All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. 4 He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.
-2 Corinthians 1:3-5 NLT
Posted in Daily Scriptures | Tags: beauty, Bible, Christianity, faith, God, Jesus Christ, life, love, nature, photography, rainbow, salvation, waterfalls
“I am the lover of uncontained and immortal beauty. In the wilderness, I find something more dear and connate than in streets or villages. In the tranquil landscape, and especially in the distant line of the horizon, man beholds somewhat as beautiful as his own nature.”
-Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nature and Selected Essays
Posted in Nature Writer Quotes | Tags: art, beauty, books, conservation, earth, enviroment, life, literature, local, love, mountains, nature, personal, photography, poetry, salvation, spirituality, travel
In C. S. Lewis’s novel The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, of The Chronicles of Narnia series, four children, Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy, pass through the wardrobe’s portal to find the kingdom of Narnia imprisoned under the spell of the White Witch. Aslan the lion, who is the king of Narnia, is nowhere to be found. Although rumor has it “He is on the move,” he appears to have abandoned his kingdom to the White Witch, who spends her leisure time turning the inhabitants into lawn statuary.
The four children set out to explore this strange and somewhat frightening new country that is locked under evil’s spell. They come upon Mr. and Mrs. Beaver, a husband and wife still faithful to Aslan. The Beavers assure the children that Aslan is about to return to set things right and that prophecy suggests that they have a very important, even central part to play in the drama about to unfold. Indeed, they learn they are to actually rule with Aslan from Cair Paravel itself, Aslan’s royal city.
Faced with all this fearful yet exciting news, Lucy and Susan’s thoughts go to what Aslan is actually like. If he is a king who is safe, they reason, that will certainly be of great comfort in light of the battle being all but lost.
“Is-is he a man?” asked Lucy.
“Aslan a man!” said Mr. Beaver sternly. “Certainly not. I tell you he is the King of the wood and the son of the great Emperor-Beyond-the-Sea. Don’t you know who is the King of Beasts? Aslan is a lion-the lion, the great Lion.”
“Ooh!” said Susan, “I’d thought he was a man. Is he-quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.”
“That you will, dearie, and no mistake,” said Mrs. Beaver; “if there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most or else just silly.”
“Then he isn’t safe?” said Lucy.
“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver; “don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”
-John Eldredge, The Sacred Romance, 55, 56
Picture Credit: Walt Disney
Posted in Ransomed Heart | Tags: books, Christianity, God, Jesus Christ, John Eldredge, life, literature, photography, Ransomed Heart, salvation
The earth is the Lord’s, and all that is in it, the world, and all who live in it. For He has built it upon the seas. He has set it upon the rivers. Who may go up the mountain of the Lord? And who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart. He who has not lifted up his soul to what is not true, and has not made false promises. He will receive what is good from the Lord, and what is right and good from the God Who saves him.
-Psalms 24: 1-5 NLT
Picture Credit: Michael Anderson
Posted in Daily Scriptures | Tags: beauty, Bible, faith, God, Jesus Christ, life, love, mountains, nature, photography, salvation
In 605 BC Jerusalem was sacked by the notorious Babylonians. Among the hostages taken back to the city of the hanging gardens was a young man named Daniel. He becomes a sort of counselor among the royal cabinet, largely because God favors Daniel and reveals a number of mysteries to him which had stumped everyone else on staff. You might remember the famous episode when in the midst of a state function turned Mardi Gras, King Belshazzar sees the handwriting on the wall – literally. Mene, Mene, Tekel, Parsin. Actually, everyone sees it, but only Daniel can interpret what it means. The Hebrew exile is right again, the king dies that night, the Medes take over, and after a number of more years in the dangerous world of Middle Eastern politics, Daniel has another troubling vision. Let’s pick up the story there.
In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia, a revelation was given to Daniel (who was called Belteshazzar). Its message was true and it concerned a great war. The understanding of the message came to him in a vision. At that time I, Daniel, mourned for three weeks. I ate no choice food; no meat or wine touched my lips; and I used no lotions at all until the three weeks were over (Daniel 10:1-3).
Something has happened that Daniel doesn’t understand. I think we can all relate to that. We don’t understand about 90% of what happens to us, either. Daniel is troubled. He sets out to get an answer. But three weeks of prayer and fasting produce no results. What is he to conclude? If Daniel were like most people, by this point he’d probably be headed towards one of two conclusions: I’m blowing it, or, God is holding out on me. He might try confessing every sin and petty offense, in hopes of opening up the lines of communication with God. Or, he might withdraw into a sort of disappointed resignation, drop the fast, and turn on the television. In an effort to hang onto his faith, he might embrace the difficulty as part of “God’s will for his life.” He might read a book on “the silence of God.” That’s the way the people I know handle this sort of thing.
And he would be dead wrong.
On the 21st day of the fast an angel shows up, out of breath. In a sort of apology the angel explains to Daniel that God had actually dispatched him in answer to Daniel’s prayers the very first day he prayed – three weeks ago. (There goes the whole unanswered prayer thesis, right out the window). Three weeks ago? What is Daniel to do with that? “The very first day? But…I’ve…I mean, thank you so very much, and I don’t want to seem ungrateful, but…where have you been?” You haven’t blown it, Daniel, and God isn’t holding out on you. The angel goes on to explain that he was locked in hand-to-hand combat with a mighty fallen angel, a demonic power of dreadful strength, who kept him out of the Persian kingdom for these three weeks, and how he finally had to go get Michael (the great Archangel, the Captain of the Lord’s hosts) to come and help him break through enemy lines. “Now I am here, in answer to your prayer. Sorry its taken so long.”
-John Eldredge, Waking The Dead, 30-32
Picture Credit: Veteranstoday.com
Posted in Ransomed Heart | Tags: books, God, John Eldredge, life, literature, local, personal, photography, Ransomed Heart, salvation, spirituality, survival, travel, war
The heavens proclaim the glory of God.
The skies display his craftsmanship.
Day after day they continue to speak;
night after night they make him known.
They speak without a sound or word;
their voice is never heard.
Yet their message has gone throughout the earth,
and their words to all the world.
God has made a home in the heavens for the sun.
It bursts forth like a radiant bridegroom after his wedding.
It rejoices like a great athlete eager to run the race.
The sun rises at one end of the heavens
and follows its course to the other end.
Nothing can hide from its heat.
-Psalms 19:1-6 NLT
“Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.”
-George Eliot
Picture Credit: Jeff Crosier
Posted in Nature Writer Quotes | Tags: art, Autumn, beauty, books, conservation, earth, enviroment, fall colors, God, life, literature, local, nature, personal, photography, poetry, spirituality, travel
If then you are wise, you will show yourself rather as a reservoir than as a canal. A canal spreads abroad water as it receives it, but a reservoir waits until it is filled before overflowing, and thus without loss to itself [it shares] its superabundant water. (Bernard of Clairvuex)
A beautiful picture. The canal runs dry so quickly, shortly after the rains subside. Like a dry streambed in the desert. But a reservoir is a vast and deep reserve of life. We are called to live in a way that we store up reserves in our heart, and then offer from a place of abundance. As Jesus said, “Therefore every teacher of the law who has been instructed about the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old” (Matt 13:52). I’m thinking, Storeroom? What storeroom? “The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart…for out of the overflow of his heart, his mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45 emphasis added).
I’m afraid I live spiritually like I live financially – I get a little, and go spend it. I live like a canal. I look like a reservoir when the rains come, but shortly after, I’m dried up again. (My financially responsible readers have just congratulated themselves on living a more disciplined life. But may I ask, are you using those reserves to do things that nourish your heart? Many a Scrooge has filled his coffers while starving his soul). “There are very many canals in the church today,” laments Julia Gatta, “but few reservoirs.” One woman deeply involved in ministry wrote to me recently that she is “burned out to a crackling crunch.” She has been a canal. She hasn’t cared for her heart. She is not alone.
How would you live differently, if you believed your heart was the treasure of the kingdom?
-John Eldredge, Waking The Dead, 199, 200
Posted in Ransomed Heart | Tags: art, beauty, books, faith, God, Jesus Christ, John Eldredge, local, Montana, mountains, nature, personal, photography, Ransomed Heart, salvation, spirituality, travel
Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth! Worship the Lord with gladness.
Come before him, singing with joy.
Acknowledge that the Lord is God!
He made us, and we are his.
We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving;
go into his courts with praise.
Give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the Lord is good.
His unfailing love continues forever,
and his faithfulness continues to each generation.
-Psalms 100:1-5 NLT
Picture Credit: Photographycorner.com
Posted in Daily Scriptures | Tags: beauty, Bible, faith, God, Jesus Christ, life, love, mountains, nature, photography, salvation, spirituality
“If getting our kids out into nature is a search for perfection, or is one more chore, then the belief in perfection and the chore defeats the joy. It’s a good thing to learn more about nature in order to share this knowledge with children; it’s even better if the adult and child learn about nature together. And it’s a lot more fun.”
-Richard Louv, Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder
Picture Credit: Trevor Brown
Posted in Nature Writer Quotes | Tags: art, beauty, books, conservation, earth, enviroment, family, Father, life, literature, local, love, Mother, mountains, nature, parenting, personal, photography, spirituality, travel
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