New Year’s Resolutions

 The New Year is at the gate; the clock is ticking loud and clear.

I’ll need to hurry if I’m to keep the resolutions I made last year!

 So, have you made New Year’s Resolutions for 2026? Or are you still in remorse for the 2025 ones you left in the dust?

Research credits the Babylonians as the folks who started it all. The fact that it spread throughout the world indicates it may have merit in either plaguing or inspiring people. Americans follow the practice in large numbers and statistics indicate three of the most popular are: losing weight, spending more time with family, and getting physically fit. Making resolutions to improve oneself is a worthy goal and I can attest to it. I’ve tried it several times.

Take the one about losing weight, for example. I’ve tried losing weight every now and again over my eighty-eight years. I have a diamond lifetime membership pin from Weight Watchers to prove it. And I could be their poster woman because I have watched my weight—I’ve watched it go and I’ve watched it come back. I’ve lost enough weight so that if it could be accumulated and reconstructed into another human, I would have a full-sized twin or even enough for a triplet. It’s an obvious fact. No matter whatever diet I tried, the weight I lost came back and found me. So much for that resolution for me.

Spending more time with my family is a challenging one too. My husband is either scrolling on his iPad, watching sports, or dozing in between. He talks more to Alexa than to me. What about more time with our three daughters? They are all busy with their jobs or various hobbies. And since our grand girls are all grown up now, I must compete for their attention via text, Instagram, or Tik Tok. They relegate responding to me after their boyfriends, college mates, and their hundreds of other followers. Sometimes they send me a quick emoji heart to say they love me. And when the family does manage to get together, everyone is busy checking their devices to stay connected with the digital world. So, check off trying to spend more time with my family; it’s a deflating resolution.

Finally, as I look at the fitness resolution, I laugh so hard I might achieve a bit of toning from internal jogging. At my age resolving to get fit would be like signing up to climb Mt. Everest or enrolling in an Ironman event. Millions of fat cells lay claim to much of my body and scream at the thought. Besides, gravity has taken over, pulling everything downward. Body parts that used to be in their original place sag in despair or have migrated to other places, making it impossible to fit them back in place. However, my husband says I can still take pride in my hour-glass figure, because all the sand has shifted to the bottom.

But the fitness resolution could have potential value if I applied it in a convoluted way by firming up my character. This would mean ridding myself of harmful, repercussive exercises that I tend to do— like jumping to conclusions, stretching the truth, pushing the envelope, shooting off my mouth, and running with the crowd. A de-tox resolution for my mind and attitude might serve me better than a sculptured, toned body and could be beneficial for all my relationships, including family.

What to do? I’ve decided to ditch the personal assessment and resolution path based on an entire year, but I will attempt to do my best each day as it comes. According to God’s providence, the present is what He gives. So, rather than lumping a full year of aspirations into one basket and trying to fulfill it, I plan to “carpe diem,” so the day won’t seize me instead.

 

 

Excerpt from my new book-Heaven-Sent Devotions

Walk—Don’t Run Ahead

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

~ Galatians 5:16

Have you noticed wherever children are, whether at school, church, home or at play, they tend to run to wherever they are going? They are eager to get to the next thing or the next place, so they run.

That is what some of us believers are like too. We want to hurry through prayer or Bible study or church to get on to the next thing attracting us. But Paul cautions us to “walk by the Spirit” (Galatians 5:16). He says it will keep us from being distracted by the fleshly desires constantly wanting our attention and time. He says we are to be “led by the Spirit” (v.18). Then tells us we will bear the fruit of the Spirit if we do (v.22).

Pat, a sister in Christ, shared how she struggled with keeping in step with the Spirit. Whenever she wanted to do something for the LORD, she tended to throw herself headlong into action without praying or asking for His guidance. She said she was running ahead the Spirit, not allowing Him to lead. Then, one day He impressed this restraint on her. She felt Him say, “Get out of my way, Pat, and let me take the lead!”

Her story reminded me that sanctification is a process requiring patience on my part to walk by Him and not run ahead, so He can grow His fruit in me in His time. We sometimes succumb to the tyranny of the world or the flesh that call or distract us from staying in close connection to the Spirit. We need to listen to His voice as Pat did, to get out of His way, back in step with Him and allow Him to lead us.

Do you tend to run ahead of the Spirit? How can you let Him lead?

Holy Spirit, remind me to take one step at a time following You.

 

My Special Day

(Written for the Sandhills Writers who celebrated my 88^th birthday with me – 7/25/25)

By Sandi Fischer

The month of July, 1937 holds records of many significant events of various types: Amelia Earheart’s disappearance, Joe DiMaggio’s first grand slam home run, Buchenwald Concentration Camp opening, Japan invading China, and the U.S. Senate rejecting FDR’s proposal to enlarge the Supreme Court.

And on July 25^th, in a small town in Indiana at the home of the Little family, Dr. Flanagan, the town physician, made a house call and delivered a baby girl, named after a female character in a dime novel—Sandra. Voila! Me!

Today you can join me in saying, “You’ve come a long way, baby!” And it’s been a trip, through the end of the Great Depression, several wars, the civil rights movement, the start of the space age, the new millennium, the COVID pandemic, and more important segments in my personal journey. College, teaching, marriage, (63 years soon to be celebrated with the same man), three daughters, three granddaughters, bookstore ownership, retirement, southern transplanting, book publishing, and joining this group.

My life includes a history of some poor choices and investments as well. As time began to take its toll on my body, adding some pounds and flab, I bought an exercise bike at a garage sale, put a map of the U.S. on the wall with push pins to mark how many miles I would pedal across U.S. 6 from my hometown in Indiana to where it terminates in California. Within a few months I had pushed two pins, one on Waterloo, three miles away and one on Corunna, Indiana, six miles away. I sold the bike at our garage sale the following year.

As time went on I wished I had pooled the money I spent on wrinkle creams, vitamins, girdles, underwire bras, hair enhancements, and diet drinks and used it to buy stock in  IBM or Amazon. I wouldn’t be here to celebrate how far I’ve come with you; I’d be hiring my author friend, Lew as my yacht captain to take me on a world cruise like he did for others before retirement.

Aging is nothing new. Eventually, gravity will take over our bodies. What was once in one place will be slipping down to another—chins, waists, you name it. Even hair migrates from our heads, sprouting out in unseemly places—noses, ears and chins. Tweezers have become one of our favorite, well-used grooming implements.

So here I am still living in this tent that is sagging, wrinkly and grey on top, but there is good news afoot. I am blessed and grateful, because of the most important discovery about who I am. Composed of a material, mortal body and mind that is decomposing and will die, I sensed there is something more within and I found my spirit, an intricate, unique me that is eternal. As I searched for how to reckon this, I learned about how other people have done the same and have embraced various ideas about it. I believe that all people at some point recognize their individual being, their whole being of body, soul and spirit, so intricately made we are like snowflakes, no one made like any other.

I discovered too that it takes more faith to believe everything in existence happened by chance. I embrace a reasoned faith—everything that exists has been made and requires a supernatural Creator to have made it. Just like the watches we wear did not evolve but were intricately created, so are flowers and fish and us. Reckoning this I believe in the Triune God as the one Creator, Sustainer, Eternal, Sovereign LORD of all creation. The next discovery I made was how He gave us a conscience within us to discern the difference between right and wrong. He gave us the free will to choose and because our progenitors chose wrongly, we inherited that same nature. Recognizing this about myself, I made many wrong choices and suffered the consequences.

Guilt and shame come from within us; no one ever taught us to blush; it’s a natural response of the conscience put within us. Seeing my need for help, I met Jesus, the Savior, God incarnate in the flesh, coming to earth to offer Himself for my sins and those of the whole  world. I accepted His gift of grace, the best decision of my life, and I look forward to a forever life not measured in years but without time’s constraints.

That brings me to share how I view today and what you see of me and what you don’t see. You see my thin skin, easily bruised by a light touch, my thinning hair, slowing walk, fading voice, all under siege by time and trouble, but inside? The apostle Paul wrote about what’s going on inside in his 2^nd letter to the Corinthians. It describes me today and each day as getting more glorious:

 

And what greater joy can I have than sharing and bearing my soul to you, who love words as much as I do and want to use them to instill the love in this season and time where God has appointed us! Thank you for celebrating this one day, a small dot of eternity!

 

Tina’s Blessing Carol*

By

Sandra Fischer

The man dressed as Santa stood by the red pot, ringing a bell in front of the Five and Dime—“Help the needy—share the Christmas spirit!” Most people responded by pulling coat collars up over their ears and diverting their eyes to the slush below. They didn’t want to admit that many of them were recipients of help from the kettle. The dark clouds of the Great Depression hung over us, obscuring any spirit of Christmas.

Momma dropped my hand long enough to scavenge some coins from her purse and drop them in the kettle. “Bless you, ma’am,” Santa said.

 I tugged Momma’s sleeve in protest. “Momma! Why are you giving money away? We won’t have enough for our own Christmas.”

Momma stooped down to match my ten-year-old stature, her blue eyes capturing mine with that “teachable moment” stare I knew all too well. “Christmas is about blessing, child. God blessed us with the gift of His son, and we’re to bless others by sharing what we have that they don’t. Everyone has a blessing to share.”

I tucked the message in the back of my mind, thinking I would understand it when I grew up, but Tina Carver was to prove me wrong. Tina was in my class at school, and her family was on the charity list. Her father had hopped a freight to parts unknown when he lost his job, leaving her, her mother, and her two brothers to scrape by any way they could. They lived in an abandoned storefront near the tracks, its shattered windows covered by cardboard.

Some of the kids made fun of Tina. She wore her brother’s hand-me-down coats and trousers to school, making her stand out starkly from the rest of us girls, who wore dresses and leggings. Most times her clothes and hands were smudged with coal dust from picking up pieces along the tracks to feed their potbelly stove.

Momma’s “compassion” lesson began to take root when I donned a pair of my brother’s old pants and wore them to school to support Tina. The kids didn’t laugh, but Tina did. I knew then I’d found a new friend, so I offered to share lunch with her.

“I don’t have anything to give you.”

“Don’t have to. It’s a blessing. God blessed me with extra cornmeal mush so I could share.” But even as I shared my blessing, I began to wonder, What blessing did Tina have to share?

We walked home together. As I helped Tina pick up coal and tuck the pieces into an old knapsack, I began humming a Christmas carol. Suddenly, the voice of an angel burst forth, singing the words in perfect soprano.

 

I was dumbstruck. “Tina! Where did you learn to sing like that?”

Tina stopped. “Sorry. Never sung around nobody but my mom. Didn’t mean to hurt your ears.”
           

“My ears are fine and so is your voice—it’s beautiful! Tina, you have to sing in the school Christmas program.”

“Can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Uh… I don’t have a dress to wear.”

“No problem. I have one I outgrew. It’s just your size.”

The Christmas program was the same every year—classes crowded onto the gym stage and sang carols chosen by the music teacher, Miss Morgan. Parents applauded politely to the cacophony of voices until the final carol, “Silent Night,” brought relief.

However, when we all filed into the auditorium to perform, we instantly discovered that this year was going to be different, very different. Miss Morgan showed up with laryngitis, so Principal Hanley had to introduce the songs. Then we discovered Mr. Shricker, the janitor, had left a window open to air out the gym and cold moisture had thrown the piano out of tune.

“We’ll just have to sing acapella,” Miss Morgan whispered as she ushered the first graders onto the stage.

“I thought we were thinging ‘Away in the Manger,’” Willie Morgan lisped.

“We are, Willie, but we need someone to start us.”

Tina stood beside me behind the curtain as we waited for our turn. I pushed her onto the stage. “Go! You can start us!”

A hush fell over the room as everyone stared.

“Tina?” Miss Morgan rasped in surprise.

Tina fumbled with the lace trim on my hand-me-down dress and looked out over the audience. Her eyes met those of her mother, who smiled and nodded. Tina took a deep breath.

The next sound out of her mouth came straight from heaven. Tina’s melodic voice swept through the gym, singing the carol as we had never heard it sung. “Away in a Manger,” a humble message from a humble messenger in perfect pitch, resonated sweet tones of hope to hungry souls. The children joined in, and the audience applauded.

Tina’s gift proved Momma right—everyone does have a blessing to share.

 

*Story excerpt from the book, “Every Day is Christmas” by Sandra Fischer, illustrated by Becky Guinn.

 

 

“Pain Management” - Sandra Fischer For the joy set before him, he endured the cross Hebrews 12:2b NIV This world is full of pain. For Christians, it should not be a surprise. Jesus said, “In this world, you will have tribulation.” (John 16:33a NKJV) It’s a given. I don’t know anyone who says they have never experienced pain. Our first cry at birth shows how becoming flesh is shocking and painful. From that moment on we look for ways to prevent, endure or manage our pain.   We try to avoid it, deny it, or use any means to dull it. It may present itself in physical, emotional, mental, or spiritual form. We despair its presence, but it has purpose. Without it we may not realize we have a problem needing attention. And we do have a resource, an example to help us—Jesus.   Jesus experienced the same kinds of pain we do because He chose to put on flesh. From his first baby cry to his final one of agony, he suffered rejection from his closest friends, emotional despair of being separated from the Father on the cross, the struggle in his spirit at Gethsemane to do God’s will, and the unbearable excruciating horror of death by crucifixion.   Why was Jesus willing to bear such pain and suffering? “For the joy set before him, he endured the cross…” (Hebrews 12:2b) The joy was knowing he was doing the will of the Father, to take our sin upon himself and reconcile us to God. And in John 16:33b, Jesus implores us: “. . .be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”   For Christians, our pain like Christ’s is temporary, and we can be of good cheer for our joy in what he has done. But for the lost who die without Christ, the pain will never end.   Father, help us endure our pain through Christ. Help us to share his grace with those who need the assurance of eternal life, free pain forever. Sandra is a FaithWriters Platinum member, check out her books or message her HERE.

 I love springtime in North Carolina, but each year in May I long for those days I knew in Indiana which meant the annual family tradition of mushroom hunting. Here's my reflection as found in my book, "Seasons in the Garden." -

"Remembering Springtime in Indiana"

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When I reflect on springtime in Indiana, I remember morel mushrooms. Hunting them and enjoying them in various culinary forms was a long-standing tradition in my family. My mother was the foremost morel aficionado, but one spring Mother couldn’t go mushroom hunting. After having surgery, she was recuperating at home. No scurrying off to the Hoosier woodlands to hunt the rare cone-shaped mushrooms, which have a short growing season. For Mother that was a real hardship; mushrooming was her gift.

Every year we kids would trail along, fanning out in different directions, searching in proven breeding grounds—patches of mayapple, rotting stumps, and fallen elm. But it was always Mother who called out suddenly, “Come see what I’ve found!” And in an unpromising pile of decaying leaves, half-hidden, would be precious honeycomb morel spikes peeking out.

I didn’t understand all the fuss. “Why can’t we just plant them in our garden and save the trouble of hunting them?”

Mother smiled, explaining that these mushrooms were special, sent by God to delight us. “He chooses where they grow.”

That spring, Mother longed to go mushrooming, but instead, she puttered listlessly in the garden. One day, while she was watering the tulips, I heard her cry, “Come see what I’ve found

There among the flowers I spotted something familiar—a morel! Soon we spied several, growing where they never grew before—and never did again. Mother couldn’t go to the mushrooms, so God sent them to her. I often think of how God blessed Mother with her heart’s desire that day. He delights in giving us such blessings when we delight in Him.

"Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart." - Psalm 37:4

 The Sunflower—Not Just Another Pretty Face

Sunflower. The name itself elicits an image of a smiling face delighting in looking and following its namesake throughout the day. Like many flowers, it has inspired poets, songwriters and artists to capture its essence in their works of which Van Gogh’s several renditions are most famous. “The sunflower is mine,” he said, having painted several portraits of it, but I contend this yellow and orange blossom to be something special to all of us.

One of the tallest of flowers and having one of the largest of blossoms, the sunflower demands attention. Its bright face and foliage is a standout in any garden or bouquet arrangement. Its magnificent splendor is only part of what it offers us, as it is one of the most prolific of plants by what it provides.

Sunflowers have intrinsic properties allowing them to absorb poisons, such as lead and arsenic, so that the water and soil from which they are extracted are safe. Sunflower seeds produce versatile oils used in making butter, cosmetics, flour, plastics, and biodiesel fuel. They are also harvested as forage for animals, birds and for us—in the form of those roasted kernels we enjoy as snacks. The stalks are used to produce latex and the stems contain a fiber used in making paper. This plant is not just another pretty face!

While the blossom of the sunflower appears as one large bloom, it is comprised of thousands of disk flowers in the center with the outer edge border made up of sterile ray flowers. All the disks are arranged in a peculiar, spiral structure that has amazed and baffled scientists for centuries because of their unusual mathematical placement. The sunflower is indeed a “wonder” flower.

Oh, to be like this flower—presenting a glowing, happy countenance and a colorful personality while contributing so much more than these wherever I am planted in life’s garden!

Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadows. It’s what sunflowers do

                                                                        – Helen Keller

Excerpt from "Seasons in the Garden" by Sandra Fischer - Available on Amazon

A Building of God

                                                                

             Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain   ~ Psalm 127:1a

After retirement, we moved to a new community and built a new house. When the foundation and framework appeared, I saw a blessing from God that I wanted to acknowledge. Using a marker, I inscribed cement bases and wood studs with these Bible verses:

• Doorpost—As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. (Joshua 24:15c)

• Living Room—Show hospitality. (Romans 12:13)

• Kitchen—Give us this day our daily bread. (Matthew 6:11)

• Pantry—My food is to do the will of the one who sent me. (John 4:34)

• Dining Room—Taste and see that the LORD is good. (Psalm 34:8a)

• Laundry Room—If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

• Sunroom—The sun of righteousness will rise with healing in his wings. (Malachi 4:2)

• Bedrooms—Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)

• Baths—Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. (Psalm 51:7b)

• Stairway—Let us . . .keep in step with the Spirit. (Galatians 5:25)

• Study—Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding. (Proverbs 3:13)

After the house was finished, I kept a copy of the verses tucked in my Bible. When I re-read them, I am overcome with gratitude for the home God provided. More so, I am grateful for the house He is building in me through the construction by the Holy Spirit and I look forward to the room He has reserved for me in a heavenly mansion.

Can you think of verses that show God’s has built where you reside or in you?

 

“Getting our Heart’s Desire”

Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart.

~ Psalm 37:4

When we put coins in a vending machine, select a product and receive the one we choose, we are satisfied with the transaction. Our expectations are met. The motive behind our actions is the fulfillment of our desire because of what we gave to get it fulfilled.

Perhaps we get the same idea when we read Psalm 37:4. It may seem as if, when we praise God and delight in Him, He will give us whatever we want. Do we believe it to mean that our prayers and our wants are going to be fulfilled in exchange for our simply delighting in Him? Sounds reasonable (and delightful), but we should think about it. Are we treating His promises and blessings as vending machine products, dispensed to us because we earned them?

The promise for us to receive our heart’s desire is based on the object of our delight. If it is for the LORD Himself, will He not give Himself to us? What greater delight could there be? As the psalmist wrote, “The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup.” (Psalm 16:5a) and as He tells us in Psalm 23, our cup overflows with Him (v.5).

God does promise to give us the desires of our heart when we delight in Him. We find joy in His presence and fulfillment beyond measure as we exalt in Him for who He is, our LORD and our delight.

Do you “delight” in God and take joy in knowing Him as your loving heavenly Father? Tell Him.

Excerpt from "Faithbook Messages - Devotions to Like and Share" available on Amazon or directly from me. 

Time to turn the calendar to a New Year! What better way to start each day or week than by reading a Faithbook message? Take a look at them in the book, "My Faithbook Messages - Devotions to Like and Share." Order a copy from Amazon or directly from me at:

sandra-fischer---author.square. 

Here is the first entry for the New Year:

    “From New Year to Eternity”

 

He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart.

~ Ecclesiastes 3:11a

Standing at an airport gate, one witnesses the many emotions of “hellos” and “goodbyes.” We glow at joyful smiles of greeting and happy embraces for arrivals; we sadden at the long kisses and tearful hugs of those departing. Life is hello. . .life is goodbye. It’s the constant tension of casting on and letting go. King Solomon put it this way in chapter three of Ecclesiastes: “everything has its season. . .a time to plant and a time to pluck up. . .a time to embrace and a time to refrain.” (v. 3:1, 2b, 5b)

As we turn the page to a new year, we have a choice—to greet it with hope and joy, letting go the past, or to keep standing at the gate, hanging on to regrets. As Time begins to write in our New Year’s blank book, let us look to embrace one word: opportunity. Let us seek it on days when clouds veil its appearance and let us greet it on days when it arrives skipping in the sunshine. Let us meet it as God’s way of allowing us to discover all the possibilities it holds. Solomon recognizes God’s offering to do his part when he says, “He has made everything beautiful in its time.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11a) Talk about possibilities!

Somehow, as Time records our earthly journey, we sense there is a place of timelessness, a place of only “hellos,” a place the wise King says God has put in our hearts, a place called eternity, our home in heaven forever as adopted children of God through Christ. Until then, we can appreciate all the prospects any passing moment offers as God-given.

How do you view the future? With anticipation, hope, or fear? How can placing your trust in God help you view it from His perspective?

 Happy 2022!

 So here it is - the reason I've not been posting much - my latest book just in time for Christmas! Take a look at "EVERY DAY is CHRISTMAS" - stories to warm heart and soul.

I have been writing Christmas stories over the years and when I considered compiling them into a book, I knew I needed to have them illustrated so they might come alive. I am blessed to have Becky Guinn as the illustrator for this book. Not only is she a Christ follower too, she has an extraordinary talent for "seeing" the characters in the story and rendering how they look and feel. 

Becky's artistic talents were challenged when she went into the hospital for surgery in 2002. As a result of an allergic reaction to medication, all four of her limbs were amputated. Through determination, faith, and the support of family and friends, she began painting again with mechanical hands. You can read more of her story in the book. 

Becky Guinn

The book is available on Amazon or directly from me by going to this site where you will find my other books:

https://sandra-fischer---author.square.site

 

“Learning to ask Who not Why”

. . .Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. . .therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes ~ Job 42:3b, 6 NIV

No life in this world is without trials and troubles. Sometimes they come in small unrelenting jabs and other times like a tsunami wave. As believers we are told to expect them, yet like Job we question God’s purpose in allowing them. We ask why, hoping if we could understand we could make sense of them and accept them. After studying the book of Job, I learned that God never answered Job’s questioning, even after God forgave him his presumptiveness, restored his losses, and honored him for his faithfulness.

Job had his audience with God and appealed to Him to give an answer for his miseries—loss of family, wealth, and health. Instead, God asked Job over seventy questions to which he had no answer. He realized God was God, sovereign over all things and that He owes no one an explanation.

Rather than asking “why” when we don’t understand what’s happening, we should consider “WHO” is behind it all, whether by His permissive or sovereign will.  “Why” ends in the letter “y” which could stand for “you,” indicating it’s all about “you.” If we consider “WHO” instead, “o” represents the “One” and “Only”—God Almighty. Is anyone qualified to question God about anything? When we see God as He is and ourselves as we are, like Job, we should repent of our “presumptive” sin and trust His sovereignty and trustworthiness.

Heavenly Father, thank you for working everything together to those who love You—for our good and Your Glory.

Sandra is a FaithWriters Platinum member, author of “My Faithbook Messages” which can be found HERE.

“His Easter—Our Easter” – Sandra Fischer And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power ~ 1 Corinthians 6:14 ESV Easter—Resurrection day! We celebrate this glorious day when our Lord Jesus Christ arose from the grave. And because He lives, everyone who believes and accepts His shed blood as an atoning sacrifice for their sin will have an “Easter” day too. Death preceded the resurrection of Jesus and it will precede ours as well, unless Christ returns before we die. Before that first Easter, Christ followers mourned the death of Jesus with deep sadness and inconsolable grief. And then! The women go to the tomb and find it empty. An angel tells them the good news—“He is not here. He is risen!” Luke 24:6 NIV When we die in Christ, our spirits leave our bodies, and are present with the LORD. This is a precursor to our coming “Easter” day when our resurrection bodies will be like His. The Bible gives glimpses of what Jesus’ post-resurrection body was like: He had physical wounds; His disciples touched Him; He went through walls, appeared, and disappeared; He ate and drank with people. Paul tells us we can expect to have “Easter” bodies when he wrote this: "For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.” Romans 6:5 ESV And again he wrote: “. . .our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await. . .Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body.” Philippians 3:20-21 ESV As we celebrate Easter and His resurrection day, we look forward to celebrating our own glorious resurrection day! Father God, thank You for Your plan to make us like Your Son, Jesus! Sandra is a FaithWriters Platinum member, author of her new book, “My Faithbook Messages” which can be found HERE.

 

 

The Gold within the Green

March isn’t just for the Irish; anyone can appreciate the earth’s “wearin’ o’ the green.” Putting on the mantle is an obvious part of spring—leaves and grasses turning into various shades of emerald, jade, lime, and olive. Most of us give only a cursory consideration to the plant life that graces the earth. We might appreciate the carpeted beauty of grass, the shade a tree provides, or the blossoms they produce, and then we leave it at that. Even diehard gardeners may not stop to reflect upon the deepest treasure replete in the plants they cultivate. Yet if we remember a basic biology lesson regarding the wonderful life-giving purpose of plants and trees, we see them in a renewed light.

They take a little sunshine, a few carbon dioxide molecules out of the air, some hydrogen atoms out of water, and then shuffle them around inside green chloroplasts in the plant cells, and voila! We get their products of glucose and oxygen, two necessary components to our existence.

In God’s marvelous ecological economy, green plants, and trees were created as our necessary counterpart—they breathe in the carbon dioxide we make and exhale the oxygen we need. Martin Luther said, “In the true nature of things . . . every green tree is far more glorious than if it were made of gold and silver.”

If I see some people hugging trees or watering even weeds, I know they appreciate how precious our green earth is.

The trees of the LORD are watered abundantly, the cedars of Lebanon that he planted

– Psalm 104:16

This is an excerpt from my book "Seasons in the Garden," available on Amazon or for a signed copy, directly from me.

Worth the Wait

 

Spring is coming! The proof is seen in buds peeking out from seemingly barren limbs, brown landscapes yielding their somber hues to green, and blossoms suddenly bursting alive with all the colors of the Master Painter’s palette. The evidence of renewal is showing clearly and making the case—spring is coming around again.

 

I find it hard to imagine that only a short time ago, the same world looked rather dull and lifeless. Yet in the dark reaches of soil and branch, seeds were preparing for their seasonal debut. In a world filled with desire for instant gratification, we are usually more interested in the finished product than in the preparation. This brings back pleasant memories of my grandmother.

 

Grandma had an orchard that produced about every kind of fruit one could imagine. At harvest time, she would call us each Sunday morning and say, “Come out and get a pie, I have some cooling in the window.”

 

It was so easy just to go and pick up a warm, juicy pie for our dessert. Eventually, as I learned about the process of making those pies, I gained a whole new perspective about them.

 

First, Grandma gathered the fruit from the orchard, peeled and pitted it, if needed, and washed it. Then, in the wee hours of Sunday morning, she would get up, stoke the kitchen stove with wood, mix and roll out the dough, pat it into the pie pans, fill them with a mixture of fruit, sugar, and flour, dot the sweetness with butter, place the top dough over it all, brush each with milk or more butter, and then put the creations in the oven to bake.

 

The precious time she spent in making the pies was the most wonderful ingredient in the gift. Each apple, peach, or raspberry pie (my favorite) was filled with love. When I considered the whole process, the pies became even more delicious in my heart.

 

And it is the same with spring—the preparation is part of the gift. Time is the necessary element in every process of growth; learning to appreciate that makes us savor the end result all the more. Spring is worth the wait.

 

. . .for behold, the winter is past;
    the rain is over and gone.
The flowers appear on the earth,
    the time of singing^[a] has come ~

Song of Solomon 2:11-12

Excerpt from “Seasons in the Garden” – a look at the parallels in our seasons of life and those of nature - www.amzn.com/0996838007

 

 

Two Book Special - Signed copies of both for $29 - includes shipping. Simply email me your request. 

 

 

“Love Letters”

You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all. And you show that you are a letter from

Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

~ 2 Corinthians 3:2-3

Love letters have changed. Once written by hand on fine stationery, now they come in all kinds of digital forms. But one kind of love letter will never go out of style. It’s the one Paul spoke about in his epistle to the Corinthians. “You yourselves are our letter. . .from Christ. . .written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God.”

All people are “letters” of some kind, conveying “messages” to others, expressed in words and deeds. As Christians we are letters too. What do others “read” from our speech and behavior? Do they see us as “love letters” of Christ or something not befitting the love He gave for all people? When we lay claim to Christ, we are making ourselves “known and read by all,” as His representatives. “We are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us.” (2 Corinthians 5:20)

As God’s “living letters,” He is using us to appeal to those who do not know Him, so they will want to know Him too. He’s also appealing to other believers to see Christ’s love living in us, an encouragement in their journey of faith. If we show the love of Christ through the overflow of the Spirit inked in our hearts, we will be “living love letters” to everyone we meet.

Has someone ever been a “love letter” of Christ to you? How can you show what the Spirit has inked on your heart to someone today?

This is an excerpt from my new book - "My Faithbook Messages--Devotions to Like and Share." Here's the link to it; take a look:

http://www.amzn.com/0996838023