The Evidence of Things Not Seen

Sometimes, I motor across the gravel road bridge on the Zenith Road without a thought. I'm hurrying to pick up Randy or deliver a meal to the field. My mind - and the car - are on auto pilot.

But there are other days when the beauty of the moment literally stops me in my tracks. Recently, a scene caught my eye as I drove over the bridge, and I literally backed up for another look. The blue sky dotted with fluffy cottonball puffs of white was reflected in the blue water of Peace Creek.

I got out of the air-conditioned comfort of the car and stood - first looking east and into the pasture we rent and the water that gives sustenance to a small group of cows and calves this summer.

Then, I turned and crossed the road for the view to the west, just beyond where the creek tunnels under the road from a neighbor's pasture onto our side.  On a day when the Kansas wind had taken a summer vacation, the top of the water's surface was disturbed only minimally with the gentle movement of a lazy creek.

But, all of a sudden, I heard a "plop" on the other side and hurried over to see what creature had added its own form of percussion to the lilting song of birds in the trees. 

And I saw that the mirror surface of the water now had ripples radiating outward.

And I thought about life: Sometimes, the way is smooth and unblemished. Other times, the ripples break up the "perfect" picture and make some waves.

On Sunday, Pastor Nate preached on Hebrews 11: 1-16. That passage begins with a much-loved verse:

11Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 

  

As Pastor Nate reminded us, we humans would like to receive everything we hope for or pray for. But life isn't that simple. There are tragedies - pain, suffering and loss. There are health scares and job losses and family breakdowns. There are low commodity prices and breakdowns and uncooperative weather. The list goes on and on.

So how do we keep going in the face of those struggles? It all comes back to faith. We may not see it at the time. It may not be the timing we'd prefer. The Hebrews passage  reminds us that these Bible heroes weren't immune either. Abraham, Sarah, Issac, Jacob and Noah all had to have faith in a future they couldn't see right in front of them.

So there can be beauty in the ripples, too. There is life in those ripples - much like there is life in Peace Creek from the frog or the fish who disturbed the peaceful scene. I ask for eyes to see the beauty in both the smooth sailing and the occasional bumpy ride ... and for the faith to make it through.

In that, there's hope for a new day.

I am listening carefully to all the Lord is saying. Psalm 85:8 (TLB)

A Time to Think

Every moment you get is a gift.
Spend it on things that matter.
Don’t spend it by dwelling on unhappy things.
 –Celestine Chua, life coach and blogger

A Time to Act

Expect great things to happen.

A Time to Pray

Lord, in all the times and places of my life, Your love never leaves me.

From my email devotional today from Guideposts (in the blue)

Clothed in Splendor and Majesty

Sometimes, I think I want God to speak to me through a burning bush.

This perfectionist Type A overachiever might crave the clarity that arrives like a thunderbolt with a direct line from heaven. (But ... please God, I don't want to get burned.)

Then there are days when I realize that God is talking to me. I may not hear His voice booming with authority from the heavens. But I hear Him nonetheless.

I've been doing a "read the Bible in a year" devotional. I get up early and read the passages. This morning, as I finished, I went to get another cup of coffee before I went downstairs to start working. I saw beautiful light peeking above the treetops outside my northeast kitchen window. The scene of sun-kissed clouds beckoned me to leave the coffee on the kitchen counter and drive down the road,to witness the sunrise in person.

The Bible study I'm doing is The Daily Message: Through the Bible in One Year by Eugene Peterson. (I know there are fundamentalists who don't like that translation of the Bible, but I figured reading in more common language might help me stick with the program. So far, it's been working.)

There's another reason I like it: It doesn't just start in the Old Testament and work its way to Revelation. To avoid getting bogged down in all the unfamiliar names and laws of the Old Testament readings, Peterson weaves together readings that may feature Old Testament chapters for a few days, then some New Testament readings. Every day, there's a Psalm or Proverbs to read to conclude, along with a couple of questions to think about.

I'm actually ahead on my readings, which is a good thing. Then, if I am gone or miss a day for some reason, I don't fall behind.

Anyway, I concluded the August 3 reading this morning, and the final passage was Psalms 104: 1-23. I couldn't help but think of the words I'd just read when I drove down to the oil field road and stepped out of the car to experience the sunrise:

Psalm 104

¹ Praise the Lord, my soul.

Lord my God, you are very great;
    you are clothed with splendor and majesty.

² The Lord wraps himself in light as with a garment;
    he stretches out the heavens like a tent
³     and lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters.
He makes the clouds his chariot
    and rides on the wings of the wind.
⁴ He makes winds his messengers,
    flames of fire his servants. ...

Scattered raindrops were falling and our neighbor's milo was rustling in the wind, and I thought about the question at the conclusion of the reading:

What is your favorite aspect of creation? Why?

Exhibit A, folks!
Thank you, God!

Thankful

Sunrise, November 18, 2015

A Time to Think

A grateful heart is one that finds 
the countless blessings of God 
in the seemingly mundane everyday life. 
–Anonymous

A Time to Act

Thank the Lord for the possibilities of a new day.

 Portion in blue from an email devotional from Guideposts

"Just tell me if you need to stop."

My Farmer said the words as we were driving toward the cattle lots to round up cattle before the veterinarian arrived. We had just left home, so his solicitous remarks weren't aimed at an emergency bathroom break or the need to stop to stretch my legs during a long journey.

He looked at the eastern sky. He looked at me. And he knew that the beauty stretched across the horizon would have me itching to push the camera's shutter button.

I waited a beat. And I said, "Yes, I think I do need to stop."

So, less than a half mile from home, he pulled over so that I could capture a moment ... even though we had things to do and places to be.

I am blessed.

It was the second day of running cows through the working chute for pregnancy checks and vaccination updates.

 

On that day, the lot was sloppy with mud and manure after a total of 0.95" of rain had fallen. It may not have been ideal on tennis shoes, but it was great for a thirsty wheat crop. 

 

It was a chillier day than the first go-round, and the wind cut through layers of t-shirts, sweatshirts and gloves. But the cold temperatures made the cattle's breath look like mini rainbows through the camera lens. 

 As we ushered the cattle down the lane and into the chute, a chorus of geese sang a serenade.

Pelicans kept circling overhead, bucking the chilly breeze and coming back around as they left from their overnight stay at Quivira National Wildlife Refuge just down the road and searched for leftovers in nearby corn and milo stubble.


We didn't have any cattle jump a fence. The majority of the mama cows were pregnant. No humans or animals were hurt. We got the "ladies" where they needed to be.

 

It was a good day all around.

And it ended just like it began. This time, I was pointing the camera to the west, capturing another expansive Kansas sky.

There's a theme in the devotional reading material by my recliner these days. I've pulled out Ann Voskamp's "One Thousand Gifts," a book I've read and re-read three times. (I've shared quotes from that book here several times before - here and here among them.)

I borrowed "The Gratitude Diaries" by Janice Kaplan from the library, and I'm about halfway through it. The subtitle is "How A Year Looking on the Bright Side Can Transform Your Life." And, earlier this year, I ordered the book, "Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers" by Anne Lamott. I have several little green Post-It tabs stuck in the margins of that book, too.

"The notion of gratitude cuts across all generations, ethnicities and social or economic boundaries. Gratitude is universal, and it's the one thing that can pull us together."

 Doug Conant, Former CEO of Campbell's Soup Co.

Interviewed by Janice Kaplan 

Sunset, November 18, 2015

Do I practice gratefulness always? I admit that I struggle some days more than others. But, on this eve of Thanksgiving and as we approach another Advent season, it is a worthy goal, don't you think?

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours! May we all be thankful.

A Time to Pray

O Great Creator, may I see Your hand today
in something ordinary and amazing.

Sing Anyway

A Time to Think

Some days there won't be a song in your heart. 
Sing anyway.
–Emory Austin, motivational speaker
(From my email devotional from Guideposts)

The tires clickety-clacked over the small wooden bridge. I'd been over it three times already, and each time, I turned to the left as I passed. A creek meandered through a pasture, and clouds dotted a blue August sky. It registered each time, but I didn't stop the car. I thought I didn't have time to dig through my purse and unearth the camera when I had another place to be.

But, on my final trip (for now), returning from Miller Seed Farm, I decided I'd stop. I looked both directions on the rutted dirt road and didn't see anyone coming. I wasn't going to block anyone's progress in a farm truck as it rambled to get seed wheat cleaned or force anyone to wiggle by me on the narrow road.

It was an uncharacteristically cool morning for August. As I stepped on the bridge and jockeyed around, trying to figure out the best angle, I heard the creek babbling under my feet as it made its way under the bridge, doing the Limbo under the fence and gurgling its way through the green grass-fringed banks. Birds sounded their own tune, and the grasses provided the gentle drum brush accompaniment. And I remembered the words of the devotional that I'd just read the day before:

Some days there won't be a song in your heart. 

Sing anyway.

When I am distracted by my agenda or by my worries or by my disappointments or the latest farm breakdown, it's easy to forget to "sing." When I feel that way, it's easier to drive right by those everyday, ordinary gifts from God and hardly even notice the miracles right outside my window.

I was in my basement office, nowhere near the sky, when Randy called me from the tractor.

"It's a beautiful sunrise," my farmer told me.

So I left my computer and drove down the road. When I saw the sky, my first thought was of the hymn, "When morning gilds the skies, my heart awakening cries! Let Jesus Christ be praised!"

And then, when I was editing the photos later, a simple children's Sunday School song drifted in my mind: "Jesus wants me for a sunbeam, to shine for him each day. In every way try to please Him, at home, at school, at play. ... I'll be a sunbeam for Him."

When those dark clouds cover up my "sunbeam," I still need to remember to shine ... and sing.

Taken as I delivered Randy to the tractor to bale. By the time I had gotten him there, the sun had almost sunk below the horizon.

¹² For you shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace; 

the mountains and the hills before you shall burst into song, 

and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

Isaiah 55:12

Watch with Glittering Eyes

Sunset over a wheat field

Psalm 19: 1-4

For the director of music. A psalm of David.

¹ The heavens declare the glory of God;
    the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
² Day after day they pour forth speech;
    night after night they reveal knowledge.
³ They have no speech, they use no words;
    no sound is heard from them.
⁴ Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
    their words to the ends of the world.

Notice the horses' silhouettes in the reflection of the pond.

It was free admission to the greatest show on earth last night.

Our church was in charge of the afternoon worship service at Leisure Homestead. By the time I made my obligatory stop at the grocery store, it was nearing sunset. Randy wanted to look at some ground on the way home, so we deviated from our "normal" route.

Sunset over Peace Creek

The timing didn't work out for me to go to the movies at the Ritz this weekend, but I got a free show instead. As the sun skedaddled beyond the horizon, the heavens shifted in an ever-changing palette of colors and shapes.

Sunset, across from our house, as we arrived back home.

This morning on Facebook, a friend posted a link to the 20 Quotes from Children's Books Every Adult Should Know. This one seemed to fit our sunset-drenched ride home.

Above all, watch with glittering eyes 

the whole world around you 

 because the greatest secrets are always hidden

 in the most unlikely places. 

Those who don't believe in magic

 will never find it.

Roald Dahl from The Minpins

Which of the sunset images do you like the best? I find it hard to choose just one! (What else is new? The story of my life!)

Total Eclipse of the Heart

The alarm went off at 5 o'clock. It was only 30 minutes earlier than normal, but I hit the snooze button. I shifted under the covers again and waged an internal battle. "Is it worth crawling out of bed to see if I can see the blood moon all the meteorologists were talking about?" I wondered. "You never get good moon photos. Why waste your time? You've been going 90 miles an hour since the weekend, so maybe sleeping for those 30 extra minutes is the right choice."

But ... I did it anyway. I live on the road less traveled. So, I pulled on tennis shoes, but left the house in my PJs, grabbing my camera and my phone and avoiding the snoozing cats as I charged out the back door. I drove down the road a half mile, made a wide circle at the intersection and headed back north so I could open my window and steady the camera on its open ledge.

The moon brightened the western sky and the bugs serenaded me as I tried shot after shot, hitting the delete button after most of them. "Grrrrrrrr," I lamented. "Just what I figured. These are no good at all."

But, then, as  I sat there in the car with a chorus of birds and bugs accompanying the tunes on K-LOVE, I decided it was me who needed an eclipse - an eclipse of the heart. No, my photos weren't like the ones I'd admire later as I scanned Facebook and Googled  "blood moon photos." 

But it didn't matter. The beauty was there, just outside my rolled-down car window, right there for the taking. It didn't matter whether I got the "perfect" shot of the blood moon on October 8, 2014. I was experiencing it in person.

Psalm 19 (NIV)
¹ The heavens declare the glory of God;
    the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
² Day after day they pour forth speech;
    night after night they reveal knowledge.
³ They have no speech, they use no words;
    no sound is heard from them.
⁴ Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
    their words to the ends of the world.

Yes, the glory of God was spectacularly in view on a county line road in South Central Kansas, if only I wiped the sleep from my eyes and opened my heart.

I sat there for a long time, facing west, as the moon made its transition from blood red back to pale yellow. As I shifted the car into drive to head back home, I caught a glimpse of the eastern sky.

And instead of heading home and making that pot of coffee I so craved, I drove toward my favorite "sunrise" tree, just a little east of our south intersection. It has witnessed many sunrises with me - and many more before I ever arrived on this earth.

Just like the moon had shape-shifted through the eclipse, the eastern sky changed minute by minute, practically breath by breath. I pointed the car's headlights down the road to illuminate it, too.

Psalm 16: 11 
You make known to me the path of life;
    you will fill me with joy in your presence,
    with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

I used the tree's branches as a frame as the sky lightened even more. And I drove another mile and a half to a windmill I often use as a silhouette for sunrises, watching the sky change as I went.

The sky didn't backlight the windmill this time, and the couple of photos I snapped were out of focus. But my disappointment faded when I turned the car around and again saw the moon setting through the span of our neighbor's irrigation system.

By the time I turned back west, the moon was soon to be only a memory, except for the snapshots from a Kansas farm wife's point-and-shoot camera and the images written on my heart.

And I drove back home to a busy day, changed for the better.

Psalm 8 (NIV)

¹ Lord, our Lord,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory
    in the heavens.
² Through the praise of children and infants
    you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
    to silence the foe and the avenger.
³ When I consider your heavens,
    the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
    which you have set in place,
⁴ what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
    human beings that you care for them?

⁵ You have made them a little lower than the angels
    and crowned them with glory and honor.
⁶ You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
    you put everything under their feet:
⁷ all flocks and herds,
    and the animals of the wild,
⁸ the birds in the sky,
    and the fish in the sea,
    all that swim the paths of the seas.

⁹ Lord, our Lord,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!

***

I'm linked today to Jennifer Dukes Lee's Tell His Story. Click on the link for more stories of faith.

Praise, Seek, Trust, Thank: Wordless Wednesday

This is about as Wordless as I get on a Wednesday (or any other day for that matter). Sit back and enjoy the scenery from South Central Kansas on an early fall day.

He has made everything beautiful in its time.

Ecclesiastes 3:11

A Time to Think

The simple act of stopping and looking at the beauty around us can be prayer.
 –Patricia Barrett, author

A Time to Act

Today notice the little things that make your day special.

A Time to Pray

Thank you Lord, that however small or seemingly insignificant our gifts, You can weave them into Your glorious symphony.

A Time to Think

In happy moments, praise God.
In the difficult moments, seek God.
 In the quiet moments, trust God.
 In every moment, thank God.
–Bryan Clay, Olympic decathlon champion

A Time to Act

Use today as an opportunity to listen to God's voice.

A Time to Pray

Heavenly Father, help me to hear Your voice deep in my heart, guiding me.

These are devotionals that arrive daily in my email inbox from Guideposts. I always read them, and sometimes I save them so that I can illustrate them later.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

After my walk, I stopped at the pear tree to pick a few stranglers. I used my t-shirt as a make-shift gathering basket, and when I glanced down after one slipped from my grasp, I saw the monarch butterfly at my feet.

It was feeding on a rotting pear that had fallen from the branches. Even a pear barreling toward it didn't move it from the sweet treat. The sweet nectar had also attracted a bevy of other marauders. Even with the striking orange and black of the majestic butterfly poised there, I couldn't get past the ugly insects, despite the green iridescence on paper-thin wings.

I'd seen another butterfly float on the wind currents as I'd walked down the road earlier, but it didn't sit still for a close-up. Arrrgh, I thought! Why couldn't it have perched on a branch or found a flower from which to draw its sustenance? Who wants to look at a rotting pear and dirty flies, even when they have a beautiful visitor in their midst? Certainly not me!

It finally lighted on a leaf long enough that I could snap a more pleasing fall portrait, complete with green pear leaves and a yellow cottonwood leaf. I could still hear the buzzing of the ravenous insect world, chowing down on the rotting fruit, but I could ignore it through the view finder, focusing instead on the stained-glass-like traits of the royal butterfly as it paused before migrating on.

So what's the message? Should I be overlooking the "ugly"? Or is it more honest to report the bad with the good? Nobody has a Perfect 10 day all the time, but I tend to report the more positive spin on life, rather than focusing on the negative.

I saved an email devotional awhile back. It said: 

The only difference

between stumbling blocks and stepping stones

 is the way in which we use them.

 –Anonymous

Taken in Yellowstone National Park - 2011

So maybe it is better to see the stepping stones and the butterflies in life, even when they come disguised as stumbling blocks or complete with pesky flies.

A Time to Pray (also from the devotional):

God, just for today, let me see only the good.
Give me the eyes of faith, the heart of hope.

***

I'm linked today to Jennifer Dukes Lee's Tell His Story feature on her blog. Click on the link to check it out!

God's Parables

Every happening, great and small, 

is a parable whereby God speaks to us, 

and the art of life is to get the message.

 –Malcolm Muggeridge, journalist

There's nothing like a field of sunflowers to turn a gloomy day around.

I wasn't having the best of days. My mood matched my melancholy. I don't like to admit it, but it's true.

And then I saw them: The giant sunflowers along 4th Street Road just west of Hutchinson had bloomed in all their glory. The cloud-filled blue sky provided the perfect contrast to their cheery faces.

I turned down the dirt road and trekked out into the field, even though I had on going-to-town shoes instead of my dirty tennis shoes. I decided I'd beg forgiveness instead of ask permission if the farmer came along and wondered what I was doing.

I was just admiring the view. And I must say, the view lifted my spirits.

Not many farmers grow sunflowers around here. We don't. This summer, I've only seen this one field of sunflowers in the 35-mile trip to Hutchinson.

Sunflowers turn their "faces" to the sun. Since it was nearing evening, the sun wasn't in the right position to take photos of the whole field and get their beautiful "faces." But, on Friday, I had a dental appointment in Hutchinson and allowed a few extra minutes so that I could take photos from the east road. 

But even though I liked seeing all those petals turned my direction, I still kept my eye out for the rebel. I drove slowly down the dirt road, looking for a sunflower turned to the west instead of the east.

And I found it. I also have to admire the one that doesn't always go along with the crowd. 

Yes, God's parables can even be found in a sunflower field, I think.

***

I'm linked to the Country Fair Blog Hop. Check out these other rural writers!

Nicole of Tales of A Kansas Farm Mom on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram

+Laurie Link of Country Linked on Facebook, Pinterest  

+taysha reitzel  of Dirt Road Charm on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest

+Danielle Beard of High Heels and Shotgun Shells on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest

God Fills in the Blank

Cathedral of the Plains, Victoria, KS (St. Fidelis Catholic Church)

I've heard and read the account of Jesus' baptism dozens of times. I've been going to church since my parents carried me through the doors of our tiny rural church as an infant, so I've had plenty of opportunities to hear preachers' take on this familiar passage.

Trinity United Methodist Church, Hutchinson, KS

Beautiful stained glass windows depict the scene as John the Baptist baptizes Jesus and a dove comes down from heaven:

And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased."

Matthew 3: 16

But I "heard" it differently a few weeks ago. Pastor Ben shared it as the Gospel lesson, focusing on Jesus baptism in Matthew 3: 13-17.

You know it's a good sermon when you're still thinking about the message two months later. Then, I read the Scripture for this week's service, Transfiguration Sunday. The Gospel lesson was Matthew 17:1-9. And, again, we hear the Word of God:

“This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!

Matthew 17: 5b

As Pastor Ben shared, many of us have an internal monologue, telling ourselves, "I feel like I am accepted as long as I am __________ enough."

The blank is different for everyone. The blank may be different for me today than it was yesterday.

I feel like I am accepted as long as I am smart enough.
I feel like I am accepted as long as I am thin enough.
I feel like I'm accepted as long as I work hard enough.
I feel like I'm accepted as long as I am rich enough. 
I feel like I'm accepted as long as I make everyone happy enough.
Etc.
Etc.
Etc.

But, as Pastor Ben shared, God didn't put conditions on His love for Christ. In the passage in Matthew, He simply says: "I love Him. I am pleased with Him."

God sent us Jesus. Through baptism, we are initiated into Christ's holy church. We are given new life through water and the Spirit. All this is God's gift, offered to us without price. That's worth repeating: Without price. We don't have to look a certain way. We don't have to work for it. Through baptism, we are incorporated by the Holy Spirit into God's new creation. We are members of the family of Christ.

And, as Pastor Ben told us, we can begin subtracting that soundtrack that plays in our very human brains.

I feel like I am accepted as long as I am _________ enough.

Instead, we hear:

You are mine.

You are loved.

I am pleased.

Remember, as a kid, throwing a rock into a pond? The circles radiate from that center, reaching further and further until the banks of the pond stop the flow. Even then, the leaves and plants dance around the edge of the pond as the water reaches them.

Because of the Rock of Ages, we can be that pebble, radiating out from God's love in the center. It can be in a smile .. in a helping hand ... in turning the other cheek ... in an encouraging note ... in serving a funeral dinner ... in picking up some extra supplies for the local food bank. The options are endless. It's another reminder to be like ripples on a pond, where we radiate outward and carry the love of Christ into the lives of others.

One of the songs we sang on that baptism Sunday was "Come, Ye Sinners, Poor and Needy." It's not a hymn that I was as familiar with, but I loved the words, including:

Come, ye weary, heavy laden,
Lost and ruined by the fall;
If you tarry 'til you're better,
You will never come at all.

Let not conscience make you linger,
Nor of fitness fondly dream;
All the fitness He requireth
Is to feel your need of Him.

I don't have to wait to come to Jesus until I have everything figured out. That's not going to happen this side of heaven.  I liked this version, sung by Fernando Ortega along with Amy Grant.



I love old hymns, but I also like contemporary Christian music. On K-LOVE one day, I heard a song by Jonny Diaz called, "A More Beautiful You." And it made me think back to Pastor Ben's message of God's love for us, through Christ.

You are loved.
You are mine.
I am pleased.

His love isn't dependent upon how the outside world views us. God crosses out those words that often rattle through our brains: "I feel like I am accepted as long as I am _____________ enough."

He's enough. That's the Good News.

***

This is my March post at Lovely Branches Ministries. I am also linked to Jennifer Dukes Lee's Tell His Story and to Nebraska blogger Michelle DeRusha's Hear It On Sunday, Use It On Monday.