Sometimes we don’t see the damage to our roots or the foundational core of our being until we’ve fallen or become visibly “cut down.”

It’s up to each of us to decide to lay where we’ve fallen to rot and decay away from whom we know we are Divinely, or to get up and walk into the space we know is ours to hold in the world... for ourselves and for one another. 

Don't be another ”Dead Man Walking” as sung by: Jeremy Camp. 

How many of us have spent much of our lives leaning or going out of the way we knew we were meant to go in our lives... to please or “go along with” what others told us we should; or, to be the consolation for others? If we do it for too long, we forget how to stand on our own; or to become all we were perhaps meant to be. All too soon, we realize the things that anchored our souls in our youth have been so uprooted, we risk toppling over if we don’t reconnect with the soul’s anchors to refuel. 

Are you ready to exclaim ”Not Today” by: Hillsong United? 

Notice the sun is on the right and upswing side of God’s “V.” 

Much like the “V” in love, the sun is on the upswing, perhaps reminding us we will be raised with God’s Love before entering or getting to the “E” of eternal or everlasting love and life with God. 

Let's ”Radiate, ” as Hannah Kerr sings. 

Take a moment to remember, honor, and BE great-full, (not grate-ful,) for those who bring a little added “splash of color” to your life, today, and always. 

For me the greatest influence is ”The God I Know, ” whose love permits me the freedom to embrace all of my quirky and crazy... broke my doubt and gives us all unconditional love about which Love and The Outcome sings, quite Beautifully! 

The smallest bush may not be the mightiest; but, it does not refuse to shine and shimmer with all it has within it to BE. 

Mercy Me sings about the ”Best News Ever.” 

For me, it's a message, “we are loved by God unconditionally, no matter the package in which we exist.” We are equally created in the image of God and are all God’s children. 

We all blossom uniquely, as God meant it to BE! 

Seasons come and seasons go.  The leaves and flowers may change; but, the trunks of perennials remain. 

As humans, we were made in God’s image to withstand many seasons of challenge and change. 

Some of us weather few storms, while others endure many. 

Unlike trees and shrubs, we are not dependent on others to know if we are not receiving the nutrients we need and we aren’t necessarily dependent on others to help us relocate. 

When God gives us a nudge, it’s up to us to embrace our fears and move onto the path or location we’re being guided towards in order to not only have enough light; but, in BEing a Light or beneficial for those around us. 

There’s no better time to follow the suggestion of the Newsboys’ song... “Live With Abandon.” 

How will you take this unprecedented opportunity to strengthen and live, more into your faith? 

For me, it’s embracing “a call to serve” through the music God began bringing to me, as a child. I had always been too afraid to share it... until God brought me the support I have needed, in God’s infinitely perfect timing. 

How is calling you to step into your Divine Love and Service towards others?

Is it better to always keep things trimmed nice, tidy, short, and precisely... or is it better, sometimes, to permit a little bit of slacking, loosening or lessening of our need to control the perception of things being so tidy? 

We might find letting a little slack, provides a perfect bit of camouflage for an eyesore or two, while providing the perfect opportunity for other creatures to perhaps find a happy home, nestled in what we initially viewed as “such untidiness, or disarray.” 

Perhaps when we contemplate a song like “Healed,” by Nichole Nordeman... we can remember we have nothing to prove or fix. We have “sinned;” but, Christ died and we are forgiven. It’s time to embrace we are “healed,” whenever we are ready to accept and claim it. And, it is so. 

What can you let go of controlling, so tightly, today, it might help another to breathe a little freer, or into whom can you help breathe “new life?”

Upon first glance, some may view these as weeds. But, alter our perception by looking a little further or deeper... and we can see this is a patch of vital “first foods,” for bees during the spring. 

How many of us just go barreling through life... indiscriminately, tearing things out of our lives or tossing things aside or “out with the day’s trash,” before taking a closer look at perhaps multiple alternate uses, for objects in our lives or even people in our lives and how we could instead... guide them to the ones they need or who might need them or help them feel “of value?” 

What if we treated everyone we meet as a learning child, Child of God? 

What if we imagine them asking us to “Slow Down,” in the opposite scenario of Nichole Nordeman’s song is asking a growing child to slow down, for us? 

Stop and consider one way you can embrace... “slowing down.” 

Just because a large portion of a bush or tree in nature, no longer serves or flourishes at its primary purpose, doesn’t mean it’s no longer valuable. It can serve to nourish so many other BEautiful life forms... if we continue to nourish the parts that remain strong. 

The same is true as we age or lose functioning, within our human bodies. We can choose to maintain and strengthen the things we can, adjusting to new norms... and embrace the opportunities to thrive in new, exciting ways... and/or return to simpler pleasures we’d since long forgotten we enjoyed, “once upon a time.” 

No matter where our lives go or how our bodies age, may we always remember God asks us to go “All In,” just like the lyrics Matthew West sings about in his inspiring song. 

Do you know someone who is struggling to find self-worth? 

Imagine how that life might change, if you took a few moments some morning, or afternoon, to chat over tea or coffee... in earnest conversation and you helped them rekindle a long forgotten passion that gave them new purpose. 

What if you do more than “imagine it,” and you embrace doing it! 

Who will you inspire, today? 

While watching the skies, one afternoon, there were a lot of “W '' clouds that whizzed by so quickly, I could barely capture any of them. I pondered the significance, after the third one, as I snapped the fading remnants. 

The song “Give Me Your Eyes,” by Brandon Heath, came onto my headphones, just then. 

Then, it came to me... I felt like those “W’s” were God showing me how The Word, or His Word, gets distorted, misinterpreted, and misconstrued to the point it is used to actually eliminate the Love, Christ was sent here to SHOW us. 

We need to stop allowing humans to butcher or crucify the messages Christ came here to show us, we need to live out, each day. We are to love The Lord, our God... and Love our neighbors, as ourselves. No more, no less. 

How can we lay down our fears, and embrace our neighbors? Through meaningful conversations. It’s how we learn... we are not so different. We all cry clear and salty tears from our joys and our pain, and we all bleed red. That withstanding, the “institution of The Church” has browbeaten us/society to always “mend” a perhaps “broken fence,” (relationships with those who’ve harmed us.) ReCogNize, “the church” has benefitted from that brainwashing narrative by conning people they view as “less than” to donate towards maintaining their idolized buildings, while those who are “affluent” within the church are the ones in “leadership roles,” going on vacations whenever they want. They’ve gone into demanding those they consider “less than” need to donate our time, our talent, and our treasures… rather than knowing or having the understanding in God’s love, charity begins at home, refilling our own well… and neighbors helping neighbors… NOT emptying or depleting our time, talents, and treasures into the hands of those who’ve lost touch with us.

These flowers are like “the little engine that could.” They are the plant that our late dog “watered,” the most. Despite the fact his “watering our lawn,” killed the grass, this particular plant and its flowers seemed to love Poppy’s “contributions,” each day. 

Isn’t it fascinating how something that normally kills lots of plants, can be so very beneficial... to a mere one? 

Perhaps that’s why some relationships don’t look or seem like they should work at all... or kind of like where phrases, “opposites attract,” come into being? 

May God “Forever,” as Kari Jobe sings, be the only one who was Risen and is Alive in ways to BE Lifted High enough to know all of the reasons for everything in God’s Gracious and BEautiful... Divine Plan. 

Embrace the quirky people and things in your life, who or that make it more Glorious❣️ 

Sometimes, we are afraid to pull back the curtain and look at our past, perhaps because we’re afraid we’ll get stuck there. 

But, what if we need to go back to our deepest “Cut,” as Plumb so hauntingly sings, to experience or feel through something we stuffed or shoved aside, in order to more completely discern, identify, and more thoroughly process past trauma stored within ourselves, our body cells? For it is only when we begin to truly process everything held within us we can begin to see the lessons taught by those we’ve loved and lost. 

Then, we can let go of what was holding us back; and, “Be the things you loved about those who are gone.” And, it does not exclusively mean those who have passed. It can also refer to those who have qualities that profoundly touched or moved our soul in ways we never imagined... ways we are grateful to have experienced; and will never forget. 

I recently shared with a friend, all along my morning constitutionals with my dog for about the past month or two, I had been looking and praying to find a sapling of my favorite tree, to no avail. When I went out in front of our house to remove weeds, last week, God gifted me this perfect sapling... of my favorite tree... right where God knew I would find it, amidst a memorial area. 

Chris Tomlin sings a Beautiful song that reminds each of us in moments like this one I just shared above, God, “Nobody Loves Me Like You!” 

Just because we don’t like a plant in one location, doesn’t mean we may not appreciate it elsewhere. 

We can choose to treat each plant as a gift, as God treats us. Tenth Avenue North sings gloriously about “Control (Somehow You Want Me.)” 

It doesn’t matter how or where we are seeded. With the right soil, location (relocation if necessary,) and care... we will find where we are wanted and needed. It’s all about God’s infinite wisdom and Divine timing. 

We may have different backgrounds or upbringings; different tastes in foods, music, clothes, hair, friends, dating or “marriage material;” different color skin; different abilities; etc. 

But, underneath it all... we all cry clear and salty tears from our joys and our pains; and, as Mandisa sings so BEautifully, we all “Bleed The Same.” 

Maybe it’s time we understand this... “We bloom differently and that’s okay❣️” 

When you’ve ordered or received a floral bouquet, was it ever a single plant or flower? 

More than likely, it arrived with your primary flower of choice, complemented by a selection of other ones... surrounding it to enhance its natural beauty... as God intended by everything created in all its glorious splendor. 

Why is it, so many humans are averse to diversifying our surroundings, at least temporarily, or from time-to-time. How many of you have never ventured outside of your hometowns or the town you currently reside, in quite some time?

Lee Ann Womack’s “There Is A God,” reminds us of all the little things that remind us... there is a Divine plan, for each creative piece in our lives. 

Sometimes events happen within or beyond our control... floods, fires, storms, etc. that lead us to feel like limbs are torn from us, whether figuratively or literally, just as they are torn in nature. 

It’s up to us to let it be a catastrophic death; or, be like the tree stub shown here that had a few sprigs that decided they would persevere and not be afraid to stay to rebuild into a greater version... of what once had existed. Sometimes, things are sent our way to “knock us down,” in order to show us we can “not be afraid,” if we trust in our Divine faith... in God, ourselves, and one another. 

Tenth Avenue North sings about it and God beautifully in “I Have This Hope,” where the true measure of faith is knowing... “in the flood or the fire, you are with me and you won’t let go.” 

Peering inwardly, some would choose to focus on the dying or dead portions, perhaps viewing them as ugliness. 

What if, rather than viewing the dead or dying portions surrounding us or more importantly, within us, as ugliness we should try to just eliminate immediately... we realize how permitting them to decay away in their own space and time; but, with helpful, healthful, support along the way... we focus on the beauty in what will BEcome when the environment reaches full transformation? 

Kutless has a beautiful song, “What Faith Can Do,” sharing such a mindset change in seeing what is possible. Things may die or fall away; but, things and people can also rise again, more BEautifully❣️🙏🏼🙏🏼❣️ 

Even within individual plants, changes occur... some BEautiful, while other parts decay and fall away. In perennials, we have faith the changes occur to restore beauty to the plant for the following season... to bring beauty and nourishment to those around it. 

Plants have faith in the knowledge they will return, bigger and more BEautiful... each season. 

Kari Jobe sings about her faith in the song, “I Am Not Alone.” No matter what our personal or world situations are, we can have faith... we are never alone during our changing or growing seasons. Are we looking to others around us for strength, comfort, help, and peace... or relying on those gifts within us… given to us by God’s Grace, Love, and Faith in us... showing us, perhaps... it’s always been within us... IF we see ourselves... through God’s eyes? 

Perhaps it takes these isolated times for us to discover how much we have “put onto others,” versus reaching inward to use the gifts Creator had given us, long along, at our inception. God’s Wisdom & Vision, not ours. 

How many of us have looked up at a blue sky and watched clouds cascading amidst one another? Some are larger and more dense, while others... small, unassuming, and airy. 

Have you ever watched as larger clouds plow into, over, and through the smaller ones... after hoping they would not destroy the cute, little, BEautiful ones? Have you ever been disappointed; and wished you or Creator Source had intervened, allowing the “little one” to stay intact... just a little while longer? 

What if WE are the tools Creator sends to protect those people who are the human, “little clouds?” Will we stand up in Faith, Hope, and Love... for, behind, and with them in their hour of weakness... or will we let the stronger, more powerful ones overtake and destroy their essence? 

Perhaps WE are the army Lauren Daigle sings so BEautifully of in her song “Rescue,” that God has sent forth to protect the “little ones.” 

Sometimes, we may think we only like one type of place for living, visiting, or respite/rejuvenation/ meditative surroundings. The city, the woods, waterways, dirt paths, the mountains, etc. 

In nature, we see how the Divine found ways to blend them perfectly within and among one another. Each learns and teaches or compliments the other... perhaps with fear, perhaps... without fear. 

What if humans were more like nature, viewing each different person, animal, plant, and space... as an equal opportunity for learning, teaching, complimentary growth and support... rather than fearing? 

Think of the BEautiful tapestry the world would become if we treated everyone we met as “Gold,” like Britt Nicole sings about in her song by the same name❣️ 

Sometimes plants we tend have prolific harvests, sometimes... not, or parts can become diseased or blighted... with only a few fruits or veggies able to be beneficial. 

It doesn’t necessarily matter how much work we pour into nurturing, supporting, and caring for a plant or a person... if they are unable to absorb the nutrients being provided, the nutrients may merely get washed away with the next storm. We can hope, pray, and do our due diligence; but, only the individual and God control the outcome. 

No matter how desperate we are for something or someone to thrive, rather than merely survive and exist... it is the plant or individual who needs to “Breathe” the air and nutrients and draw them inwardly... I know I am lost without them, something Rebecca St. James sings about in her song. 

Sad... how so many different varieties and species of plants can find harmony living with and among one another; yet, we humans cannot seem to find a way to live in harmony amongst our own species. 

We are nothing more than Kansas sings, “Dust In The Wind.” We physically attack one another, crying out with claims about what “is right and justified.” This as we (Christians or formerly so,) forget 1 Peter 2:24... 

He personally carried our sins in His body on “the cross” so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By “His wounds” you are healed. 

May we forego lashing outwardly; and instead, go inwardly to do the work we need to do... and remember... it is by God’s Grace and the death of His son’s incarnation (life among us,) we can and are “Healed,” as Nichole Nordeman sings so Beautifully. 

Our vast life experiences can alter the way we see things. This tree for example, if you came under it while on a nature walk, would it give you the impression it wanted to scare you, or hug you... surrounding you with love? 

We can let things “tear us apart,” inside, or we can let them strengthen our resolve to not let them shatter us beyond repair; but, give us the fortitude to stand firmly in our Truth, Faith, and Love... as Martina McBride sings in “Concrete Angel.” 

A “bird” cloud, reminded me of a study I was doing, earlier today. I’ve been doing a study, combining a word search of Women of The Bible; then, reading the corresponding scriptures. I typically challenge myself by looking for a grouping of three words, at once. At one point, I was searching for the grouping of “forgiveness, freedom, and guilt.” I found guilt first, forgiveness second; then, freedom. 

I began to meditate about how the aforementioned “ordering” truly resonates to a lot of our everyday lives. Often... It isn't until we bear the guilt of our pasts, whether individually or collectively, forgive ourselves and one another (for doing the best we could with what we knew at the time... as we do better when we learn more... per Maya Angelou,) that we can truly seek and receive forgiveness... deeply within. 

Sometimes, the “sins of the soul” may create within us a sense of self-righteousness, rather than seeking repentance. 

Perhaps if we return to the place of our “initial wounds,” we can live into sharing  more “Motions Of Mercy,” as Francesca Battistelli sings so BEautifully... with ourselves and one another.