It’s Almost Time!

 Moving into the home that once my Dad’s in Florida has meant some major changes in our lifestyle including a good deal of downsizing. There was not much room for a garden here though we were able to preserve a few Irises in pots along the walk.  But tucked away in the back yard between the property line and an overgrown holly is a lemon tree that my Dad planted about thirty years ago. It large lemons are, according to our friends,  the best on earth! Though that tree stands no more than eight feet high, each year it yields scores of the biggest and sweetest lemons anywhere. It simply finds a way in its small spot to give more than anyone expected.
If our life sometimes feels like we’ve been downsized a notch or two, we don’t need to give in to discouragement. In our tiny patch of ground where our roots are planted, God still sends just enough sunlight and rain for us to grow. Yielding sweet fruit really has nothing to do with talent, effort or opportunity.  Yielding fruit means that, like our lemon tree, just keep growing till branches bud, buds become flowers, and flowers to small green fruit. Then one morning to everyone’s joyful surprise it will be time for another year of lemonade and lemon meringue pie! Yes everything has its season and here it means the lemons are almost ripe.

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Is That a Trumpet?

I was in the spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet.             Revelation 1:10 NRSV

It might seem strange that God’s voice sounded like a trumpet, but in John’s day the trumpet was commonly used for a number of things. The trumpet was actually a ram’s horn called a shofar and was blown at the beginning and end of religious festivals. The trumpet also called the public together for meetings and was sounded for armies to advance in battle. We should not be afraid when God blows a trumpet in our lives because is a sign He loves us and has a message we need to hear.

Shofar

The apostle John had been deported and imprisoned on an island as far from home as he had ever been. But in his isolation, rather than surrendering to despair John worshiped. Few of us experience those circumstances, but like John, in our own times of difficulty God is with us and, we can hear his voice.

Prayer: Father recently I have been battling fears and feelings of isolation. Thank you that You remember where I am and are blowing a trumpet so I can hear your voice in my life today!

On Tip-Toe

Today I am making available the 2018 Christmas devotional “Mary I Have News” both in a Kindle edition and in paperback. The concept for the theme this year began with a song I wrote last year for our young people to sing for a Christmas program. So often we think of Christmas on that Silent Night when Jesus was born in Bethlehem. But the birth announcement by the angel to Mary marked the moment when God came and entered the world secretly while angels stood on tip-toe to see what God would do next!

The whole creation is on tiptoe to see the wonderful sight of the sons of God coming into their own. Romans 8: 19 Phillips version

Does it seem that Christmas has become tedious or even a bit boring? I recently learned a lesson from our grandson Alex as we walked to the nearby fire station one morning. Along the way he picked up every seed and stick stopping every few feet for new discoveries. When we got to the fire station, he peered through the windows at the fire trucks and even opened their letter box to see their mail!…

Excerpt from Day 1: Mary I Have News: 30 Christmas Reflections (Kindle Locations 27-32). Kindle Edition.

Mary I Have News

Mary I Have News!