Finding God in the Great Silence

We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature - trees, flowers, grass- grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence... We need silence to be able to touch souls. 
--Mother Theresa 

winter walk in Robinson State Forest. Agawam, MA

“It isn't as bad as you sometimes think it is. It all works out. Don't worry. I say that to myself every morning. It all works out in the end. Put your trust in God, and move forward with faith. The Lord will not forsake us. He will not forsake us. If we will put our trust in Him, if we will pray to Him, if we will live worthy of His blessings, He will hear our prayers.” 
― Gordon B. Hinckley

Open Heaven!

Psalm 5 

5 Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my meditation.

2 Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto thee will I pray.

3 My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.

4 For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee.

5 The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity.

6 Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing: the Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man.

7 But as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy: and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple.

8 Lead me, O Lord, in thy righteousness because of mine enemies; make thy way straight before my face.

9 For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part is very wickedness; their throat is an open sepulchre; they flatter with their tongue.

10 Destroy thou them, O God; let them fall by their own counsels; cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions; for they have rebelled against thee.

11 But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee.

12 For thou, Lord, wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield.

The world is indeed full of peril and in it there are 
many dark places.
But still there is much that is fair. And though in all lands,
love is now  mingled with grief, it still grows, perhaps,
the greater"--JRR Tolkien, The Two Towers

photo taken in Feeding Hills, MA

Press forward. Do not stop, do not linger in your journey, but strive for the mark set before you.

--George Whitefield

Friends, Dwell in the Living Spirit

"Friends, Dwell in the Living Spirit, and quench not the motion of it in yourselves, nor the movings of it in others; though many have run out and gone beyond their measures, yet many more have quenched the measure of the Spirit of God; and have become dead and dull  and have questioned through a false fear; so there has been hurt both ways. Therefore, be obedient to the power of the Lord  and His Spirit; war with the Philistine that would stop up your well and your springs." --George Fox, Quaker, 1683

photo taken of morning mist on Lake Quantabacook, Searsmont, ME

Trees and Snow, Wind and Cold, Cry Out Their Praises to God

A few minutes ago every tree was excited, bowing to the roaring storm, waving, swirling, tossing their branches in glorious enthusiasm like worship.  But though to the outer ear these trees are now silent, their songs never cease.  Every hidden cell is throbbing with music and life, every fiber thrilling like harp strings, while incense is ever flowing from the balsam bells and leaves --John Muir

pine trees after a snow storm, Easthampton, MA

                            Depart from the highway, and transplant thyself in some enclosed ground,

   for it is hard for a tree that stands by the wayside to keep its fruit until it be ripe. ---John Chrysostom

It's a nice time of year to retreat and allow the Lord to fill us back up....far

from the 'madding crowd...

lovely snow falling from pines....Easthampton, MA 

Moments of Opportunity!

the sunset tonight was incredible, there and then swiftly gone....

"I held a moment in my hand, brilliant as a star, fragile as a flower, a tiny sliver of one hour. I dripped it carelessly, Ah! I didn't know, I held opportunity."
--Hazel Lee

"Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers."
Galatians 6:10

The Soul of God Shouting for Joy!

"Where others see but the dawn coming over the hill...I see the soul of God shouting for joy."

~~William Blake

photo taken at Sacred Heart Church, Feeding Hills, MA

The Indwelling Truth in Presence & Power --George MacDonald

Our Lord had no design of constructing a system of truth in intellectual forms. The truth of the moment in its relation to him, The Truth, was what he spoke. He spoke out of a region of realities which he knew could only be suggested—not represented—in the forms of intellect and speech. With vivid flashes of life and truth his words invade our darkness, rousing us with sharp stings of light to will our awaking, to arise from the dead and cry for the light which he can give, not in the lightning of words only, but in indwelling presence and power.

How, then, must the truth fare with those who, having neither glow nor insight, will build intellectual systems upon the words of our Lord, or of his disciples? ....

 To men who are not simple, simple words are the most inexplicable of riddles.

[George MacDonald, unwritten sermons I: "I shall not be forgiven", p 24 of this link]


photo taken in West Suffield, CT.
 

Walking Slowly with The Three Mile an Hour God

I came across this lovely reflection....I dont know anything about the author, but he sure hit the truth!  originally published by Lawrence Denef

The Three Mile an Hour God

by

Lawrence Denef  (referring to Kosuke Kayama's famous term).
 

"A while ago I was in Tokyo for a Lutheran World Federation conference on "Mission in the City." The crowds in the streets, at the airports, on the subways, were like those in Ottawa on the first of July. One was literally shoved into and out of buses and buildings. Often we were able to see only the blur of persons in motions; we saw no faces.

 

In his opening remarks, the keynote speaker at the conference, a Japanese theologian, asked us to reflect on the speed at which we are living.

"The context in which most persons live is fast-moving urban life, with its noise, its hustle and bustle, its dominant impersonal relationships," he noted.

"People no longer see one another with faces, but as numbers and replaceable units in productive processes and systems."

After a pause, he contrasted our speed with God's pace. "Our God," he said, "is a three-mile-an-hour God."

 

That is the speed at which humans walk. That is the speed at which Jesus wended his way through Galilee -- touching the ill, chatting with widows, pausing in marketplaces to observe children at play, plucking grain in the fields on a sabbath day.

 

"The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath," he said. "Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it," he said. "Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Stand up and take your mat and walk'?" he said.

We were created in the image of a three-mile-an-hour God, and we have been called to be partners in ministry with a three-mile-an-hour God.

 

There will be no growth among us unless we stop running: no increase in understanding, no growth in faith, no sight for the blind, no help for the poor, no compassion for the outcast (and, for that matter, no increase in the numbers of the faithful) -- unless we stop running.

This world on the run needs people who are moving slowly enough to weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice; people who are moving slowly enough to notice smiles of joy and tears of sorrow; People who are moving slowly enough to reach out to those in pain, to comfort those in suffering, to offer hope to those in despair.

An amazing observation! May we slow down and walk along with Jesus!

P.S. oddly I found out that Kosuke Kayama, passed away in a hospital very near to where I live. Since he was from Japan and I live in New England, I find that amazing! 

    

photo taken in Catskill, New York

Putting Away That Which Hinders

"Comrades in this solemn fight- this awful conflict with awful powers- let us settle it as something that cannot be shaken: We are here to live holy, loving, lowly lives. We cannot do this unless we walk very, very close to the Lord Jesus. Anything that would hinder us from the closest walk that is possible to us till we see Him face to face is not for us. We need to be sensitive to the first approach of the hindering thing. For the sake of the souls that may be stumbled if we turn even ever so little aside, for the sake of our Master's glory- dearer surely to us than all else- let us ask Him to show us whether in anywise we have been showing crooked patterns." - Amy Carmichael

(trees in a massive windstorm, Feeding Hills, MA)

You Cannot Be Too Gentle

“You cannot be too gentle, too kind. Shun even to appear harsh in your treatment of each other. Joy, radiant joy, streams from the face of him who gives and kindles joy in the heart of him who receives. All condemnation is from the devil. Never condemn each other. We condemn others only because we shun knowing ourselves. When we gaze at our own failings, we see such a swamp that nothing in another can equal it. That is why we turn away, and make much of the faults of others. Instead of condemning others, strive to reach inner peace. Keep silent, refrain from judgment. This will raise you above the deadly arrows of slander, insult and outrage and will shield your glowing hearts against all evil.” —St Seraphim of Sarov

photo taken in Belfast, Maine

Launch Out Into the Deep

Now when He had ceased speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a catch. (Luke 5:4)


photo taken in Breakwater Lighthouse at Rockland, Maine

Kiss the Wave

               "I have learned to kiss the wave that throws me against the Rock of Ages." -Spurgeon

photo taken at Weekapaug, Rhode Island

Perhaps they are not stars...

"Perhaps they are not stars, but rather openings in Heaven where the love of our lost ones pours through and shines down upon us to let us know they are happy." --Eskimo proverb

photo taken at Smith College, Northampton, MA

Wait on the Lord, Be of Good Courage!

You can be in no circumstances in which the Lord can not help you, in which he will not help you, if you look simply to him, rest on him, and wait for him. For every condition in which you may be placed, there is a promise; by that promise the Lord stands pledged to appear for you and help you; he is ever ready to deliverer you; only he will have you believe his word, exercise confidence in him, plead the promise at his throne, and wait for its fulfillment. Wait, then, on the Lord at all times. Times will change, creatures will vary, but the Lord remains always the same. In youth and health, in manhood and prosperity, in old age and its infirmities, we should wait on the Lord. He will adapt his mercies to us, make all his goodness pass before us, and cause all things to work together for our good. He will never leave us, change his views of us, or withhold his tender mercies from us. He is faithful to his word, true to his character, and full of love to his people.

Whatever change there may be in creatures, there is no change in him. Health may give way to sickness, plenty to poverty, strength to weakness, and life to death, but he is the same. With him there is no variableness, neither shadow of a turn. Therefore, "wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord." 

--James Smith, Chelthenham, NY 1869 --from Grace Gems

photo taken at Smith College, Northampton, MA

The Perfect Gift

Sometimes the perfect gift is a cheery smile...

 I thank God for the way He made you, distinct, special and 
     unique.  You were not made from a common mold.                                                                          - Erwin W. Lutzer    

it's snowing today, and my friends, the birds,

come closer....here is Mrs. Cardinal, eating

her favorite sunflower seeds.  She sings a happy

little songs when she finds them. 

Enduring the Heat of Adversity

When it is hot in the kitchen of your life, and you don't feel you can eat what you are being
served. then endure the heat of adversity so  you will be able to say  "When He has tested me, I will come forth as gold” (Job 23:10).




photo taken in Granville, MA
"fresh organic chilies" :)