Praise the Lord…

I had just put up my blog post tonight and was about to launch into checking out yours as it is my habit to do, when my daughter texted that my oldest grandson was missing. He had gone out skateboarding hours before and was still not home. So she was asking us to pray, and through buckets of tears I did. A missing child is any kind of parents worst nightmare. The good news is that, thank you Jesus, they have found him. I don’t know the details yet and may not until tomorrow as they were having a party at their house this evening. Though, I’m greatly relieved and prayerfully grateful, it has shaken me so that I can’t focus. So please forgive me for not being able to check out your posts tonight. Love, Natalie

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Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name. ~1 Chronicles 29:13 ✝

1140. I tried to discover, in the rumor of forests and waves, words that other men could not hear, and I pricked up my ears to listen to the revelation of their harmony. ~Gustave Flaubert

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You can listen to silence, Reuven.
I’ve begun to realize that you can
listen to silence and learn from it.
It has a quality and a dimension all its own.
It talks to me sometimes.
I feel myself alive in it.
It talks. And I can hear it.

You have to want to listen to it,
and then you can hear it.
It has a strange, beautiful texture.
It doesn’t always talk.
Sometimes – sometimes it cries,
and you can hear the pain of the world in it.
It hurts to listen to it then. But you have to.
~From THE CHOSEN by Chaim Potok

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Be still and listen to the rhythm of your beating heart.

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Be still and feel the in and out movement of your breath.

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Be still and find the peace at the center of your being.

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Be still and seek the presence of your inner child.

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Be still and remember childhood’s simple pleasures.

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Be still and recall the unadulterated innocence of a child

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Be still and let joy now bubble up from gratitude for the gift of life.

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And finally in the silence of your thankfulness be still and listen so that you hear the Lord calling you by name.

Be still, and know that I am God… ~Excerpt from Psalm 46:10  ✝

**Images found on Pinterest and Pixabay

Spring’s Hope ~

Deborah Ann Belka's avatarCHRISTian poetry ~ by deborah ann

Spring's Hope ~ CHRISTian poetry by deborah ann

May this Spring,
bathe you in God’s light
so you can receive
the power of His might.

May Springs warmth,
make God’s mercy rise
so that to His ways
you’ll not compromise.

May Springs buds,
blossom in your heart
so from God’s path
you will never part.

May Springs song,
chime within your soul
so that your life
God can have control.

May the new life,
Spring always brings
cause you to be . . .
thankful for all things!

~~~~~~~

Psalm 33:22

” Let thy mercy, O Lord,
be upon us, according
as we hope in thee.”

King James Version
Public Domain

Copyright 2016
Deborah Ann Belka

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1139. If it’s drama that you sigh for, plant a garden and you’ll get it. ~Edward A. Guest

‘Tis like the birthday of the world,
When earth was born in bloom;
The light is made of many dyes,
The air is all perfume…
~Excerpt from a poem by Thomas Hood

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One of my favorite poems in all of “poemdom” is this one below by Robert Browning. In fact I recite it to myself at least once every spring.

The year’s at the spring,
And day’s at the morn;
Morning’s at seven;
The hill-side’s dew-pearled;
The lark’s on the wing;
The snail’s on the thorn; God’s in his Heaven—
All’s right with the world!

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Spring began very early here, almost a month and a half ago, but this morning was the first one exactly like the quintessential spring morning of which Browning spoke. A heavy dew had blanketed everything that lay before my eyes making grass and flower sparkle, and in the sparkle was the sort of magic that thrills this old gardener’s heart beyond measure. So I sat spellbound forever so long in my chair watching the birds feed and the squirrels play and the breeze ruffle petals and leaves. My little piece of Eden was gloriously alive as well as all of her adoring paramours. What a  magnificent sight to behold it was as light oozed into all the dark corners, not only outside the window but also in the windows of my being! What had been created in the beginning continually points to the Creator, and oh what a Creator He is! My eyes were filled, my ears were filled, my cup of life was filled, and in and of it all was Yahweh, that Holy Presence, who continually fills my soul with His goodness and grace. Oh how I adore Him and His wondrous Eden!!!

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. ~Psalm 23: 6  ✝