A New Heart

"Jesus calls us; o'er the tumult
Of our life's wild, restless sea,
Day by day His sweet voice soundeth,
Saying, 'Christian, follow Me.'"

 --from the hymn by Cecil Alexander, 1852

When you find yourself in an unexpected season, how do you react? I have found myself taking up both hardness and surrender, with a heart that has revealed my own tendencies to waffle back and forth.

But God has no intentions of letting my waffling change His Plans. He is forever working to bring about GOOD.


When this week's prompt showed up at Ronovan Hester's site, Ronovan Writes, 
for his #Haiku #Poetry challenge,
with the words "Shell & Coast,"
I was set to find pretty lakeside images
with dreamy vacation thoughts.


Oh, but how can I not listen to my heart when it is being stirred
with the truth of where I am actually walking? 

 

 

 

 

A New Heart

Break this hard heart shell

When I want only to coast

Thru life, Lord, move me.

 

"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh." Ezekial 36:26



In these days where my physical condition of waffling between pain and rest
mirrors the way of my heart,
I hear a VOICE beckoning to me,
calling me.


Come, follow Me,
and I will remove your stony heart
and give you a tender heart of flesh
with a single minded will
to pursue the way of love.



Whatever the place where we find ourselves,
be it planned or unplanned, 
there is a way to choose
LOVE
within the day,
within the moment.

There is always
SOMEWAY
that our lives can speak of Love.
There is always
SOMEONE
to be blessed by a tender heart
and a tender word.



I am thankful for these online communities that prompt my heart in ways both surprising and convicting. Take a risk and give it a try for yourself! You may just find an inner poet lurking within your heart as well.

Great sites to link with this week:

#RonovanWrites 

#Glimpsesofhisbeauty 
#TeaAndWordTuesday 

 
 
 





 

Where is Hope?

When you take a break from something, do you ever have a hard time rejoining that activity? I have so missed being able to join in with the Haiku Poetry Challenge offered by Ronovan Hester over at his site, Ronovan Writes. 

So when his words for this week's prompt showed up in my inbox yesterday, "Hope&Stay," I thought I would jump right in: those words are just my style!

But the weariness of a full weekend caught up with me, and the words were nowhere to be found. In fact, the ENERGY was nowhere to be found either.  So once again, I paid attention to my "inner voice" and let the waves of weariness wash their way to the shore.

All the better for the listening,

because our heart

speaks more clearly

than our minds ever could. 

The mind needs time and rest

to catch up to what

the heart already knows.

 Arms of Hope

If weary I fall

Strong arms securely stay me

God, my hope restores

--BG

Jesus, My True Hope

My hope is secure

Not in my own strength resides 

On Jesus I stay.

--BG

 (Thank you Mariah Hanson for this original photo!)

Are you watching the waves now?

Is there a washing of the heart

flooding over you too?

I pray this song by Matt Maher will bless you

as it has blessed me:

 "Yes, my soul, find rest in God;
    my hope comes from him."

Psalm 62:5 NIV 

I am linking this week with:

Barbie Swihart, #Glimpsesofhisbeauty 

Meg Weyerbacher, #Teaandwordtuesday 

  

 

 

Deep Unto Deep

We were drenched with rain this weekend, after a long dry spell. And my heart answered the call of those raindrops when a writing prompt was given by Jamie Wright Bagley over at her blog last week. 

 Click here,

to find her own words and the question, 

"What do you do when the rain calls you?" 

Splashing, sputtering, swishing,
The rain washes everything in sight
Including me!
I come
The drops wash over my soul
Splashing, sputtering, surrendering.

--BG

 

 

But when the sun broke through, the call to surrender

continued. Here in this place of stillness and slow,

my heart is looking up, longing to find HIS beautiful

freedom.

And after a long break, I found Haiku words again for the poetry challenge given by Ronovan Hester here,

at his site, where the prompts this week were "Darkness&Deep." 

Deep Unto Deep

Out of the darkness

comes a cry, deep unto deep

Light answers, flows free. 

--BG

 "Deep calls to deep
    in the roar of your waterfalls;
all your waves and breakers
    have swept over me.

By day the Lord directs his love,
    at night his song is with me—
    a prayer to the God of my life."

Psalm 42:7-8 NIV 

There will come a day when darkness 
will no longer hold sway
over our hearts.

The gray of the rain 
will be washed
to brightest blue.

The pain of this world
will be measured pure
with healing for all
who wait for Jesus
to bring us Home.

So color my days here now
with hope for the journey
surrendered
and
free
Looking above.  

And here is the announcement I promised last week! The winner of Susan Chamberlain Shipe's latest book, 52 Commands of Jesus for Children is my instagram follower: ggmullins2016!

I will be in touch with you to get your mailing address, and Susan will ship your book to you! Congratulations!! 

(I used the service at Random.org to generate the results.) 

 

The book is available
 on Amazon here
for anyone who
would like a great 
resource for
Family Devotions! 


And click here
for Susan's own website,
where she offers more coloring
pages for you to download.

I am linking this week with these great bloggers:
Meg Weyerbacher, #TeaAndWordTuesday 
Barbie Swihart, #Glimpsesofhisbeauty 
Debbie Kitterman, #TuneInThursday 

The Gardener Sees

This Gardening heart of mine is finding new ways to be satisfied in this Season of Slow. I may have had to change my activities, but I am finding that God still names who I am in the deep places of my heart.

Have you heard Him call your name?

Have you heard the whisper of 

"Beloved, follow me?"

The British style of Gardening is a fascination to me. So I eagerly wait for new episodes of "Gardeners' World" to appear.  This past week, as the hosts interviewed a most famous gardener, Penelope Hobhouse, she spoke a thought from her younger days that met my way of seeing:

"I was bowled over by suddenly realizing gardening is about beauty and not just being practical." 

Over the years of helping many of my friends in their gardens, there usually came a time when they were surprised at the beauty I saw in the landscape around me. It might have been something they had missed, or something they had counted as a detriment. Even the small "critters" such as the frogs and toads have their own purpose and beauty.

 

 

Say What?

My heart holds fast, when

Others name it plain or drab

I will find beauty.

--BG

And yet, while I have no difficulty finding beauty in gardens, 
I am not so quick to look for the beauty in the rest of my life.



I want to open my eyes
In the drab days
I want to hear music
In the plain songs

For there is a beauty
All around me
Even in the dreary
A singing for the soul
In every darkened day.

 

 "He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end."

Ecclesiastes 3:11 NIV 

 

 

What about your days?
Is there a beauty that you have overlooked?
Is something drab or plain
catching your eye with a hidden song?




Today's #Haiku #Poetry prompts were the words "fast&plain." Once again, Ronovan Hester has been kind enough to open the invitation to participate in the challenge over at his site:
Ronovan Writes



I am linking this week with:
#LMMLinkup 
Meg Weyerbacher, #TeaAndWordTuesday 
Debbie Kitterman, #TuneInThursday 
 

 

Let Me See You

I spent a lot of time this week thinking about the gift of marriage.  A lot can happen over the course of the decades, both for the good and the bad.  When my husband and I were starry-eyed teenagers, we thought we saw Beauty when we looked in each other's eyes.

What we really saw were

 dreams for the future,

wisps of imagination

and hopes we envisioned

and longed to embrace.

As the years sped by, and life dropped in, those visions faded, and not all of the dreams came true. But something deeper was birthed as we began to see the true heart behind the eyes. Something snuck up on me when I wasn't looking. 

The wrinkles became

beautiful

And the weakness

seemed strong

As I looked at the scars

won by living

together

and facing the world

as one. 



 

Seeing

If beauty is in

the eye of one who beholds,

let my eyes see you

  --BG

 

 

 

Where is Grace?

Behold the sun shines

on the good and bad alike

eye of Grace watches

  --BG

And my heart

sang a song

birthed from the place

where God must see me

with eyes filled with Grace.  

My own lines

and wrinkles

may look ugly to me

the scars

that I've gathered

from the heat of the years. 

But God looks through 

His Grace-Lens

And views 

His Beloved, His Own

clothed with a beauty

from His

Love-Won-Heart.

  

  

  "Many waters cannot quench love

    rivers cannot sweep it away."

Song of Songs 8:7 NIV 




These Haiku are offered as part of the #Haiku #Poetry challenge set out by Ronovan Hester at his site:
Ronovan Writes 
where the prompts are "Behold&Eye."
Take a peek over there for some fun with Haiku!  


I am also linking today with:
Meg Weyerbacher, #TeaAndWordTuesday
Jennifer Dukes Lee, #TellHisStory  

When Worry Wastes Beauty

The springtime sun revealed the sad state of our yard this weekend.  And while my husband mowed the lawn for the first time this year, I tried to be thankful for the abilities that are still mine, and enjoy the small containers that I had filled with pansies.  They were my Mom's favorite spring flowers, after all.


But not too many minutes later, I heard myself bemoaning the fact that I could not rake and trim and spend the entire day working like I used to do.  Where only moments before I saw the beauty, now I could only see the tasks still left undone.

Please don't tell me I'm alone in this? Am I the only one who can so easily fall off of the Thankfulness Wagon?

So, when my head hit the pillow, several hours later, I was reminded once again, where my heart condition had become derailed. I heard the voice of my Lord stirring in my heart: 

Will all your worries add a single moment to your life?

And why worry about your clothes? Look at the field lilies! They don’t worry about theirs.

Matthew 6:27-28 TLB 




There is so much beauty all around--free for the taking! We wait all winter for spring, but then rush past its beauty on our way to the next task, the next season.

 

 Beautiful Moments

Worry is a curse

Blinders causing me to miss

Beauty in my day 
  --BG







I have so much to see in this small garden that I've been given. And while I cannot do all of the things I wish I could, I can pause, remove the blinders, and peer into this life of mine. 



The garden that is my heart, 
would sing with a beauty all it's own, 
a tune of springtime and life renewed,
if I could hear the music
being sung to my soul.

A song of daffodils and pansies
of robins and finches,
A song of Love sent
from a God who cares
And dreamed all of this
for hearts to receive. 

 







This #Haiku #Poetry was offered for the challenge put out by Ronovan over at his site:  Ronovan Writes
where the prompts this week are "Beautiful&Curse."
Join me there to see a great list of other Haiku.


I am linking today with:
Meg Weyerbacher, #TeaAndWordTuesday 
Jennifer Dukes Lee, #TellHisStory 
 

   

In Awe of Wonders

The early morning quiet was shattered by the pounding of hail on the roof, and I knew my sleep was finished. So I turned on the light and checked outside: sure enough, there were the little white balls, bouncing in the pouring rain. 

Even though fatigue still had the better of me, I put on my robe and slippers, and poured the coffee as I waited for first light.  Expecting to see nothing but grey after such a fierce storm, I was surprised by the glimmers of brightness that only a cloudless parting could reveal.

"The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders;
    where morning dawns, where evening fades,
    you call forth songs of joy."

Psalm 65:8 NIV 

And into this heart that was weary and sad, hope glimmered alongside the rays of the dawn. 

Life Wins

Earth breathes life anew

A wonder to watch and spy

Because death can't win 

--BettieGilbert

Awaken the Dawn

When the dawn awakes

 We spy a glimpse, catch Heaven's

Touch of wonder new

   --BettieGilbert







As this Holy Week moves us closer 

to Resurrection Morning,

I pray that you

will have a taste

of glimmering hope.

Jesus overcame the grave

and death has lost

its sting!

Because He lives

there is wonder

for each one,

if only we will let Him

awaken our hearts.

This week's #Haiku #Poetry Prompts were the words "Wonder&Spy" as part of the challenge

offered by Ronovan Hester over at his site

Ronovan Writes.

Visit there to find a community of poets!



I am linking today with:

Meg Weyerbacher, #TeaAndWordTuesday 

Jennifer Dukes Lee, #TellHisStory