Devotions by Bonnie & Music by Bev
December 2021
Trust and Obey
(play as you read the devotional.)
Listening
The last week my morning walks have been very crisp, below freezing. I look like a women from another planet. I usually have two layers under my long pink coat, a hat, a scarf, gloves and sometimes the hood of my coat is up. The joy is that as I walk it is quiet, and the air is still. Its on rare mornings like this that I can hear the horn of the train traveling through Canaan along 295. It is a gift each time, being it is such a mournful sound. A gift because it takes me back to my youth, when I was 5 or 6. Back then excitement and an adventurous day, was quite different from today. My Dad would start the Desoto up, with the middle child seat that came out of the back seat, and off to Pittsfield we’d go. Dad would park by the small train station where the trains went by. Sometimes they stopped, other times not. He would lift me up on the top of the hood. I would wave, laugh, smile when the conductor would ring the horn. Sometimes we’d count the cars, sometimes we’d see all kinds of different colored cars, carrying all kinds of things. It was a joyous time with my Dad. I never tired of going with him. Now I can’t remember when we stopped, yet every time I hear that horn going through Canaan I’m reminded of how much I love and miss him. We need precious mornings with God, listening to what we might hear in the stillness. I am convinced that when we walk with our God, listening and not just hearing we find God’s unexpected gifts in the most unusual ways. On a morning walk in the quiet cold of winter. Blessings bonnie and bev
Trust and Obey
When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word,
What a glory He sheds on our way!
While we do His good will, He abides with us still,
And with all who will trust and obey.
Trust and obey, for there's no other way
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
Not a shadow can rise, not a cloud in the skies,
But His smile quickly drives it away;
Not a doubt or a fear, not a sigh or a tear,
Can abide while we trust and obey.
Trust and obey, for there's no other way
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
November 2021
Holy Ground
(play as you read the devotional.)
Burning Bush Tree
As I walked out for my morning walk, the huge Burning Bush Tree in our yard caused me to stop. In the last few weeks we’ve watched it turning from green to its now bright red, with yellow mixed in among the red. It’s on fire to be sure, giving credence to it’s name. As I stood before it I was reminded of Moses experience with a burning bush on Mount Sinai. From Exodus 3 the Scripture recalls the story for us.
“One day Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he went deep into the wilderness near Sinai, the mountain of God.
Suddenly, the angel of the Lord appeared to him as a blazing fire in a bush. Moses was amazed because the bush was ingulfed in flames, but it didn’t burn up. “Amazing!” Moses said to himself. “Why isn’t that bush burning up? I must go over to see this.” When the Lord saw that he had caught Moses’ attention, God called him from the bush, “Moses! Moses!” “Here I am!” Moses replied. “Do not come any closer,” God told him, “Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground.”
God spoke to Moses from an unexpected source: a burning bush. When Moses saw it, he went to investigate. God may use unexpected sources when communicating to us too, whether people, thoughts, or experiences. May we be willing to investigate, be open, take off our shoes and embrace the anointing of God’s words to us, in whatever way they might come. Amen.
October 2021
This Is My Father’s World
(play as you read the devotional.)
The Landing
I heard them before I saw them, their sound is unmistakable. When I got to the end of our dirt road and out on County 9 there they were, fourteen Canadian Geese. They were in an over 10 acre lawn of a neighbor, part of it planted with rye by Eckhardt Farms. They were not in the field but on the purple carpet of thyme on the manicured lawn. Little did I know how my morning walk for week would be affected by their presence. Even my afternoon walk brought them with me.
The next morning the fourteen had become 20, then on Sunday morning 30. That afternoon as I walked Avery Hand Lane and around Wolf Den, I heard and saw them in V formation flying above the trees. An unusual feeling crept over me. Suddenly I was sad! Sad that they wouldn’t be greeting me in the morning quietness. The field and lawn were free of geese as I walked home.
Not to worry, I found out the next morning. I was over joyed to see them, each day their community growing. Then Eckhardt’s mowed down the rye field, and again they were gone. The next morning I was late getting out and their in the fallen rye field at least 60 Canadian geese. As the sun shone across them they each bowed their heads down, receiving the bounty of the field God and Eckhardt’s had provided. I stood for a long time, watching as this growing community of geese, together bowed in the late morning sun, feasting on the provision that God gives all of us. Oh, that we would daily, together bow our heads in thanksgiving for the provision God daily lays before us. That we would become forever partners in an ever growing community of welcoming grace and provision to one another.
I suspect they go off in the late afternoon to a nearby swamp and creek. There I envision them landing gently on the water, quenching their thirst, again a gift of provision from God. Then returning to the field of rye and wild thyme.
This morning I counted more than 90. I shall never forget their bowed heads and their joy in their growing community. Blessings, bonnie