​I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.
                                                                           Genesis 17:1    
 
Hello Friend,
 
            How do you feel when you read this verse of scripture?  “Be thou perfect.”  I get the shivers.  Walk before God and be perfect.  Who?  Me?  Since God sees and knows all, we can’t even pretend to be perfect, we are doomed!!  How could God demand us to be perfect?
 
            Put your mind at ease, friend.  Many years ago, I read a word study of the Hebrew word timshol done by Rabbi Kushner. The King James Bible translates tamin as “perfect.”  The Revised Standard Version indicates “blameless.”  These versions would mean that God expects us to always do the right thing and never sin.  Contemporary scholars take the word tamin to mean something like “whole-hearted.”  Rabbi Kushner says “this verse leads him to conclude that what God wants from Abraham, and us, is not perfection but integrity.”   God wants Abraham to strive to be true to the core of who he is.  When we sin, our good self is at war with our weak and selfish self.  When we sin and ask for forgiveness, God offers atonement.  Atonement means making our split self at one.  Wholeness.  We just need to do the best we can do and let God do the rest.
 
            Colleen Fulmer, a composer and liturgist, uses her musical gifts to bring a sense of peace and empowerment to people.  She writes, “I am enough, I am in God’s own image.  I am enough, I am enough.”
 
            Stop trying to achieve perfection—in your life, in your family, at work.  Realize that just to be is a blessing, just to live is holy. 
 
Speak this affirmation:  I am a glorious creation of God.  Celebrate your life.                                                                                                                      Linda

​I am the vine; you are the branches.  John 15:5
 
Good Morning Friend,                                                                            
 
            The only way to live a truly good life is to stay close to Christ, like a vine connected to a branch.   Jesus says, “Remain in me, and I will remain in you, for a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful apart from me” (John 15:4).  Here, Jesus uses a simple garden analogy to help his disciples understand the importance of a right relationship with God—God the gardener, Christ the vine, and we are the branches.    And the fruit of the branch is JOY.
             Galatians 5:22 speaks of the fruit of the spirit also.  “The harvest of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, fidelity, gentleness, and self-control.”  As a branch on Christ’s vine, how would you describe the fruit in your life?    Are you filled with kindness and goodness or is your fruit wormy and rotten?  Is your fruit green—needing more time to ripen into spiritual maturity?  Much like a grocer selects quality fruit for his market, take a look at each fruit of the spirit and give a grade.  What is your peace quotient now?  Where do you need Jesus’ peace?
            This week pay particular attention to your words and actions.  Do you have patience in traffic?  Were you a loyal friend?  Did you use self-control and not take that extra piece of cake or second drink?  Were you kind to the slow check-out person at Publix?  Jesus said, “I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last” (John 15:16).  Remain in Christ and bless others with your wonderful fruit.
 
Prayer:  Father, I desire a right relationship with you.  Help me cling to the vine.
            From on branch to another, grow in peace,   Linda

You will be like a watered garden, like a flowing spring whose waters never run dry.                                                                                                  Isaiah 58:11
 
Hello Friend,
 
            I love to garden.  This summer I planted a variety of herbs and flowers and have had such fun tending them and watching them grow. As you know, we haven’t had much rain this summer and each morning when I go out the soil is hard and packed solid and the flowers are wilted and drooping—just waiting for a fresh drink to quench their thirst.
 
            In John 4, Jesus met a thirsting Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well.  He said, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water that I give him will never suffer thirst any more.”
 
            Look at the inner garden of your life?   Do you feel lifeless and dull?  What are you thirsting for?   Many in our culture thirst for power, fame and fortune.  Many of us are bent over from stress and worry.  As you ponder the garden of your soul, do you see signs of hope, growth, and change?  Perhaps you just need a sip of living water to renew your spirit.  We need to remember that God is with us, providing for us, and watering our inner gardens.  Allow Jesus, the ever-present gardener, to lovingly shower you with new life and growth.
 
Prayer:  Lord, my desire is to drink at this well, with you, forever.     Amen.
​                                                              Linda