Tag Archives: Psalms

Breathing In God’s Presence

Breathing In God’s Presence: Breathe Series, Part 2

by Lydia Floren

I eat fast. Too fast. I’ve mentioned this before 😊. When I eat quickly, I do so for one reason: so that I will no longer feel hungry. I get that. But in order to “experience” a meal (as I think most foodies must do) I’ve learned it is important to slow down. When I do, I can appreciate the tastes that cross my palate, the combination of flavors and textures. And eating slowly gives me the opportunity to enjoy my dinner companions. I have found that when I “dine” like this, the whole experience – delicious and delightful – becomes imprinted in my memory. So, whenever I think about it, it brings a smile to my face.

That is what meditating on God’s word is.

Meditating?

I know, I know. I’m just like you. When I think of meditation, I envision eyes closed, legs crossed, elbows on knees, fingers touching, humming to new-age music. But Christian meditation is far different. It is not emptying the mind but filling it with the truth – and the Presence – of the One God.

When we focus on one or two verses, or even one or two words from the Bible we are able savor the truth offered to us. For example, a few years ago my friend Debra was going through a very difficult time. She told me later that these nine words were her lifeline: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.”

Here are links to some other examples of meditation:

Meditation

Polishing

Christian meditation involves spending some time in solitude and silence, thinking about just a few verses, or part of one verse. When we do this, we experience God’s presence and taste His fruit. And that experience lingers in our memory. Every time it comes to mind, it lifts our hearts and makes us smile.

So take time every day to partake of the rich meal God has set before you. Take a bite, and then another. Relish the food and the conversation. Enjoy the company of The Most Amazing Person in the Universe, the one who knows you best and loves you most.

“My cup overflows.” Psalm 23

I Shall Not Want

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I Shall Not Want

by Lydia Floren

The Lord

Is my Shepherd,

I shall not want.

Next week…

He makes me lie down in green pastures.

[This picture courtesy of Frances Welch, taken in Colorado.]

Keep sharing your thoughts and photos! I will include them as we go. Thank you so much!

The Lord is my Shepherd

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the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want

The Lord is my Shepherd

by Lydia Floren

This week’s blog is the first in of a series of pictoral blogs on Psalm 23. Take a moment to think about this phrase this week. What does it mean for THE lord to be your shepherd? What pictures or scenes make you think of the phrase “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want”?

Snap a picture, or jot a few words down, and share it with the rest of us. It’s easy–simply post it on the Belovedlove Facebook page. (with photos, if you have time include a few words about your photo, such as why you chose it, or where you took it.)

Everyone’s eye is so different, and God speaks to each of us in special ways! Thank you for sharing part of your world with the rest of us!

Lydia

I thank God in all my remembrance of you!

An Invitation

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by Lydia Floren

Pictures are such a big part of our lives, aren’t they? In the last couple of years, I have enjoyed taking pictures, and then pairing them with a saying or verse. I call them “Sunrays” because they shine a little truth into my life. For example, this photo of a lava tunnel (basically, a big hole in a rock) I took in Maui, Hawaii, always speaks to me of how powerful God is. He really can make a way where there is no way.Over the next few weeks, I am planning to post pictures of various scenes (primarily in nature) illustrating phrases from Psalm 23. Would you be willing to help?

An Invitation: Share your photos of Psalm 23 with us!

Take some time to think about Psalm 23 (see below), maybe while spending time out in nature, and/or scrolling through old pictures.
Pick out one or more favorite photos that speak to you in some way about these wonderful words.
And then forward them to me via email, or simply post them on the Belovedlove Facebook page. (If you have time, include a few words about your photo, such as why you chose it, or where you took it.)

I look forward to hearing from you, and seeing a little of your world. And then passing that blessing along to many others.

Thank you! You are such a blessing to me!

Lydia Floren

“I thank God in all of my remembrance of you.”

Psalm 23

“The LORD is my shepherd,  I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures;  He leads me beside quiet waters.
He restores my soul;  He guides me in the paths of righteousness  for His name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,  I fear no evil, for You are with me;  Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil;  my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life,  and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.”

Waking Up With a Smile

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by Lydia Floren

“Father in heaven, when the thought of Thee wakes our hearts, let it not awaken like a frightened bird that flies about in dismay, but like a child waking from its sleep with a heavenly smile.” –Soren Kierkegaard

Our Heavenly Father loves us unconditionally. When we turn to God, we always have a warm welcome. His arms are open wide. We can run into His embrace, and unburden our cares and worries, leaving them at His feet. Once we are settled and at peace, He’ll give us a big hug, tousle our head, and send us on our way with a smile.

Being in God’s presence reassures us that He is with us, and will guide us through whatever difficulty we face.

We can always turn to God with complete trust and confidence.

When I awake, I am still with You. Psalm 139:18

Light In the Shadow

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Light in the Shadow

by Lydia Floren

I am slumped on a chair beside ICU bed #5. I’m trying to catch a few zzz’s after a fitful night on the waiting room couch. My loved one, tethered to her bed by a dozen tubes and wires, miraculously sleeps. The smells, the sounds, are so foreign. And frightening. Yet I nod off…

beep beep beep beep BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP.

“Huh? what’s that??!!”

My eyes fly open, and turn to the bed. A heartbeat traces steadily on the
monitor overhead. Her chest rises and falls, rises and falls. I let out a breath. And then push the call button. After a few minutes the nurse steps in. She glances at her patient, and then moves over to check the IV.

Oh. OK. She’s not concerned. Must be a problem with the IV. OK, good.

“Ma’am, if you will step outside, for a few minutes, I will change the IV out, and clean her up a little bit.” Her eyes smile at me, and somehow her voice does too. I step out.

She’s so compassionate. How does she do that, surrounded day after day out by such anxious, hurting souls?

I walk down the hall. I’m anxious. Hurting. I walk and I wonder, reflecting.

There is a shadow of death in the ICU. It flickers in the eyes of the staff, wafts thru the smell of antiseptic, echos in the clangs of bed adjustments. But whether we realize it or not, we live in this shadow every day.

“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil,”. David said.

Fear no evil? How can that be? It was not because there was lack of evil, or death in David’s world. He felt the evil. he experienced it. Yet it didn’t frighten him. He explains.
.
“For you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”

He did not fear because God was with him, guiding and protecting with His rod and staff.

Christ conquered death. For each of his children, death is not the end, but the transition into a brighter, more beautiful forever, one with no shadows at all. And between here and there, He guides and protects us every minute, with His compassion, His presence, His rod of protection and staff of guidance. Isaiah described Christ’s time on earth this way:

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light, on those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned. Is. 9:2 NIV

Christ is our light, our hope, our life in the shadows of every day. He does not disappoint.

Spring In The North Woods

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by Lydia Floren

Spring is different in the North Woods, more than any other place I have lived. It is greatly anticipated by all who live here (especially a southerner like me) but still arrives unexpectedly.

One day it is winter.

The next day, spring.

Overnight—or so it seems–tulips bravely push past the cold. Green grass peaks through melting snow.

The woods blush with leaf-buds.

And then apple trees blossom.

And lilacs.

Wisconsin spring is beautiful. And brief. Almost in the blink of an eye the flowers fade, the woods unfurl a startling array of greens.

Summer.

Wisconsin summers take my breath away. The days are warm, but not scorching. The grass is a lush carpet, caressing my bare feet. The cool evenings stretch until 9:30 or 10, inviting me to linger on the back porch to watch the dusk settle, feel the breeze, listen to the fading echoes of children at play.

I am ashamed to say that even in summer, I can become inured, and then immune to the season’s magnificence. But the change of seasons in the North woods stops me in my tracks. Every year. Every season. The shifts–winter to spring to summer to fall–shout God’s greatness, His creativeness, His startling sense of beauty.

I can’t help but wonder. And awe. And give thanks, not only for the beauty surrounding me, but for the God who made all of this—who made each of us, His pinnacle creations.

I will give thanks to you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are Your works, and my soul knows it very well.

Happy summer!

It’s Not Just About You

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by Lydia Floren

A while back I wrote a blog It’s not about you or is it? Before we can turn our attention to loving others, we must first accept who we are, recognize our needs, and choose to allow God to meet our needs.

Two key parts of this process are:

Identifying faulty coping mechanisms or ways we have tried to meet these needs in the past.
Replacing these coping mechanisms with constructive habits that will make way for God to move in our lives and meet our needs.

Reminder: We all have needs.

Everyone has a need for food, shelter, but we also have needs that are in some ways deeper, needs for love and affection, a sense of identity and value, and belonging.

Coping mechanisms

And we all have developed habits—or ways of coping—in order to meet those needs. With some of these habits, we rely on ourselves. With others, we expect other people to meet our needs. Here are a few examples of coping mechanisms:

Grabbing what you can when you can: attention, love, stuff. Focusing on what you want, and not what god says you need. Calling wants needs.
Controlling things around you so that you can be comfortable and secure: our environment, relationships, and living by a rigid structure.
Denying that you have needs.
Escaping life by immersing yourself in TV, gaming, social media, alcohol or other means of escape.
Floating along, refusing to take responsibility for your life, your actions, or–even more telling—your inaction.
Expecting others to meet your needs. Relying on other people to make you happy. Assuming that anyone and everyone else’s job is to make you happy.
Assuming that your own happiness, comfort, and success is more important than someone else’s’, or that their happiness is more important than yours.

Replace these coping mechanisms. Living a life guided by God is living a life increasingly free of the faulty habits we have so carefully cultivated. In Psalm 139 David prays:

Search me Oh God, and know my heart. Try me and know my anxious thoughts. And see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way. Psalm 139: 23-24

Here are a few of God’s ways that can replace our coping mechanisms:

Giving. Keep what you will use, and give the rest away.
Letting go. Learning to rely on God to meet your needs and not yourself. The secret of being content in every situation, whether you have much or little.
Accepting your needs, and the importance that they are met.
Facing life, including its hard parts, knowing that you are not alone: God is with you and within you.
Owning your life. Quit playing the victim and accept responsibility, and that your decisions, as well as your indecisions, have consequences.
Releasing expectations. Hope in God, not people. God is the meeter of your needs, not other people. Sometimes He uses people, sometimes He doesn’t. But He often meets your needs in ways you don’t expect.
Recognizing that you are important, and everyone else is, too. Life isn’t a competition, it’s a collaboration.

Our needs are 100% met by Christ. Because of Him, we don’t have to hide, or hang on to anything or any person.

There is enough. There is more than enough. Our cup overflows.

And my God shall supply all of your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Phil 4:19

Once we accept the truth of God’s provision, we can take our eyes off ourselves and give as God would have us give–live as God would have us live.

Share with us: What are you doing to overcome your unhealthy coping mechanisms? How are you making room to let God in?

To Be

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by Lydia Floren

In my last post, I talked about TO-DO lists, and the importance of BE-ing restored every day. That got me thinking: What are some great things to have on a TO BE list?

TO BE:

Be Restored. (see last week’s post for more on this)

“He [The Lord] makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul.” Psalm 23:2-3
Restore to me the joy of Your salvation And sustain me with a willing spirit. Psalm 51:12
I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and your joy may be filled. John 15:11

Be Cherished. You are fully known and completely loved. Not because of what you do, but because of who you are: a precious creation of God’s.

“I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.” Jeremiah 31:3
You have enclosed me behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me. Psalm 139:5
I have called you by name; you are mine. Isaiah 43:1

Be Forgiven. There is no reason at all to keep carrying around regret and guilt and shame. Choose to receive God’s forgiveness, and forgive yourself.

All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the LORD laid on him the sins of us all. Isaiah 53:6
He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west. Psalm 103:12
Blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Romans 4:7

Be Free. Let go of worry, resentment, unforgiveness, expectations for yourself and others, old habits.

Now by “the Lord” is meant the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, freedom is enjoyed. 2 Cor. 3:17
For freedom did Christ set us free: stand fast therefore, and be not entangled again in a yoke of bondage. Galatians 5:1
Don’t judge, and you won’t be judged. Don’t condemn, and you won’t be condemned. Set free, and you will be set free. Luke 6:37
I run in the path of your commandments, for you have set my heart free. Psalm 119:32

Share with us: What’s on your TO Be list?

The Barnacles of Busy-ness

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sunrise_beach Busy-ness is a persistent parasite, like barnacles on a sea shell. Busy-ness attaches itself to my life through “extra” expectations and goals and plans. If I allow these barnacles to grow and multiply, my priorities and my calling become almost unrecognizable. I come to believe that these embellished plans are God’s will for me, and I convince myself that no one but I can accomplish these plans–not even God. My time is consumed by either working on these altered plans, or worrying about them. Gone is my willingness to begin each day in God’s presence, and to seek His guidance throughout my day. There is no time. I must hurry. There is much to do.

Through Psalm 23 my Patient Father, My Shepherd calls me back to reality, to the truth deep within me. He calls me to remember, rest, reflect, restore, and refocus:

REMEMBER:

The Lord gives me plenty–more than enough—of everything I need to do what He calls me to do.

plenty of time.
plenty of resources.
plenty of His love and acceptance and grace.

He has done this before, and He will do it again. And again.

REST: Being still—resting—allows me to…

absorb His presence, and
remember His provision, power, guidance, faithfulness and love.
be strengthened for the day ahead.
step back and see the big picture, instead of being caught up in meaningless minutia.

REFLECT: His quiet waters allow me a safe place to…

see my reflection,
face my recurring tendency to wander, and
re-clarify truth, and recognize what barnacle-lies might be attached to that truth.

RESTORE: He refreshes my soul with…

His grace.
His love and acceptance.
His affirmation of my identity, value, belonging.
His calling for me
- to be loved, and
- to love,
- and to let go of everything else.

REFOCUS: He guides me to…

freedom from the barnacles of busy-ness—those expectations of myself and others that attach themselves to my life, keeping me from seeing and following God’s true plan for me.
increasing understanding of truth, and the exposure of lies I have long believed to be truth.
new ways to love Him, myself, and others who cross my path.

Every day, in hard times and good ones, when I follow the Lord my Shepherd He guides me to Joy— the hallmark of an abundant life.

Do you ever feel like you have collected barnacles of busy-ness? How has God been leading you to joy, and freeing you of the barnacles of busy-ness? We would love to hear from you!

barnacles of busy-ness By Lydia Floren