From A Lamp Unto My Feet (a devotional) ...

 A Safeguard For the Soul

Souls are vulnerable things.  They need safeguards.  It was when Paul was in prison that this idea came to him.  He had just been writing to the Philippians about the benefits that accrued because of his own sufferings and the possible death he might die.  He told them of Epaphroditus's illness and anxiety, and finished with "Finally, my brothers, delight yourselves in the Lord! ...  You will find it a safeguard to your souls" (Philippians 3:1, Phillips).

It would be very easy to allow depression and anxiety to overcome us when we look at the dismal circumstances in which we sometimes find ourselves.  Who had better reason than Paul for depression? (Oh well, but he was Saint Paul!" we counter.)  He had learned by practice how to apply the soul's safeguard, which is not mere enjoyment, it is a delight.  This is a command and therefore an act of will, and it is done in the Lord.  No circumstance is so dismal as to prevent obedience to the command.  No trouble can blast that safeguard.  Do it.  Do it by faith.  Delight yourself in the Lord.  Maybe you will have to get out of bed, get up from your chair, go outdoors and walk, sing a song out loud, bake a pie for somebody or mow the lawn as an offering of praise.  You can do something that will help you to obey that command.  It is amazing how strongly what we do affects how we feel.

- Elisabeth Elliot

Why are you cast down, O my soul?  

And why are you disquieted within me?

Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him 

For the help of His countenance.

Psalm 42:5

From Beside the Still Waters (a devotional) ...

 "One Thing Thou Lackest"

Read: Mark 10:17-31

"It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." - Mark 10:25

My friend and I were discussing the financial aspect of life.  "I just don't want to be poor," he said.  I have often thought about those words.  Someone may start pursuing wealth with the good intention of gaining only what is sufficient, but this has been the downfall of many.  Today my friend is far from poor, and I wonder sometimes if that is actually good.  Most of us fathers desire to provide for our families and also to have enough to give away (at least we say that).  But we need to be honest about our intentions and the deceitfulness of riches.

In today's Bible reading, the rich young ruler became very sorrowful when Jesus told him to sell all his possessions and give to the poor.  After all, life was good, and business was going well - but he lacked "one thing" that was necessary to inherit eternal life.  For the natural mind it is very difficult to accept Jesus' words.  It requires understanding the vanity of earthly wealth and the infinite value of spiritual riches.  The people who witnessed this interaction between Jesus and the rich ruler were astonished at what they heard (verse 26).

The important question for us is not, "Might Jesus be asking me to sell all my possessions?"  It is rather, "Why do I want to be rich, and how much do I trust in riches?"  We find some excellent instruction in 1 Timothy 6:17-18: "Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God ... that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate [share with others]."  The "one thing" will not be lacking if we do these things.

Levi Baer - Kryvoshyintsi, Ukraine

"Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the Lord? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain."

 - Proverbs 30:8-9

Winter is here!

 Not many leaves left on the tree now...

Yesterday it rained most of the day.  Freya knew the best place to be...

And I wasn't far away, with plenty to keep me busy...

continuing to work on hand quilting a cot quilt panel for new grandson due 21st July

My squares for the fistula blanket are coming along.  Still accompanying Marnie to various medical appointments, so I have opportunity to knit while I wait for her...

I have 26 squares done, need 4 more, then I can start sewing it together.  Yay! Not.

And I'm re-reading Penelope Wilcock's The Hawk and the Dove series 1.  I read it many years ago, but my original copies have since been passed on, so I'm gradually buying the new editions.  I have the first 6 of the 9, and I'm currently reading book 2, and enjoying it very much, perhaps even more so than the first time I read them ...

Pen's blog is HERE if you'd like to visit her.

This morning at church the sermon was on the Sabbath from Matthew 12:1-14

"Rest time is not waste time.  It is economy to gather fresh strength.  In the long run, we shall do more by sometimes doing less." 

- Charles H. Spurgeon

A walk to the river ...

Haven't been to the river in a while, but I took a walk there yesterday morning...

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.

He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness

For His name's sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil;

For you are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;

You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

All the days of my life;

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Psalm 23