I pray that the eyes of your heart will have enough light to see what is the hope of God’s call, what is the richness of God’s glorious inheritance among believers. – Ephesians 1:18

Sometimes, finishing off a few hours of yard work, the afternoon sun splashes on the house and the trees just perfectly and I find myself grateful all over again for the glorious setting in which we live (“glorious”, btw, is an Maul family inside word; my dad used to use it on vacation when we would pull off the road to have a picnic or make a cup of tea: “Isn’t this is a glorious spot for some tea…?”).

Anyway, we live in a glorious spot in our cul-de-sac. And even though we have essentially no grass, and there is so much serious gardening that needs to be done, and there is various disrepair going on I believe we are so very rich in all the ways that matter.

Where have all the trees gone?

I have been observing some of the latest development around Wake Forest and I am honestly concerned that we’re going to have to call this town just plan “Wake” before long. If there is any sort of commitment in our town to manage deforestation then I certainly don’t see it.

How hard would it be to plat out the land, rough in where the roads are going to be, then leave a minimum of 50% of the old trees in place?

If we ever do move away and sell our home the shade alone is going to put our neighborhood in a league of its own.

Once again, I want to stress that words like “rich” and “wonder” and “miracle” and “blessed” and “grateful” may all be very subjective terms, but they point to an objective reality.

Miracles for the seeing:

It’s like my friend in Pensacola who kept a journal of all these gifts. “How does she manage to have such continual and real encounters with God?” someone asked. “The clue is on the cover of her notebook,” I responded; “where she has written the title, ‘Miracles I have experienced’.”

She had her eyes open and her heart primed for miracles. Of course she was going to experience them.

I like the way The Passion Translation phrases Ephesians 1:18: “I pray that the light of God will illuminate the eyes of your imagination, flooding you with light.”

That all of our eyes may be flooded with light – DEREK