One morning at the park, a flock of geese flew in and landed on the pond. Tiny seeds covered the surface of the water that morning, having fallen from the trees overnight. Even as the water pulled the birds to a stop, their beaks were eagerly slurping up the food waiting for them.

I thought about how birds migrate.  When they stop along the way there is something there for them to eat, some water to buoy them, some soft ground to rest. I’ve been learning to rely on God when I can’t see what’s ahead and still acknowledge His grace when I think I can.

God gave the Israelites manna when they were lost in the desert. They were hungry so He dropped food to them from the sky.  God has given me manna throughout my whole life. It’s what some people call “luck”. I learned as a youngster not to say “lucky” in my grandfather’s presence. I’d no sooner get the word out of my mouth and he’d boom, “Not ‘lucky’, you’re blessed! There is no such thing as luck!” I wonder if any of the Israelites shouted how lucky they were when the manna fell.

The geese? They don’t call it luck. I don’t know that they feel blessed either. I believe they simply live each moment in their Maker’s providence.

Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men, for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things. Psalm 107:8-9

I don’t know anyone who has escaped this world unscathed. I certainly haven’t. My experience here on this speck could be fittingly described by the thing itself: fairly well-rounded, magnificent and blue, alone in a multitude but not insignificant.

Blessings, turmoil, support, loss, love, shame, progress, failure, joy, ache, happiness, despair. All the words that make up a life and every other word of “good” and “bad” in between. Mostly good, really, but sometimes my mind becomes imprisoned by the bad. Joe Walsh once put it nicely, I can’t complain but sometimes I still do.

Generally, if I complain it is because I’ve chosen to believe that my life has limitations and constraints that I am powerless to overcome. I might even believe that God can’t (or won’t) do anything about them. And then I’m really stuck. But none of that is true! God has given me tremendous capabilities!  He is also willing and able to increase and enhance them!

Whatever limits I have on me comes down to two things: the ones I have on me—in other words, the false ones I’ve embraced as true, and therefore, stay within their bounds, and the ones that God uses to protect me and my relationship with Him—which aren’t limits at all, they are blessings!  The sky is the limit! There are no chains on me!

For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.  Romans 8:20-21

God is sovereign. That means He has supreme power, He is above all. Psalm 135:6 says: Whatever the LORD pleases, He does, in heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deeps. I wonder what possesses me to think it is good and reasonable to need things to go my own way.

When my children were toddlers they sometimes railed against my wishes for them. Most parents have experienced their youngster hanging from their hand, flopping about on the floor in a delirious fit of defiance and confusion. Sometimes as the mom, I’d squeeze his hand tighter, trying to keep control. Sometimes I let him go to fall on the floor and finish his fit.

I have been that child myself.  Last week.  If I could only take a deep breath and accept that my Father wants to heal my situation, that He will gently take me in a good direction. There would be no need for struggle or loss of balance. Toddlers can’t possibly know all of that though, and even if they did know it on some level, sometimes they are just too tired or sad or hungry and think they just can’t take it one more second.  And me too.

I need only sit down in His light and know that He is, right at that moment, healing me. He is and He will. I will let my Sovereign Lord work and take me to a better place.

But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves. Malachi 4:2

How can I take root and flourish if I am not planted in the right place? I don’t think that I, a child of God, can be healthy and bloom and prosper until I am aligned with Him.

I was pretty lost during my college years. I could blame it on my choice of a major or the type of university I chose or the distance I was from home, but none of these was the problem. The problem was that I didn’t know who I was or what I needed or even what I wanted! I was clueless.

Now, I can clearly see the issue—I did not know who I was in God. I didn’t even know what that meant or what being close to God could create in my life. I just did my best to keep up appearances and do what everyone else around me was doing, none of which felt like what my heart was longing for. I didn’t know how to listen to my heart, or God.  In fact, learning to listen to what is true to my soul has been a lifelong process.

God shows me warning signs when I’m planted in the wrong place.  Life feels meaningless and irrelevant. I become fearful, anxious and confused. I find myself doing things that are in conflict with who I want to be. My spirit wanes. I need the right sun…God’s precious Son. When my face is in His light, good things surround me and I grow in the right direction.

I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.  John 15:5

There were times in the park with God that I wanted to throw up my hands and yell to my Creator. I wanted to sing at the top of my lungs the hymn I was quietly humming. I wanted to praise Him for the morning, for His presence, for an answered prayer. But I did so very quietly and when no one was around.

Sometimes while walking, I dreamed of owning a piece of property in the mountains, so I could run like Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music, singing and talking with God in any manner I felt, at any time of the day or night. Quiet and normalcy is just not enough. Restraint feels odd when acknowledging and adoring of the One Most High.

Why quiet tears of joy and not shouts of acclamation from the top of an oak tree?

Sometimes I see a certain guy at the park who rides his bike while singing along with his tunes for all to hear. Sure, it’s a little strange but still somewhere on the scale of “normalcy” for humans in a park.  But most people walk along quietly, keeping to themselves, hiding behind their earbuds, like I used to do.

There is one woman, though, who walks with an exuberant stride.  She always offers a wide, generous smile as we pass and has a kind word to everyone around her.  One morning I heard a fellow walker greet her and she exclaimed loudly, “Beautiful day, praise God!”  Amen!

Shout with joy to God, all the earth! Sing the glory of his name; make his praise glorious! Psalm 66:1

I like to watch people as they pass up and down the sidewalk in front of my house. Most look straight ahead as they walk, but some people stare at the ground. I’m one of those people. I tend to be a little introverted and circumspect. Plus, I’m always keeping an eye out for a neat heart rock. Sometimes I have to remind myself to look up from my daydreams and see the world around me.

This sounds a little like my spiritual walk with God, too. I believe God wants to take me places. He wants to show me things and use me for His purposes. He didn’t give me this life and everything in it for me to just dwell in things within my comfort zone. It turns out there isn’t much comfort in it anyway. It’s always better to follow God’s lead, while trusting Him to provide the comfort that I need.

Two lousy walking partners have been holding me back: fear and doubt. Perhaps other people have different kinds of lousy walking partners, fear and doubt are mine. They flank me on either side, whispering as we go. Now, that’s going to be uncomfortable…You haven’t got what it takes…What if …You’d better not…But then I look up and God says Come. I go and the others fall away. Focusing on Him, my fears and doubts diminish. They fall behind. He is wondrously ahead.

Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you.              Proverbs 4:25

The Book of Jonah tells the story of a prophet who did not want to deliver a message. God told Jonah to go to Ninevah but Jonah disliked those people and didn’t want to go.  He boarded a ship and took off in another direction, hoping he could avoid God and his purpose.

God sent a violent storm to toss the ship and when the sailors realized that Jonah was responsible for their calamity, they tossed him. Then God provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, where he remained for days, praying and humbling himself. The fish spit him out on dry land and then Jonah obeyed the call of his Lord and went to Ninevah.

Some get hung up on the whole “swallowed by a whale” thing, but I don’t. The Bible says “But the LORD provided a great fish…” God created the universe, He created His prophet Jonah, and He created a way for Jonah to be saved and redirected, so that He could use him to save others. The depth of God’s compassion is boundless in this tiny book.  He held Jonah, the people of Ninevah and the sailors in His great love.  He cared deeply for all of them.

Why would I run from God when I know He is good? Why do I set out on a fruitless, sinful way when God shows me His perfect one? Why must I be swallowed up by troubles before I relent and let God’s love bring me to rest on solid ground?

I will listen to what God the LORD says; he promises peace to his people, his faithful servants— but let them not turn to folly.   Psalm 85:8

My father and I took walks around our neighborhood at night. He shared with me his love of the night sky, the planets and the moon. And when he told me about the stars, he would always say, “There are more stars in the sky than grains of sand on all the world’s beaches.” And he said those words slowly, with awe and wonder. My father didn’t talk too much about God, but that sentence was an epiphany.

If there were more stars than grains of sand, then God was even more amazing than I could ever imagine. God wasn’t a sketch in one of those little paper tracts my friend took from her pockets from time to time, trying to teach me things God did and didn’t want me to do. And God wasn’t just the one I thanked at night for my loved ones and before dinner for my food. He must be so much more if He had created too many stars for me to count…or to see.  An “infinity number” of stars, to my child’s mind, must be created by a God of infinity.

There are many names for God in the Bible. Each one reveals another facet of His greatness: Yahweh Shalom—the Lord is Peace, Jehovah Rapha—The Lord Who Heals You, Yahweh Tsuri—The Lord Is My Rock, Abba—Father, and many more.  The name “El Elyon” means The Lord Most High. God is the highest. He reigns above all. He hung the stars in my night sky. He is my Father, my father’s Father, the highest.

I will praise the LORD according to his righteousness: and will sing praise to the name of the LORD most high.  Psalm 7:17

When I am in agreement with the Holy Spirit, when I listen with my heart and follow with my steps, the fruits of the Spirit become evident in my life. Peace is a fruit of the Holy Spirit.

Peace is often referred to as something people can experience someday in the future when there will be a change in circumstances. But outer circumstances have nothing to do with peace. Peace is something that must reside within and it comes from a relationship with the Holy Spirit. In fact, peace already exists, I need only align myself with it, with Him. I cannot force others to have peace, but I can bring my peace to them.

It is easy to forget that I have a well-spring of peace within me. It happens when something external surprises me and fools me into thinking that I am not safe or loved or good enough. Worry and fear crash in and my thoughts and actions become more about defending or attacking. Those are words of war and conflict, not peace.  I am not vulnerable. I am not a victim. I am with God. He is with me. His Holy Spirit has gifted me with peace in all circumstances.

You will go out with joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Isaiah 55:12

I’ve been a stay-at-home mom for 26 years. My youngest son is now learning to drive, and there will be graduation and college. This season of my life is coming to a close but I won’t speak of turning leaves and falling petals. I won’t imagine winds that carry seeds to other lands. I won’t anticipate the cold.

Anne Morrow Lindbergh wrote in her exquisite book Gift from the Sea, “One tries to cure the signs of growth, to exorcise them, as if they were devils, when really they might be angels of annunciation…a new stage in living when, having shed many of the physical struggles, the worldly ambitions, the material encumbrances of active life, one might be free for growth of mind, heart and talent; free at last for spiritual growth…”

Spiritual growth.  Yes, every stage, every season, every day is spiritual growth with God at my side.

God is not stagnant, neither is His creation and neither are His people. He offers gifts and blessings in every season, like chapters of a magnificent book. I need only to savor and smile, turn the page, savor and smile some more.

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven Ecclesiastes 3:1