LESSON FROM THE PINE TREES

The past couple of weeks while driving to work from Nashville to Adel, I have been watching the pine trees to see if they were going to display their annual celebration of Holy Week.  Two years ago they were spectacular!  Last year they formed their fingers pointing upward but I never saw them form into crosses.  It was a disappointment and a mystery.  I was afraid they weren't going to do it this year because I didn't see any signs.  Then, last week I noticed that the fingers had appeared on some of the trees I passed.  Yesterday I was delighted to see some of the trees were forming into crosses.  

Today is Thursday of Holy Week and my thoughts journeyed back to that eventful Thursday and Passover meal that has come to be called The Last Supper.  I pondered on the scene in my mind that I have formed from exegetical study and teaching of The Word of God for over twenty years.  Several things are prominent about that night.  One is that Jesus changed some things about the commanded feast of the Jews.  He gave the unleavened bread and wine new significance and said they were now to do it in remembrance of Him whenever they ate the bread and drank the wine. He told them that was the last time he would eat the bread and drink the wine until He had it in the kingdom of God.  He told them He would be betrayed, suffer death and be risen and meet them in Galilee. He told them He was going away to prepare a place for them in His Father's House and would come back and take all Believers to be with Him.
   

He also gave a new commandment to "love one another as I have loved you."   The reason for this is that while He is gone to His Father's House, The Father is sending His Holy Spirit to live in those who belong to Him until He comes back for them.  Therefore, loving one another as He loved is loving Him and being loved by Him!  That's why His Believers are called His Body.

Today as I was driving to work and thinking on these things, I watched the trees along the side of the road.  To my delight there were crosses forming.  At one point the trees were so beautiful that I just stopped my car and sat and looked and praised The Lord our Creator and our Savior along with them.

If you haven't seen this spectacular wonder, start looking up at the pine trees.  You will see the tips of their branches lifted like fingers and hands in praise to The Creator and announcing the coming of Easter and Passover.  They do this every year a couple of weeks before Easter!  Almost overnight the fingers will transform into crosses lifted toward Heaven reminding all of us of what our Creator God did to redeem us from the bondage of sin. Then the crosses become the new life on the tree. 

As the pine trees display their yearly message of telling us that Easter is coming...I wondered about mankind and our praise (especially those who have received the gift of salvation).  Are we pointing the world to the cross?  Are we demonstrating the new life of The Holy Spirit of God living within and helping us to love as He loved?

I stay amazed at the wonder of God and His creative genius!   May we demonstrate that He lives! ~Betty

"You are My witnesses, declares the Lord, that I am God." Isaiah 43:12

LIFE IS PRECIOUS!

On March 6, 2013 at 2:51 pm a perfect little girl was born.  She is so blessed because she was loved and wanted even before she was conceived!  The moment her parents learned they were going to have a baby, there was immediate joy resounding the news.  Soon we learned we would have another little girl join our families.  Her name was chosen to be Piper Jean Blanton; her middle name honoring three of her Great Grandmothers.  Great anticipation began as we all waited eagerly for 9 months to pass, each of us imagining how precious she was going to be.  All our excitement and joy was multiplied when we heard the first petite little cry and saw her perfectly formed healthy little body.  She was surrounded immediately with an overwhelming  outpouring of love being expressed by everyone.  As each one of us held her, our hearts were meshed with hers and we would never be the same again...she was ours! 

She is the first niece to 4 aunts and 1 uncle; the first grand baby to 4 grandparents; the first great grand baby to two grandparents.  She has lots of cousins and other aunts and uncles and grandparents as well. All who think she is very special!  I'd like for you to meet our Precious little Piper:

“Sanctify unto Me all the firstborn, whatsoever opens the womb...both of man and of beast;

it is Mine; saith the LORD.” 

Exodus 13:2

"Lo, children are a heritage of the Lord. and the fruit of the womb is his reward." 

Psalm 127:3

"Children's children are a crown to the aged..."  

Proverbs 17:6

Lord...You created the deepest parts of my being.

    You put me together inside my mother’s body.

¹⁴ 

How you made me is amazing and wonderful.

    I praise you for that.

What you have done is wonderful.

    I know that very well.

¹⁵ 

None of my bones was hidden from you

    when you made me inside my mother’s body.

    That place was as dark as the deepest parts of the earth.

When you were putting me together there,

your eyes saw my body even before it was formed.

You planned how many days I would live.

    You wrote down the number of them in your book

    before I had lived through even one of them.  

Psalm 139:13-16

As I saw the love and joy surrounding this new little life and reflected on God's Word about His heart and purpose,  I was also saddened as I realized that all babies are not loved and wanted such as this one.  I became overwhelmed with tears as I thought of the millions who were not wanted and were aborted.  It seems almost unbelievable that it is possible to be living in a world and time where life is so insignificant.  Just look at the statistics and weep with me: 

Statistics from AMERICAN LIFE LEAGUE

Abortions in the United StatesTotal number of abortions in the U.S. 1973-2011: 54.5 million+

234 abortions per 1,000 live births (according to the Centers for Disease Control)
Abortions per year: 1.2 million
Abortions per day: 3,288
Abortions per hour: 137
9 abortions every 4 minutes
1 abortion every 26 seconds
These statistics include only surgical and medical abortions. Because many contraceptive measures are abortifacients (drugs that induce or cause abortions), it is important not to overlook the number of children killed by chemical abortions. Since 1965, an average of 11 million women have used abortifacient methods of birth control in the United States at any given time. Using formulas based on the way the birth control pill works, pharmacy experts project that about 14 million chemical abortions occur in the United States each year, providing a projected total of well in excess of 610 million chemical abortions between 1965 and 2009.

Lord God, may you forgive us for allowing such a devastation to take place and for not standing up for these precious lives that didn't have someone loving and wanting them.  How can it be stopped?  What must we do?