I am so excited about being alive at such a time as this!!! The world is at all of our fingertips-I mean this in every sense, that is of course, unless you live in a third world nation or worse! We are able to see sites in every part of the world without even traveling there!
I once met a couple who lived deep in the hills of West Virginia who made the claim that they had never traveled away from their property…in all the years that they had lived there. Imagine… never even going to a store. I asked if they needed things , how did they get what they needed? They said that their neighbors brought them supplies now and again. I said to them.. “Don’t you even wonder what is out there… that you have never seen?” I cast an inquisitive stare at the two old folks…(their mountain hats tarnished by the elements); the old man put his arm around his wife and said, “Why do I need to go anywhere, when I got all that I need right’ ‘chere”….I was left thinking….you know we can go everywhere, see everything and still ask ourselves…”Am I missing something?”

A newborn baby has a perfect hand that reaches out to receive all that the world has to give to it. This hand has not known how to feed itself, does not know yet how to pray, has not lifted anything to give to someone else, has not felt pain or hard work, has not experienced disappointment,or has not learned to caress or lovingly touch another. It is yet still considered a valuable part of the body. There are those whose hands have caused great pain, whose hand has taken from others spitefully, who have wounded or even killed others, hands that have created many things but have also learned to tear things down, whose hands have hated, betrayed and hands that have been badly mistreated. Even these hands- though lost in pain and suffering are considered a very valuable part of the body. Through Christ, all things are made new.

“When the ocean was born I set its boundaries and wrapped it in blankets of thickest fog.Then I built a wall around it , locked the gates, and said Your powerful waves stop here! They can go no farther.” The amazing truth that man has discovered is how lovely and peaceful the ocean is and yet how very deadly those same majestic waves can be…. when those waves become unleashed upon the earth in power and vengeance. I sit in awe of a creator who has mercy on us…. to see us to safety when we ask him to.

The definition of surrender is: To yield possession of or power over to another; give up because of demand or compulsion. To give up or abandon , to give up oneself over to a passion or influence.The biggest struggle that we fight is in our minds. We hear “as soon as I give things over to the Lord, I willingly take it back.” Two beings can not be in control and have total power over the same thing.They can manage and share the power..If they both will to be in full control or power- one has to eventually yield to the passion and the might of the other, or a fight for the power will eventually ensue. The moment we have the thought that we need to do this or that in our own power, we do ourselves a great disservice. Our power is no match at all for the power of the one who created us. When the thought to take control comes to us, we need to say “no”. I know I do not have the power it takes to walk through this….but I know one who does. We need to surrender, sometimes even by the moment to the one called Jesus, who has all power , Glory and Honor that we need to carry us through any thing that we may go through.

The fact that a beautiful red-feathered visitor saw the need to loiter about in my rosebush left me asking questions. How did he find those briers a welcome place to embrace? Was his visit of prime importance? Did he have something to give to me or was his stay for someone else? There were black-eyed susans that bobbed for his attention next to the geranium bloom…but this cardinal chose the hardest place to sit of all …one that brought much pain. I believe that much Glory comes from the pain that we do go through….nothing happens to us without the lesson that is meant to reap an eternal reward.