Our neighbor provides the petting zoo.
Donkeys, peacocks, guinea hens, dogs,
cats, cows . . . and they enjoy visitors!
Monday, March 27, 2006
Donkeys
Our neighbor provides the petting zoo.
Donkeys, peacocks, guinea hens, dogs,
cats, cows . . . and they enjoy visitors!
Beautiful Land
I can hardly believe that someday I will wake upevery morning to beautiful views like this!
Our Land
Paul and I spent the weekend camping on Our Land! We had a great time exploring. There were so many places to enjoy: grassy hills, mossy trees, creek, wildflowers . . . we didn't even have time to do everything we wanted to do. We are looking forward to raising our children in such an amazing, fun environment.
Saturday, March 18, 2006
Snow!
It snowed on our land! It's rare for the snow to come this low, so last Sunday morning we drove up to enjoy it before it melted away. It was our girls' first snowball fight! (Cedar was sleeping in the car.)
The barns belong to our neighbor. Don't they look pretty in the snow? We tried to take closeup pictures of the peacocks strutting on the snowy barn roofs, but our camera died. :-P
Friday, March 03, 2006
Favorite Ones
"We aren't individual brides of Christ; we are collectively the bride of Christ. Christ is not a polygamist. He will be married to one bride, not millions. We belong to each other and need each other. We should guard not only our own purity, but each other's. We are our brother's keeper" (Heaven, p. 193).
So that's why it makes sense that I am His favorite - and so are you! He loves and desires us individually as an intrinsic, unique part of His bride. We do not lose our identity, but while we become more truly ourselves, we also become more completely one with each other. He created us to be His friends, for fellowship and community with Him and each other. When, as His friends, we forsook Him for our own way (sin), He upped the ante. Not content merely to restore us to our original state, He gave Himself to us more completely than ever. He decided to rescue us from ourselves and then marry us!
We cannot separate ourselves from each other. We are one Bride. We are connected more deeply than we understand. We must look out for each other, love each other, pray for each other . . . for "we, being many, are one body" (Romans 12:5).
Lord, help me to look at others differently, to love them as I love myself in real, practical ways, remembering that we are intrinsically connected as Your beloved.
So that's why it makes sense that I am His favorite - and so are you! He loves and desires us individually as an intrinsic, unique part of His bride. We do not lose our identity, but while we become more truly ourselves, we also become more completely one with each other. He created us to be His friends, for fellowship and community with Him and each other. When, as His friends, we forsook Him for our own way (sin), He upped the ante. Not content merely to restore us to our original state, He gave Himself to us more completely than ever. He decided to rescue us from ourselves and then marry us!
We cannot separate ourselves from each other. We are one Bride. We are connected more deeply than we understand. We must look out for each other, love each other, pray for each other . . . for "we, being many, are one body" (Romans 12:5).
Lord, help me to look at others differently, to love them as I love myself in real, practical ways, remembering that we are intrinsically connected as Your beloved.
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
One Thing
A question I have been asking God: If my primary and (in a sense) only desire is to know Him and to gaze upon His beauty, then how should I live? It is not possible to spend every moment of every day in the Word and prayer. Obviously I have to do my work. At times I want to just play, and I feel His smile upon that as well. He doesn't seem to desire or require me to spend every free moment in study, and yet He desires me to abide, to pray continually, and to constantly behold Him.
I believe a key to the answer is here: "When I speak . . . of the multifaceted joys of the resurrected life in the new universe, some . . . may think, But our eyes should be on the giver, not the gift; we must focus on God, not on Heaven. This approach sounds spiritual, but it erroneously divorces our experience of God from life, relationships, and the world - all of which God graciously gives us. It sees the material realm and other people as God's competitors rather than as instruments that communicate His love and character. It fails to recognize that because God is the ultimate source of joy, and all secondary joys emanate from Him, to love secondary joys can be - and in Heaven always will be - to love God, their source" (Heaven, p. 170).
So in everything I do - whether work, play, prayer, Bible study, or relationships - I can continue to see His beauty reflected, to abide in His love, to enjoy Him. He is an amazing God!
"As for the rich in this world, charge them . . . to set their hopes . . . on God, who richly and ceaselessly provides us with everything for our enjoyment . . . . For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving" (1 Timothy 6:17; 4:4).
Thank you, Lord, for all Your good gifts: for games and family and friends and food and shopping and good books. Thank you that You delight in our enjoyment of Your gifts. They just make me want to climb into Your lap and enjoy You some more, because they show me how much You love me and how fun You are. I am excited about spending eternity with You: playing, laughing, singing, loving. Relishing life together. Let's start now!
I believe a key to the answer is here: "When I speak . . . of the multifaceted joys of the resurrected life in the new universe, some . . . may think, But our eyes should be on the giver, not the gift; we must focus on God, not on Heaven. This approach sounds spiritual, but it erroneously divorces our experience of God from life, relationships, and the world - all of which God graciously gives us. It sees the material realm and other people as God's competitors rather than as instruments that communicate His love and character. It fails to recognize that because God is the ultimate source of joy, and all secondary joys emanate from Him, to love secondary joys can be - and in Heaven always will be - to love God, their source" (Heaven, p. 170).
So in everything I do - whether work, play, prayer, Bible study, or relationships - I can continue to see His beauty reflected, to abide in His love, to enjoy Him. He is an amazing God!
"As for the rich in this world, charge them . . . to set their hopes . . . on God, who richly and ceaselessly provides us with everything for our enjoyment . . . . For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving" (1 Timothy 6:17; 4:4).
Thank you, Lord, for all Your good gifts: for games and family and friends and food and shopping and good books. Thank you that You delight in our enjoyment of Your gifts. They just make me want to climb into Your lap and enjoy You some more, because they show me how much You love me and how fun You are. I am excited about spending eternity with You: playing, laughing, singing, loving. Relishing life together. Let's start now!
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