From my home to yours: An illustrated 2016 'Vitamin' reflection for remembering God's faithfulness and goodness past, present, and future. The card begins with a "benediction" — a blessing for Christmas Day to you and those you love, and especially for all the days of your new year to come...
"The LORD bless and keep you — protect you, sustain you, and guard you. The LORD make His face shine upon you with favor and be gracious to you — surrounding you with lovingkindness. The LORD lift up His face upon you with Divine approval, and give you peace — a tranquil heart and life."
(Numbers 6:24-26, Amplified)
JANUARY
A benediction is a grown-up word that simply means "to speak well of." It begins with hearing and receiving what God speaks well of us — how much He loves us in spite of our prone to wanderness, and how much He wants us to savor a life that comes from sticking close to Him. (When the End is Just the Beginning, January 17, 2016)
Noone Falls, Peterborough
Sometimes, we feel pressured to do something to “help God out” and speed things along—anything but wait. Except waiting on God has little to do with being passive and everything about cultivating a relationship of holy friendship, of every-situation conversation, of trust, of believing even in the face of everything that wants logic and clear-cut answers...and especially of being faithful in the routine rhythms of life. (Living Large in the Routine, February 7, 2016)
MARCH
"Reduced speed zones along the journey are My idea, not to tempt you to the sidelines but to recharge your batteries. You have been hand-crafted and hand-gifted by Me for one purpose: My glory and pleasure, for this time in history, in this place.” (Voice of the Image Maker, March 13, 2016)
An early spring flow meets winter's stubborn resistance near the junction of the Contoocook and Nubanusit rivers.
Moody Beach, ME
APRIL
What is this magnetic attraction to see the sun rise over the horizon—a sandy beach, a mountain top, a back yard? It might just be because God has implanted the magnetic attraction of His creation into everyone’s heart, to enjoy for sure, but even more in hopes that what we see around us every day might draw us to the loving heart of God Himself. (Magnetic Attraction, April 24, 2016)
"I have yet to encounter an unfriendly, grumpy hiker. I can't imagine why. — at Pack Monadnock Mountain."
MAY
The next time someone (including the accuser's voice in your own head) tells you to “get your head out of the clouds,” put it right back in. Because, as Jesus modeled, it is Above where perfect power, goodness, friendship, and life have their headquarters, and when we fix our hopes there and get our perspective from there rather than the tangled mess that's right in front of us, all things are possible. (Get Your Head in the Clouds, May 22, 2016)
JUNE
Contentment may be about being satisfied with having just enough of just about anything, but maybe more importantly, it is not about "stuff" but about being satisfied with place and purpose — where we are in actual location, career, relationships, or in station of life at any given time. Because that is where Jesus has us at the moment, and the greatest sense of contentment that I could ever know is that, no matter what, wherever I am, He is already there, and that is enough. (The Stuff that Matters, June 5, 2016)
"Prepare the way for him who rides through the desert on the clouds as on a chariot whose name is the Lord. Rejoice before him. God is in his holy abode. He is a father to orphans and he defends the widows . God gives the lonely a home. He leads prisoners out with joy..." #psalm 68 #alwayslookUp (Old Sharon Road, Peterborough)
JULY
Above all else, everywhere I look, in everything my eyes and senses take in,
I see just what I need to see most, one more time: Your faithfulness.
Even in the silence, it shouts:
‘If I AM faithful in the beauty of creation, know that I am even more faithful in working in and through every situation, and especially My beautiful creation of you.’
Help me never to take such jaw-dropping goodness for granted… (Above and Beyond the Noise, July 17, 2016)
"Sundown storm clouds part at a strangely-wonderfully still Dublin Lake...except for the sound of dinner guests at a cottage singing the Doxology in harmony. Perfect."
"A great perspective (from a larger work) on what it means to "wait on God" when you generally hate the idea of waiting for just about anything...'Think of waiting for a train. When you wait you may be still, standing or sitting, but you are not passive. You are watching, listening. Your eyes follow the parallel lines of the tracks into the distance looking for the train to come chugging in. You listen for the roar of the engine, the clanking of the cars, and the tones of the train’s whistle. Even as your body rests on the platform your senses are alert and your mind active. This is what it should be like to wait on the Lord too. Sometimes it is stillness, but in the stillness there is alertness and heightened sensitivity.' (Barnabas Piper)
AUGUST
We think paths and highways to the goal line; God is more into steps, one at a time. (The Goal of ‘Now’, August 14, 2016)
SEPTEMBER
Sometimes, being in God's presence is a quiet sense of wonder, like gazing at creation and realizing you don't have to talk yourself out of the possibility that all of this maybe just exploded onto the scene one day eons ago and just so happened to sort itself out in unspeakably beautiful colors, landscapes, and innumerable unique flying, crawling, swimming creatures. (In His Grip, September 11, 2016)
"#happyplace"
OCTOBER
Let this new morning, the smell of the earth
Remind you to dig daily into the rich soil that is the Gospel
Let your roots go down deep and feed on the nutrients
Of what Jesus said and did
And still says and does (Anthem for Resurrection Day, October 9, 2016)
"It's already a beautiful day. @cunningham03458"
NOVEMBER
It sure would be a lot easier, or so it would seem, if our conversations with God were always direct and to the point, like some sort of supernatural FAQ. But there wouldn't be much faith in that. And faith is strengthened not by microwaved answers to every dilemma but through trusting when the wind is blowing you backwards. (Letters from Heaven, November 13, 2016)
"My vote's with this guy on a beautiful day like today: keep on walking and soak it all in. ... — at Arm's Park Manchester, NH"
DECEMBER
"See, amid the winter's snow,
Born for us on Earth below,
See, the tender Lamb appears,
Promised from eternal years.
Hail, thou ever blessed morn,
Hail redemption's happy dawn,
Sing through all Jerusalem,
Christ is born in Bethlehem." (Edward Caswall)
Wait, Easter? Most people don't like to rush through one season to get to the next, unless it's a New England winter. Instead, here is the fantastic tension of the now of Bethlehem and the not yet of the glories to come. It's an explosive reminder that on a silent night also came the dramatic downbeat of full-on Redemption. It is the best good news ever given… (O Little Verse, December 11, 2016)
Merry Christmas to all, and may the "best good news ever" be yours in abundance in the New Year
Thank you, Steve! This was beautiful. I enjoyed every word (Word) and photograph.
ReplyDeleteMay you have a very blessed Christmas and New Year! Carla and Bill