Early Morning Ponderings

We're having a specially quiet morning; having sent Syd off to work, thankfully his lunch was pretty well put together last night. I woke fifteen minutes late (one great thing about having dogs, they let you know if you're clock is off). Being that our niece, Velora, is visiting we have been trying to keep our mornings low-key while she slumbers on the couch. Syd's lunch together, coffee made, and he off to work; the dogs and I retreated to the upstairs. I snuggled onto the bed (no, the dogs stayed in their own) and had that special quiet time with God in His Word.

What a blessing the messages were on the Lord's Day. A wonderful reminder to my heart was that of the branch-life from John 15. All these several months God has been bringing me to verses such as, "come unto me", "learn of me", "follow me", "abide in me".  I just want to quote a short paragraph from S. D. Gordon (On Following the Christ) that blessed my heart today: "And please understand me here. Following does not mean that we are trying to imitate these characteristics. No, it is something both simpler and easier, and deeper and better than that. It means that as we companion with Him daily, these same traits will appear in us. It is not to be imitation simply, good as that might seem, yet always bringing the sense of failure, and that sense the thing that you remember most. It is to be some One living His life in you, coming in through the open door of your will. Your part is opening up and keeping open, listening and loving and obeying. The touchstone of the "follow me" life is not imitation but following; not copying but obeying; not struggle -though there will be struggle- but companionship; a companionship which nothing is allowed to take the fine edge off of."

All around us during this Spring season, things are coming into bloom. This bloom is the fruit of the roots that are buried deep in the earth. The branch or stem has nothing to do with the fruit, it simply is a means by which the life-flow feeds it. Again, the Lord brought me up against this. I am only a branch. He bears the fruit. This branch has no beauty in itself, only the reproduction of Jesus- -this beautiful fruit of the abiding life.

I shared that Velora is visiting with us. This picture from Saturday morning shows how much the dogs enjoy having a special guest!

The sun peeks over the treetops now. There is a certain beauty in living on the North side of a hill. One does not experience the very first glimpse of this ball of fire; it creeps up on you. The light is seen in the sky for an hour or more, then the sun suddenly appears over the tops of the trees, lighting the tiny, unfurling leaves outside my window. It is a new morning and things are still quiet in the house. All too soon the daytime noises will begin but for now there is still time to ponder these things in my heart; as it was quoted of Mary, "she kept all these sayings". I often pray, "Lord, help me to ponder these things in my heart and to keep them close, that I will not forget." It is so easy for truths to filter out through the cracks and be lost.

I hope that you are having a great day and that, if you are one who spends time with the Lord, that He  is giving you special truths from His Word, to ponder.  Thank you SO much for coming to Darling Hill. Perhaps later I'll have more pictures to share, as Velora and I go on a walk with "Grammy" and spend some special time with her today.