New Life, Again!

New Life, Again!

This spring we have been watching the earth come to life—again! It always amazes us to see what seemed to be so dead, slowly bring on life. The trees begin their budding process before bursting into white or pink flowers or that bright green that just screams “new life!” The rhododendrons are beginning to bud—and today, the one in our backyard is bursting into a brilliant red and another is in full bloom in brilliant lilac colors!

Trees

Trees

My ears are filled with the sounds of promise:
    “Good people will prosper like palm trees,
Grow tall like Lebanon cedars;
    transplanted to God’s courtyard,
They’ll grow tall in the presence of God,
    lithe and green, virile still in old age.”

The LORD is in His Holy Temple

The LORD is in His Holy Temple

When I was a child, the phrase “The Lord is in His Holy Temple” was sung as an opening anthem or part of the liturgy for worship. It is a phrase that takes on special significance particularly when we seem to feel vulnerable or depressed or know that we have really blown it. Entering the doorway of the church, God’s holy temple, we discover something very powerful wrapped up in those words.