Dear Ones,
Happy weekend to you! When I looked out my window this morning there was snow on the ground and reality hit. Burr! Today will be spent cleaning and packing the car as tomorrow we leave to go to my nephew’s wedding in Prior Lake. After spending the night, we are going to try to make it to our former church in D.M. for their Sunday service and then on to Kansas and N.C.  I will e-mail as I am able on our trip! Appreciate prayers for our safety and for us to stay well. 
Devotions from Judy’s heart
   Our friend that we walk with on the Paul Bunyan trail writes poetry and doing so has helped his own heart heal as he deals with his wife’s Alzheimer’s. They have a creative room at their home on the lake and in the evening his wife colors pictures in adult coloring books while he writes what is happening in his heart. Last week David wrote about how God is giving him a new heart like it says in Ezekiel 36:26 (KJV) “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony hearts out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.” He said God is taking him from a place of self-centeredness and transitioning him to loving others.
   I love the how he describes the journey of his heart and in his introduction, he says, “As we age, many individuals look at the aging process as linear. The time clock becomes a trap for our golden years, but the aging process is like fruit ripening. When fruit is young and not ripe, it is hard and bitter. When it ages, it becomes sweet and flavorful. If we look at our spiritual journey as one that desires to become mature fruit, the aging process takes on a dimension of developing as God intended. I believe God wants us to become low-hanging fruit. Fruit that is mature in love development. St Francis of Assisi is an excellent example of this concept. He was not well educated, certainly not in theology. He spent long hours in prayer in places of solitude. I believe St Francis’s pursuit of love and not knowledge allowed him to enter a more profound experience with God.” If want to become low-hanging fruit, we also must focus on the Lord and let our hearts ripen in love.
  David goes on to write a poem of his early fruit basket and then the journey of beginning to ripen and go on to maturing with low-hanging fruit. He references John the Baptist who said that He must increase and I must decrease. Isn’t that really the key? May we draw closer to the Lord and let His love fill us and mature us into fruit that brings glory to Him.
  Challenge for today: Humbly seek the Lord and let His love mature you into luscious fruit for His kingdom.
Blessings on your weekend and prayers and love, Judy

 

 

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