trust means doing things his way

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart,

 and lean not on thine own understanding. 

In all thy ways acknowledge Him 

                          and He shall direct thy paths"     ~Proverb 3:5

We all know it. Could probably quote it since youth. Written in the flyleaf of many Bibles.

A beautiful verse. A reassuring promise. Proverbial wisdom at its best.

But then ONE DAY

in a moment of great need

the words FLY OFF THE PAGE

and into the UNDERSTANDING.

When GOD tells us HOW to do something

but we question it:

What if they . . .

What about this . . .

Couldn't I just . . .

BUT they might . . .

This line of questioning  just left the TRUST realm and entered the

dark waters of my OWN UNDERSTANDING.

But it's not true! I have no understanding.

So, I choose TRUST.

I don't understand it.

I fear the end result.

I'm not even convinced it's the best way.

But it is GOD'S WAY.

So I  take a deep breath,

Do it exactly HIS way 

Take a step back and SEE:

HE directed my path, just as He promised,

An outcome was achieved that I could not have imagined

 I am engulfed in HIS LOVE and REASSURANCE, 

and GRATITUDE

is the irrepressible song I sing.

If you look the right way . .

"If  you look the right way you can see  that the whole world is a garden"

                                                             ~Frances H. Barnett

Even though you wouldn't know it if you saw it, I am thinking about my garden quite often.

Especially now. I did take some time off in November and December, and was quite happy to give it almost no thought at all.

But late January and early February it begins again.

Seeing the bulbs emerging out of their winter sleep, the fiddleheads of the ferns fattening up, readying to unfurl, purple peony pips erupting . . .The rumblings of  a silent explosion all around us!

(Sorry, I'm waxing poetic!)  

I can never understand how people don't even notice! How do you trudge along, day after day without experiencing the

 THRILL of SPRING?! 

I believe a great gift my parents gave to me was the gift of SEEING.

They taught me (yes, I believe it is a skill that is learned) to

 NOTICE

what was going on around me.

And it is clearly a skill which the LORD places value on, urging us to be alert, to awaken and to watch. The elders are described in Hebrews as those who "watch over" our souls.

PAY ATTENTION.

That's what I'm getting out of this.

Because when we pay attention to all that is around us

We SEE GOD all around us.

We see GOD in the spring buds. We see GOD in the sunrise and the sunset.

We hear HIM in the children's laughter as they walk past, on their way home from school.

We smell HIS goodness in the rain and the pines.

And when we begin to SEE

The PRAISE OF THANKSGIVING

cannot help but flow from us.

                                                             "Praise God from whom all blessings flow . . ."