Look Away

Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things, And revive me in Your way – Psalm 119:37

Revive me! Has that ever been a cry of your heart? Have you ever had a day or a week or a season where you just needed a lift? Have you ever felt deep down inside that something was just not as it should be? Have you ever looked up and wondered how you got where you were?

When I read this verse it jumped off the page at me. It hit a nerve. No, it wasn’t because I’ve looked at images I shouldn’t be looking at. I’m sure the verse could apply to those sorts of things, but it’s not what it spoke to my heart.

I stopped watching the news many years ago. I used to watch my favorite 24 hour news channel for hours but it began to be more of a drain than it was worth. Maybe it is newsworthy, but little of it was anything that I could do anything about. Little of it did anything to improve my life. Little of it breathed anything but negativity into my life. But that isn’t what spoke to my heart.

Have you ever been so focused on a problem that you couldn’t see anything else? Have you ever been so focused on finding a solution to something you had no control over that you couldn’t think about anything else? It can be very hard to see a positive when all you are looking at is the negative. It can begin to consume you. It can begin to take you and everyone around you down.

Turn my eyes Lord!!!

Never Alone

You are not alone
Stop listening to the lie
Others struggle too

No one gets a pass
There will be days full of pain
Spinning on the earth

You can run and hide
You can pretend all you want
Doesn’t make it true

Hiding from the hope
Hiding from the helping hand
Hiding from the love

Walk toward the Light
There is comfort bright and warm
Soothing to the heart

Open up your world
Let another human in
They are walking too

We need each other
The testimonies heal us
Open up your heart

Questions in the Garden

She grabbed a cup of coffee and headed to the garden. She’d been watching the progress of her plants for years and hoped to see some progress this morning. She walked past several other gardens with flowering plants and ripened fruit ready for the harvest. She hoped she would see the same as she turned the corner where her garden would come into view.

Once again…she was disappointed.

The garden was green with signs of life, but the blooms remained closed on the flowering plants. The fruit bearing plants remained fruitless. She had watered and fertilized and cared for her plants. She knew she wasn’t the most skilled gardener on the block, but she had done all she knew to do. She wondered if perhaps the problem was in the seeds she had been given. She wondered if the problem might be in the soil. She wondered if the problem might be her.

She decided to go and talk to the man who had given her this space for the garden and the seeds. Maybe he would know what to do. Maybe he would know why her garden wasn’t growing like she had hoped.

Maybe he would be able to help….