WATER: Lenten Devotion Day 29

Lenten Devotion Day 29

WATER

"I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; 

I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

Matthew 3:11

On my morning walk I came across a weeping tree. Ok, not a real weeping tree but I could not help but notice that of all the trees that surround my home there was only one tree that had water dripping off of it. Being the curious sort, I went in for a closer look. (The picture doesn't do justice but that white dot in the middle is a water droplet). After a few puzzling moments of trying to determine why this one tree was weeping it finally hit me. As I looked around I noticed the way the grass and fallen leaves were sparkling in the morning sun - frost. All around me was an icy glaze shimmering in the rising light. The sun was just peaking over the top of the church and hitting the yard...and the weeping tree.

Of course, I realized then that the sun was simply melting the frost that had formed on the tree and now that it was warming up it was beginning to melt. Soon, other trees would be sparkling with water droplets on their branches and all the earth would look bedazzled in silvery splendor. 

There are mornings, like this one, in which it is clear that the entire purpose of the earth is to serve as a witness to the glory of God. As I walked and felt myself warmed by the rising sun I began to think again about that tree. Isn't it just like God to provide such a beautiful and simple reminder of what life in Christ is like. 

That icy tree transformed under the ray of the rising sun...as it warmed, the ice melted, and water formed that now drips down and baptizes the earth, the flowers and the insects below it so that they too understand provision, love, fruitfulness and life. 

Isn't that was Christ has done for each of us? Under the ray of the Risen Son we are transformed so that our cold, hard hearts melt.The icy ways of this world begin to sparkle in the light of Christ and soon the Baptism waters are dripping from our hands, our heads, and our hearts. 

WATER

Dripping

flowing from the Son's warm light

WATER

SPIRIT: Lenten Devotion Day 10

Lenten Photo Devotion: Day 10

SPIRIT

Then he took a deep breath and breathed into them. "Receive the Holy Spirit," 

John 20:22

My family had a favorite vacation spot when I was growing up. The gorgeous Jekyll Island off the coast of Brunswick, GA. Even as a child I was in awe of her trees. Inland and on the marsh side of the Island there are towering Live Oaks covered in Spanish Moss and Resurrection Ferns. It was, however, the trees along the ocean side that fascinated me the most. As you can see in the above picture, these trees are shaped by the constant flow of wind coming in off of the Atlantic Ocean. Even on the stillest of days these trees appear to be bent under the high wind of a hurricane.

Today, as I reflect on God's Spirit I am reminded that scripture often speaks of the Holy Spirit being breathed into us or onto us. As the sound of a mighty rushing wind the Holy Spirit is said to fall upon us and we are transformed - bent to a new way of being or of living. Filled with the Holy Spirit we are drawn closer to God and (in good Wesleyan terms) closer to perfection.

As we journey into Lent let us desire to be like these trees: Let our lives show signs of a constant blowing of the Holy Spirit upon us. May we be shaped and transformed in ways that show God's constant movement and breath upon us. 

Come, 

Holy Spirit,

Come