589. O come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord. ~John F. Wade

December 25, 2014 by nataliescarberry

We hear the beating of wings
over Bethlehem and
a light that is not
of the sun
or of the stars
shines in the midnight sky.
~Maud van Buren

The dictionary defines relationship as a connection to or an involvement with another entity, and what happened in a Bethlehem manger over 2,000 years ago was the Breath of Heaven reaching out from “the invisible spiritual world” to touch and begin relationships in the “material world.” Therefore Christmas is not merely an event; more importantly it’s an invitation to establish a connection with the babe in the manger who became the Christ of the cross to save our souls.

In order to accomplish His divine destiny Jesus came into our world, walked among us, and left, as an ongoing legacy, a way to remain connected to and in relationship with the Father, a relationship that comes into fullness by spending time with the Lord, by listening to Him, and by submitting to His will and purpose for our lives. It’s a bit like when a man and woman marry; they mustn’t just celebrate, honor, and spend time with each other one day of the year. It has to be a day to day, minute by minute commitment if the relationship is to grow and blossom into greater goodness.

Who is this that appears like the dawn, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, majestic as the stars in procession? ~Song of Solomon 6:10 ✝ (The Song of Solomon is often interpreted as an allegorical representation of the relationship of God and Israel, or for Christians, God and the Church or Christ and the human soul.)

**Image found on Pinterest

588. The magic of Christmas Eve is not in the presents under the tree but in the coming of His presence…

December 24, 2014 by nataliescarberry

Christmas Eve is a night of sacred hymns
that wrap themselves around us like a shawl.
And they warm more than the body–
they warm the human heart and fill it
with melodies that last forever.
~Edited and adapted
excerpt  by Bess Streeter Aldrich

ROSEMARY WREATH  
~by Teri Casper

Several common herbs have legends connected with the Holy Family’s flight to Egypt after Jesus was born. Since rosemary is silent underfoot, its soft leaves muffling crackling twigs beneath it, it prevented detection and ensured their safe journey.

Another story involves rosemary, sugar cane and date palm. The plants argued as to which provided the Holy Family with the greatest benefit. Palm sheltered them in the daytime heat and gave them fruit. Sugar cane provided sweetness. The rosemary bush was silent, having nothing special to offer the family.

After Mary washed Jesus’ swaddling clothes she asked the palm to bend its head so she could hang them on its fronds to dry. It couldn’t bend low enough for her to reach them. Sugar cane offered its branches but the clothes fell to the ground. So Mary hung out Jesus’ clothes on the rosemary, a small flowerless bush that had antiseptic properties. Mary blessed the rosemary, giving it flowers the blue color of her robe. Legend has it that a rosemary plant will grow no higher than six feet in thirty-three years, so as not to stand taller than Jesus did.

During their flight to Egypt, Mary, Jesus and Joseph ran out of water. Joseph went to the nearest village to get some. Mary heard Herod’s soldiers’ shouts and the sound of hoof beats approaching. There was no place to hide.

Mary saw a rose bush and asked for shelter. It refused, which is why rose bushes have thorns. The clove bush also refused help and this resulted in it having unpleasant smelling flowers. The sage plant hid them, blossoming to create safe haven. The soldiers passed by. Since then, the plant was considered sacred and believed to possess curative and protective powers.

Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. ~Psalm 73:25-26 ✝

**Image via Pinterest, text added by Natalie

587. “Twas Christmas told the merriest tale…” ~Excerpt from Walter Scott

December 23, 2014 by nataliescarberry

I will honor Christmas in my heart,
and try to keep it all the year.
~Charles Dickens

In the 17th century after Oliver Cromwell came to power in England, Catholics were subsequently not permitted to practice their faith openly. Tradition holds that Catholic parents then developed the song, The Twelve Days of Christmas, not only to teach their beliefs surreptitiously to their children but also to help them remember them. So it is that the partridge in a pear tree represents Jesus (the partridge will sacrifice its life to save its young). The two turtle doves refer to The Old and New Testaments. The three French hens stand for faith, hope, and charity or the three gifts the Wise Men brought to the baby Jesus. The four calling birds designate the four Evangelists–Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The five golden rings denote the first five books of the Old Testament. The six geese a-laying constitute the six days of Creation as described in Genesis. The seven swans a-swimming represent the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit (wisdom, understanding, counsel, strength, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord). The eight maids a-milking are the eight Beatitudes. The nine ladies dancing depict the nine choirs of angels (Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, Dominions, Virtues, Powers, Principalities, Archangels, and regular angels); or the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit (love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, patience, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control). The ten lords a-leaping point to the Ten Commandments. The eleven pipers piping are the eleven faithful Apostles. And the twelve drummers drumming signify the twelve points of belief in the Apostles’ Creed.

For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope. ~Romans 15:4 ✝

** Image via Pinterest

540. The two things we all share in this world are laughter and pain. ~Kevin Hart

November 6, 2014 by nataliescarberry

Please read and accept my apology…

The coming and going of the seasons
gives us more than the springtimes,
summers, autumns, and winters of our lives.
It reflects the coming and going
of the circumstances of our lives
like the glassy surface of a pond that shows
faces radiant with joy or contorted with pain.
~Gary Zukav

Since last January, I’ve been unable to straighten my left leg and have had to hobble around on a cane. My doctor has tried injecting an assortment of things into the knee to help it but to no avail. So today I had an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon, and the x-rays show that my knee and kneecap are shot. The only thing that can be done now to make it better is for me to have a knee replacement. After talking it over with my husband and daughter, I’ve agreed to do that. The earliest date the surgeon had on his schedule, however, was February 3rd, and so I’ll have a few more months of hobbling to do. I can manage that but I do have a big concern for which I need prayers. As you know, if you’ve read my about page, two years ago on November 9th, 2012, I had an Ischemic stroke. Two clots had to be removed from my brain, and although I was miraculously healed and left with no residual damage from the event it does increase my risk when it comes to surgical procedures and blood clots. My age is another factor that increases the risk. So I’m asking for prayers for the next 4 months. Please, if you will, ask the Lord to protect me and restore my health and wholeness once again. Finally, although I try to read them every day, I apologize that I wasn’t able to read all the new posts and comments last night. It had been such a long day, and I was exhausted. Hugs, love, and blessings, Natalie

Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. ~Matthew 9:35 ✝

“Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” ~Matthew 18:19-20 ✝

**Image via Pinterest

536. There is music in the meadows…There is rhythm in the woods, and in the fields…  ~William Stanley Braithwaite

November 2, 2014 by nataliescarberry

How silently they tumble down
And come to rest upon the ground
To lay a carpet, rich and rare,
Beneath the trees without a care,
Content to sleep, their work well done,
Colors gleaming in the sun.
~Elsie N. Brady

I imagine the eyes of Jesus
Were harvest brown,
The light of their gazing suffused
With the seasons:

The shadow of winter,
The mind of spring,
The blues of summer,
And amber of harvest.

A gaze that is perfect sister
To the kindness that dwells
In his beautiful hands.

The eyes of Jesus gaze on us,
Stirring in the heart’s clay
The confidence of seasons
That never lose their way to harvest.

This gaze knows the signature
Of our heartbeat, the first glimmer
From the dawn that dreamed our minds,

The crevices where thoughts grow
Long before the longing in the bone
Sends them towards the mind’s eye,

The artistry of the emptiness
That knows to slow the hunger
Of outside things until they weave
Into the twilight side of the heart,

A gaze full of all that is still future
Looking out for us to glimpse
The jeweled light in winter stone,

Quickening the eyes that look at us
To see through to where words
Are blind to say what we would love,

Forever falling softly on our faces,
His gaze plies the soul with light,
Laying down a luminous layer,

Beneath our brief and brittle days
Until the appointed dawn comes
Assured and harvest deft

To unravel the last black knot
And we are back home in the house
That we have never left.
~John O’Donohue

Jesus called the crowd to Him and said, “Listen and understand.” ~Matthew 15:10 ✝

* Edited image via Pinterest

535. The word “miracle” aptly describes a seed. ~Jack Kramer

November 1, 2014 by nataliescarberry

When I see that first, minuscule, curled pale green wisp of a sprout
poking up between a couple of grains of vermiculite, I hear God speaking.
~June Santon

Babies, little green babies, miracles of soil and seed are bursting forth from earth’s womb even as winter approaches. And as always I find the potential for life that exists in something as small and seemingly lifeless as a seed mind boggling. Equally astounding is the fact that stored within each tiny seed are enough nutrients to spark life in the seedling that will ultimately grow from the embryo, an embryo which has two points of growth. From one end of a particle sometimes as small as a speck of dust emerges a stem and from the other emerge roots. As if all this is not enough to inspire complete and utter amazement, the process of germination certainly does. Germination is a reactivation of metabolic pathways that depends on the right temperatures, the right amount of oxygen and water, and sometimes the right amount of darkness and light. But wait all this is not really the best part! The most impressive thing is that the entire process of seed to plant to seed, from beginning to end, can and frequently does occur without a human hand ever entering the process.

Jesus made clear that the Kingdom of God is organic and not organizational. It grows like a seed and it works like leaven: secretly, invisibly, surprisingly, and irresistibly. ~Os Guinness

Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of earth. You have made heaven and earth. ~Isaiah 37:16 ✝

** Images via Pinterest

527. If you want to be reminded of the love of the Lord, just watch the sunrise! Jeannette Walls

October 24, 2014 by nataliescarberry

How sweet the morning air is!
See how that one little cloud floats
like a pink feather
from some gigantic flamingo.
~Arthur Conan Doyle

Somewhere, out at the edges, the night
Is turning and the waves of darkness
Begin to brighten the shore of dawn

The heavy dark falls back to earth
And the freed air goes wild with light,
The heart fills with fresh, bright breath
And thoughts stir to give birth to color.
~John O’Donohue

In Him(Jesus) was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. ~John 1:4-5 ✝

**Image via Pinterest

493. It is a wholesome and necessary thing for us to turn again to the earth and in the contemplation of her beauties to know of wonder and humility. ~Rachel Carson

September 20, 2014 by nataliescarberry

If facts are seeds that later produce  knowledge and wisdom,
then the emotions and  the impressions of the senses
are the fertile soil  in which the seeds must grow.
~Rachel Carson

God made the forests, the tiny stars, and the wild winds–
and I think that He has made them partly
as a balance for that kind of civilization that
would choke the spirit of joy out of our hearts.
He made the great open places for people who want to be…
away from the crowds that kill all reverence.
And I think He is glad at times to have us forget
our cares and responsibilities so that we may be nearer Him–
as Jesus was when he crept away into the wilderness to pray.
~Margaret Elizabeth Sangster

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. ~Mark 1:35 ✝

** Image via Pinterest

491. Every vine climbing and blossoming tells of love and joy. ~Robert G. Ingersoll

September 18, 2014 by nataliescarberry

That is faith, cleaving to Christ,
twining around Him
with all the tendrils of our heart,
as the vine does round its support.
~Alexander Maclaren

Like all else in Creation, vines remind me of the nearness of God perhaps because they reflect the way He wraps His arms around His children and keeps them close to Himself. In that way we go together like a hat and glove as they say for we are to the Lord as the branch is to the vine, as sheep are to the shepherd, as the flower is to the stem, as the bride is to her groom, as the bird is to air, as the fish is to water, as the star is to the sky, as the sun is to the moon, as the plant is to the seed, as the grass is to the dew, and as the babe is to its mother. Simply put, we are inextricably linked to Yahweh, the Maker of heaven and earth, and it is from our loving Source that we gather strength and energy. His supporting and sustaining provisions draw us into His holy web of life and subsequently move us closer and closer to the Light. In the Gospel of John are the “I am” sayings of Jesus which give us wonderful descriptions of the way Christ connects with us:

“I am the bread of life.”
“I am the light of the world.”
“I am the gate for the sheep.”
“I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep.”
“I am the resurrection, and the life.”
“I am the way, the truth, and the life.”
“I am the true vine.”

Return to us, O God Almighty! Look down from heaven and see! Watch over this vine, the root your right hand has planted, the son you have raised up for yourself. ~Psalm 80:14-15 ✝

**Three images above Scripture via Pinterest

466. Though you live in this temporal world, your innermost being is rooted and grounded in eternity. ~Sarah Young

August 24, 2014 by nataliescarberry

I am all around you,
hovering over you
even as you see My Face.
I am nearer
than you dare believe,
closer than the air you breathe.
If My children could only
recognize My Presence,
they would never
feel lonely again.
~Sarah Young writing from
the perspective that
Jesus is speaking to you

But now in Christ Jesus you who were once far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. ~Ephesians 2:13 ✝

Be still, and know that I am God. ~Psalm 46:10 ✝

Thank you, Lord Jesus, that you save, you heal, you restore, and you reveal Your Father’s heart to us! May I dwell in Your holy presence and praise Your name for all that you have given and done. Please let me stay and rest in Your holiness.

Sacred Touches

Life is a time of purpose and anointed blossoming…

Tag Archives: Jesus