe one for another day...
The more I work with the 2 dogs the more I realize that a well trained dog is a work of beauty reflecting the love, trust, and dedication between the dog and the master. My dogs are not well-trained - more like half-trained, if there is such a thing. I take responsibility for that: I don’t always know the best way to train them and am not diligent to keep it up like I should.

Through this the Lord tells me that total obedience to Him is the best way - to be so in love with Him and so totally trusting Him that I am always willing to listen to and obey His commands realizing that they are always in my best interest. Like Strider, I don’t always listen. Left to go my own way I would get into lots of trouble. My desire is to be at least as good as my dog - willing to stay on the long leash and go in whatever direction my Master desires, knowing that it will be good, that his boundaries for me have fallen in pleasant places. I don't need to find my own direction. I just need to listen for his directions and go with him.
Now if I can just learn to heel!! Or be like the German Shepherd I saw recently on TV...he was so well trained that he was always looking at his trainer watching for that next command, instantly ready to comply! And out of love and trust, not fear: He was obviously very happily partnered with his ‘person’.
Woof!!

Lessons in Lint

2007-09-24T09:41:00.000-04:00

Proverbs 4:23 Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.

I’m Cleaning House
Okay, I’ll be the first to admit it: I am not a good housekeeper. Never have been. Maybe I will be someday.
I sometimes let myself get critical of others and say way too much about them to others. That is not godly: It is sin. It’s been an ongoing problem and I know it. And yet I have not been diligent in stopping it. I also realize it is not just a matter of stopping the words, but of allowing the Holy Spirit to change my heart.
LK 6:44-46 ‘ The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks. "Why do you call me, `Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?"’
So today I have been repenting and asking the Holy Spirit to do whatever it takes to change my heart so that I can be loving, not critical towards others. He told me to start cleaning my house.
Hmmmp!!
So I started in the laundry room. It’s small but nicely filthy. I knew there was some dirt there. That turned out to be a real understatement but it parallels what the Lord is showing me about my heart.
Here are some of the things I learned:
1. The more I look the more I’ll see, and some of it is going to be very unpleasant. But it’s okay because I can know that it will be clean soon. Sometimes I think "I’m a pretty good person, I’m only a little sinful (dirty...) - Others are much worse." (that critical spirit again!) But the Lord is saying that I am going to see a much dirtier heart than I realize right now. But it’s okay because He already knew and He’s going to clean it up since I’m willing.
2. Don’t do surface cleaning first. If the top is dirty, what’s under it is worse. Then the surface will need cleaned again - twice the work, twice the time. This mirrors what I have been trying to do by just stopping the ugly words that come out of my mouth without letting the Holy Spirit clean the heart first.
3. It’s hard to reach some areas or clean them to be spotless again. But for the heart cleaning, if I am open to it and willing to do my part the Holy Spirit will make the rest spotless and pure.
4. Some areas I can’t even see, but same as above - if I am willing the Holy Spirit will clean up even what I can’t see. (Psalms 139:23-24 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.)
5. I don’t have to bare my sins to the whole world, but sometimes I might need some help cleaning up, maybe my husband or a trusted friend. That’s okay, too.

6. As I look deeper and clean more I’ll find that He’s saving me even physically in some areas. I didn’t even plan to unhook the outside hose to the dryer, but it fell off, and there was a very large, hard clump of lint in there that was filled with all the little things too heavy to go up the hose - lint stopped by nails, screws, coins, nuts and bolts. The hose was halfway blocked. If it had closed up I suspect it could have caused a fire. Thank you, Lord, for showing me that in time!!

7. And, last but not least - sometimes cleaning up the crud yields riches in unexpected ways. Look what I found stuck to the floor in all the accumulated lint and dirt! God promises riches to his children who desire to live righteous and clean lives.

The laundry room - all finished and nicely cleaned!!

Fishers of Men

2007-05-20T21:53:00.001-04:00

Matthew 4:18-20 'As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." At once they left their nets and followed him. '
This photo is from my backyard pond. I was photographing the fish and noticed the reflection of the cross my husband, Bob, put on the big birdhouse - a gift to him handmade by his father. It seemed a fitting image for this verse. My favorite part of the verse is that 'at once they left their nets and followed him'.
Lord Jesus, I should be so obedient to your every word!

His Eye is on the Sparrow (and others)

2007-02-11T19:07:00.000-05:00

Mark 10:28 - 31 "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows."

My favorite find of the winter walks so far: some bluebirds mixed in with sparrows and juncos. I know a few stay for our Michigan winters, but I've never seen one in winter before.

Some local sparrows hidden in the grasses - lunch on a chilly day. Horned Larks on a gravel path at Munson Park, Monroe. They would fly up into the wind with every blustery gust on this bitterly cold, snowy day.
A few brave souls (about 6 teens or adults, no young children, thank God!). The temperatures were sub-zero with a strong wind chill. A lonely Mourning Dove who didn't fly even when we were very close with the 2 dogs. Hope he wasn't staying there because he was injured!
And a Pied-Billed Grebe at Raisin River, Monroe. The only odd-ball duck amongst a horde of Mallards and Canada Geese. And me with the 2 dogs, Lucy (on the left) a border collie/chow mix, and Strider a Shepherd mix. They love the cold weather - and I don't mind it either as long as I'm dressed warmly.

These photos were taken over several days. I didn't walk on the worst day - just hung my head and camera out the window quickly!

Thank you, Lord, for watching over us all!

testing blogger

2007-02-01T09:25:00.001-05:00

testing blogger

A Different Kind of Rainbow

2006-09-30T19:53:00.000-04:00

"Then there came a voice from above the expanse over their heads as they stood with lowered wings. Above the expanse over their heads was what looked like a throne of sapphire, and high above on the throne was a figure like that of a man. I saw that from what appeared to be his waist up he looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and that from there down he looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded him. Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him.
This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. "

Ezekial 1:25-28

This photo is a composite of 5 photos I took to get a panoramic view of this fantastic double rainbow. It was taken in southeastern Michigan 9-30-2006. It was by far the most beautiful one I personally have ever seen. I also saw the rainbow colors coming right down to the ground in the nearby hedge row.

The Mystery of the Three-In-One

2006-09-27T13:27:00.000-04:00

Habbakuk 2:14 ‘For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.’

Today was an absolutely gorgeous day. Sunny sky, beautiful breeze, fall in the air. Strider and I went for 1 ½ hour walk and as he played I spent time worshiping the Lord. As I walked I was drawn to meditate on the nature of the Trinity. There is nothing anywhere ever that is more beautiful or perfect, or more of a mystery than the Holy Trinity; the Three-in-One God, each one a distinct personality and yet all united as One. I don’t understand it but I know I would like to embrace it more fully. I think there could be no place where one could be more loved or more safe than in the center of the circle they make. I also know that without the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross to cover our sins we could not exist in that place...it is too perfect, too pure, too holy for anyone still tainted with even a speck of sin. We would be burned up in the consuming fire of God’s extreme holiness. Thank you, Jesus, for your death and resurrection so that we can stand as righteous before a just and holy God!

So, I sat by a nice new pond that is waiting for it’s subdivision and just watched the sky and worshiped God to the best of my ability. As I left that spot to go home the sky changed and I saw the sight in the photo above. It appeared to me to be the Holy Spirit rising up on the horizon with the thunders and lightnings of God coming up underneath. (Rev. 4:5 From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder.’) It was a beautiful and precious reminder of the verse from Habbakuk. I pray and long for that day. Come, Holy Spirit. Come quickly, Lord Jesus! Let us stand before you, Heavenly Father.

For Whose Glory?

2006-09-05T11:48:00.002-04:00

Today as I walked I realized what a blessing working spiritual themes into fabric art is for my own spiritual growth. I have some favorite verses that recur in my artwork. Without really being that conscious of it I have been meditating on and collecting images for this one:
'A voice says, "Cry out."
And I said, "What shall I cry?"
"All men are like grass,
and all their glory is like the flowers of the field.
The grass withers and the flowers fall,
because the breath of the LORD blows on them.
Surely the people are grass.
The grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the word of our God stands forever." ' Isaiah 40:6-8

The Lord is the giver of all good things, He is the one who gives us our creative inclinations and talents. The question then is who will we spend our time and talents on? Will we use our time and skills on ourselves, on bringing glory to mankind, in advancing evil and darkness, or will we do everything we can to bring glory to God? I want to do things that honor God in all his glory and wonder. I think what I do is as insignificant as a child doing a crayon drawing for her daddy...but what good daddy isn't pleased when she does it just because she loves him and wants to please him?
Father God, help me to do things that show people what a loving daddy you really are!

Where is your Treasure?

2006-08-31T19:46:00.000-04:00

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Matthew 6:19-21

This nice display was on display in our sanctuary at church last Sunday as a visual statement to accompany our pastor's sermon on putting our hearts into God's kingdom purposes instead letting them fall into the everyday status quo things that really have no eternal value. Something to think about...

Who Put the Mush in Mushroom?

2006-08-31T18:40:00.000-04:00

Well, my expert on mushrooms, my mother, said she thought it would be safe but eat just a little piece one day then the rest if I didn't get sick. So I cooked a slice and ate it. I didn't get sick but now I know who put the 'mush' in mushroom! The flavor was okay but the texture was just, well, mushy! I threw the rest away and won't be asking the Lord for any more. I'll stick to morels when I can get them or the storebought portabellas which are also very good breaded in flour and fried in butter. Ymmm!

Do we miss out on the gifts of God?

2006-08-30T12:48:00.000-04:00

Matthew 7:9-11 "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!"

More on the big puffball...since spring when I missed out on the morel season I have said to the Lord several times that I would like to find a nice puffball to eat and looked to him to provide it. I know they are most often safe to eat, and I know I like them from eating them in my childhood. So I have watched and waited and today I finally found one. I almost left it behind. I don’t know why...maybe fear of poisoning, maybe not wanting to take the time to have my resident expert check it out, maybe just apathetic and careless with the gifts of God. But I know this: when I ask the Lord to give me something and then get it and don’t appreciate it I have a big problem. Why, then, the next time I ask for something would he provide it?
I am meditating on this issue in myself today, repenting of the frivolous prayers I sometimes pray, and asking the Lord to help me be a better steward of anything he brings into my life.

What to Do?

2006-08-30T12:23:00.000-04:00

Hebrews 5:14 "But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil."

I found this nice 5" puffball this morning as I walked my dog in the fields. I like mushrooms. So what was my dilemma? I know most puffballs are edible, but I’m not familiar enough with them to know which ones are not. First I picked it, then I put it back on the ground. Then I walked around the field and went back and got it again to bring home. I think I have just enough knowledge to be cause problems. I could eat it and probably it would be all right...but what if it’s not? Is it worth the risk?

And how does this compare spiritually? I have been keeping a spiritual journal for a few years now and practicing hearing the voice of the Lord. Sometimes I am sure I have heard clearly; sometimes I am not so sure. So when do I act on what I have heard? In zeal it would be easy to just act on anything I thought I heard but would it be wise? This is what I try to do: if I am sure I heard correctly I try to be obedient to what I have heard. If I am not so sure but my actions won’t cause myself or anyone else to make a life change I try to follow through on what I heard. I consider it as a learning experience and good way to train myself to hear. If, however, I am not so sure of what I heard and it could change the course of my life or someone else’s I take to someone more experienced than I...a pastor, a spiritually mature friend, a Christian counselor...basically anyone I trust who has a established history of hearing the Lord clearly.

So...am I going to eat the mushroom? Not until I have it looked at by my mother who know the local mushrooms quite well and has cooked a lot of them for my dad!