Day 12: The Moon and Stars

The Picture

The Verse:  Nehemiah 9:6         

You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.

The Thought

Last night the moon was the closest to the earth that it has been for 20 years.  The picture above was taken last year because it was too cloudy last night.  But the moon is beautiful and seeing a huge full moonrise is always a special moment.  In Cape Town it is very popular to climb to the top of Lion's Head and watch the sun set in the west and minutes later the full moon rise in the east.  It is a breathtaking experience.  You are given such an overwhelming sense of  day and night, light and darkness.

http://leecasalena.com/fullmoonhike.swf   (This is a 360 application, you can pan up and down and all around!)

The full moon gives light to a dark night and can help you when you travel over difficult terrain.  Equally God guides us and gives us light in dark times.  We need to use His light to follow the paths of our life, even when things seem dark.  Don't let doubts and worries turn into the clouds that can block out the light, but  trust in Him.

The Prayer

Thank you for your guiding light, Lord.  Help us trust that you will always be the light for our paths, both in good times and when things seem dark and difficult.  Don't let us cloud your guidance with our human worries and fretting.

Day 11: Don't Litter!

The Picture

The Verse Numbers 35:33-34

You shall not pollute the land in which you live.... You shall not defile the land in which you live, in which I also dwell; for I the LORD dwell among the Israelites."

The Thought

I am so aware of how we are destroying our world.  My heart aches every time I walk past litter in the beautiful countryside, or see the sunshine hazy through the smog.  If you look at the worlds "beauty spots" they are slowly being ruined with buildings, roads and litter.  We all strive to find unspoilt areas to holiday to, and then proceed to destroy them.
I have been trying to use my car less, although I must confess that I struggle with this in winter.  David cycles to work every day and I want to walk or run to mine more than I do.  With the ever increasing price of fuel, this may be made a bit easier though! 
Last lent I tried to follow a daily challenge which involved incorporating an element of "greenness" into your life each day - taking a light bulb out of a multi-bulb light fitting, walking to the shop, avoiding boiling full kettles for 1 cup of tea.  You know the sort of thing.  I have managed to continue with some of them, but it is so easy to slip back into bad habits.  Especially with the driving (note the guilt).  Now that the weather is warmer, I can hopefully start walking around more.
We seem to have so little regard for God's creation.  With the current radiation crisis in Japan, the Gulf oil spill from BP, I find man's intervention on earth so disturbing.  We are always trying to make our lives easier and somehow the earth seems to pay the price. 
My heart breaks every time I go past a little furry pile of road-kill.  We are so determined to race through life in our cars, regardless of the decimation of nature we leave behind.
How God's heart must ache as he watches us destroy his beautiful world.  
Pay attention to the impact you make.  It is the best you can do.

The Prayer

Oh Lord, I am sorry for the way we use and abuse what You have given us.  Make me aware of the way I am wasting resources and destroying life with my actions.  I want the world to be the beauty spot You created.

Day 10: The Rainbow Promise

The Picture

The Verse: Genesis 9:8‑10, 12‑13, 16‑17

Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: "I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you and with every living creature that was with you‑‑the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you‑‑every living creature on earth  And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.... Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth." So God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth."

The Thought

I love rainbows.  Again, they always make me think of my dad.  We used to live near the sea and there was a tidal lagoon at the bottom of our road.  One year we had some flooding and the water rose a couple of meters.  The houses at the end of the road were flooded.  We lived higher up the hill so weren’t really at risk, but I was convinced we were all about to be washed away – and we didn’t have an ark!

Dad sat with me and talked about the story of Noah’s Ark and comforted me in his best Daddy fashion.  A rainbow didn’t magically appear in the sky as he spoke, but it may as well of. 

I am transported back to that day every time I see one. 

This was the gist of our conversation:  God’s beautiful rainbows appear after storms, just when things are looking grey and dark.  If it is a sunny day you won’t get a rainbow.  It has to be a dreary and rainy day to fully appreciate the rainbow.  The sun shines through the clouds and onto the rain, so you need the storm to see the beauty of the sunshine and the rainbow.  Otherwise you just take all the sunshine for granted.  They are a sign of God’s promise that He will guide us through any storm, through any troubles.

When you are feeling battered and bruised by life and are filled with doubt, think about the rainbow and remember it is coming.  It is only a prayer away….

The Prayer

I thank you for the beautiful rainbows you send us during stormy times Lord.  When we are focusing on the greyness and dreariness of the time, You shine through in yoiur splendour and fill the sky with colour and beauty.  Help us focus on You and to look for your rainbows in our lives.

Day 9: Worry is Illogical

The Picture
photo: Dave Troughton

The Verse  Matthew 6:26

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

The Thought

When we worry about daily things we are actually slandering God's character. When we worry, it suggests that God is more interested in creatures than in His children. He provides for them and we must trust that He will provide for us too.  Birds are kept alive by food provided by nature, such as worms and insects. They have to spend a lot of time hunting and searching for the food, but it is there to be found. Jesus encourages us to look at them and to think about these facts. Worry misses the point of life because it is illogical.

 Jesus says, 'Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.' (Matthew 6:34)

God has given us our lives in days and we should take life a day at a time. If we wish to live a long and fruitful life, we should respect and live by the biological clock he has built inside us.

Many have recognized the senselessness of worry at least with their minds.  We reason something like this:  There are only two things you can worry over—things you have control over, and things you don’t have control over.  It makes no sense to worry about things you have control over because if you have control over them then you can do something about them and there is no sense in worrying about them.  It makes no sense to worry about what you don’t have control over, because if you don’t have control over them there’s no use worrying about it. 

We know worry doesn't do any good.  We know this because we know most of the things we worried about didn't happen. 
It doesn't mean you can sit back on your laurels and hope for the best.  The birds hunt for their food and build their nests.  They just don't fret about it.

Can you think of one good thing worry adds to your life?  Worry is senseless.

The Prayer
Dear God, I would love to not worry about things.  Teach me to live each day as a unit and to celebrate in the small things that make our days interesting.   Help us not to worry needlessly but to trust in you.  It is so easy to get wound up by irrelevant things until they affect our lives in so many ways.  Help us leave these concerns at the foot of your cross.

Day 8: Why Worry

The Picture

The Verse:  Matthew 6:24-34 

No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?  Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?  Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labour or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

The Thought

These verses are packed with thoughts – I may spend a couple of days sifting through all the affirmations, promises and teachings from them. 

What does Jesus mean? Why are we not to worry?

Here He addresses some of the things we worry about.

·        Health—“do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body”

·        Possessions—“what you will wear”

Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.

There’s plenty to worry about for EVERYONE.  Christians like to pretend that they don’t worry.  They just call their worries, prayer concerns.  Though Christians struggle with worry, we don’t have to be defeated by it.  

To worry is to Miss the Point of Life

Jesus tells us life is far more important than material things. So often our worries are about relatively unimportant and trivial matters, such as food, drink, clothing, houses and cars. Look any typical magazine and you will find it is preoccupied with the very things Jesus told us not to worry about - with clothes, food and drink.  Jesus says that life 'is more important than these things.’
Jesus says here that if we seek fulfilment in material things we are missing the whole point of life. The point of life is to have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Worry misses the point of life.

When you hear Jesus’ words, it sounds like he is talking to people who are in poverty here, doesn’t it?  I believe wealthy people worry just as much if not more than poor people.  There’s plenty to worry about for the wealthy and the poor.

The poor worry about how they will get these, the wealthy worry about losing them.

What’s your biggest worry right now?

The Prayer

Father God, I want to begin my prayer by asking for your forgiveness.  I have all allowed worry to have its way with my hearts.  I know that worry is senseless and harmful.  I know this in my head, but I still struggle to choose the way of faith over the way of worry.  Thank you for loving me even though sometimes I have such a little faith that I worry.  Lord, I choose to trust you.  I choose to seek you first. 

Day 7: Living Water

The Picture

The Verse John 4: 13-14

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life

The Thought

Water is truly amazing. Simple, yet brilliant. 
I came across these thoughts once and they made sense to me.   Water is able to dissolve nearly any substance, given enough time, even metals and minerals can be dissolved and carried to living organisms such as plants, trees, and animals. Without these necessary elements, life could not thrive on earth, as these metals would not be found in a consumable state. 

Water's high surface tension not only allows ships to float, but it also is responsible for "capillary action". Think of what water does when you place a paper towel in it. It "climbs" up the paper towel. Trees use narrow channels to take advantage of capillary action. Large trees are able to carry several tons of water per day as high as 100 meters to the very top of the tree. Were it not for water's capillary action, plants and trees could not exist...and neither would we!

One of the most unique and powerful properties of water is that it freezes. Instead of getting more dense when it freezes, water actually expands when it freezes into ice. This causes ice to float. If ice sunk, then during winter, a lake or even ocean would progressively freeze over as water froze on the surface, then sank to the bottom, and so on. Instead of fish and plants surviving under the blanket of protection of a surface layer of ice, they would be frozen along with the rest of the water, and ocean life would cease to exist. This would also affect land life, since a proportionately small amount of the oceans and lakes would be expected to melt during summer causing draught on the land. 

Water evaporates from the oceans and comes to land as rain. The rain falls into rivers and lakes and drains from the land into the oceans and the cycle is repeated. Without evaporation, this cycle would cease to exist and the land would become dry as a desert, and little life could survive or thrive.

Water is God's miracle and is the source of physical life and vitality on the earth. Jesus said that He is living water

Without PHYSICAL water, we will die physically
Without JESUS--the "Living Water", we will also die spiritually

The Prayer

I thirst for your living water Lord God.  Please quench my thirst through the love of your Son. Help me absorb and share His living water and share it with others.  We thank you for physical water to cleanse and hydrate us.  Praise you Lord.

Day 6: The Sea

The Picture

The Verse Psalm 104:25

There is the sea, vast and spacious, teeming with creatures beyond number - living things both large and small.

The Thought

The seaside is my number one place to be!  I grew up near the sea and we could go down to the beach after school.  I would go and sit on the beach and think about stuff - sort out my thoughts and just find peace at the sight of the enormous Atlantic ocean that didn't stop until it got to South America. The power of the water crashing on the beach, the rhythmic roar of the waves, the smell of the salt, the warmth of the sun. I love the sea in all it's moods, in all it's different guises.  It can be a friendly sea to play in, or a mighty destructive force as we have just witnessed in the Tsunami in Japan. 

As for the creatures of the sea, I used to scuba-dive and have dived in various parts of the world.  Seeing the underwater world is fascinating, even when you find yourself cowering behind a rock as a shark swims gracefully past!  And being near dolphins or whales is an experience hard to beat. 
The sea provides us with food, with a route for travelling between continents, with power, with pleasure. 
When I need space to be alone with God, near the sea is my first choice!  Sadly, here in Bristol I don't have easy access to the sea, just a muddy river channel, but if we are going away or out for the day, my family always know my first choice! Our God created the sea and all that lives in it.  He created creatures that live down in the dark depths of the oceans, creatures that no-one seas and yet they are unique and precious to Him.
What magnificence, what greatness!  How awed am I by the hugeness of our God!

The Prayer

Lord God, I thank you for the ocean and for all that lives in it.  Thank you for it's raw power and beauty.   I recognise that the sea can be a dangerous and scary thing too.  We pray for those affected by the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan.  Lord, may the world come together to provide aid and help as the Japanese people try and rebuild their lives after this devastation.