first post

I love the picture at the top of this blog. This is Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah. The tree is growing against all odds, out of this barren rock formation where the sun never shines. It reaches and stretches toward the sun and after many years finally has come out of the shadows and into the light. I look at the ground on where it roots itself and can't believe it gleans anything off of it, but apparently I am mistaken. Amazing to look at.

What is even more amazing to me is how God does the same thing to us. He calls us to Him. He indwells us with the Holy Spirit, which inturn encourages us to grow, stretch, reach toward the light. Come out of the shadows, even though there seems to be nothing around us to help us out. We have to reach within to be pulled out of the pit. When we turn inward, looking for the One who can help, we see what is in our heart. We see who has the the reins, us or HIM. If it is HIM, it is all we need to stretch, seek and succeed on reaching the light and leaving the shadow in the dust.

Sometimes those searches inward are pretty ugly, at least they are for me. Even though I pray quite often, the words from Psalm 139: 23-24 (NIV) "Search me, oh God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."
my heart still fails, the flesh is weak. Daily I find that I need to be reminded to reach for the Light. But scripture like this helps me. It reminds me to get in there and get the yucky stuff out of my heart and continue my journey upward - toward the light.

I want to be like that tree. It is so strong! It has stretched itself for the goal. It hasn't quit. Its roots are strong, even in a barren land. It is a testimony of what a person can do with the proper focus on the only thing that can pull us out of the shadows. Christ the King.

Thanks for listening!

XO