Spring Cleaning

There is the deep stuff inside, where

you have to go and cleanse your soul

and your heart of all that accumulated

junk through the years. Go into your

heart and you'll see. . . thousands of

things: envy, jealousy-a lot of things.

Think of your soul as a room, a room

that you are making ready for God, and

if you knew that God was coming, you

certainly would wash and clean and

scrub. Do it now. . .

And as you come out of it, a great joy

will prevail in you.

Catherine Doherty

Restore

Psalm 51

Joel 2:12-14

Good Roots

Jeremiah 17:5-8

This is what the Lord says:

Cursed is the one who trusts in man,

who depends on flesh for his strength

and whose heart turns away from

the Lord.

He will be like a bush in the

wastelands;

he will not see prosperity when it

comes.

He will dwell in the parched places

of the desert,

in a salt land where no one lives.

But blessed is the man who trusts

in the Lord,

whose confidence is in him.

He will be like a tree planted by the

water

that sends out its roots by the

stream.

It does not fear when heat comes;

its leaves are always green.

It has no worries in a year of

drought

and never fails to bear fruit."

Good Roots

Help me to give my children good roots, God.

As I work with my plants I can see that the sturdiest, and

those which bear most freely, are those whose roots go deep,

gripping rich soil; they have a base from which they can grow

tall and beautiful and sound.

Let this household furnish that kind of soil for my family, God.

Enriched with good music, good books, good talk, good taste. But

above all, goodness of spirit. Goodness of action.

So that those who come here feel welcome, and those who leave

here feel warm. And those who live here know, in every fiber of

their beings, that they belong to people who, for all our faults, are

good people. People of decency and honor, who would not willingly

hurt or cheat any living thing.

Let my children grow freely, God, in whatever direction You desire.

But give them root strength too. So that they will never deviate too far from their own beginnings.

Help me to give my children good roots.

author:Marjorie Holmes

A Tree and Its Fruit

John 7:15-23

Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'

Matthew 7:24-27

Building on an unstable foundation is not wise. This is also true about our spiritual lives. Jesus taught His disciples this truth with an illustration; "Everyone who hears these sayings of mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on the house; and it fell. And great was it's fall."

The shifting morals of our present world can be confusing. We may be tempted to let culture or the opinions of society be the foundation for the decisions we make. But obeying the unwavering truth of God's Word brings stability unavailable anywhere else.

"Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock."

John 7:24

Wait

Desperately, helplessly, longingly, I cried:

Quietly, patiently, lovingly, God replied.

I pled and I wept for a clue to my fate,

And the Master so gently said,

"Child, you must wait."

"Wait? You say, wait!" my indignant reply.

"Lord, I need answers, I need to know why!

Is Your hand shortened? Or have You not heard?

By faith, I have asked, and am claiming Your Word.

"My future and all to which I can relate

Hangs in the balance, and You tell me to wait?

I'm needing a 'yes,' a go-ahead sign,

Or even a 'No' to which I can resign.

"And Lord, You promised that if we believe

We need but to ask, and we shall receive.

And, Lord, I've been asking, and this is my cry:

"I'm weary of asking! I need a reply!"

Then quietly, softly, I learned of my fate

As my Master replied once again, "You must wait."

So, I slumped in my chair, defeated and taut

And grumbled to God, "So, I'm waiting... for what?"

He seemed, then, to kneel

And His eyes wept with mine,

And He tenderly said, "I could give you a sign

I could shake the heavens, and darken the sun.

I could raise the dead, and cause mountains to run.

"All you seek, I could give, and pleased you would be.

You would have what you want

But, you wouldn't know Me.

You'd not know the depth of My love for each saint;

You'd not know the power I give to the faint;

"You'd not learn to see through the clouds of despair;

You'd not learn to trust just by knowing I'm there;

You'd not know the joy of resting in Me;

When darkness and silence were all you could see.

"You'd never experience that fullness of love

As the peace of My Spirit descends like a dove;

You'd know that I give and I save, for a start,

But you'd not know the depth of the beat of My heart.

"The glow of My comfort late into the night,

The faith that I give when you walk without sight,

The depth that's beyond getting just what you asked

Of an infinite God, who makes what you have last.

"You'd never know, should your pain quickly flee,

What it means that, 'My grace is sufficient for thee,

But, oh, the loss if I lost what I'm doing in you!"

"So, be silent, My child, and in time you will see

That the greatest of gifts is to get to know Me.

And though oft' may My answers seem terribly late,

My most precious answer of all is still, "Wait."