Hope springs eternal

Good Monday morning to you, dear reader! This morning I bring you the joyousness of miracles! 

Throughout the Gospels we see the many acts that Jesus performs that shows the people He is the true Messiah. These acts can be interpreted to mean that those who believe in Jesus Christ will have eternal life. The healings are a symbol of how His love can renew a broken soul. He brings us hope in life everlasting. 

This is a very similar message from what we discussed yesterday, that when we take what Jesus is offering, when we profess our faith in Him, He gives us new life and that we should celebrate that newness! "The things of the past shall not be remembered, or come to mind" (Is 65:17, NAB). He is reminding us that our past will not be held against us. That we need to leave the past in the past and celebrate the fact that we are His new creation! 

I think that's why Spring is always so glorious! We have survived the dormancy and cold of a long, dark winter and now it is a time to be renewed! I know how excited I was when I saw the first shoots of tulips show up in our front yard just a few weeks ago. And even though we have had snow and cold since then, those early blooms hung in there. In a few more weeks we will, once again, have beautiful flowers that herald the newness of Spring. 

Our faith is much the same. The seeds are planted and nurtured through God's words. The more we care for these little seeds, the greater our faith will be. Even when we feel like we're stuck, when life seems hopeless, we still have those little green shoots of faith. It's just a little harder to see them. We need to pull the weeds of doubt and despair so that our belief will bloom like beautiful flowers!

Examine your spirit today. Are you still in the dormancy of winter? Have you maybe let doubt creep in? Let todays word water your spirit. Let prayer be the fertilizer. Let your belief grow! Rejoice in His goodness! Remember, in a few short weeks, we will celebrate the resurrection and new life of Jesus! 

As always, dear reader, be a nice human. 😇

Here is a truly inspiring video from Jeremy Camp.. "Jesus Saves": https://youtu.be/d-dDZtm8yjM

Third Sunday of Lent

Good Morning and Happy Sunday!! Today is the Vernal Equinox, the beginning of spring!! And it is fitting that our readings deal with growth! 🌳🏵

In Exodus, we read about Moses and the burning bush. Moses was indeed humbled when God asked him to go talk to the Pharaoh. "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and lead the Israelites out of Egypt?" (Ex 3:11, NAB). God promised Moses He would be with him through it all. And that's God's promise to us. Whatever difficulty we face in life, God is always with us. He gives us the fire to keep going. 

However, He does remind us in 1 Corinthians that we are not to become overconfident. That would be our downfall. We must approach everything with humility. Also, we can't just sit back and wait for God to make things happen. We have to do our part. Which brings us to Luke and the parable of the fig tree. The man who owned the tree wanted to cut it down because it wasn't producing any fruit. He didn't want to waste precious land on something that just sat there and served no purpose. (Remember, at that time, food sources came from only things that people could grow. They couldn't just run to the store.) But, the gardener wanted to give the tree a second chance. He asked the man to allow him one more year to try and give the tree a chance to produce fruit. In order to do that, the gardener would cultivate the land around the tree, water it, fertilize it, make sure it got enough sun. With that kind of attention, the tree was sure to bare fruit.

We are like that fig tree. Without attention we wither and die. God may plant the roots, but without a firm foundation, the tree will wither and die. God's word is our fertilizer. It allows us to grow our faith. We must allow Him to cultivate the good in our lives. And when the weeds of sin set in, as they always do, we need Him to weed out the bad so that we can continue to grow. But we must also do our part. Daily prayer, living by His word, mercy and sacrifice, all these things keep the roots growing deep so that we may flourish. 

Today, seek out God, ask him to remove the weeds of sin from your life, allow His mercy to rain on your soul. And as always friends... be a nice human. 😇

Prayer:

My virtuous Lord, I invite You into my soul to cultivate it and fertilize it with Your grace.  Please prune my sins and help me to sink my roots deeply into the nourishment of Your mercy. I am sorry for the ways that I have failed to bear fruit in my life.  I now entrust myself to You so that Your care will remedy all my ills and weaknesses.  Jesus, I trust in You.