Tag Archives: Rest

An Easy Escape . .

18 Monday Apr 2016

Posted by in Attitude, Choices, Contentment, Escape, Gratitude, Happiness, Joy, Peace

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When we feel the pressures, stresses and fears of life pushing inward upon our souls as well as our spirits, we have only to seek out nature and a quiet calm surrender within it. When we don’t feed our spirits or our souls with the nutrients of life – the beauty and tranquility into which we can easily escape even for a moment – we deny ourselves an idyllic meditative and prayerful place. Yes, you may encounter imperfections in nature . . you may find yourself in a sneezing fit from flowers that are blooming, or you may find a critter scampering near you that startles you a bit, or you might feel vulnerable just from the sheer quiet. But in truth, I find nature no more or less threatening than the city streets clamoring with traffic and noise.  1_flickr_mathhew_paulson_embed

I escape to the quiet surrender of mountains, streams, deserts, ocean vistas, and meadows. I find such great delight in the quiet of a forest, the gentle lapping of a stream against rocks, the wind caressing the petals of wildflowers in a faraway meadow, the desert filled with cacti unique and surreal. These are the places we have near. For myself, I also have made an effort to surround the house in which I live with those same things . . variations in height for interest, trees to provide shade and shelter for wildlife, the greenery of all variations and types for a never-ending blending of leaves, colors and textures, cacti of all sorts, as well as plentiful flowers to bring scent and beauty with each new bloom. I also have added features with the sounds of water moving and a bird bath to attract nature’s visitors during all times of the year. My goal is to make my yard not only a sanctuary for many of nature’s creatures, but for anyone who is here! I still enjoy greatly my trips to surrounding mountains, streams, lakes, meadows, and wilderness, but at least I have some place to easily escape here too.   20140608-115131-42691870

It’s amazing to me, how even just a block from a major street, life can seem completely tranquil amidst the beauty of nature all around me! I would suggest to everyone who struggles with the stresses of life to create for themselves, even in a small space, a tranquil retreat, a quiet spot to just be . . for nature is an abundant resource for our pleasure! And escape to nature often too . . it awaits you somewhere not too far away! There you will find a great place to calm your nerves, soothe your spirit and to connect with the Creator.    Signature02

Who Controls the Rain?

07 Thursday Jan 2016

Posted by in Choices, Christianity, Contentment, Faith, God, Maturity, Peace, Wisdom

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Wouldn’t it be lovely if for every drop of rain that fell, the world around us was cleansed of some of its evil? Maybe that was God’s intent for the rain, not only that it restore, replenish and provide; but that it also cleanse the inner man as well as the outer world! We just cannot say for sure what only He knows! Yet we have been trying consistently to render silent the very Creator of all of us and all of this. We cannot give up on God and push Him any further away and out than we as a society have already, especially when all of Creation is His! Can you stop the rain when you decide it’s enough? Can you start the rain? Can you bring the sun up this morning to warm your sky? To imagine such a thing is in your realm of possibility is truly beyond the scope of sanity.  To believe in some randomness and purposelessness in all of this . . just because the Divinity of it all cannot be verified, tested, controlled or proven to some human’s standard of proof . . is to limit the possibility and value of all creation and life itself! 
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So why then do we dare to even imagine He isn’t the very Maker of all that which stands out so comparatively in testimony to our abject lack and seeming insignificance? His plans, purposes and desires for the world are not ours to understand or to even fathom. We are here solely for His purposes and for His will. God help us for trying to usurp His role, for doubting and testing His sovereignty and His might; forgive us Father for negating Your will by ignoring Your role as the Almighty Creator of the universe! I know I cannot do what He can do, so I have learned to give Him control over my life! I am just a speck of dust in the universe, but I am a beloved child of the Almighty! When it rains like this, day after day . . I don’t doubt Him, or fear that I cannot control it, or imagine some outcome because of it. I trust in my Lord and Savior to be doing what ONLY He is able to do, for His purposes. And so, I have peace in my life. 
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The reason the expression “let go, let God” is so popular, so oft-heard and so prophetic is in its truthfulness, constant and assuring! Only God knows all. Only God can provide. Only He can direct the clouds to bring the rain. Only God. Trust, lean on, rely and depend totally on Him for every aspect of your life through prayer and in rest. Here is Scripture from Matthew 6, which truly directs us in our daily manner of resting, letting go and letting God, verses 25 – 34:
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.   
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