a planted life | learning to love
(image credit) Isaiah, I Believe Your Report by Sheila Dougal O God of Isaiah! I believe your report! You cut me from the Rock. You planted in me the Word. You made me your child because you became the Servant. My transgressions pierced You. My sins crushed You. One of your smallest stones yet you... Continue Reading →
There's a lot of waiting on God in the Bible. Joseph's waits in prison, wrongly accused. Israel waits in captivity, suffering for her idolatry. Roman occupied Jerusalem waits for the Messiah after centuries of hearing nothing from God. And we wait for Christ's return while we sow the seed of his gospel sojourning here. Waiting... Continue Reading →
(photo credit) "In that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more lean on him who struck them, but will lean on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. -Isaiah 10:20." I've been reading through Isaiah with the #IsaiahChristmas community the past few days. One... Continue Reading →
(Image credit: Paul Gauguin, Te Tamari No Atua (Nativity),1896) *Before I begin, you should really go to that image credit link and read about this painting of the Nativity.* I'm not a Bible scholar. I really enjoy reading and studying the Bible, but I don't have any formal education in the Bible. I have had some... Continue Reading →
I've decided to join the online #IsaiahChristmas community on Twitter, headed up by Tony Reinke, in an Advent reading through the book of Isaiah this year. Today: Chapter 1 and 2. Maybe it's the 24 years of praying. Maybe it's the reading of God's righteous expose of his peoples crooked condition. Maybe it's the constant... Continue Reading →
It's almost midnight.Everyone's asleep. The tree is up. The front porch has lights. And 3 out of 4 Advent candles are on the table. Advent has meant more and more to me over the years. It really is a gift from God that I treasure. It started when Ryland was born. 10 years ago (almost... Continue Reading →
It wouldn't make a very good Christmas carol, but the words of a guy named Simeon, who saw Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus are just as true as the more jingly, "Joy to the world, the Lord has come!""Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and... Continue Reading →
(That was a sunrise a week or so ago.)Well, it's 10 O'clock, and everyone is in bed and it's finally quiet so I can think. I'm trying to stave off some bug that's decided to give me a dizzy-headache and sore throat in the last hour. Hot tea and lots of vitamin C I'm hoping... Continue Reading →
For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. ...For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. - Galatians 5:1,13I've been thinking about this a lot today.... Continue Reading →
I think it was five years ago now that I started doing a Jesse Tree with my sons. Each year we've done it a little differently. This year I gathered some branches my goats had stripped bare of all leaves, stuck them in a large vase and put some lights on them. In years past... Continue Reading →
Cultivating Faithfulness 