Tender Shoots

.   photos and text (c) 2013 by Marilee Miller
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TENDER SHOOTS

Oh Dear Lord God,

Reach forth with your lovingkindness, as if with arms holding tenderly your children here on this earth.  We  are all so much in need of you!  May we reach outward, and upward, toward you, who are our life, our guide, the shaper of our personalities, character, and nature.  May all of us (the ones who call you by name and believe that they know you, and the ones, also, who say they don’t need Other Help beyond themselves and human hands) grow as tender shoots flourishing in your Sonshine.  Have mercy on us.  Help us all to be fashioned into the persons you desire us to be, “conformed to Christ.” 

“And because of what Christ did, all… who heard the good news about how to be saved, and trusted Christ, were marked as belonging to Christ by the Holy Spirit, who long ago had been promised to all of us Christians.  His presence within us is God’s guarantee that he really will give us all that he promised, and the Spirit’s seal upon us means that God has already purchased us and that he guarantees to bring us to himself.”  [Eph. 1:14 TLB]

How we rejoice in your tender promises shooting out to each of us who will come to you to find rest, hope, and healing .  Thank you!  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

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This post is shared with Laura Boggess

I Want to Know God

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digital artwork and text (c) 2013 by Marilee Miller

I WANT TO  KNOW GOD

I want to know God intimately.
I don’t want him to seem distant, far off –
I want his companionship, though
At times this seems an elusive quest.
I want to “feel” his unconditional love,
But my earthly life doesn’t reveal
A model for love that never gives up.
I want to “believe in” – not just state casually,
That Jesus Christ is brother, friend, Helper,
And close-occupier of my heart.
I, along with the whole church,
Am called The Bride of Jesus Christ:
Yet how can I, a finite little person,
Grasp Him being my Bridegroom,
My only Dearest Love?
I want to sense the Holy Spirit’s power
Moving with Shekinah glory in me.
However, I don’t really know how
To magnify, glorify him, or understand
Just how much he delights in me!
So, blessed Lord God, keep me infilled.
Flow your rivers of living water over me.
I want to know you, God; but only you
Are able to introduce the fullness
Of your infinite self to me!

“Even so, Lord Jesus, come.”

He is not elusive,
He is not exclusive,
He does not exclude me,
But holds out his hands
To include me.
His love is inclusive,
Generously-given, and free.

“Thanks be to God, for the unspeakable
gift of Christ Jesus…”

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This post is shared with Laura Boggess'  "The Wellspring"

Praise

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digital art and text (c) 2013 by Marilee Miller


PRAISE

Praise God for our ability to have creative thoughts and actions.
Praise God for his exuberance in creating the universe,
Our earth, and its creatures.
Give him a clap-offering for his imagination and variety.
Lift up our hearts to him for making people,
Diverse in personality and traits, yet united
In being made for his delight and glory.
Praise God for making his children in the image of God himself,
And for breathing into us his bent toward imagination and reason.
Lift up our hands and voices to exult in him,
Who has made us to be artists after the manner of himself.
May we create “little things” with exuberance,
And give thought to showing forth his beauty in our lives.
In so doing, we are glorifying him;
We are pleasing him with worshipful creativity,


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This post is shared with Laura Boggess, "The Wellspring"