Old Iron, Timeless Things in a Garden

I love cemeteries.  Especially the older ones.  Often when I am taking photos there, I find beautiful old iron work that has stood the test of time, much better than even the stones sometimes.  Once I took a picture of a fence post finial, and I hated the background noise.  It distracted so much from the picture that I longed for the day that I could erase the background and do something interesting with the finial. I have put it off for several years.  So recently, I thought of it and found the old picture, removed the ugly background, and began to let my imagination fill in the background possiblities.

Life is like that.  In order to focus on the clear picture of how God sees us, it is necessary to get rid of the noisy surroundings of ugly things in our life.  Since we can't do it literally, the only way we can is in prayer. But sometimes, cleaning the background slate leaves a void where something should be.

Us standing alone with only a clean slate is ... well, Lonely!  Choosing to see ourselves amidst beauty is not a bad act of faith. I believe that if we ask God to help us visualize where he wants us to be, he will begin to draw an image into which we can place our faith. Now God is a little like me when I am playing with backgrounds.  He allows us to have a variety of visual pictures, and sometimes multiple offers from those who would lead us into places where we could be successful.  But eventually, if we don't commit headlong to one image, better ones may unfold. And eventually, the best one, where God wants us to be, becomes clear.

In the cemetery or garden where the iron post is planted, it ages and weathers, takes on a patina, and things grow on it.  It may rust over time. But it stands through the storms, and elements.  Only when it's foundation is removed or washing away, do we find them leaning or less stable. Through out the years, so much around it can change. But the iron post remains pretty much in the place where it is placed.  Salvation is like that. We remain in our place of salvation although everything around us can change. If I ever get to make my garden the way I really want it, there must be some iron fencing. And I hope some pretty things will use it for support. I also hope that it will remain many years into the future for someone else to see, and know that there was a time when a garden was loved well enough for someone to place something timeless in it or around it.

I wish I could stand like an iron fencepost, standing against the background of noisy loud unpleasant surroundings, and in the end have people know that where God placed me, he kept my foundation solid, and he allowed my surroundings to change, but he remained changeless in me.

Lord, Help us visualize the  background of our lives the way you would design it to be. And help us work toward making the garden where we stand be that beautiful but ever changing place. But let us stand, forever in the place where time can not erode the fact that - we stand secure where we are planted by you. AMEN

Missionaries on My Mind

I awoke to a beautiful morning, and in spite of financial weights, felt safe in my home, and alive. Then the news reminded me that there are a lot of places in this world where that would not be true. And my next thought was for missionary friends of mine. I don't wish to stay long this morning, because I want my garden prayer to be focused. I simply ask the Lord to bless and protect missionaries around the world, today especially, because He brought them to my attention to pray for them.
Give them, Lord, your sheild of protection in these days of upheaval in so many countries. It is nice to think that so many people would want Peace and Democracy, but I fear that in the quest for it, many of your soldiers are placed in harms way without the benefit of anything but spriritual armour in their defense. Please put a hedge about them today, and protect them all over the world. As Americans are pulled from the places where dangers abound, please increase the protection for Christian men and women left in these countries, and may the Gospel be propelled by the freedom that is hoped for, rather than squelched. I am not unaware that the things happening indicate an ongoing fulfillment of prophecy in the countries of unrest in the middle east. But around the world there are missionaries in harms way. I am reminded that fulfillment of prophecy means a move ever closer to a place and time when our King returns. And until that day, it is the missionaries of the Word who reach into the darkest places to find the souls you seek to save. Bless them greatly today, I pray. AMEN