Keep the Mind Focused

The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace,

Because he trusts in You.

Isaiah 26: 3

I have found that if I keep my mind focused on good things I have a much better day.  When I let myself get caught up in the distractions, delays, and diversions of the world I am a lot less content.

I pray that I, and you, can keep our minds steadfast today.  

I Know Who Can Do All Things

I know that You can do all things,

And that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted.

'Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?'

Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand,

Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.

Job 42: 2-3

At the end of the book, Job makes the declaration above.  Even after all he had suffered he recognized and honored who God is.  

Regardless of our pain, our struggles, our tough times, we must recognize and proclaim who God is!

May your day be filled with peace, joy, comfort, and the full knowledge that He is in control.

Know Where Your Strength Lies

How blessed is the man whose strength is in You,

In whose heart are the highways to Zion!

Psalms 84: 5

We took a road trip yesterday.  Drove a backroad to somewhere we had never been before.  We went to see if there was any color in the trees. There is something exciting about exploring new roads, new towns, new places.  You see new things.  Sometimes they are things which are totally unexpected.  We didn't see much color but we did see a bobcat!

There is also something in a new adventure that makes you just a little uneasy.  "Road Closed Ahead".  All kinds of questions whirl through your head when you are in the middle of nowhere and see that sign.  Is there an alternate route? Should we turn around? Is it our road that is closed?

Life can be like that.  That's why it is best to know where your strength lies.

It's Time for an Examination

Let us examine and probe our ways,

And let us return to the Lord.

Lamentations 3: 40

Any good landscape photographer knows that there is usually more than one photograph to be taken at any designated location. You are taught early on to look around, move left and right, forward and back, higher and lower.  Take your time and examine all the possibilities. Then when you find the subject you wish to photograph, you always should take more than one image of that subject.  

Take a wide angle shot.

Photograph it vertically and horizontally. 

Zoom in a little closer. 

Even closer.

From time to time everything needs to be examined closely.  We examine our appearance before we go to an important meeting.  We examine our finances before we make a large purchase. We examine food to make sure it is not spoiled. We have our health examined.

So it is with our relationship with God. If we do not examine our connection to Him, we wander.  We let other things replace Him.

Today is good day for an examination.

It Is Good to Reflect

Sometimes we just need to stop, look back at our lives, and realize that there has been a lot of good going on!

Take time today to reflect on just what good things have come your way recently.  It will encourage us all to do that.

God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good.

Genesis 1:31a

Remembering Can Bring Comfort

Remember His covenant forever,

The word which He commanded to a thousand generations,

1 Chronicles 16: 15

I was recently reminded by a Facebook post of a wonderful time I spent in Ohio a few years ago with my son. I went back in my files and looked at the photographs from that time and remembered!  It was refreshing and encouraging.

I thought of friends who are in the midst of struggles and pain right now.  I hope they can remember and be comforted by those memories. And, I know they find comfort in the promise above.

Bounty

You have crowned the year with Your bounty,

And Your paths drip with fatness.

Psalms 65: 11

There are pumpkins everywhere this time of year.  Orange, white, speckled, purple, big, small, and lots of other words can describe them.  People make pies. They make Jack-O-Lanterns. I make photographs! My favorite part of the pumpkin has to be the stems.

Enjoy this season of bounty.  The Lord has been good to us all.

You Will Not Be Abandoned

Sometimes circumstances in our lives overwhelm us.  I know so many who are struggling with things that seem like they would just swallow you up.  Yet, there is always hope for those people.  There is always the comfort of knowing that they have not and will not be abandoned.

When you face those times in life, those trials, remember He will not leave you alone.

For the Lord will not abandon His people,

Nor will He forsake His inheritance.

Psalms 94:14

Be Still

Why must we always be in such a rush? Run here, be there, do this, go see that. . . We are like falling leaves.  The slightest breeze blows us on to another adventure or experience.

Ours has become a world of constant motion.  Sometimes even those leaves rest in one place.  There is beauty in that.  Maybe there is wisdom in that for us too.  Maybe we just need to be still.  To rest in one place and enjoy it.

I remember visiting with Linda's Uncle Lawrence.  He lived on a farm.  There was always work to do.  Yet, everyday after lunch, if the weather permitted, Uncle Lawrence would take the time to just sit on the porch and rest for a while.  Sometimes I wonder how much happier we all would be if we sat on the porch more.

Take some time today to just be still.  See how it feels to do nothing for a few moments.  I think it will feel "real good"!

Cease striving and know that I am God;

I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.

Psalms 46:10

Who Do We Worship?

Fall is fast approaching.  It is one of my favorites seasons.  There is so much color to photograph.  I hope you enjoy these fall photographs from Brown County, Indiana.

As you look, I ask you to consider the coming Christmas season.  There will be shopping, and parties, and decorations, and shopping, and food, and ball games, and shopping. . .

What gets left out? Or, should I say "Who" gets left out?  This Christmas, think about who we worship.

So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him,

"Put away the foreign gods which are among you,

and purify yourselves and change your garments.

Genesis 35:2

How Majestic!

I woke up this morning singing.  That's not unusual for me!  

This mornings song:

O Lord, our Lord

How majestic is Your name in all the earth.

O Lord, we praise Your name

O Lord, we magnify Your name

When you look at the beauty of this season do you see the name of the Lord?

Prince of Peace, might God,

O Lord, God Almighty

The heavens declare His righteousness,

And all the peoples have seen His glory.

Psalms 97: 6