Over in the Meadow

The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.
Psalm 9:9

Oh Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.
Psalm 8:1

I will give thanks to the Lord because of his righteousness and will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High.
Psalm 7:17

Blooms

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. Psalm 91:1

I will say of the Lord " He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust."  Psalm 91:2

Sinking Sand

 What is it about the beach and the ocean that I love so much? Why do I cry when I see the ocean and cry when I leave the ocean?  Why do I cry when I think about the ocean? Why am I happiest at the beach and most content? 
     I began to think about all these questions to try to figure it out!  Other people didn't cry every time they see the ocean! I love the vastness, the open space, the rhythm of the waves, the birds, the sand, the fish, the smell, the storms over the water, the breeze, the shells, the rocks...well the list goes on and on. But that couldn't be it, it was more than these things. 

     I finally realized that this is where I feel closest to God!  Everything there is to me a symbol of God and his love for me!  That explains the craving I have for it , the reason I hate to leave and also why I treasure every minute I am there!

     I have dreams that I'm on vacation and I realize that it is almost time to leave and I haven't been to the beach yet!  What could I have been so busy with that I couldn't have taken the time to go to the beach? Now it was almost too late.  I go to the beach, sit down in the sand and grab it with clenched fists, as if to hang on and never let go!!  There I am hanging on to sinking sand that goes right through my fingers.

     How symbolic this is of our relationship with God!  We are so busy that we don't take the time to see that He is all around us, not just at the beach!  I don't have to go to the beach to experience His wonder, it is truly all around me if I would take the time to look for it.  I need to remember that He is in me, with me and around me all the time, I just need to grab hold of His hand, not the sand.

The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save.  He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing."
Zephaniah 3:17

 On Christ the solid Rock I stand,.  All other ground is sinking sand.  All other ground is sinking sand.

The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;my God is my rock in whom I take refuge.  He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
Psalm 18:2
     

Beautiful Ohio Countryside

 Oh Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!  You have set your glory above the heavens.
Psalm 8:1

 Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him.
Psalm 62:5

Sunrise

In the morning when I rise
Give me Jesus

Sunrise on July 3, 2014 
Kure Beach, North Carolina
Before Hurricane Arthur passed by!

Sunrise
Kure Beach, North Carolina July 5, 2014

Great Is Thy Faithfulness

Summer and winter And spring-time and harvest, Sun,moon and stars In their courses above;

Join with all nature In manifold witness To Thy great faithfulness, Mercy and love

A Beach Vignette

My favorite place is the beach! While walking on the beach in Jupiter, Florida looking for shells, I discovered a fascinating vignette.  The tide was out and there were so many rocks with holes and crevices only covered by a shallow bit of water.  I bent down and looked closer.There were tons of the most perfect, tiny shells that I love to collect!  As I reached in to pick one up -it started to move! As I looked even closer I saw this wonderful little world that I had never seen before! So many different kinds of tiny shells scurried here and there going about their lives.  I couldn't believe my eyes!  I was so excited, I had to share this with someone-I couldn't keep it to myself!!  Here came a woman walking up the beach towards me, "Look! I exclaimed, "This is amazing"!  "You're not from around here are you?" she asked calmly.  "No", I replied ,and then somewhat embarrassed and almost sheepishly I added "I'm from Ohio". We chit -chatted a bit about how the area has changed in the 20 years she has lived there and then she walked on.  I really began to think, but wait, so what if I wasn't from "around here"?  Does that mean that if I was from "around here" I would take this wonderful world I had discovered, for granted?  Would I become calloused to this amazing beauty all around me?  Would I just keep walking and not stop to treasure every little thing that I saw?

And why was I so ashamed to be from Ohio?? We don't have things like this in Ohio.  Or do we?  Well, not exactly like an ocean full of shells, but we have many beautiful and wonderful natural areas.Right in our own backyards. Really, they are everywhere if we would just look for them!

This tiny vignette of life that I found in that shallow, rocky, tide pool that day was a perfect example of many vignettes in our lives.  If we don't look for them and  sometimes really search for them, we'll walk right by and not be blessed by God's gift of beauty and inspiration.  If we don' look for them and recognize them we will become calloused and miss God's glory all around us.

Sometimes if we just look at the "big picture" we will miss many small wonders waiting to be discovered!

The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land.
Psalm 95:5