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

God of Infinite Variety

(The same base photo as in the last 2 posts, but what an infinite variety of  images emerge from my graphics program.)

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God of Infinite Variety

God unchanging, God always the same.  Yet he has an infinite variety of beautiful, holy attributes.


God of mercy, God of glory.
God of Love and mystery.
Lord of rescue and salvation,
King of Everything Everywhere.
Tender, kind to those who believe,
Yet stern, holding accountable, those who rebel.

Christ the Savior and the Master,
Son of God with mighty power.
Look upon the forms of God,
Steadfast, unchanging, and yet,
Shows his traits and nature in infinite variety.

“His tender mercy is over all his works, and his will is ever directed toward his children’s good.”

© 2013 by Marilee Miller

This post is shared with Laura Boggess “Playdates with God”

God Has Designs on Me

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God Has Designs on Me

CD disks are shiny silver.  Reflective of the light or atmosphere around them.  Most people simply throw them away when they’re no longer needed for their computer data.  However, surely something so beautiful cries out to be used in some way – perhaps gathered into an art-design.   Bottlecaps are ubiquitous, but more than that – they are fashioned wonderfully.   Often made from inexpensive materials.  Many are tossed out after being used to protect the contents inside bottles or jars.  But their roundness, and sometimes ridgy modeled edges, may also contribute to the elements for design.

God sees the shiny silver places in us, even at times when we don’t think we have – or ARE – anything of lasting value.  He knows that we, capable of reflecting his light, can remain both useful and beautiful.  He sees the circling parts of us that we disdain as not being worth much.   And then declares that we are “Accepted in the Beloved”, and “Adopted into God’s own family.”

The Lord may also re-color my habits, and traits until they’re most pleasing to him.  Or maybe he’ll emphasize certain lines or character to bring out a whole new aspect of my life‘s design.

How incredible it seems, that the high God who created the spectacular universe also sees me, in Christ, as beautiful, wonderful.  If I turn to him and trust his Word, he says he’s given me his robe of righteousness.  He “joys over me with singing.”  “We are gifts of God that he delights in.”

I’m so thankful that God Has Designs on Me!

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Feel free to link to this post but please no copying of images or text for public dissemination without permission.

This post is shared with L.L. Barkat  "Seedlings in Stone" and Laura Boggess' "Playdates with God"