gem12h

Kingfisher home GEMS Menu
back -- GEMS Vol. 11, part 2. next -- GEMS Vol. 12, part 2.

Inspirational Gems for Each Day -- VOLUME 12.

            Written by Marilee Miller

Copyright (c) 1995 & 2009 by Marilee Miller.

PLEASE READ THIS!

Copies may be given privately to about six friends, providing that text is not changed, and
that this full notice accompanies each document or part thereof.
One GEM or parts of two, per Volume, allowed for a public review or article, under the fair use clause.
No other public circulation, no mass copying or commercial or for-profit use without consent
of the author -- e-mail to: kingfisher crossing at gmail com (close up the spaces, etc.).

See the complete archive of 365 thoughtful Christian devotionals -- Gems -- at:
www.wordforlife.com/kingfisher/gems-complete/gems-menu

Scripture texts are from the King James Version.

1. EVEN WHEN

Even when I don't "feel" your care,
Grow afraid maybe you're not "there,"
I turn to you, Oh God.
My whole life is a prayer,
And I hope I may tenderly share,
That I trust my great God
To spread Love everywhere.

            "The Lord is their strength,
       and he is the saving strength of
       his anointed.
            "Save thy people [Lord], and
       bless thine inheritance: feed them
       also, and lift them up forever."
          (Ps. 28:8-9)
(c) 1995 & 2009 by Marilee Miller

2. KNOWN TO GOD

     (On seeing an oddment of bark from a
limb.)

Little oddment of bark,
You are a mystery.

I walked within the neighbor's woods
(A narrow windbreak strip of evergreens
and brush),
And there, I felt God's holy hush,
Sensed myself to be standing in God's
woods.
My eyes lit on a piece of bark.
Little object, you are an anomoly!

How came you here into this woods,
A sawn off short section of bark from limb
of brush?
And where's your innards-part that should
Be within this narrow cone of bark?
How slipped out the core and left intact
the bark?
Where the sawn section of tree went is
history!
But I have the empty cone of bark from
God's woods,
To remind me that all of life is mystery,
Yet I am known to God. That's good!

            "O Lord, thou hast searched
       me, and known me... Thou...art
       acquainted with all my ways."
          (Ps. 139:1, 3b)
(c) 1995 & 2009 by Marilee Miller

3-4. SPATTERED LIGHT

Seagulls stopped inland to escape a winter
               beach storm.
But after rain, sun comes out.
(And so do I!)
I spot plastic rings, refuse
       from six pack of soft drink cans.
Remembering ecology tales, pitying the
         seagulls,
Not wanting a neck to get caught in a
                tempting hole:
Hadn't I better pick up the litter, Lord?
I don't really want to go traipsing off
       across the park to the garbage can.
I'd rather not get my hands wet.
But---
If my servant task today,
                 for my Lord's sake,
    is to pick up trash, then let me
        "do it as unto God".

Hmm, Lord, I didn't know raindrops
     splattering
       a bit of plastic refuse could be so
beautiful!
My service is rewarded, now.
I have enjoyed the seagulls on the grassy
        sward, content.
And I've seen a treasure of spattered
               light.
Lord, protect me from the "holes" of life
               that trap.
Cause the scapegrace places in me to shine
   with many bright facets, like this rain
             of diamond-dew!

            "...To give them beauty for ashes,
the oil of joy for mourning, the
garment of praise for the spirit of
heaviness..."    (Isa. 61:3a)
(c) 1995 & 2009 by Marilee Miller

5. GOD MADE YOU SPECIAL

God made you unique, and very special.
He had a plan in mind from the very
beginning,
     which only you could, and will,
fulfill.
He made you beautiful in his eyes.
He says you are acceptable to him,
(if you come to him and let him be God.)
He loves you very much.
For he sees your individuality, your
"you-ness."
He made you different than everybody else,
      as part of his own purpose.
He made you to be a pleasant surprise to
others,
and a light to help others find his way.
God made you unique, and very special.
May you fulfill the hopes and dreams he
has placed in you.
Allow him to bring forth the "real you" --
     the only you that "you," uniquely
His, could ever be.

            "For God hath not called us
       unto uncleanness, but unto
       holiness."   (I Ths. 4:7)
(c) 1995 & 2009 by Marilee Miller

6. GLIMPSE OF GOD

Five-hundred fairy toadstools, each
smaller than a dime,
'A peeping 'midst the greeny grass:
now that is gift sublime!
Oh Lord of little, growing things,
        you planted treasure rare
For kindness to your earthly kids,
             to teach us that you "care".
But one must look for treasures, hidden in
             the grasses:
Then we will learn, through Nature,
             to glimpse God as he passes.

            "...It is given unto you [the
       believers] to know the mysteries of
       the kingdom of heaven..."
         (Mt. 13:11)
(c) 1995 & 2009 by Marilee Miller

7. GOD CARES

Lord of the flight of doves,
             you send the birds
To help us better understand your words
Of pity and of gentle, kindful thought:
We see, in dove-patterns,
            that God has wrought
Miracles worth our gathering in,
             for he has bought
Us with himself. And he also cares
                   for the birds!

            "And the Lord direct your
       hearts into the love of God, and
       into the patient waiting for
       Christ."   (II Ths. 3:5)
(c) 1995 & 2009 by Marilee Miller

8. NOT DOUBTING GOD

I cannot try to comprehend how humans
         the mysterious potentials of
computers solved;
I can't begin to fathom how God's purposes
      and his mysteries for me shall be
resolved;
But just as it came about that man's mind
         pulled forth a mystery until a
scheme evolved,
So also God will have his way to work his
plan, mysteriously: Let my doubts be
dissolved.

            "...But I [Jesus] have prayed for
thee, that thy faith fail not; and
when thou art converted, strengthen
thy brethren." (Luke 22:32)
(c) 1995 & 2009 by Marilee Miller

9-10. from the Scriptures

     "The wilderness and the solitary
place shall be glad...and the desert shall
rejoice, and blossom as the rose.
     "It shall blossom abundantly, and
rejoice even with joy and singing:...glory
shall be given unto it,...excellency...,
they shall see the glory of the Lord, and
the excellency of our God.
      "Strengthen the weak hands, and
confirm the feeble knees.
     "Say to them that are of a fearful
heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your
God will come with vengeance, even God
with a recompence; he will come and save
you.
     "Then the eyes of the blind shall be
opened, and the ears of the dumb shall be
unstopped.
     "Then shall the lame man leap as an
hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for
in the wilderness shall waters break out,
and streams in the desert.
     "And the parched ground shall become
a pool, and the thirsty land springs of
water: in the habitation of dragons, where
each lay, shall be grass with reeds and
rushes.
     "And an highway shall be there, and a
way, and it shall be called The way of
holiness; the unclean shall not pass over
it: but it shall be for those: the wayfaring
men, though fools, shall not err therein.
     "No lion shall be there, nor any
ravenous beast shall go thereon, it shall
not be found there; but the redeemed shall
walk there:
     "And the ransomed [those who agree to
walk with God, so he cancels their sins
and pardons their debts] of the Lord shall
return and come to Zion with songs and
everlasting joy upon their heads; they
shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow
and sighing shall flee away."
    (Isa. 35)

11. WONDERFULLY MADE

     There are up to 60,000 miles of blood
vessels in a human's body (including some
only 1/10 the diameter of a hair. Within
those blood vessels roam platelets and
white cells. Also, red blood cells are so
tiny that 5 million of them would fit in a
dot of blood dropped onto a sketched
circle 1/8 of an inch in diameter. Truly,
"man is fearfully and wonderfully made."
Is not this a real cause for celebrating
the magnificient gift of life? Is not
this reason enough to praise our Maker?

            "For the earth shall be filled
       with the knowledge of the glory of
       the Lord..."   (Hab. 2:14)
(c) 1995 & 2009 by Marilee Miller

12. GOD'S FAVOR LASTS FOREVER

     If looking for examples of the good
of God in everything, one may certainly
find object lessons everywhere -- yes,
even in a repair job by a city crew. Near
our house, workers re-vamped an ancient
city sewer line. Into the existing pipe,
they inserted a long tube crafted of some
type of felting. Chemicals impregnated
within this new tube reacted to boiling
water being pumped through the line.
Within 24 hours, the felt-tube set up into
a resinous, permanent sewer pipe, which
is said to be non-toxic, leakproof, and
capable of "lasting forever." No digging
up of old pipes is needed. Is this not a
modern miracle?

     Let us consider God's miracle. He
transforms our willing hearts by inserting
within our brokenness his own goodness,
kindness, mercy, love, and ability to
rescue. His unearned favor lasts forever,
as it cleans us up and blesses us with his
own richness. "Thanks be to God for his
unspeakable gift..."

            "For I [the Lord] will defend
       this city [and his followers] to
       save it for mine own's sake, and
       for my servant...'s sake."
          (Isa. 37:35)
(c) 1995 & 2009 by Marilee Miller

13-14. LIGHTS

     Little dark-orangy muted lights strewn
across the front of our driveway...
Scattering, spattering, scurrying, lifting...

     I glanced out the window, after dark.
And saw the lights dancing. But how could
this be? We had no Christmas lights up
yet. Certainly we wouldn't put them out
on the pavement! Had they blown off a
neighbor's outdoor display, because of our
Oregon storm? No, for then they could not
still be lit up.

     Then I realized! The storm had blown
in winter-red sycamore leaves from the
tree across the street. The stiff stems
splay out behind these leaves, so that
each was propped up on its side instead of
lying flat against the concrete. The wind
also blew the leaves tumbling about here
and then there. The neighbor next door
had just pulled his car from his driveway
and was turning out onto the street. The
car's headlights shone dimly but in lively
fashion, through the "stained glass" of
the fluttering leaf faces.

     May God strew the dark places of our
emotions and "feelings" with his little
dancing gleeful surprise lights to bring
"Yuletide cheer" to our needy hearts.

            "And the Lord hearkened to
       [the prayers of the prophet]...,
       and healed the people.
            "So there was great joy in
       Jerusalem: for since the time of
       Solomon the son of David king of
       Israel [a former day of God's
       favor] there was not the like in
       Jerusalem..." (II Chron. 30:20, 26)
(c) 1995 & 2009 by Marilee Miller

15. NEW EXCITEMENT

     "I just met the Lord Jesus Christ
recently," she said, "and I'm so excited!"
She had just moved to town. She didn't
know a soul. Had no knowledge of which
church to go to. She had run out of
money. And didn't even have dishes and
cooking utensils, or adequate bedding.
"But I said a prayer before I went out to
ask for Community Assistance," she told
me.

     I'm grateful, this Christmastide, for
the chance to see my Lord, anew, through
the eyes of a new Christian. She doesn't
have much of anything in the way of
material possessions. But she's found a
Friend. In her fellowship with God, she
believes she has everything she needs or
can want. "I'll never turn my back on
Jesus!" she said, her eyes shining.

     May I recapture the excitement of
being caught up in how wonderful God is,
and what he's done for me! May I never
settle for the ho-hums. But let me look
for his guiding hand in everything. May
Christ be born in my heart in an inspiring
new way, this Christmas time.

            "For unto you is born this
       day... a Saviour, which is Christ
       the Lord."   (Luke 2:11)
(c) 1995 & 2009 by Marilee Miller
=

back -- GEMS Vol. 11, part 2. next -- GEMS Vol. 12, part 2.
Kingfisher home GEMS Menu