I {LOVE} Sunday...

In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
All things were made through him,
and without him was not any thing made that was made.
In him was life,
and the life was the light of men.
The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness has not overcome it.
John 1:1-5

#prayforparis

{With the Sunday Community at Lisha's #GiveMeGrace }

Still Saturday::to yield to the joys of heavenly communion...

“The season of sunset as it draws a veil over the day,
befits that repose of the soul
when earthborn cares yield to the joys of heavenly communion.
The glory of the setting sun excites our wonder,
and the solemnity of approaching night awakens our awe.
If the business of this day will permit it, it will be well, dear reader,
if you can spare an hour to walk in the field at eventide,
but if not,
the Lord is in the town too,
and will meet with you in your chamber or in the crowded street.
Let your heart go forth to meet Him.”
Charles Spurgeon

Still Saturday::to hear His gentle whisper...

Shake your fist
and stomp your feet
and whine, whine, whine,
because it’s you He wants.
Just the way you are.
He’s got designs on you.
He will catch your eye across a crowded room
and tell your entire story without ever speaking a word,
and when you’re driving south with the sky on fire like a burning bush,
your heart will hear His gentle whisper in the deepest places.
Deidra Riggs, Every Little Thing

{Did you see that I'm giving away a copy of Deidra Riggs' Every Little Thing?  Be sure you put your name in the hat before tomorrow night if you want a chance to win.}

I {LOVE} Sunday::to look upon the LORD's goodness and wait...

I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living!
Wait for the LORD;
be strong, and let your heart take courage;
wait for the LORD!
Psalm 27:13-14
With the Sunday Community at Lisha's #GiveMeGrace

Thanksliving::Day 11: to not be anxious...

30 Days of Thanksliving - Day 11

Thanksliving::Day 3: the Mighty One speaks...

The Mighty One, God the LORD,
speaks and summons the earth
from the rising of the sun to its setting.

"Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving,
and perform your vows to the Most High,
and call upon me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me."
Psalm 50:1, 14-15 ESV

30 Days of Thanksliving - Day 3

Still Saturday::to fill with stories that matter...

...when we take the time to stop and rest, to stop and focus, to stop and purposefully decide what we will choose to do with our lives -- we will begin to engage God and those around us in more intentional ways, and our lives will begin to fill with the kinds of experiences and stories that really matter. Stories full of purpose.

~ Matt Knisely, Framing Faith, p.19

I {LOVE} Sunday::to remember His promises...

Precious in the sight of the LORD
is the death of his saints.
Psalm 116:15

{Dawn, my dear, dear friend and sister in Christ, wife to Jeff, mother to seven, and warrior in prayer extraordinaire, passed yesterday from the constraints of this earth to her glorious heavenly home with Jesus. Our hearts are heavy, but her joy is complete.}

With the Sunday Community at Lisha's #GiveMeGrace

Still Saturday::in awe of being loved...

We will never stand in awe of being loved by God until we reckon with the seriousness of our sin and the justice of his wrath against us. But when, by grace, we waken to our unworthiness, then we may look at the suffering and death of Christ and say, "In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the [wrath-absorbing] propitiation for our sins." (I John 4:10)

Piper, The Passion of Jesus Christ, p.21

Between February 12th and April 16th (the Wednesday before Easter), I am reading and discussing John Piper's The Passion of Jesus Christ - Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die with a group of friends. From now through Easter, my Still Saturday quotes and I {LOVE} Sunday scriptures will come from my readings in this book by Piper, and the photos might simply be a few favorites from those I've taken during the week. 

Still Saturday::to shout for joy...

{Sunset on the Caloosahatchee River 1-17-14}

If we are children of God, we have a tremendous treasure in nature and will realize that it is holy and sacred. We will see God reaching out to us in every wind that blows, every sunrise and sunset, every cloud in the sky, every flower that blooms, and every leaf that fades...

Oswald Chambers 

The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof,
the world and those who dwell therein,
Psalm 24.1

...those who dwell at the ends of the earth are in awe at your signs.
You make the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy.
Psalm 65.8

There is none like you...

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Psalm 8.1

While my recovery and rehab have excelled expectations, I'm still forced, for the most part, to be content with photos from my archives, but if I did wander about with my camera today, the photos would likely look much the same as they did last October. The grass under the tall pines is bright green, the cypress trees around the pond are turning yellow, and the palmetto thickets along the creek remain tangled with wild vines and their flowers. 

As I watch the early morning light cut through layers of fog to paint amber streaks down the trunks of trees and sparkle like diamonds on dew-soaked leaves, I'm reminded of the many evidences of God's faithfulness and majesty revealed in nature - from the orderly cycle of seasons, to the daily rising and setting of the sun in blazing glory. 

I'm humbled by God's sovereignty and power over His creation. As we read through the creation story in lifegroup on Sunday, I thought about the foolishness of thinking that we have any control over the environment outside of our ability to practice good stewardship of the resources God has given us dominion over and entrusted to our care.  

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?
Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor
You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under his feet,

Psalm 8.3-6

This ever faithful, sovereign and powerful God of all creation pours more love and kindness and goodness into my life than my heart and mind can begin to grasp. Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far?...there is none like you.

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Psalm 8.9

I {LOVE} Sunday::to shout for joy and stand in awe...

Shout for joy in the Lord, O you righteous
Praise befits the upright.
Give thanks to the Lord with the lyre;
make melody to him with the harp of ten strings!
Sing to him a new song;
play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.
For the word of the Lord is upright,
and all his work is done in faithfulness.
He loves righteousness and justice;
the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord
By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
and by the breath of his mouth all their host.
He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap;
he puts the deeps in storehouses.
Let all the earth fear the Lord;
let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!
Psalm 33.1-9

Still Waters...

He leads me beside still waters.
Psalm 23.2

When despair for the world grows in me...I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free. 

~ from The Peace of Wild Things by Wendell Berry

Linking with Sandy this first Saturday in spring...


{It's been quiet here I know. I'll be back soon. Promise.}

Crème de la crème...

We've had a string of nearly perfect days - with chilly nights, delightful days, and jaw-drop stunning sunrises and sunsets, but Tuesday night's was the crème de la crème.

With no other traffic on the Ft. Denaud swing bridge, I drove back and forth across the Caloosahatchee River, stopping once or twice to take photos - awestruck at this serendipitous encounter with the glory of God on display in His Creation.

The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
Psalm 19.1 {ESV}
In community this weekend with Sandra and Deidra

Still Saturday and I {LOVE} Sunday - As long as I live...

May the glory of the LORD endure forever;
may the LORD rejoice in his works,
who looks on the earth and it trembles,
who touches the mountains and they smoke!
I will sing to the LORD as long as I live;
I will sing praise to my God while I have being.
May my meditation be pleasing to him,
for I rejoice in the LORD.  Psalm 104:31-34 ESV


In community this weekend with Sandra and Deidra



{Photos: sunset over the Caloosahatchee River at the Ft. Denaud bridge on Friday}

To see right where I am...

Emily and I stand on the dock near the bridge in town as the sun slides below the treetops and our world blazes ochreous, and days later I stop near the swing bridge to gaze down river as the sun slips over the rising mist and through moss-draped oaks, and I wonder - how many of the tens of thousands of sunrises and sunsets has this woman of a certain age missed in this mist of a life I've been given?  

It takes only seconds to notice - to stop - to turn my gaze from where I think I want to go to see and be grateful right where I am. 

From the rising of the sun to its setting,
the name of the LORD is to be praised!
Psalm 113:3 ESV