Sappy, overflowing ,nourishing

I was walking one morning and stood near an old pine tree. I noticed it was dripping sap. I then notice some interesting drips of drying sap. Of course I had to touch the sap. I tried wiping it off but it was sticky. I accidentally touched my face and it got on my upper lip and was sticky. I then ended up touching the sap on my face with my tongue and started tasting the pine sap. I went home and gave my wife a kiss on the top of her head and knew the hair would stick to my lip. She said " what are you doing? Are you biting my hair?" I then explained the glimpse, although she just starred at me.
I thought about how we should be overflowing with thankfulness to the extent it comes out of us, all over in everything we do. And the love and our "habit of thankfulness" we share and express should be like sappy hands that stick to you and rubs off on those with whom we talk and live.

I thought more about overflowing thankfulness and how I need to grow and have this more grafted into my life.

" If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root," (Rom 11:17)

I also thought about how the sap was nourishing for the tree and is it's life giving substance. Similarly, once we receive Christ we have life and we need to continue to be nourished by this Life in us to strengthen us in faith for the journey.

"So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness." (Col 2:6)

"There is a sense in which gratitude and faith are interwoven joys that strengthen each other. As gratitude joyfully revels in the benefits of past grace, so faith joyfully relies on the benefits of future grace. Therefore when gratitude for God’s past grace is strong, the message is sent that God is supremely trustworthy in the future because of what he has done in the past. In this way faith is strengthened by a lively gratitude for God’s past trustworthiness. "(John Piper)

first to the fallen, firstfruits

Our patio has a few tomato plants. I saw many ripe tomatoes on the vines and the taste of the fruit was so good and summer fresh.
The growth of the vines grew much in a short time.
I set my T-shirt on the chair and saw "First to the Fallen" with the background of  the fruit and it got me thinking how Jesus first loved me and in fact is the first to help when I have fallen and when I was lost and without hope. I also thought of the time when He called me friend in times when I have sinned and how he gently leads me.
Jesus is first to the fallen - like a medic would be first to the wounded and has given their life to try to save the wounded- without hesitation,or thought of one's own life. The mission is what matters in these times, the bigger picture. And Friends, friends come along side us to help us in our desperate times and give an encouraging word or accepting glance in times of doubt.
We are told in the Bible that if we abide in Christ we will bear fruit that will last.
Pruning does occur in our lives but growth and fruitfulness is promised-- no matter what we feel or think at the time of the pruning or growth spurt!

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing." (John 15:1-5)

And on the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither, nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing.”( Ez 47:12)

"But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth." (2 Thes 2:13)

"Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. " (Jam 1:18)

Reserve for the wintry times-
 I also was reading a book on the patio while looking at the tomato plants and T-shirt. 
The Smiling Country has a chapter that mentions the Methow Valley near the North Cascades and mentioned how great quantities of food was preserved at harvest time and stored for the cold winters. They used a method of storage of food that buried the apples and spuds in layers deep in the ground  to use in the winter when no food was available.  They did this : "to have fresh stuff til heaven knows when".

I thought of how this is similar to abiding in Christ in that we store up the promises and the Word of God, and what we learn in devotions, and reading, and hearing so that in time of need ,trial,or fear we can access the needed nourishment and truths to keep on the road in a steadfast manner. To have fresh hope until "heaven knows when."

Soon the Rock of truth beneath your feet will not long be sand

Saw these little clam-like shellfish show up with the surf and then disappear. Each wave revealed the creatures and they would disappear by digging themselves deep into the sand, until the next wave revealed them again.

                                                                    

                                            
At times  the waves of life reveal some hidden things
Undeserved grace is when they recede and cover.
Our old nature digs deep in our lives and shows itself from time to time.
Mercy keeps us.

We must show endurance.

One of her first walks on the sand

There was fresh anticipation in her steps, she had the helping hand she needed on the shifting sand with a distant place in the horizon- just like a snapshot of life
"soon the rock of truth under her feet will not long feel like sand"

Isaiah 44:7-8

Who is like me? Let him proclaim it...... Fear not, nor be afraid;
have I not told you from of old and declared it?
And you are my witnesses!
Is there a God besides me?
There is no Rock; I know not any.”

“Perseverance is a gift. That I will wake up and be a believer tomorrow morning is not finally and decisively owing to my will, but to God. I have known too many mornings on the precipice to think otherwise. That I have been snatched back every time is sheer mercy” (p. 22).

the ROOTS of Endurance

Mt Baker

boundary lines have fallen in pleasant places

I saw a newly surveyed area and saw flagged stakes outlining the boundary lines of the survey.

 I remembered reading in the Psalms how the lines have "fallen for me in pleasnt places,"(Ps. 16)

Each day has its challenges but we have to believe that  "the perplexing turns in our lives are going somewhere good." Each day we need to keep our eyes on the Lord,our portion.

Psalm 16
1 Keep me safe, my God,
for in you I take refuge.
2 I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
apart from you I have no good thing.”
3 I say of the holy people who are in the land,
“They are the noble ones in whom is all my delight.”
4 Those who run after other gods will suffer more and more.
I will not pour out libations of blood to such gods
or take up their names on my lips.5 Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure. 6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance. 7 I will praise the Lord, who counsels me;
even at night my heart instructs me.
8 I keep my eyes always on the Lord.
With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest secure,
10 because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,
nor will you let your faithful one see decay.
11 You make known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

Many times God works in our lives in ways we do not understand. It is at these times we recall the reasoning of the Lord and trust that His ways work for our good.

"Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord:
though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red like crimson,
they shall become like wool. " (Isaiah 1:18)

This is from the book i was reading

A SWEET AND BITTER PROVIDENCE pg 100-101 by John Piper
Sweet and Bitter Providence

Life Is a Mountain Road
At one level, the message of the book of Ruth is that the life of the godly is not a straight line to glory, but they do get there. The life of the godly is not an Interstate through Nebraska but a state road through the Blue Ridge Mountains of Tennessee. There are rockslides and precipices and dark mists and bears and slippery curves and hairpin turns that make you go backward in order to go forward. But all along this hazardous, twisted road that doesn’t let you see very far ahead, there are frequent signs that say, "The best is yet to come."

Taken as a whole, the story of Ruth is one of those signs. It was written to give us encouragement and hope that all the perplexing turns in our lives are going somewhere good. They do not lead off a cliff. In all the setbacks of our lives as believers, God is plotting for our joy.

Life is not a straight line leading from one blessing to the next and then finally to heaven. Life is a winding and troubled road. Switchback after switchback. And the point of biblical stories like Joseph and Job and Esther and Ruth is to help us feel in our bones (not just know in our heads) that God is for us in all these strange turns. God is not just showing up after the trouble and cleaning it up. He is plotting the course and managing the troubles with far-reaching purposes for our good and for the glory of Jesus Christ." (John Piper)