Category: Spring

When God brings our world back to life

Seedlings

I slip into my garden shoes and cross the wet grass to my newly planted garden. A cool breeze causes me to shiver, and I wrap my hands around my warm coffee mug. It’s still April. It’s still Spring. It may be warm enough to put the plants in the ground and spend the afternoons outside, but the mornings are still chilly.

By the time I’ve walked the garden, pulled weeds, and taken pictures, only my toes still feel the chill.

The rain yesterday morning made the garden easy to plant yesterday afternoon. This morning, the ground is still damp. Hopefully, the abundant water and the soft soil will enable the seedlings to establish their roots quickly.

Although I can’t see it, I envision the roots once so tightly packed in their containers stretching out in freedom, thrilled by the space to explore and claim.

Out of my distress, I called on the Lord; the Lord answered me and set me in a broad place. Psalm 118:5

There were hundreds of plants to choose from at the garden center. What made me pick these? They seemed too big for their containers. They had proven themselves able to grow and now needed more space to achieve new heights.

Does God do this with us?

I don’t think the seedlings at the garden center were in distress. In fact, the garden center tries to keep them as healthy and happy as possible. Even so, there were reps there from a plant company pulling their dead and dying seedlings off the shelves.

If the seedlings aren’t taken and replanted in a garden somewhere, they will never become the plants they can be. Almost makes me want to buy all of them, but of course that is not possible. Perhaps I can encourage you to buy a few?

So, I picked the seedlings that seemed most ready to leave their container cups and transplanted them into my broad and soggy yard. Here, they can spread their roots deeper and their branches higher. Here, they can bear fruit.

Those containers the seedlings were in helped protect them when they were young. The small space gave the seed a safe place to transform, and the vital nutrients needed to do so. That cozy container allowed the plant to be kept in a safe, warm environment, protected from storms and predators. But now that the plant is established, it needs garden space to grow.

Perhaps I have containers around my life, containers that once protected me but now constrain my growth. Perhaps I have separated myself from others or sheltered myself from storms. Perhaps I have put a container around God – who He can love, what He can do, how He might show up. Maybe to grow and bear fruit, I need to shed those containers and spread out into the wider world around me.

I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43:19.

It’s a wide world out there, and my garden is only a miniscule spot in it. But it is bigger than the container from the garden center. I hope my plants thrive in the space provided. I pray they take advantage of the chance to spread their roots and extend their reach. Perhaps God is giving you and me that opportunity as well, an opportunity to spread our roots and extend our reach.

Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending its roots by the stream. It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green; in the year of drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit. Jeremiah 16:7-8.

Christ is Risen. God has done a new thing, and with God, nothing is impossible. The world beyond our containers may look scary, but trust in the Lord. Great growth awaits us.

Love in Christ, Betsy

Holy Week

Holy Week finds me mired in mundane tasks. We are about to celebrate God’s greatest act since creation, and I am wondering what I will wear.

Perhaps I should be focusing on what Jesus endured on our, on my, behalf. His willingness to endure such brutality so that I would not have to, so that I would not be marked for destruction because of my sins.

Perhaps I should be immersed in His humanity, his willingness and ability to walk among us as a human, to learn our language, feel our grief, and struggle beside us. His frustration with those who closed their ears and found fault was evident. Am I the pharisee in the story? Confident that I know how God will manifest Himself, quick to criticize anything new or uncomfortable?

Perhaps I should be rejoicing in His miraculous saving power, His coming resurrection, the gift of His Spirit. He is making me a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). He has given me the ability to become a child of God (John 1:12), an heir to His kingdom (Romans 8:16).

Shouldn’t I be weeping at the foot of the cross or rejoicing at the empty tomb?

My raspberry has returned for her second year. This is my first perennial, possible only because I am no longer tilling my garden every spring. I was worried it might not survive the winter, but it is bright and green and sending new plants up in the cracks of the cardboard.

Soon it will be time to plant the summer garden. Perhaps this weekend if I get the plants bought and the weather cooperates.

Easter is late this year, and it has compressed too many activities into the following week. The lake beckons, writing deadlines loom, travel preparations need attention. Holy Week finds me mired in mundane tasks.

But are these mundane tasks? Lunches with friends, a chance to connect and support and love each other? Tending to the garden, growing food, interacting with nature? Appreciating the beauty in the world, the lakes, the creeks, the flowers, and the trees, is this not a form of worship of the One who created it all?

And in addition, I have the privilege of sharing with you the joy that my raspberry bush is alive. She survived the winter. She is growing and cheerful. Perhaps she will bear fruit this year, although I have been told to wait until the third year.

Perhaps it is in the mundane tasks of life that we are to see and remember God. Yes, there are the moments of extreme passion and tremendous theological impact like what we celebrate this week. Four days that really did change the world. But most of our time is ‘ordinary time.’ Time spent with family or friends, at the lake, in the yard, or at the kitchen sink.

Perhaps these are exactly the times when I am called to display Christ’s presence in my life. Am I willing to suffer a little to ease someone else’s burden? Am I willing to share the daily struggles of those around me? Am I open to God acting in unpredictable ways? Am I becoming a new creation through the power of God’s Spirit?

Am I, like my raspberry bush, bursting with new life and sending sprouts into bare spaces? If so, why am I wondering what I will wear?

And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you that Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. Matthew 6:28-29.

I pray you have a blessed Holy Week, dear friends. I pray you acknowledge God in all the mundane tasks of life. I pray you have moments of weeping and moments of rejoicing and moments of quiet reflection. And don’t worry about what you wear; God sees your heart.

Love in Christ, Betsy

Growth

It stopped raining long enough for me to check on my sugar snaps. They love this weather. The ground is fully saturated with water and the air is warm. Far enough from the creek to escape the flood, my growing plants cling to the supports and pull themselves ever taller.

What makes them grow? What makes the dried-up seed pods transform into these lovely plants?

I found the remnants of a seed packet in the garage the other day. There were still seeds in it. I guess I had saved them for bare spots and never planted them. They were still dried up little pods. Certainly, those little seeds had as much potential as the ones I planted. But I had not buried them in the ground and exposed them to storms and predators. I had left them safe in the bag, just in case. How pitiful they seem next to my luscious sugar snaps.

I’m planting them in the ground. It’s late in the season and the seeds are old, but they are no good to me as they are. Who knows? Maybe they will burst forth and become late season sugar snaps. At least they will have the opportunity.

For he says, “At an acceptable time I have listened to you, and on a day of salvation I have helped you.” See, now is the acceptable time, now is the day of salvation. 2 Corinthians 6:2.

The Bible tells us that with God all things are possible, nothing is impossible. (Matt. 19:26, Mark 10:27, Mark 9:23, Luke 1:37, Luke 18:27, Phil. 4:13, Gen. 18:14, Job 42:2, Jer. 32:17.)

I see it all around me. I see it every day in the garden. God takes worthless seeds and makes them grow and flower and produce fruit.

What can He do with our lives if we give Him the opportunity?

Not that it will all be easy. We can’t sit in our little packet and sleep all day. We will be exposed to weather and dangers and new experiences. We will have to stretch out fragile tendrils and grasp onto sturdy supports. We will have to learn which supports draw us closer to the sun and which keep us from upward growth. We will change. And change can be scary and difficult.

But if asked if I would rather be a seed in a packet or a luscious green vine bearing fruit, I’m choosing the vine every time.

So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation; everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! 2 Corinthians 5:17.

Bare tree limbs burst forth in green leaves. Brown and brittle yards transform into fields of green grass and vibrant wildflowers. Strong winds bring us massive storms, then whisk them away to leave us clear blue skies. Water overflows the creek beds and then soaks into the soil, where it is saved in underground reservoirs. See, everything is becoming new.

I hope these growing sugar snaps encourage you as much as they encourage me. They are not hindered by what they used to be. What they used to be contained the core that allowed them to become what they are today, the nucleus of what they will become in the future. Now they are green and growing. Now they clasp hands with others growing beside them. Now they wrap their tendril tightly to the support and extend themselves, moving ever upward.

Yes, I want to be a fruit-bearing vine. I want to be like my sugar snaps.

So I say to you, Ask and it will be given you; search and you will find; knock and the door will be opened. … If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him! Luke 11:9, 13.

If we ask Him, God will transform us. God will help us grow and bear fruit. Because with God, nothing is impossible.

Love in Christ, Betsy

Sci-Fi Theology

These growing sugar snaps should fill me with joy. I hate that word “should.” My body aches this morning. I am tired and overwhelmed. I want to stay in bed, sleep all day, and eat a box of girl scout cookies. There is too much to do. I have made too many commitments and set my expectations too high.

Ridiculous really, because I know my life is not that hard. Whenever these emotions bombard me, I think of Sarah Connor in Terminator. Just your average woman who is inexplicably targeted for termination, chased by a larger-than-life villain, and fighting for her life.

Except we know why she is targeted. She is about to do something that will have huge repercussions in the future. The bad guys don’t want her to do it; the good guys do.

Perhaps, just maybe, I am about to do some small act that will have godly repercussions in the future. The bad guys, satan and his demons, don’t want me to do it. God, His angels and His Spirit, do want me to.

Perhaps, I am being bombarded by these negative thoughts because that is how Satan is trying to stop me from doing whatever it is that God wants me to do. And the fact that I am writing this instead of sleeping in my bed is because God’s Spirit has protected me from the attack.

He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him. Mark 1:13.

Unlike Sarah Connor, I may never know what little thing God wants me to do that will influence the future. Probably many of the little things we do accumulate to affect change. For the good or for the bad. And I don’t need to know. I only need to do the little things God calls me to do.

I need to plant seeds. I need to care for growing plants. I need to be kind to the check-out clerk. I need to let that car zip around me without tapping my brakes in anger. I need to call that friend or write that letter. Whatever the Spirit is encouraging me do. Or as Kyle Reese says in the movie, “Come with me if you want to live.”

I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly. John 10:9-10.

In what feels like a plot twist but is upheld by scripture, Sarah Connor becomes a strong woman precisely because the Terminator is out to destroy her. Otherwise, she may have remained a rather clueless and shallow young woman. Because she must fight for her life, she builds her muscles and focuses her attention on a greater good.

Perhaps the same is true for us. When we learn to ignore those whispers of doubt and worthlessness, when we develop the muscles to get out of bed and do what is asked of us, when we resist Satan’s attempts to derail us, we are becoming stronger. God sends His Spirit, His angels, and fellow believers to minister to us. They help us become exactly who God knows we can be.

My brothers and sister, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing. James 1:2-4.

So, I don’t know what little thing the Lord wants me to do today, but I will get out of bed and do what is required. Little things can have big repercussions. And fighting this little battle helps strengthen me for bigger ones.

If you are struggling this morning, hurting, feeling overwhelmed and unprepared, take hope from Sarah Connor. You are about to do something for God. Don’t let the forces of evil stop you.

Love in Christ, Betsy

P.S. I doubt the creators of the Terminator series had any theological intentions. This is God allowing me to appropriate their story.

Everyday Miracles

The sugar snaps are up! I expected it to happen, even though there have been years when it didn’t. I made plans for their emergence from the ground and their upward growth, but after I plant the seeds, what happens is beyond my control.

Weather, storms, predators, toxins in the ground, so many possible dangers to the little seeds, so many forces which could prevent their growth. But here they are! Bursting from their dried-up pods through the dark soil, and into the sunlight.

I could have chosen not to plant the seeds, knowing there was a chance they wouldn’t sprout. I could look at their growth and consider it a given. (Of course they grew – no mystery here.) But I see God at work in these growing plants.

Where do they get their motivation to grow? What draws them from their shell and transforms them? What makes them reach for the sun? Did they know that such a future awaited them? Do they know even now the bountiful harvest they will one day produce?

Do we?

For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life. Ephesians 2:10.

In the darkness of the earth, these seeds surrendered their hard protective coating and let God transform them. They rooted themselves in the fertile soil and reached out beyond their cozy homes. They pushed into the wider world, braving cold temperatures, predators, and weeds.

They are becoming what God intended them to be – healthy, growing, fruit-producing plants.

Not all the seeds make this transformation. There are bald spots in the garden. Perhaps the birds stole the seeds. Perhaps the cardboard meant to suppress weeds had the unintended consequence of suppressing the seed. (Is there a lesson here?) Perhaps the sudden freeze just as they were emerging was too much for the young plant.

I could focus on the bare spots, but I will not. I rejoice in the miracle of healthy sugar snap plants. Soon they will grow and expand. Soon these little plants will grasp the supports around them and pull themselves skyward, filling my garden with healthy plants. At least I pray that will happen.

Because I can’t make it happen, just as I can’t make myself patient and loving. This transformation, this growth is a gift from God, an everyday miracle. Like the flowers on the budding trees, like the greening grass and the transforming dandelions, God is at work in our world in everyday miracles.

In nature and in us, God is at work. He is using the rain, the sunshine, the dirt, and the heat to draw us ever skyward, ever toward the sun, His Son. He is giving us what we need to grow.

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new each morning; great is your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. Lamentations 3:22-26.

The steadfast love of our Lord. New mercies every morning. A God who loves, saves, and provides. Sometimes it is easy to look at the bare spots. Sometimes, I doubt His transforming power. Sometimes, I take his provision for granted. But when I see these growing plants, He reminds me that He is at work in our world, creating everyday miracles.

Love in Christ, Betsy

Not Yet

All at once and very slowly. That’s how things seem to happen in my life. Suddenly it is March, and the sugar snaps seeds are in, and the trees begin to blossom. And yet, the trees stay bare. The seeds have not sprouted. My heat is still on. Lent is here, yet Easter feels far away.

Part of me struggles to grasp that this is 2025. When I was I child that sounded like some fantastical future date. Now the days just tick off like any other year. Full of tasks and to-dos and heart-rending conversations and mindless pursuits. Nick has been gone for almost six years, and yet the earth continues to spin. The trauma from last summer feels like old news but is not a year old.

My sugar snaps sit in the ground. I walk to the garden and stare at the dirt. I grab the hose and spray the soil with water. So much happens that I cannot see. So much is out of my control. So much is unknown.

I must trust that the Lord is working. He is at work in my garden, in my life, in the church, in the nation. I must plant the seeds, water them faithfully, and trust.

It’s hard to do when all I see are weeds and dirt and barren branches.

But the sun is shining. The sun shines for more minutes each day. The grass is slowly turning green, and buds have appeared on the tree branches.

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1.

Of course, I have seen many springs, and many trees in bloom. I have watched sugar snap seeds transform into fruit-bearing vines. I know from experience that these things will happen eventually. And this time of waiting will be forgotten, erased by the swift passage of days. But today, I find it difficult to see what the future holds.

What will happen in my garden, my life, the church, the nation? The garden tells me that what it looks like now is not what it will look like in three months or six months. My garden teaches me that there is a lot happening I cannot see.

My garden teaches me that I do not have the ultimate say over what happens. The future is in God’s hands. Today is in God’s hands. I do my part. I pray, I water, I protect, I care for my garden and anyone God places in my path. But my sugar snaps may not grow. Or they may not grow in the manner I would like them to grow. There may be other factors at work which I cannot see and cannot control.

I have a choice. I can be angry and afraid, wringing my hands and expecting the worst, or I can continue to work and trust God with the outcome.

He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? Micah 6:8.

I choose today to be grateful for the bright blue sky, the birds that fly past my window, and the gentle breeze. I’ll water my garden, love my friends and family, and pray for the church and the nation. I’ll support those who need my help and listen to their stories. I’ll open my heart and mind to what God considers just and kind. And I will trust Him with the outcome.

It feels as if things are moving very slowly. But I know that God can make things happen all at once. All at once, the sugar snap vines will grow, the trees will blossom, and Christ will rise from the grave. All at once, these days I spent unsure about the future will be erased by the passage of time and the glory of what God will bring about.

Now therefore take your stand and see this great thing that the Lord will do before your eyes. 1 Samuel 12:16.

Love in Christ, Betsy

God’s Gifts

The sun shines brightly over the tree line in the cloudless sky. A gentle breeze keeps the temperature pleasant. Water ripples in the creek but I cannot hear it above the buzz of the cicadas in the hedges. Only the chorus of birdsong rises louder than the constant hum.

I slip on my garden shoes and head to the garden. The clover that passes for grass in my yard is still damp from the overnight dew.

As I draw closer to the sugar snaps, I can see them dangling among the leaves. Short ones, tall ones, skinny ones, fat ones. Beautiful.

Pinching one off the vine, I pull the stringy fiber from their sides, use my fingertips to wipe off any dirt, and pop it in my mouth. Cool to my lips, their sweetness assaults my tongue. A quick crunch and my mouth fills with its nectar. Sweet and crisp and divine. A few satisfying crunches and I reach for another. Food from the gods, well, food from my God.

As I stand there and eat a few more, I am overwhelmed by the bounty. No need to grab the hose, no need to cut or train or pull or labor at all. Just stand here and let these gifts nourish me.

I wonder if this is how God intended the world to be. I wonder if this is how the world was before we mucked it up. Just delicious abundance at our fingertips.

Out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Genesis 2:9.

One of the many evils of war is starvation, not just hunger, starvation. Something almost unheard of in peaceful, affluent America, where obesity, diabetes, and heart disease seem to be the problem.

What a gift it would be if I could transport these sugar snap plants, if they could grow where the bombs drop, and the bullets fly. If only they would grow in the decimated cities where people scramble and hide and starve.

For there shall be a sowing of peace; the vine shall yield its fruit, the ground shall give its produce, and the skies shall give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things. Zechariah 8:12.

After a few sugar snaps, I am satisfied. I pick the rest of the ripe ones before they get too big and sour and put them in my pocket. I can share them with my family and friends. They are not starving, but they may need a smile, a laugh, a hug, or an outstretched hand. My outstretched hand will offer sugar snaps, God’s gift to me which I will share with you.

You may not have sugar snaps growing in your yard, but God has given you a gift to share as well. You may have trouble finding a smile today. Some days are like that. But you can stretch out your hand to someone and offer what you do have – a listening ear, a quiet presence, a loving heart.

Take a moment today to revel in the sun shining in the sky, the breeze cooling the air, the birdsong overpowering the cicada buzz. God continues to gift us with such treasures, everything that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. Even when we muck it up, even while there is evil in the world, God continues to provide us with good and beautiful things.

Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Philippians 4.8.

Betsy

Pentecost Peas

Christmas may the time of year when we most think about gifts, but right now, this week, is when the children of God celebrate His gifts to us.

Look at the sugar snaps bursting forth from the sap in the vine! Food from nothing, a dried-up seed pod, a patch of dirt, a little water. And God has provided me with crisp, tasty, nutritional goodness, necessary vitamins, pleasing sensations.

And once again these amazing testaments to God’s provision are bursting on the scene at Pentecost.

Pentecost is the Israeli day of celebration after fifty days of thanking God for their home, their crops, their freedom, a period called the Festival of Weeks. The first of their crops were offered to God in thanks.

You shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground from the land that God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket and go to the place that the Lord your God will choose. Then you, along with the Levites and the aliens who reside among you, shall celebrate with all the bounty that the Lord your God has given to you and your house. Deuteronomy 26: 2,11.

But Pentecost, the Feast of Shavuot, is also the time when Jewish believers celebrate the gift of God’s law. What an amazing gift His law is! Have you ever had a teacher or a boss who was unclear about what they expected from you? What were they grading you on? Punctuation and spelling? Symbolism and style? How firm was the due date? It can be demoralizing to not know what is expected of you. That is why God’s law is a gift. We know exactly what He expects of us.

“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind’ (Deuteronomy 6:4). This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ (Leviticus 19:18) On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets,” Matthew 22:34-40.

For Christians, Pentecost also celebrates the gift of God’s Spirit to believers. The Spirit of God is an ever-present player in the Old Testament, anointing judges with wisdom and strength, giving prophets dreams and visions, enabling victory against overwhelming odds. Since Jesus’ resurrection and return to heaven, the Spirit of God now comes and resides in the hearts of all believers.

Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far way, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him. Acts 2:28-29.

What an amazing gift! God’s Spirit residing with me, empowering me, enabling me to accomplish what He has set out for me to do, talking with me, comforting me, and leading me into knowledge. That Spirit, like the sap in my sugar snap vine, creates fruit and life and abundance where there was none. Bounty from a dried-up pod, a patch of dirt, and a little water.

I have so much to be thankful for this Pentecost season. Abundance from the earth, direction and guidance, and His enabling Spirit which makes it all possible.

Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. John 15:4.

Is the Spirit’s presence in your life bearing fruit that nourishes and refreshes the world? Is love bursting from you like these sugar snaps are bursting from my plants? God has shown us through our gardens that it can happen. God can transform a seed into a fruit, barren ground into a garden. God has told us what He wants to grow in us – love, love for Him and for each other. And God has given us His Spirit to make it happen. What amazing gifts!

Betsy

Ancient Remedies

There is a newish trend coming out of Japan – forest bathing.

It seems the overcrowded, performance-driven Japanese culture has resulted in high blood pressure, anxiety, and nervous disorders. To combat this, doctors have been prescribing forest bathing. The doctor orders the patient to go outside into the woods and soak in nature for thirty minutes. Take deep breaths, smell the wood and rot and flowers, rub your hands along tree bark, dig your toes into the moss and dirt. Instead of planning your next project, making lists of things to do, or replaying past conversations, focus your mind on the beauty around you. Use all your senses to immerse yourself in the woods.

Even as I avoid the cicadas buzzing in the trees and covering the ground, I try to apply a little of this medicine to my life. Daily rain has kept the mowers away and my yard is awash in white clover blossoms. As I inhale deeply, the faint scent of honeysuckle greets me from the hedgerow. The almost-rain humidity leaves a sheen on my arms and dampens the back of my neck.

In C.S. Lewis’ Screwtape Letters, the demons bemoan their failure when their target takes a walk in the woods.

The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. Psalm 19:1.

But if the cicadas are keeping you inside today, let me suggest another remedy for relieving stress and anxiety – God bathing.

Non-believers might substitute meditation for God-bathing, and certainly sitting quietly, beathing deeply, will calm your body and reduce stress.

But just as forest bathing is a better cure than meditation, God bathing is better yet.

Stop your daily activities for thirty minutes and sit quietly with God. When you still all the activity in the front of your brain, then the deep-seated causes of unrest can emerge from the recesses. Give this to God. Hand it like a child would hand over a cicada shell. No words are necessary. Your loving Father knows, and He can help.

Read a bit of scripture and let it soak in. Rub your hand along its bark and smell the scent it offers. Put yourself in the scene. Imagine hearing these words for the first time. Hear the murmurs of those around you, sense the sheen rising on your arms and on the back of your neck.

Imagine being in the presence of God. Imagine the heaven of Revelation, the new earth, the celestial bodies, the thousands of martyred worshipers.

Imagine talking with Jesus on a dusty road as you trudge along, weary, and disappointed. Let Him explain the scriptures to you, opening your eyes to all that God has told us about Himself. Does not your heart burn as He reveals Himself to you?

The prescription for forest bathing may be a new thing, but God bathing is an ancient remedy.

Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of the scoffers; but their delight is in the law of the Lord and on his law they meditate day and night. They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper. Psalm 1:1-3.

Dig your toes into the soil of the scripture and feel what grows there. Take a deep breath of His amazing love that draws you closer and closer, no matter what you have done or been or desired. Sense His arms around you. Feel Him lift the weights from your shoulders and blow a cooling breeze on your sweat-soaked face. Bathe in His love, care, and concern.

Would you consider this your prescription? Spend thirty minutes today God bathing. God can do amazing things in our lives if we give Him the chance.

Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. John 14:12.

Betsy