The truth of God's love, the Encouragement we all need and occasional humor
Author: anitashope
Retired Quality Manager but still have the "Why" curiosity drive so I am turning my love for Christ and nature into my new why chase and am trying to discover more of His word as it relates to His love for His creation.
There is an old legend that many people don’t know about, I was one of those, but it says that for every drop of blood that fell from Jesus while he was on the cross, a lily grew. That’s a pretty remarkable legend. I was doing a research for a poem about Easter lilies and that’s how I came upon that legend.
The lily in my living room
The whiteness of the lily represents the purity of Christ. The shape of the lily represents a trumpet as it blows to welcome in the king.
Tonight we had a church service to tell the story of Jesus last day on earth. the horrifying cruelty in the way he was beaten, ridiculed and then crucified. The music was soft and mournful to help set the mood for this dark day. We left the sanctuary quietly to maintain the funeral like mood of death.
When I walked in the house, it was just getting good dark so I turned on the lamp by my sofa where my lily is sitting. Its fragrance has been beautiful filling my house with fresh gentleness for several days as three of four blooms have open to share their love; one new bloom beginning to open this evening. I reached over to smell the blooms and was amazed to see a water drop on the bloom and I wondered where it came from. Nothing on the ceiling, nothing close by that could have done that. So I looked at the other blooms. They all had small drops of moisture on each bloom. I am sure there is probably a scientific explanation but to me…it was weeping. Flowers weeping for Jesus’ death and Jesus’ weeping for us. We all know that creation is raging and wanting to be reconnected with Eden but can not be. So creation weeps.
Same bloom as bloom above three days later.Bloom on opposite side
So understand what all of nature knows, that Jesus loves you and weeps for you and has compassion for wherever you are or whatever you are going through. Feel His love and share his love with kindness.
Today we mourn the pain and sorrow of ourselves and what Jesus did for us on the cross. His love for us is so strong; stronger than a parents love for a child as we are His children.
Jeremiah 13:3 tells us – “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.”
He loves you regardless of how well you think you are doing to be worthy of His love. As Jeremiah says I love you with an everlasting love, a love that flows from eternity with out limits or conditions.
Today’s devotion from Jesus Calling by Sarah Young remind us that on this day he showed us just how much he loved us. He died for us so that we may live. So on this day of sadness and reflective mourning, know that you are loved more than you can imagine and His love will always remain.
Even though this is a day of mourning, lets us feel His love warm us and let us share in His loving-kindness for others to feel His astounding love.
As we remember the events of the last few days of Jesus life, lets us bow in prayer for what he has done for us. Even in His death, His kindness was still true. Let us remember to always reflect the kindness he shared.
We approach this new season with a lightness in our hearts. New life comes up from the ground as new flowers begin to show their faces. The air is warmer and we enjoy outside more. We open the windows to breath in fresh air and thankful for the brightness around us.
Where we have fun at Christmas while we celebrate His birth, the celebration of His rising at Easter brings us all new life, new hope and the strength to carry on. Even if you are not a believer in Christ, the understand of what it means is somewhat familiar to all. It is fun to share the newness of life about the resurrection and be able to relate it to children with the newness of spring.
New flowers who have been dead all winter are not waking up to new life parallel with the resurrection story. The trees and bushes coming back to life with the new leaves of new life.
New wildlife babies are born representing the newness of life as created by our Father in heaven.
Then there are those who love to decorate their home to show a newness of life or the welcoming of spring, like door wreaths.
This pair of purple house finches are the first to visit my feeder this year. They are really pretty.
I also like to show off some of my mothers fun Easter stuff as it makes me smile and remember the fun parts of her. The silly waving rabbit family I painted for her when I was in college.
So while Easter is a celebration that should never be taken lightly for its true meaning, we can enjoy the newness of spring as it also bring us new life and new hope for the coming year. And as you take in the new life, let it send out kindness roots that spreads kindness seedlings wherever it goes.
Even with the roof debris scattered on the floor, the cross remains…and seems to be glowing.
So many feelings have run through us over the tragedy at Notre Dame. Watching it blaze, knowing what the building stood for over the centuries. The history that took place in that building. The love the people of Paris, France and around the world people had for this building. The art it contained. Such a loss, and yet, now as the dust is settling, we are amazed at what was not lost. The millions of people who visit this place daily were not there. The most sacred artifacts were saved. A lot of the artwork was saved. Some of the beautiful stained glass windows as in the beautiful rose window was saved. The fireman did an amazing job saving as much of the structure as they did from the over 200 foot high flames that rose about this structure with an intense heat that I could never imagine.
The unity of the people on the streets as they sang hymns in loving memory of what it used to be but I think the comment I heard says a lot about this tragedy and the fact it is Holy week. As Christ died this week, he arose to bring new life. This building will again rise to bring new life. My hope is that the love and passion felt in the streets as it seemed the building would die, would remain and go forward in the Godly love that is to come out of any building of worship of our Father. However, Acts 7:48 reminds us that ‘The Most high does not live in houses made by man.’ We must never worship the building or anything in the building. And we must also remember that we who follow Christ have Christ living in us and we together are the church. We go to worship in a specified building to honor him for what he did for us on the cross. This is Holy week and that must be our focus, whether we are a fine church or a tent meeting, needs to be Christ and what He did for us.
I am enclosing pictures of my church as it is nearly 200 years old and has many beautiful stained glass windows. It would be tragic for us if we lost it but we know we would continue onward. In 1955 a tornado took off the tall spire of this church and it was not replaced when repairs were done.
Below are the 3 large windows that I thought you might enjoy. All of the windows in the sanctuary and parlor are beautiful stain glass that reflect color all through the room when the sun is shining.
My favorite. Jesus carrying us, His beloved lambs.Baptism by JohnJesus in His youth
As we focus on the meaning of this week, Holy Week, let us remember to share the love God shared so richly with us. You never know what tragedy someone may be going through in their own life so always remember to be kind. Kindness is a reflection of God’s love.
For Christians this is a very reflective week. Today is the remembered day of Jesus’ triumphant entrance into Jerusalem prior to the celebration of Passover. The city was busting at the seams with people. There were zealot groups with their own agenda; Roman soldiers on high alert to anything strange; Jewish leaders on the ready to be rid of Jesus who could disrupt their way of life and then others that were just trying to get through the city and the festival unscathed.
John 12:13 They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,
“Hosanna!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Blessed is the King of Israel!”
As Christians we believe Jesus is the son of God, part of the Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. According to a recent conversation with someone of the Jewish faith, they are still looking for their Messiah to take care of just Israel, not Israel and the rest of world. They know they were originally the chosen people, the beginning people but are not quite ready to be part of the rest of the world. Interesting. From the studies I have done, the Jewish nation was looking for a political leader to rid them of the Roman oppression, a leader that they could see and touch…like the other nations had, a king. Although they knew God was real they could not get over the hurdle of having a leader they could not see.
Are we any different today? I don’t think so. Some find it hard to believe that Jesus was anything but a prophet. In today’s culture I am afraid we are too caught up in being “us” than believing in the true meaning concerning ‘good and evil’. My challenge for anyone interested in what this week is about, to really understand the significance of today, Thursday, Friday and then Sunday. It is a strong emotional roller coaster of love, caring, encouragement and acceptance.
John 15:13 says – “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” Jesus counts us all as his friends for those who accept him. He died on the cross for us friends to keep us safe from the second death. The second death is the final judgement death from God at the end of time. But to believe any of this you first need to accept the reality of Jesus as the Christ, the son of God.
I wish you all a blessed holy week. May you feel his presence in all that you do. And as you go about your week, remember as always to be kind. Kindness is a reflection of God’s love.
Spring is coming…maybe. It keeps hinting at it but I have a feeling we will miss spring and go straight to summer by mid May, that’s only a few weeks away. Regardless, after this harsh winter, some new something needs to happen. Oh, yea, the new refrigerator doesn’t count because that was not in the plan. Death of an appliance is NEVER in the plan.
Hideous wallpaper
Wallpaper removal is in the plan but down the list. Living room is first. And since living room is first, I am torn about the color. I am wanting to bring out the color of the rose that is in the tapestry hanging on the wall.
Linda Hill has made a wonderful offbeat A to Z challenge and it is time for J. Since I am not sure if this is one of her words I will check back and add to the post later if so. Otherwise I am just rebelling on a cool seldom used word.
So I took the snap shot of the tapestry and off the the paint store I go. I came up with one I thought would be perfect and then on purpose chose a lighter one for comparison. Those didn’t work. The one I thought would be perfect is too dark and the lighter one has too much pink. So back to the store we go. At lease I have these two samples to compare with, so back at the store I placed all possible candidates in a juxtaposition on the counter to compare with my phone. But florescent lighting is horrible to judge by, so we chose two more samples and to home we go to compare with house lighting.
These are different?
The paint expert promised that were different but I couldn’t tell. Maybe it will look better outside. But its raining. So under the cover of the front door and thundering over head, we check again. Still not difference except color seems to be washed totally out.
Now what
Okay, so lets go over to the tapestry and see how it compares there so we juxtaposition samples and tapestry and I think we finally can see a difference.
I think romance is winning this contest
Even though the camera does not show justice to the colors, on the tapestry the contrast shows what I needed. Never in a thousand years would I have even thought to paint my living room pink. But here we are. Pink blending into a very white green for the dining room which will then go into a soft yellow for the sun room. Hopefully by summer I will have these three rooms done. I can stand at the front door and take a picture showing all three rooms. We will see how it goes.
As you plan you spring cleaning and renovating tasks, remember to be kind to those you come in contact with. I found a new kindness drawing that I really like so I will be sharing it for a bit. Kind of says it all, be kind, be beautiful. Lets all be beautiful.
What an odd title for Norm’sThursdays Door prompt. But for me it is a beginning as I have been recuperating from foot surgery since last August, first one foot then the other. Now after 6 weeks of therapy, I am no longer walking like a penguin and can walk further than from the couch to the bed. With the winter being what is was in the midwest, only to be followed by the horrific flooding, there are only two shots but I thought they were really interesting. I will get out this weekend to see what beauties I can find. There are a few quite old structures for the area so it is promising. In the mean time, enjoy the door of times gone by or time anew and share you doors with us.
Note the flood lines on the blocks of previous floods in the area. Beautiful home in the process of being restored.
And as always I remind everyone to think about being kind. It is not a hard task but one we often forget in the business of our lives. Kindness reflect your inner beauty so I encourage you always to be kind.
Man has been forever curious about angels. Are they real or just some made up hope of some much needed help and Godly intervention during fearful times. I think if I were to see one face to face, I would behave much the same way as the earlier peoples of the bible who saw them and fell flat on their face in fear. But I do very much believe in angels and while I have probably been assisted on more than one occasion by angels not realizing it, there is the one specific time where I have no doubt of them coming to my aid. But that is not what this post is about. I am in research mode. In doing the research for book 2 of my Home of Love series, I am delving into the angels described during the visions of John and Ezekiel, as in the living creatures. And of course as with any extensive research, you get taken on many rabbit hole chases of similar information but not necessarily what you are needing. I do love the story of Elisha in II Kings where God opens the eyes of the servants to ease their fear of the army on the hill that was coming after them. And as God open their eyes to see God’s army of angels surrounding them he also blinded the eyes of army on the hill so that they could not attack. It ties in with a picture on the bulletin board at church to encourage people that they are never left alone.
This army is always ready and accessible to assist
The is the usual mental picture of angels when we think of them as in human type form with wings assisting children or people to safety or the glorious views of angles we see depicted during the Christmas holidays.
The angels, ie living creatures, spoken about in Revelation and Ezekiel are more on the scary side because we do not understand the imagery depicted. So lets back up a bit and try to get some understand that may help us wrap our heads around these creatures. Sometimes when we think of angels, our mind also goes to the cute little cherub like being at Valentines day, naked baby floating around, all cute and cuddly. But cherubim are actual creatures in scripture. Cherub (single) or cherubim (plural) are mentioned in Genesis and Ezekiel. In Genesis they are somewhat fearful creatures with flaming swords banishing Adam and Eve out of the garden of Eden because of sin; far from the Valentine Day or greeting card image. Cherubim were also placed on top of the Ark guarding it and statues of cherubim were placed in the Holy of Holies. The Holy of Holies is the most sacred high holy place in the Jewish temple. Inheaven, cherubim guard God’s Holy domain and presence from any sin or corruption. They are also known as throne angels. Another creature listed along these lines are the seraphim. Cherubim are different than Seraphim as seraphim seem to be the ones constantly flying above the throne calling “Holy, Holy Holy is the Lord Almighty, who was and is and is to come” while Cherubim are guards.
In Ezekiel there seems to be an additional type of angel or living creature, that is in the form of man with four face and four wings, and there are four of them. Through my study, it seems that the living creatures have some of the features in common with cherubim and seraphim. The four faces represents all of creation with one face being of a man, one face being of a lion, one face being an ox and one face being an eagle. The man face represents the intelligence of man and Christ as the perfect man. The lion represents the creation of all wild beasts and shows the strength of Christ as the Lion of Judah. The ox represents all domesticated animals and there service, also depicting Christ as the servant. The eagle represents all flying creatures of creation and represents divinity as Christ is the divine son of God.
These creatures are also depicted through the four gospels of the new testament. Matthew(Lion) presents Christ as the lion of Judah, Mark(Ox) presents Christ as the servant, Luke(Man)Presents Christ as the perfect human, and John(Eagle) represents Christ as the divine son of God.
But in Revelation the living creatures look a little different in that again there seems to be four of them but each being has only one face. They still represent that same meaning as those in Ezekiel, Man, Lion, Ox and Eagle. Another difference in John’s, if taken on the surface, can be like something Hollywood would create, as the creatures are covered in eyes. But if you dig into that meaning you understand is the eyes represent “seeing” as in understanding the past, present and future, not so much as visual. While this is not really a place for humor but this reminds me of the idea of mom’s having eyes in the back of their heads. We generally had a pretty good idea of what our knot-head kids were doing. Another difference between Ezekiel’s vision and John’s vision is the wings. Ezekiel saw 4 wings where John saw 6. John did describe what the wings did which I thought were interesting. Two covered the face as the beings are constantly in the presence of God and His brilliance and God is always refereed to as bright lights; even Moses came back from Sinai with a brilliance to his face from the reflection of God’s light. Another set of wings covered the feet as the feet were always considered unclean. Remember the importance of Jesus cleaning the disciples feet. And the 2 wings were used to fly.
As a whole, angels, cherubim, seraphim, living creatures are all created to serve in some fashion. They serve God and do His request for the good of creation, all of creation. Hebrews 1:14 tells us “Are they not all ministering sprints sent out to serve…”
While I have given you a lot of information that I have read, understand I am no pastor or biblical scholar. This is just what I have gleaned from my research. If you disagree with me, then I challenge you to research this as well and come to your own understandings and conclusions. I would love earnest discussion on this subject.
And remember my motto for everything you do. Even on you worse day you can still be kind. So I ask you to remember others are hurting just as much as you so spread kindness as you go and I promise it will make you both feel better.
The river is still rising. Currently at 20.4 feet expected to crest at well over 21 feet. Depending on where you are along this section of the Mississippi, it leaves it banks anywhere from 16′ to 18′. Therein lies the problem when you are over 20′ of flood stage.
This is River Drive, how appropriate.
The biggest concern now is tomorrow – rain storm possible with flash flooding – really. There is no where for the flash flood to go, it will just add to the flood already in progress. Lets put this into scientific facts for you. The Mississippi’s current water flow on an average(no flood) day is 2 million cubic feet per second…per second! Okay, lets try to bring that better into perspective. There are 7.489 gallons per cubic foot which weigh 62.4 lbs. A 48′ long semi truck trailer holds 3,600 cubic feet. To boil it all down – its a lot of water. Some of the smaller communities along the river in this area that rely on their wells for water can not longer use their wells due to the flooding. So they basically have no water. I am reminded of a phrase – Water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink.
I am still amazed that currently, the trains are still running but I hear that is going to change soon if the water keeps rising. And it looks like it probably will.
I went onto the walkway of the bridge to get these shots. Yes – I walked, yea me. For those who are new to my postings, I am recovering from foot surgery.
There is a walkway where you can walk across the bridge. Some amazing shots from there. Check out the current around the piling of the bridge.
Below is the one shot I really wanted to get. I just have my phone camera so I can’t do long distances but that concrete building beyond the ball field is the back of a bandstand and there are outdoor chairs bolted down to a concrete pad to watch the band with a dance pad between the chairs and the band stand. The chairs are totally under water.
A winding sidewalk with lamppost is between those big trees and the river bank. The retaining wall for that sidewalk is underwater.
So always be aware of what water can do. Even the tiniest leak can be a real headache. But I learned when young and living in Florida that water can be a beast to reckon with. Please keep these communities along this river in your prayers. This is a LONG river and the further south it goes the wider it gets. They are telling us this amount of flood stage will be with us for awhile.
And I close with good thoughts of sharing kindness, even when life gets tough. There is always room for sharing God’s light in kindness. It may be the one spark of love that person may see that day.
For the Love of 