God's Program Never Gets Outdated

.
God’s Program Never Gets Outdated

Adobe Photoshop graphics program is nifty,
And I have an old old one that’s thrifty.
Way back in its day, it came bundled, free,
With a new printer. Adobe doesn’t give its product free
Anymore, and up-to-date versions are spendy.
And new Photoshop only works with new system that’s trendy.
My computer, too, is old. But it suits me.
Oh, the hours I play, my mood flowing in glee.

Even my vintage Photoshop makes good photos snappy,
Masks out telephone wires or turns gray sky happy.
Amazing colors may pop out to be seen
In underexposed photos once completely black on my screen.
My Photoshop graphics program is so spiffy –
I create new artworks from patterns/colors so “iffy”:
Rings and circles, or colored lines clean,
Waves and zigzags and sweet valentines.

“Playing” helps shape my identity –
Choices offered as worship, brings me serenity.
“Lens-flare tool” splashes patterns to see:
Thank you, Lord, for setting me free.
God is grander than Photoshop, and he is swiftly
Transforming my life-patterns all uplifty!
His change is working deeply in me
To make me the person he’s called me to be.

© 2011 by Marilee Miller

This post is also shared with L L Barkat's "Seedlings in Stone"
On, In, and Around Mondays

and Laura Boggess' "The Wellspring"'
Playdates with God

The Pelicans

(images are in the public domain)




The following is a guest post.

The Pelicans
By Betty Doyle

We sat by the ocean where the river
Met the writhing swells of the jetty,
And far out at sea the darkness
Was threatening already.
The mighty waves crashed relentlessly
In huge mountains of spray;
Each followed the other
To wear the rocks away.
The winds picked up and swept
The clumps of sea grass
Giving warning that summer days
Were past,
And from the dark gray horizon
We began to see
Birds with long beaks,
As they were starting to flee:
A flock of Pelicans without number,
Heading to the shore;
Their large wings caught the wind
And helped them sail the more.
They dived close over the water,
But their prey they did not see,
Then circled all around,
Relentlessly.

We watched this performance as ducks
And seagulls joined the rest
As the wind grew worse,
Coming in from the west.
Even a red-winged blackbird
Could be seen,
But the large Pelicans seemed to vanish
From the scene.
The clouds moved in fast, the colors
Seemed to change with the gale,
And soon the pelting rain we heard;
Yet still the gulls did sail.
It was time to leave this panorama
Of Nature’s best;
And as we drove by the harbor we sighted
The flock of Pelicans bedded down to rest.

Copyright 2011 by Betty Doyle.
Used by permission.


This post is also shared with L. L. Barkat's "Seedlings in Stone",
On, In, and Around Mondays


and Laura Boggess' "The Wellspring",
Playdates with God

BELONGS TO----

.
Jesus Belongs to Me


You know how it is when you get something stuck in your mind? A song you haven’t thought of in years, suddenly repeats in your head endlessly. Or you keep dreaming and scheming about something you want to do, even though you haven’t time to do one more thing, but already have plenty of things to do already.

A magazine illustration had attracted me for a long time. It had pleasing color contrasts and wispy, feathery lines. I wanted to create something using the same colors, with trailing lines. But the urge always came when I needed to do something else rather urgently. Finally I couldn’t stand it any longer – I needed to create “that look”. Or at least to use those colors.

I settled for some quickie pastel (artist’s chalk) sketches. The illustration was on an attractively streaked blue background. My blue paper was a duller shade, and minus the fetching decorative effects. My pastels weren’t as bright or neon-y as those in the magazine design. The chalk wouldn’t lend itself to the picture’s transparency showing pretty lines underneath parts of the final layers.

But I’d thought of that picture – and postponed action of my own -- for weeks. And I could envision my color combinations making pleasant work. (As a matter of fact, the first foray turned out to be so much fun I got out other colors of paper and quickly made several other squiggly-line drawings.) Thus did my creativity get the “doing of the thing” unstuck from my mind.

I do always try to offer my art, and everything else I do, as a worship to God. As it happened, I also had a song stuck in my mind (an old hymn).
Now I belong to Jesus,
Jesus belongs to me –
Not for the years of time alone,
But for eternity.

I grew tired of my mind echoing the same little chorus over and over. But I couldn’t get the song unstuck from my brain. Along the way, however, the “Jesus belongs to me” part illuminated itself as vividly as my brightly swirled lines were brightening the papers.

We are so often admonished to keep our faith. “A Christian ought not to have doubts.” “Don’t give in the fear.” “Don’t allow negative thoughts.” “God always sends revival when people repent and pray, so if you’re not experiencing revival, you need to repent of not spending enough time with God.” “Don’t lose your first love.” “Give and it shall be given to you.” “The Lord loves a cheerful giver.” “Forsake not the assembly of believers, as some have done.” Agggrrr! There can be so much WORK to being a Christian. So much trying to get it right -- “Now I belong to Jesus” (so I ought to be good, and kind, and holy.) The persons who keep pushing these ideas mean well enough. Certainly I’m not advocating we are to be slackers for God. But all the good advice is enough to wear me out.

But – “Jesus belongs to me!” Well, that says something different to me. Yes, I know we are “in Christ”, that we are born again, that “the Lord inhabits the praises of his people.” I believe his promises (not my own ability to believe, but his faithfulness at “keeping” me). So because “Jesus belongs to me”, I can cheerfully accept the verse from Ephesians chapter 1 that says “and all things happen just as he decided long ago.”

(It’s not that now I’ve had some new revelation that I’d never thought of before. It’s just that the daily burdens of life make me forget who I am in Jesus, and who he is in me. I need all the reminders and refreshings I can get!)

Whew! It’s not my work to “keep” myself. Jesus belongs to me. He won’t let go of my hand. He won’t stop guiding me, comforting me. He continually offers me HIMSELF.

(He’s much better at drawing imaginative, bright scrolly lines in me, in my life-circumstances, than I am of envisioning what he’s working on in me.) Wow! I think I just unstuck my mind, both from hearing that song playing on and on in my head not letting in any other praise-him-song, and from trying to think how I can be the most pleasing to him.

For all of that, I can truly say with the Psalmist, “My lines have fallen in pleasant places.”

copyright 2011 by Marilee Miller


This post is also shared with L. L. Barkat's "Seedlings in Stone" On, In, and Around Mondays


And with Laura Boggess' "The Wellspring" Playdates with God

When Life Isn't Fair.

.
.

WHEN LIFE ISN'T FAIR.

Some time ago I reported my escapade with a leaky bucket of paint, that left a mess I had to sop up with plenty of paper towels. And I shared how I’d saved the blottings for backgrounds of future artworks.

The paper towel with the thickest soppings was crumpled and gooey and unmanageable. I couldn’t really flatten it onto a newspaper backing. So I left it to dry out while draped loosely over a cardboard box. The paint, of course, stuck to the box – mostly. The drapes and folds protrude, but probably would sag over time from moisture in the air.

I’m an artist who loves to make backgrounds. Sometimes, the odder the better. My intention is always to draw or paint or glue on objects of interest for the foregrounds. But that part of making art scares me! A lot! What if I can’t find or make something that takes best advantage of the blots and scribblings in the background? What if I my point of interest happens to hide the very best part of a dramatic background? What if I don’t like my artwork when I’m done? When am I going to have time to create the wild and wonderful foregrounds I envision in mind? In fact, do I even have the skill to draw and paint, or cut out, the perfect shapes for things I’m not used to drawing?

It’s not fair to have big dreams for art, but not to be sure I can satisfy myself (or others). Will what I make, be worth the long struggle to pull things together? Or will I FAIL, as I often feel like I do?

Maybe first, before I try to create a unified work, I need to lay out some elements. See if I come up with something I like. Interesting colors, or shapes, or sizes, or ??? In this instance, I laid some objects (that just happened to be in the room) with the draped box. I could be as whimsical as I liked, since the objects weren’t meant to be a permanent attachment.

The randomly chosen objects were: A chenille bird (from a rummage sale). A little tree-shrub I’d cut from cardboard. My art abstract: “White half-tailed Manx cat sleeping on rug” (translation: pulled-apart cotton puff, frayed burlap scrap, good imagination).

Quirky, yes. Whimsical. The odd bits and pieces, placed together, made a fun photo! With a background, textures, a foreground, and other interesting points.

Sometimes, our lives seem unfair. We dream of wonderful lives filled with achievements and earthly rewards. We’d like to have good friends and family, a peaceful existence, enough money to live on, enough food to eat, enough deep sense of God in our lives to feel “satisfied” and running over with blessings.

And then “real life” happens. Bad things happen to good people. Almost everyone goes through struggles. Griefs, sorrows, loss, embarrassments, put-downs, abuse. Disappointment, discontent, heartache, failure, poor attitudes, poverty, disease, wars and rumors of wars. A lot of odd pieces get slung at us; we sigh because we can’t make sense of what is happening. We think we’ve been handed more than we can cope with.

I have to keep telling myself that it’s not what happens in this life -- but what I do with what has happened. Scratch that! It’s really what I allow God to work within me. Am I going to be bitter, or better? Do I hate myself for failing, or look for his rainbows? Resent the stones that have tumbled into my path, or ask him to lead me around or over them? Am I too scared to keep trying? Will I dwell on the past until I miss the beauties and the God-gifts of the present moment? Or do I try to see the odd pieces of seeming strangeness or disaster, as lessons in beholding the beauty and presence of the Lord in spite of everything?

I can’t stop all failures. I can’t do away with all fears. I may not be able to change all the textures I have to deal with. It’s natural to feel scared, defenseless, broadsided, hurt or wounded. But I can try – sometimes with gritted teeth or a doubtful heart, to be sure – to keep offering to open my clenched fists. Dear God, I ask you to shape me into the person you meant all along for me to be.

=

This post is also shared with L L Barkat's "Seedlings in Stone" On, In, or Around Mondays

and Laura Boggess' "The Wellspring" Playdates with God.

Summer-Dry, Still Beautiful

SUMMER-DRY, BUT STILL BEAUTIFUL

A bit of broken curb in a parking strip. A swath of dried out grassy lawn. A sere but curious tuft of grass. So ordinary. Things almost dead. But still beautiful. The coloration, the inspired lines waving outward. This mini-scene could be ignored completely by a walker passing by. But how delicate the lines and planes. How intriguing the difference in textures. The scene is summer-dry, but beauty is there for the taking. I drink in to my soul the refreshment God has provided in this small cranny.

Soon the rains will come. The curb will color darker with the wet. The grassy lawn will take new heart and life; the dead will fall away and new green flash forth. All will shine with clean lines.

May you, and I, shine with clean lines as God rains his presence, His Spirit, on us. As we "behold the beauty of the Lord, [our] light and our salvation", may we realize how much we are blessed. Our many textures, and seasonal colorations, are admired by Him.

Ordinary but not taken for granted

.
.
ORDINARY, BUT NOT TAKEN FOR GRANTED

A very small patch of sidewalk. So ordinary.

One might walk it every day and not see anything special about it. But closer inspection shows individually unique patterns in the gravel.

Evergreen needles, dead, turned brown. So ordinary.
One might not even notice them at all.
But a closer look shows tinges of red, and an artful scattering.

Tiny bit of lichen, wind-blown off its mooring where it once resided on a tree. So ordinary.
One could tromp it underfoot and never think of it again.
But close-up, see how beautiful the scrolly lines, the great and noble patterns and designs.

And then there's me! So ordinary.
Do others see me at all? Or care who I am or want to be?
Do they ever take a closer look and see the artful patterns within me?
(Do I look inside to find my beauty of unique individuality?)

God sees. He's not ordinary. He's a unique Creator who specializes in the ordinary made extra-ordinary.
He sees the patterns of his Creation, knows them intimately.
He sees the scrolls and designs and all the rest, including nobility!
How noble is ordinary -- he made all things, and he takes none of them for granted!

Thank you, Lord, for giving your children eyes to see the every facet of ordinary. May we not take you, or nature, or man-made fabrications, for granted. We bless you, for your holy creativity.

Call to Pray

The following came in my e-mail today from the Yahoo group "Devotions". Michael Inman is a pastor; he posts regularly on "Devotions" and I have found his devotionals helpful and inspiring. I don't know if his wife, Mrs. Inman, compiled the message below, or if she obtained it intact from another source. But I believe we always need to make a place for prayer in our lives. It's always time to ask God to bless the people in all nations. It's always time to ask His wisdom in understanding how to pray for all situations. And it's always time to pray, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."

--

begin Fwd message:

From: "Mrs. Anita P. Inman"

Subject: Call to Pray

Please, pray today and tomorrow about this Durbin conference at the
United Nations in New York today and tomorrow. Israel is about to be
offered up as a sacrificial Lamb for false promises of peace. America
is on a prophetic countdown to the gravest days in our history. In
just a few days, a vote will be taken (if not already) at the United
Nations that will force America to choose between standing with
Israel and standing with her enemies. The Bible says we do NOT
wrestle against flesh and blood but against principalities and
powers. This is a spiritual battle, and it must be fought with
spiritual weapons. America needs Divine intervention that can only
come from God's people standing in the gap like Esther. This national
Campaign will cost $350,000. I am asking every christian who loves Israel and America to stand up to Jew hatred like Corrie Ten Boom as her family did in Holland during the Holocaust.
The terrorist organization, Hamas, is now part of the Palestinian
government. Its purpose is its plot against Israel. This is the
organization with which President Obama is negotiating and to whom
his administration is sending our tax dollars.
Prophecy is being fulfilled. The prophet Isaiah records Satan
declared he would rage against God (Isaiah 14) and do battle on the
'sides of the north' - the Bible description of Mount Zion. There is
a bigger picture than the headlines show. There is a spiritual
battle taking place between light and darkness... between good and
evil...and we are not observers - we ARE IN THIS FIGHT!
We must sound the alarm like the ancient priests blew the SHOFAR to
alert the Israelites to prepare for battle.
Please join the millions of Christine across America and other
countries who is praying against this vote to save there countries
from judgement. Please stand up for Israel today against this ugly
and evil tide of racism. We must not fail to do our part to deliver
the Jewish people. This is our "such a time as this." This is our
moment to stand and speak. This is our moment to kneel and pray.
This is our moment stand with Israel even if know one else will. -
Mike Evans 'Jerusalem Prayer Team'

Please watch, 'It's Supernatural' with Sid Roth, this week. His
speaker is Rabbi Jonathan Cahn and his new book called 'The
Harbinger", he talks about the foreshadows of future events, an
omens, and heralds and signs to come. Especially, about how Israel
is treated. And what will happen in the U.S. and other countries, if
we don't stand with Israel. Please, watch!!!!

" Dear Father, we know that Israel is the apple of Your eye and that
You hold her in the palm of Your hand. We know that soon Jesus will
make His triumphal entry through the eastern gate at His return to
the earth. Jerusalem will be the seat of government for all the
earth.
We love Israel because You love Israel. We know that we have been
blessed through her in the person of Jesus Christ.
Father, Jesus said that there would be unrest in Israel until He came
again, because Israel will never know any real peace until the Prince
of Peace returns. However, we are instructed to pray for the peace
of Jerusalem so our prayers can help facilitate the events of His
return.
In Jesus' mighty name, we pray for the peace of Jerusalem
continually. We set ourselves as a watchman and will not rest until
Jerusalem is a voice of praise in all the earth.
In Jesus' name we pray! Amen"

"I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; They shall never
hold their peace day or night. You who make mention of the Lord, do
not keep silent, and give Him no rest till He establishes and till He
makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth." Isaiah 62:6,7

"And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth
thee; and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed."
Genesis 12:3

Love and God Bless you all!
Anita :-*

--

Michael D. Inman
- The Only Thing Necessary For Evil to Triumph is for Good Men to do
Nothing -- Edmund Burke...

[snip]

'IN GOD WE TRUST',

I will bless those who bless Israel.....Genesis 12:3

end Fwd message

==

Further reference to this subject may be found at

http://unitedwithisrael.org/newsletter/NewsletterPage/09_19_2011.html

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