Category: Devotions

Psalm 103:17-18 was my verse for today.

“But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting for those who fear him. And his justice to the children’s children, to those who keep his covenant and remember His precepts so as to do them. “

Mercy- kind of reminds me when we would play and when you needed to give up you cried uncle. Of course it wasn’t the same but that’s what mercy meant. Someone winning and I gave up and they let me give up. Mercy is kind of in a backwards way around the fence like that. We deserve something else and God let’s us off the hook- He lets us give up and save face – kind of. And it’s not just mercy when God feels like it, it’s mercy because from everlasting to everlasting means always and forever. But not just because God is God the equation matters if I fear Him. We often stop before we live the word fear. Fear is reverence not fright. I am not afraid of the accelerator in my car but I respect it’s power. I fear it. I don’t fear Charlie my horse, but I have a healthy respect that if he really wanted to, he could flip me off. I respect him and have him trained so he will not do that kind of thing and that I know how to effectively control his power. Justice to the children children also has a mandate that I keep His covenant. That doesn’t mean I pick and choose what I want, but that I keep, I follow, I make right what is expected in the ideals God presented called the covenant. The best one is the last one- remember his precepts. Precepts are by definition, a general rule intended to regulate behavior or thought. I can remember things that are so insignificant and forget things I should remember. The Psalmist says I need to remember the things intended to help me live, love and behave better so as to do them. I have been known to call people to apologize for totally spacing out something I was to do. I didn’t write it on the calendar or on the fridge dry erase board. For me to remember something as to do it I need to make sure I put my memory on paper and then have a few reminders. In our culture people say yes, but don’t follow through. God doesn’t think that’s good enough! Remember as of to do or in NIKE terminology Just do it. So fear, keep and remember. It’s a trifecta!

It’s a place of peace. The water still and unrippled. The hours I have sat on this dock and thought, prayed and read. One can only imagine what lies beneath the beautiful blue water. I can’t walk on water like Jesus, I must sit on the dock. I can see the fish swimming under the water and watch a very large bass. She is waiting to lay her eggs. She seems undaunted by the world that is above the water. The other fish just enjoy their circumstances, not aware of the danger of my hook and worm although I only catch and release. I wonder, on the dock, who have walked on the wood that I am walking upon. I see the scars on the wood, the worn spots and the chips. Life does that to us. Whether we are wood, or human, we bear the marks of the world that is around us and happening to us. The dock keeps me from getting wet. Some days getting wet is preferred. The dock keeps me within a boundary. We need boundaries in life. We need things that keep us where we need to be. I don’t need to be in the water: I need to be on the dock. When I am content to be where I need to be, I can enjoy and be blessed by the beauty around me. When I put myself outside the boundaries I will get wet, be uncomfortable and I miss seeing the things that give me joy, peace and pleasure. But I must be content to sit on the dock and not worry about what I am missing under the dock in the water. There is beauty in both places, but I need to appreciate where I am and where God has placed me. Sitting on the dock of the bay: what a beautiful place to be.

It was one of those pictures that just happens. My sister in law saw the photo and snapped it. 80 plus years separate the two. Yet, music bonds them. He was playing as if he was in the band. Why? Because that’s what he has always known music. Grandpa has always been music come alive. What is he passing on to the generation next? Music, and yet not just music.

Psalm 145 reminds us that one generation shall praise your works to another. That’s prophetic. We have to be the ones to carry it on. We pass on recipes and traditions and music lessons but God is asking that we do a bit more. Tell the next generation about all God has done in our lives and in our world. It’s not hard: it’s spring. New bulbs are peaking out of the ground, the grass is greening up slightly and the trees are budding. But then again we need to share the works of God that don’t always come bursting forth out of God’s creation . Tell about Gods works in the kindness we show, the love we give, the choices we make that honor Him and the goodness we show to each other. Gods works are the lessons we learned and the poor choices we made but learned from about forgiveness and God loving us not to mention the answers to prayers and the moments of God speaking to us in the night. Grab, maybe not literally, someone from a different generation and invest in their lives so they see you praising the works of God. Sit and talk, play music, put puzzles together or play games and during that time let Gods works ooze out in your conversation.