Dear Ones,
May you wake to a fresh awareness of the Lord today.  I hope to get downstairs this morning for coffee and choc covered raspberries and this afternoon we are having friends over for coffee. Our granddaughter’s hip surgery is at noon today so our thoughts are on Lily and thank you also for your prayers. 
Devotions from Judy’s heart
Doesn’t it feel peaceful when we have mental space and can spend some time in silence with the Lord? Sometimes our minds get so cluttered as we try to figure everything out that we can hardly hear what God has to say to us.  Francis Fenelon, a French Bishop, writes to a friend who desires spiritual direction. He addresses his cluttered mind and tells him that there is so much filling his head that there is not room for God to speak. He, more or less, tells him to get out of his head and stop trying to figure God out but instead to be humble and open to hear Him speak.  It is good at times for our body to fast to clear things out, but our mind needs to do that as well. Our confidence is not to be in our intellect but rather in God who has so many truths to teach us. Fenelon warns his directee to beware of those who put their confidence in their great minds, for they can talk endlessly around things but none of it matters. In fact, it leads to nowhere and even though they keep consuming so much, like Solomon said, it becomes vanity. 
I remember one time when Al and I visited a church around Lenten time, and the preacher went on and on, building his sermon on false assumptions and no longer truth. At first, I wondered if I was actually hearing right, as he said the cross was not really about Jesus at all but more about us etc. He seemed to go around in circles. Another pastor we knew did not believe the resurrection happened and so he told his congregation about the story of the resurrection. How sad! Fenelon wrote that even when we study, we should think of it as going to the market and getting only what we need on that trip. He said, “We can know truth only in proportion to how much we love.” When love is not present, it is just dead facts and not really knowledge at all. We are to use our minds prayerfully for as we come to know the Lord, we have the perfect balance between truth and love. That requires us to be humble like children, with open simple minds to receive. Let us not get puffed up in our human intellect but remember what Jesus said in Matt. 11:25 (God’s Word), “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for hiding these things from wise and intelligent people and revealing them to little children.”
Challenge for today: Ask the Lord to give you an uncluttered mind and simple childlike faith so He can teach you more.
Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy