Calm winds, easy seas, and full sails bring to mind the Message’s paraphrase of Psalm 84:12! All sunshine and sovereign is God, generous in gifts and glory.He doesn’t scrimp with his traveling companions. It’s smooth sailing all the way with God-of-the-Angel-Armies. (MSG) To those who have been through deep waters of hurt and suffering orContinue reading “Calm Winds, Easy Seas, and Full Sails”
Tag Archives: purpose
More Precious than Gold?
In 1923 Robert Frost wrote the short poem “Nothing Gold can Stay”. Nature’s first green is gold,Her hardest hue to hold.Her early leaf’s a flower;But only so an hour.Then leaf subsides to leaf.So Eden sank to grief,So dawn goes down to day.Nothing gold can stay. The poem beautifully but sadly states the ancient lament thatContinue reading “More Precious than Gold?”
Journeying Through the Mist
The day was promising, the forecast favorable. The sun was burning it’s way through lifting fog. All information pointed to a good sailing day. The Captain gave the order. So the sails were hoisted. Decision making is a familiar, daily but complicated process although it may be either instantaneous or prolonged depending on urgency orContinue reading “Journeying Through the Mist”
A Promise for Safe Passage
Someone has said that “A ship is safe in harbor, but that is not where it is meant to be…” Sometimes safety is prudent, and “sticking close to home” is wise when we are unable to fully define the course ahead. However, timidity can be diminishing. Our personal world will not expand until we pushContinue reading “A Promise for Safe Passage”
Unrepeatable History
This photograph suggests there is merit in the adage “History repeats itself.” However, even though the old painting on the wall and the current photo of the man in the window are similar, they are not replicas. In this case, there are not only different men, different flags, and different boats, but technology has intervened.Continue reading “Unrepeatable History”
Blooming
This delicate, beautiful, isolated plant shines brightly in an unlikely environment. Somehow it has managed to grow and blossom mostly unnoticed in unfriendly, non nourishing, stark surroundings. Some people are like that. Despite adversity, lack of opportunity, and restrictive circumstances, they shine. They seize the day and “bloom where they are planted.” But that isContinue reading “Blooming”
Why should I Rejoice and be Glad in this Day?
One day the Psalmist awoke feeling good! With gratitude in his heart and a song on his lips, he lifted his voice in praise: “This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. (Psalm 118:24) That may not have been the attitude of the lobsterman who ownedContinue reading “Why should I Rejoice and be Glad in this Day?”
Christmas Light
A Light in the Storm, Prospect Harbor, Maine Christmas is a season of lights. Flickering candles brighten darkened windows and warm mantels. Artificial lights decorate trees and yards and parks with colorful displays. Brilliantly lit stars are everywhere. The world seems warmer, kinder, and brighter as goodwill, generosity, and cheerful expressions of love reflect theContinue reading “Christmas Light”
Joy All the Time?
Sunset, Sorrento, Maine, We all experience brief times when words cannot do justice to what we internally experience. A breathtaking mountain summit vista, the monotonous crashing of surf, a whip-o-will’s twilight call, a warm fire shared with a friend or book, a beautiful symphony, the weird laughter of loons echoing through a still, dark night,Continue reading “Joy All the Time?”
Change
Most of us no longer work the family farm or commute to work in the mills. Our society is no longer primarily agrarian or industrial. However, a strange, pandemic induced twist has sent many workers back to work on “the farm” where trade tools are now computers rather than hay rakes and garden hoes. SocialContinue reading “Change”