Reflections

Peering into the icy creek, the reflection of the trees creates an inverted perspective of reality. Reflecting upon the past can sometimes distort reality as well. We tend to remember events through a lens that bends our memory to fit a reality we long for.
While in Mozambique this summer, a most extraordinary thing happened between God and me. Words fail me when I try to explain what took place~ As I spent time with God after a particularly difficult day, I found Him calling me to a new level of obedience. He called me to a place where He was not going to give me a five-year plan or any plan at all. My life is to be lived at a new level of trust~ a new level of being more completely submitted to Him. While it does not seem possible to be totally submitted on this side of heaven, there is for me a deeper awareness of my moments of stubbornness and disobedience which would most likely have escaped my consciousness in the past. Gratitude for God's grace overwhelms me as I enter into a new phase of my life on earth. In the coming year, it is my hope to be ever more aware and ever more obedient to that still small voice that may not be in the wind, but surely blows through me like a hurricane when I allow.

Last light, last snow

The beauty of God's creation is beyond words.
Enjoy!

Winds of Change

Change for some of us is exciting, stimulating; for others, it is disconcerting, frightening even. Yet, life is change. Living organisms are always changing, either developing or disintegrating, but always moving. It is only when an organism ceases to change that it ceases to live. That is true in every area of life it seems.
There are some forces that bring about change with observable power. One of those forces is the wind. The wind moves the branches of the mighty trees until they bow low to the earth or they break.
Living among the trees provides a special understanding of flexibility when it comes to the power of the wind. When it blows, dead and useless branches are wrenched from their places. It threatens the old and weak as it tests the young and flexible. The landscape changes after a big blow. These changes are usually subtle. Occasionally there is a giant strewn across the road, but usually it is barely noticeable unless you really look. If you know the view by heart, you can see the missing branch, the altered landscape.
In the Kingdom of God, the wind has a special place. In John 3:5-8, Jesus is talking to Nicodemus about being "born again"~ being born of the Spirit. He says, "The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit." When we are totally yielded to God's will, the Spirit of God can blow freely in our lives. The landscape will be changed. The result will be the working out of His purposes in us and through us. Welcome the wind.