Truth and Beauty 

“This is the day the Lord has made…” Even THIS day, a day when circumstances whisper, “Go crawl in a hole…preferably one six feet under.”

But we will fight the urge, and instead, “…we will  rejoice and be glad,” because joy is a choice; a choice to trust- not in circumstances or in new and improved people, but in the One Sure Thing:  The love of Christ Jesus, who never changes, never fails, and comforts us in our sadness.
So we trust, and take a hike, and read a Psalm by the lake, because beauty and truth remind us of who He is, and what He’s done.

“Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord; whose trust IS the Lord.”  Jeremiah 17:7

“This is the day the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad.” Ps. 118:24

“The Lord will comfort her…and make her wilderness like Eden.” Is. 51:3

That Thing Called Love

“This love of which I speak is slow to lose patience – it looks for a way of being constructive.”
1 Cor. 13:4 (Phillips translation) Lord, help me to love the ones I don’t naturally like. Show me “the least of these”-the one least in my heart- the annoying one, the cheese-grater-on-my-skin one. And don’t let me turn them into some sort of spiritual project, but to look for ways to build them up (the literal meaning of “constructive”), not with flattery, but in truth and friendship. You say when I love THAT one, I’m really loving You (Matt. 25:40). All this to say, I need Your Holy Spirit, or I’ll be stuck in my prejudices of looks, personality, values, and lifestyle, and all my other stinkin’ bad attitudes. Thank you that You can’t wait to answer this one for me. In Jesus’ Name.