Beauty in the Ordinary

Some of my friends have told me how much they liked my garden photos. I shared them with you in the collage, but honestly...they are so much prettier individually. I just love the color of the cabbages! I am always amazed by the beauty of 'ordinary' things.

In the Garden

Images of the Community Garden at Lynden Methodist Church.

I just know that in His heart, our Father is a gardener. He reminds us to consider lilies, to sow seed on good ground, and he tells us that we are branches and Jesus is our vine. When the earth was only days old, He planted a garden for Adam and Eve. He walked with them there, in the cool of the day.

I can't imagine life without a garden.

IN THE GARDEN

I come to the garden alone,

while the dew is still on the roses--

and the voice I hear

falling on my ear

the Son of God

discloses...

I'd stay in the garden with Him

though the night around me be falling,

but he bids me go

through the voice of woe

His voice to me

is calling...

(chorus)

And He walks with me and He talk with me;

and He tells me I am His own

and the joy we share

as we tarry there

none other has ever known.

by C. Austin Miles...1912

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If you knew for certain...

If you knew for certain

that very soon all your dreams would be

coming true, what would you do today to prepare

the way? (Do it.)

How might you celebrate? (Do this too.)

Who would you tell? (Write them a brief note, now; you don't have to mail it yet.)

What thought of gratitude would you have? (Express them.)

And finally, who would you help to "achieve" as you have achieved? (Help them.)

Mike Dooley

from "Notes from the Universe"

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Things Hoped For



Hubby's Bible was lying open on the table this morning. I was running late but took a moment to read his devotional for the day. 

It said, "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." Hebrews 11:1.

I've had this passage memorized for years in the King James version...Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

While driving to work I meditated on the meaning of this verse. The words 'hoped for' rolled over and over in my mind. As a child I was taught not to hope for much.  We didn't have a lot, so it was considered selfish to ask for, or hope to get too much for one's self. "Don't get your hopes up," was almost a mantra in our home. The folks didn't want us to be disappointed if we couldn't afford things.

The problem with not getting one's hopes up is that you come to expect the opposite. You expect to be disappointed. To fail. To be overlooked. To lose. And this my friend, is faith in reverse. Faith in bad things. It's name is fear.

Fear says, "Don't write a book, it won't be published anyway." 
Fear says, "Don't apply for that job, you aren't qualified enough."
Fear says, "You can't go to college, you're not smart enough. You don't have the time, or the money, etc."
Fear tells you not to get your hopes up. Settling for second best becomes a way of life.

But faith says, "You go girl; dream big."
Faith says, "You can do anything."
Faith says, "Keep going...you're almost there!"
Faith says that the things you hope for have substance. They are real.

It's taken me years to learn that my hopes are legitimate and valid. Hoping doesn't make me selfish...hope is the energy that fuels creativity and optimism and faith.

So hope for much, friends. Get your hopes up...way up! Don't listen to fear.  Dream great dreams. And let faith turn your hopes into substance.


When you say a situation or a person is hopeless, you are slamming the door in the face of God.
                                                                                                                                 - Charles L. Allen


Hope is the thing with feathers That perches in the soul, And sings the tune without the words, And never stops at all.
                                                                                                                                 - Emily Dickinson


The human body experiences a powerful gravitational pull in the direction of hope. That is why the patient's hopes are the physician's secret weapon. They are the hidden ingredients in any prescription.
                                                                                                                                 - Norman Cousins

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