The Mockingbird

 I heard him yesterday morning, singing from the top of the trees. He sang, he flit around and then he sang some more. It was a pretty song today, but it isn’t always.

Mockingbirds are amazing! I like to think they have been given the gift of “bird speech”. Sitting next to a Clay-colored Robin they can whistle along with each other, or he can squawk at the parrot two branches over! Their songs reflect their relationships ~ their proximity to others and there, right in the middle of the squawk, is the lesson.

Who is sitting on the branches of our lives?

 I Corinthians 15:33 says…

  Don’t let anyone deceive you.

Associating with bad people will ruin decent people.

 

Over the years we’ve heard our Mockingbird friends sing some pretty tunes and some, not so pretty ~ Like the whole week we heard him singing out like the neighbor’s house alarm! OR the day he cracked and spewed like a Grackle. His abilities, his “gift” hasn’t changed ~  All his singing reflects is who he is hanging around and what his influences are.

 

Every day, every moment we get to choose light or dark / life or death in our words. There are days tho’, that we let our guard down and we find ourselves sitting with the “grackles”. We all have grackles… Maybe they are actual people, habitual phrases, bad habits or perhaps memories that hold us captive.

 

Lord, our prayer…our daily desire, is that You help us watch where we perch our souls’ ear, that what sings over our lives nurtures our souls’ steps with You.

Nothing is more appealing than speaking beautiful, life-giving words.

For they release sweetness to our souls and inner healing to our spirits.

Proverbs 16:24

A Day’s Journey to Eternity

Ran across this today and thought I'd share...
I wrote this poem in 2004, which seems a lifetime ago, 

but His promises always hold true!

🌻Blessings...

 

Eternity lies in the journey ~

  Laying one day, one joy on another.

  Living in the expectation of forever.

  Everyday building up to an explosion of glory.

  God has read the last page of the Book ~

  He wrote it, now we are living it.

Today is not something to hurry through ~

  take it in, soak it up.  Look for every

  nuance of God in everything.

  The careful sculpting of each iris petal,

  the fine trim of the kiskadee, the painting

  and shadows of the sky.

He is in today to be praised, just as in the halls of heaven.

  This journey is God’s, the one He planned to take His

  children home.  Not to leave us in bitter sweet yesterdays,

  but to bring us to His courts of compassion.

  Each day has a reminder of our destination,

  if we but look at Him. 

There is no fulfillment in man’s definition of life ~

  just empty promises and broken dreams.

  But our Father is the Maker of Dreams, He will keep

  His promises along the Way.

Look for Him today.

 

 

Jeanie Rowel

Jan. ‘04

 

Who We Really Are

We were blessed this past week with a wonderful trip to the mountains of New Mexico! What a treat, after so many years, to leave the heat of South Texas and get to see autumn. I walked some beautiful paths, found a prayer labyrinth and experienced some much needed solitude and silence. My mountain walking companions, Ruby and Oso, led every path and seemed to enjoy all the new scents and sights. We almost didn’t come back! 😉  

The whisper of the breeze thru the pines and enjoying the vistas together was a perfect backdrop to beautiful moments spent in His Word. One of the passages, that is in a devotional I’m doing online with some friends right now, was in a new translation (perhaps new to me?) and it’s called The Passion Translation. I enjoy using different Bible versions, just to help me “listen” better and I don’t skim over familiar phrases….like this one:   

For I know that nothing good lives within the flesh of my fallen humanity. The longings to do what is right are within me, but will-power is not enough to accomplish it.  My lofty desires to do what is good are dashed when I do the things I want to avoid.  So if my behavior contradicts my desires to do good, I must conclude that it’s not my true identity doing it, but the unwelcome intruder of sin hindering me from being who I really am.

Romans 7:18-20

Perhaps it was sitting where I was, away from the hustle and the bustle, but this resonated differently for me that day. So, I’d like to share a brief prayer I wrote in response to this resonating. I pray it  for us all as we seek to live out who we really are in Christ.

Sweet Father,

Help us remember who we are ~ Who we belong to. It is a struggle sometimes in the ugliness of the world, but oh God in heaven, help us to turn to You ~ to be like Jesus to this world.

~ not in judging others, for He did not come to condemn. 

 John 3:17

~ not snippy or spiteful, but as Jesus, Who is the Word of Grace.

   Ephesians 4:29

~ not vengeful or angry, for Jesus called us to love one another, to forgive as we are forgiven – freely. John 13:34-35

~ not haughty or “holier than thou”, because Jesus washed the  

   disciples feet … Oh, let us wash feet! John 13:12

Help us walk humbly, honoured in the foot steps of Whom we walk and trusting the Maker of our Path.

~ Selah