Summer Song

It's that time again: when I think about gathering God's goodness. For Hanover tomatoes to be canned and stored; blackberries as big as plums; for strawberry preserves and ruby red peach jelly; for the anticipation of tasks shared with good company ; for traditions started and continued as part of the art of growing family close; for sweet corn and the grandson who always shucks it before I carefully cut it from the cobs and think of family dinners to come; for looking for the perfect bread and butter pickle recipe and the companionship of these adventures with the loveliest ladies I know-- all treasures in my gratitude list: tonight, I thank  you, LORD, and praise you for these and oh, so many more blessings and gifts!

Song of My Creator: a Proclamation

The thought that the One who creates the Universe thinks off me astonishes me. He invites me to draw near to Him. He calls me by name. When I rise up and when I sit down- He knows my inmost being for He formed and fashioned me in my mother's womb (when I was not yet formed). I hear His voice and I follow Him; I will not follow the voice of the stranger. He orders my steps. He delights in me. He calls me 'Beloved ' and ' Delightful.' I am the apple of His eye!

As a vital part of His church , I am a part of His Kingdom advancing in the earth. The Spirit of God in me has divine power to bring forth the life of God in others, calling forth their true identity, seeing the Image of God in them as they are in Him. I am loved with an everlasting love.

Through Him, I can do all things; nothing is impossible. I am invited into the Bridal Chamber and I can ask of Him anything my heart desires, trusting Him as He answers prayer in His time and according to His plans.  He calls me friend: I am a friend of God. I am the answer to someone's prayer.

I am complete in Him. He is my true shalom, my peace, my fortress, my defender, my provider, and the one who spoke, (well, sang actually) the world into existence. 

He quiets me with His love; He sings over me.

Safe Travel

For safe travel and refreshing peace-filled days; for good food and crabbing adventures; for reclaiming the love and serenity of casting a fish hook in the water (fishing really is a discipline of patience); for sandy shoes and a little sunburn; for the recognition that freedom is precious and costly; for a son's generosity and delightful restaurants discovered under the canopy of hundred year old oaks; for the smell of my daughter-n-law cooking breakfast; for adding charm as a true treasure-southern comfort--graciousness experienced as gift; for sunsets and sunshiny summer rains; for the experience of feeling the rocking of the ocean's tide, as if the LORD of Life were cradeling me in His love; for the comfort of home to come to where furry little friends glad greetings are sweet. For these and oh, so many more blessings and #1000Gifts, I give thanks to the LORD!

Beach Song

For captains and full crab pots and  two full bushels steamed; for perfect beach weather and Carolina peaches; ; for a grandson turning 17 and picking crabs until the job is done; 

for a son's fishing rods cast under a bridge as quiet rain falls and my granddaughter chatters; for clear starry nights and a meal lovingly prepared: crab cakes 

and Megan's perfect preach pie and perfect summer salad; for sand castles and rainbows and sun kissed skin; for these moments of hearing the waves lap the shore as night softly lulls and I feel the intimacy of your Presence embrace me and I stop  seeking-- a comfortable, perfect place.

I can't not stop to give you thanks and praise for these and oh, so many more blessings and #1000Gifts. Thank you LORD, thank you.

A Heart of Flesh

It is in repeated encounters with God’s vulnerable, active love that our own hearts begin to soften and break open.

You gazed at me,
inviting me to gaze back into the ocean of your love.
It was unbearable.
I could not sustain a gaze at first.
Only glances.
Your love fell in waves against my shame and fear and pride,
carrying away small segments at a time.
It felt like certain death.
And so it was.
Little by little I died.
I thought there would be nothing left.
But you knew the seed of life you had once formed in me
would lie exposed, aching with love and longing.
And so I was.
I was unearthed
by your loving gaze.
You treated me as though I were the pearl of great price
that you had sold everything to buy.
And so you had.

I will give you a new heart
and put a new spirit in you;
I will remove from you your heart of stone
and give you a heart of flesh.
Ezekiel 36:26

Prayer suggestion:

Invite God to give you a heart transplant. Offer to God your defended, well-protected heart. Ask God to expose your tender heart of flesh.

Juanita Ryan

http://www.juanitaryan.com/

A SONG OF MY DAD

For dump trucks full of cereal and the spirit of excellence; for a quick mind who puts God first; for picnics of sardines, Vienna sausage, cheese and bologna sandwiches; for walks in snow covered woods and teaching me to listen to the sound of the whippoorwill; for taking time to stop in the mountains and show us pure streams of water that still gush out of rocks; for bending his knees before the throne to petition the Holy God

 ( yes, I remember walking into the room unnoticed as my Dad poured out his petitions before the LORD in prayer as a child); for the firm foundation of stability and for being the first to show loving and tender mercy to this once wayward girl; for the wisdom of guiding his family threw troubled and storm tossed waters with the LORD and the Word of God as his compass; for the tireless and endless days of loving and providing, and letting that love shine like a beacon for many to find their way home to safety; for loving my mother and claiming her as his beloved for more than 58 years demonstrating the Bridegroom's love for his Bride; for graces to demonstrate patience that is a fine honed virtue to four generations; for integrity in all of his business dealings and being a man of his word and keeping his word in a world that has lost that treasured art and honor; for his mentoring of the fatherless, his compassion and generosity to the widows and the orphans; for pinching my ear with the greatness of his immense affection; for the embodiment of godliness  and being the first to build bridges of grace for the lost prodigals to cross over; for being first to apologize and quick to repent; for loving the LORD with all his mind and heart and strength so that that love for God spills over in an undeniable  manifest love of his neighbor; for his habit of rooting for the underdog; for these soft spoken words, "Daughter, pick yourself up, brush yourself off and keep going," that  built resilience into my very being; for giving God all the glory for the many blessings and miracles of his life; for the lollipops handed out to every child at church every Sunday; for his Bible that is always open and the deep assurance that I-- still his child-- feel because I know my Dad is in his Word...for these #1000Gifts and oh so many more, I give thanks and praise to the Most High for giving me John Harrison Worden as my father! Dad, Happy Father's Day! You are and always will be my daddy and I a daddy's girl. I love you!

Today

For the sound of the Bob White quail and the memory of daddy telling me to listen; for reunions and childhood friends; for bar-b-que, baked beans and family at the table; for spiked hair and a mother's love for the child without, for kids tables and plenty; for quiet homes and the mystery of marriage; for houses rented and restaurant dreams--southern comfort; for entrepreneurial spirits and the answer: yes, for blue heron and quiet, still fisherman; for cattails and lily pads coming into bloom; for my mom and dad - partners and family--- for these and, oh, so many more blessings, gifts and graces-- I give thanks to the LORD!