Looking Ahead

With the end of the school year only a couple of weeks away the kids and i are anticipating all the activites planned for this summer.
We will be starting the season with VBS and church camp. Then there is art camp, field trips and play dates with friends. There other activities we hope to participate in like reading programs, movies at the drive-in and bike rides in the park.
While these things are all good and i am really looking forward to all of them i do intend to start each day in quiet time and prayer. In the hours that the children are in VBS and other endeavors i plan to take advantage of the peace and quiet to spend time in meditation and reflection.
I am missing creative time as well. So much of my time in the last year has been spent running and doing. So little of my time has been spent just listening to God. It is time to slow down and change that. God is the One who inspires creativity and gives peace. Time without Him saps creativity and destroys peace.
What i desire more than anything else right now is to spend my time drawing closer to God, enjoying my relationship with Him and with others He has blessed my life with. In doing these things i know it is going to be a really great summer and an awesome time of growth in Him. I pray that i will stick to this plan and continue through every season of my life.

Spring Blessing

Today was the first day of spring and while the day itself was rather cool the weather was beautiful! The sun was shining, the skies were blue and the birds were chirping. For awhile i was able to sit and watch the honeybees; even take a few pictures. After a few minutes the breeze became just a little too much to bear so i came back inside but what brief time i did spend outside was enough to fill me with hope and excitement about the season ahead.

Today i was given a glimpse of spring while still feeling a bit of winter's chill. What i saw and what i heard was enough to assure me that warmer days are definitely ahead. This assurance helps me to face whatever cool, gray days remain until spring prevails.

Isn't it just like God to do things like this for us ? We go through long, cold seasons in life and just when we think we cannot handle anymore God gives us signs to demonstrate His love and presence in our struggles. Sometimes He removes the situation from our lives but sometimes He allows us to remain in the hardship not to punish us, not because He doesn't care but because He sees what lies ahead, He knows what is best and He is preparing us for a future far beyond our wildest imaginations. That future is eternity with Him.

So while this life may be difficult and sometimes painful we can rest assured that He will never leave us nor forsake us(Deuteronomy 31:6). And though we won't always see our hope or feel our hope when we go through the trials in life we can have faith because our hope is in our Heavenly Father(Psalm 42:5). We can face whatever this life brings because this hope does not disappoint(Romans 5:5). Also remember that this life is fleeting where our life with God is glorious and eternal(2 Corinthians 4:16-18).

Now i may not hear the birds chirping at this late hour as i write this but i do know my heart is singing! My prayer tonight is that i will remember this hope in the morning and let it fill me with joy all the days of the rest of my life, whatever the Father blesses me with. I pray too that whoever reads this will be filled with this hope that can only come from God.