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, if we will only begin to use our
blinded thinking to visualize it.
Oswald
Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest
On the brisk cold evening
of February 20, our Shenandoah Valley was treated to a spectacular full eclipse of the moon.
For a while I sat on my raised hearth, warm and toasty, and with binoculars watched this spectacle through the high
windows of my chalet. It is one of the heaven’s great dramas. For the first time as the moon went shadowy orange, I saw Regulus and Saturn and wished
for a telescope powerful enough to see her moons. Perhaps, I thought, that in
the infinite eternity the Holy Book promises, I shall travel to her moons and to galaxies more glorious than our own.
"All
of the telescopes in the world have never discovered all of the galaxies in God's universe."
Dr. Bob Jones
Oswald Chambers writes that “We look for visions from heaven and for earth shaking
events to see God’s power….Yet we never realize that all the time God is at work in our everyday events and in
the people around us.” I came to fully comprehend this truth recently
as we studied a lesson on what the gospel of John says about stewardship. It
means following the example of Jesus who took a towel to wash his disciples’ feet, taking the place of a servant. It’s an attitude that real life means serving others and thus being freed from
the notion that life owes me entitlements, any recognition or applause. Servant
hood means disposability, self- abandonment, and taking my cares to Him who is the shepherd of my soul , the One who knows
that I walk every day through a world full of sin and guilt, where I need my feet cleaned and from whom comes forgiveness
and redemption. Such an attitude produces meekness, quietness of spirit, pliability, calmness in the midst of turmoil, insensitivity
to slights and provocation, forgive-ness of others’ trespasses, deliverance from the fears of this world. Imperfect though I am now, I’m on the way to becoming like Him.
I am reminded again in this Lenten season of the brevity of life and that I have only this moment to serve. So, give me, dear Lord, a mindset to do even the menial things I am called to do with gratitude, joy and
distinction because they have meaning when they are done for You.
The greatest sorrow and the greatest joy co-existed on Golgotha.—Mother Teresa
+++++++++++++++
The lesson which life constantly repeats is to
look under your feet. You are always nearer to the divine and the true sources
of your power than you think. The lure of the distant and the difficult is deceptive. The
great opportunity is where you are. Do not despise your own place and hour.
Every place is under the stars. Every place is the center of the world.
John Burroughs
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