he is like the light of morning at sunrise
    on a cloudless morning,
like the brightness after rain
    that brings grass from the earth.

2 Samuel 23:4

Alrighty then… this is going to be one of those weeks with a lot going on and yet still only seven days available. So it looks like I will be posting a few extra articles in order to keep up.

A common question is, “How do you come up with something new every day?” My response tends to be, “But there is so much I leave out!”

It goes back to one of my recurring observations, another scriptural insight where I have to give Rebekah credit: I try to keep my eyes open; I try to pay attention; I try to stay awake…

“So be wide awake, not asleep like the others. Stay alert and be clearheaded!” (1 Thessalonians 5:6)

Hence this – second – post for today. I was out walking Max, down by the Tar to see if the water is starting to recede (it is), and I caught these lovely views looking upstream, the water flowing toward me and the sunrise flowing my way too.

So this morning our river, usually gray or colorless, was sparkling with gold, silver, yellow, orange, amber, shimmering with the texture of liquid mercury.

My take away is this. It’s true that there may be a lot to see if only we keep our eyes open; but I never would have seen it had I not, first been awake and receptive and paying attention.

I believe it is fairly obvious that God has so much for us to engage and enjoy, every single day. But there is a responsibility at our end, and that is to be alert and to be ready. We cannot see what we are predetermined to miss, what we have already decided is not real – cannot be real.

Jesus said it a lot, in his turnaround of the world’s more common, “Seeing is believing.” The great teacher put things in a new perspective. “Believing,” the Lord insisted, “is seeing.”

So believe, open your eyes, stay awake, be alert, and pay attention. And then, “But this is precisely what is written: God has prepared things for those who love him that no eye has seen, or ear has heard, or that haven’t crossed the mind of any human being” (1 Corinthians 2:8-10).

In anticipation, and joy – DEREK