Just meditate on this scene; Let the beauty soak into you. Thank God for the beauty around you. You’re blessed. You know it?
No human can recreate what God has done. Meditate on the wonders of the universe. Thank God for His many blessings, And have a wonderful Thursday, OK?
Just 5 more days ’til we leave to go To Switzerland for our grandson’s wedding. We are anticipating the beauty we know We will experience there. Come back…
I’ll share!
Thanks for visiting JanBeek today. God bless you! See ya tomorrow (God willing)
Your prayers for our wise preparations and safe travel will be very much appreciated!
Click the link below if you’d like to have an hour or so of beautiful meditation music (water sounds, flute, etc.) while you count your blessings.
I climb the stairs each day, Then I turn on the light. Sometimes it’s still dark out. I rock ’til it gets bright.
Sipping my cup o’ coffee, Rocking as I pray, I meditate and read His Word As I welcome each new day.
I can rock away troubles; I can sit here and be still. I can listen to the Spirit, And discern the Father’s Will.
I can rock in my wicker chair Until my head and heart are clear. I can feel the Lord’s presence And thank God He’s ever near.
And when my rocking’s over I thank Jesus for his time, And slowly I descend the stairs (It’s my 12-step program climb).
Climb down to face the world. Climb down to start my day. Use the Fruits of the Spirit In a thoughtful kind of way:
Thank You for the LOVE,
the JOY
and the PEACE that are mine.
Help me, Lord, with PATIENCE,
KINDNESS
GOODNESS
and FAITHFULNESS (which brings blessings)
Can you read the word above the door? It says, “Blessings.”
8. Help me with GENTLENESS, 9. and SELF-CONTROL.
10. Help me live HUMBLY with an ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE 11. and a response of GENEROSITY, FORGIVENESS, 12. OBEDIENCE and INTEGRITY.
IN JESUS NAME, AMEN! And now I am at the bottom of the stairs where these words greet me across from the front door – “The Greatest of These is Love” – and these angels smile at me on the wall beneath the stairs:
A gift from Norbert and Elke Schaller. I say a prayer each day for them, too – They and their daughters, Simone & Caroline.
I rock! And my day will rock, too Because I have taken time to pray. I rock! And you will rock, too Because I pray for you, too, each day.
This is page one of my prayer list.
On the back side of this page Is a list of each WordPress friend. I ask the Lord to guard you. Rock on! Accept the love I send.
Thanks for visiting JanBeek. Have a love-filled day! See ya tomorrow.
Meantime, enjoy this song that was a hit in 1955 (I was a sophomore in high school… great memories of rockin’ school dances!!)
I wrote this post back in February of 2012 as a new blogger. I decided today would be a good day to revive and update it, because it is as pertinent today (maybe even more pertinent) as it was eight years ago!
Like you, I want to be more kind, more loving, more at peace. In giving, we receive. Kindness is reciprocal. Peace of mind is a gift to those who live in the fullness of LOVE. But, in a world full of hate and devisiveness, illnesses like depression and the current Corona Virus, we have to work at loving and finding peace!
Very few of us have the privilege of finding a spot like this one where we can sit quietly at the top of a peaceful place and just breathe the clear air slowly.
Where can we find peace in the midst of our bustling real world?
Work to Find Time to Know Him
I schedule TIME each morning to be with the Holy Spirit. In my quiet meditation time that morning back in 2012, I stumbled upon 2Peter 1:2-7. The question that starts that scripture caught my heart. “Do you want more and more of God’s kindness and peace?”
I was reading the Living Bible, paraphrased – a large print copy that used to belong to my father-in-law. Gratefully, I inherited it when he passed on to his eternal home. This passage was underlined. Grandpa Beekman had double-underlined the next sentence, “Then learn to know Him better and better.”
Meditation and Study Time
My sanctuary time each morning is all aboutgetting to know Him better, and listening for His still small voice. As I study God’s Word, and get to know Him better, there are many benefits. The rest of this passage spells them out – and I easily connected the idea of “increased faith” with the reality of “increased love.” But there is a long pathway that leads to increased love (which equates to more of God’s kindness and peace). It takes plain old good, hard work!
2Peter 1:3 “For as you know Him better, He will give you, through His great power, everything you need for living a truly good life: He even shares His own glory and His own goodness with us!”
I have added the capitals to “His.” The Bible doesn’t capitalize it. For me, the word requires a capital case letter when the him/his is not just any old him or his, but the One HIM, our Lord and Savior, God. So, when I share in His glory and goodness, it is special indeed! The scripture doesn’t stop there, though.
2Peter 1, Verse 4- “And by that same mighty power, He has given us all the other rich and wonderful blessings He promised; for instance, the promise to save us from the lust and rottenness all around us, and to give us His own character.”
Wow! What a promise!! How can I attain such blessings? Some would say it is totally by His grace. I don’t have to DO anything. Just because I BELIEVE I am His “chosen,” I will receive all these blessings. Well, not according to 2Peter 1: 5-7. Read on!
Work at Increased Faith
“BUT, to obtain these gifts, you need more than faith; you must also work hard to be good, and even that is not enough. For then you must learn to know God better and discover what He wants you to do.”
(That’s always a trick to discern what He wants me to do!)
“Next, learn to put aside your own desires so that you will become patient and godly, gladly letting God have His way with you.”
I am reminded of my oldest grandson, Mikey. He’s now 28, but when he was barely able to pull himself up by his mother’s apron strings and stand knee-high next to her, he would tug on that apron as she warmed his bottle in hot water on the stove. Sure he was starving to death, he would cry, “Paaaay-shuns! Paaaay-shuns!”
(Ah yes, we long for paaay-shuns even as we are barely able to verbalize a sentence!)
“Are you ready to go out and play in the snow with me?” Xander asked.
Walk the Path to Grow in the Capacity to Love
“This will make possible the next step, which is for you to enjoy other people and to like them, and finally you will grow to love them deeply.”
Grow to love. Grow in faith. Work at it.
Take the path that has “exercise stops” along the way.
Exercise your goodness first – the goodness Christ has given you.
Then stop to exercise wisdom – the knowledge we gain as we study God’s Word and practice being more and more like Christ.
Next, exercise selflessness and self-control, the fruits that the Holy Spirit has planted in you.
Practice patience and gentleness.
Your next stop on the exercise trail is labeled “Gratitude.” It is there that you learn to be grateful for the gifts you have been given while you focus on the gifts in others.
Put On Your Jesus Glasses
When you put on your Jesus glasses, you see the goodness, compassion, and faithfulness of others as God sees them. When you put on your Jesus glasses and appreciate all that is unique and wonderful about others, you see them as God’s creations. You have exercised enough now to love them.
Love is a gift worth working for. Thank God, He has freely loved us long before we knew how to love Him back. But now we do! We are getting to know God better and better. Praise the Lord!
How do you start your day?
I read “A Spirit-lifting Devotional” each morning called “Daily Guideposts.”
Each morning as I meditate on the day’s message, I summarize the “Take-Away” for that day in one to seven words- and write it on the blanks provided on two pages at the end of each month.
I also use that page to pray about what God wants me to do that day. I plan the day out at the top of the page. Sometimes it happens just like that. Other days, God intervenes and unexpected things happen. Here is today’s plan:
I write the chosen words on the page provided and review the messages for the month. These are the 31 “Take-Aways” for this month of March:
Prayer for Today:
Today I am praying to keep a humble spirit.
I ask God to help me see the Extraordinary in the Ordinary.
I remember that Jesus hears and answers us every time we pray.
He may not always say YES, but if we pray with a humble heart,
and ask Him to put a right spirit in us, and we pray in His Will,
we are more likely to get a positive response.
