The LORD is My Shepherd

I'm scheduled to have surgery on my right hip tomorrow. Instead of thinking about things that could go terribly wrong, I'm choosing to reassure myself, as David did centuries ago, by reminding myself that the LORD is my shepherd. He is the one who guards me, cares for me, provides for me.... I will trust Him to be with me and to provide all I need during the surgery and during the months of recovery. 

Since He has faithfully tended me all my life, why would I doubt Him now? 

My Shepherd

Cared for by the Good Shepherd!

Follow!

Photo taken Nov. 2017 at Bellingrath Gardens in Alabama.

One recent morning, I woke up with the song, Rise Up, Shepherd, and Follow, playing in my mind, like a musical CD set on repeat. As I listened to those words, I thought about the practical aspects of what "rise up and follow" meant for me:

• Get up out of my warm, comfortable bed (even though I felt reluctant to do so) and begin the tasks I didn’t particularly want to do or feel competent to do.

• Learn more about Jesus and try to follow His example and keep His commandments. I do the “learning” part reasonably well. For example, I listen to Max MacLean read from the New International Version Bible (via the YouVersion app on my phone). I read and study God’s Word. I read books and commentaries written by other Christians. I discuss insights with other Christians, etc. But I find the “following His example and keeping His commandments” far more difficult to do, despite the subject/skill.

• Become a mentee, eager to learn from my Mentor, my Teacher, Who says in Matthew 11:28-30, NKJV:

Come to Me, 

all you who labor 

and are heavy laden, 

and I will give you rest.

Take My yoke upon you 

and learn from Me,

 for I am gentle 

and lowly in heart, 

and you will find rest 

for your souls.

For My yoke is easy 

and My burden is light.

That invitation is so wonderful that I can hardly believe it’s meant for me--and for you, too! But He does invite us, imperfect and inept though we are, to follow Him: to go wherever He goes, to listen and learn from all He does and says, to converse with Him as easily as with a dear friend, to consult with Him about matters both great and small….

In order to follow Him, you and I may have to eliminate some current activities and/or greatly reduce time spent on them. Although that will be difficult to do, it will be exhilarating to stay in close contact with Him at all times and to simply be and do whatever He says.

To listen to two different arrangements of that song, click here and here.

Psalm 23

One of several Scriptures

engraved on various types and sizes of stones 

placed in 

The Guido Gardens in Metter, Georgia.

Too Fast

Ultimately, every problem I see 

in every person I know 

is a problem of moving too fast 

for too long 

in too many aspects of life. 

Every problem.

~Pastor Brady Boyd

Addicted to Busy: Recovery for the Rushed Soul

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.

~David

Psalm 23:1-3, New American Standard Bible

The Blessed Life

A member of the camera club volunteered to provide transportation to the site of an upcoming photography shoot. So, a week or so before the group was to go there, I said to him, “Since you’re kind enough to do the driving, why don’t you choose the time you want to leave and get back?”

In that easygoing, polite manner of his, he said, “No. You tell me when you want to leave and when you want to come home, and I will get you there.”

During the three-hour trip to the gardens, he talked briefly about the highly stressful job he had retired from. With a slow grin, he said, “That’s why I try not to make too many decisions now.”

Even the heavy traffic in Atlanta didn’t appear to stress him. He stayed relaxed and kept the conversation going. Throughout the day, he remained calm, unhurried, accommodating of the group’s needs—and grinning, as if he knew a wonderful secret. As I observed his attitudes and actions, I thought, The phrase ‘No hurry. No worry’ describes him perfectly!

When, a few months later, I found the following quote in the Jan. 14^th devotional reading in Streams in the Desert, I thought of him--and others who seem so at peace as they go through life, no matter how stressful it becomes.

“This is the blessed life—not anxious to see far down the road nor overly concerned about the next step, not eager to choose the path nor weighted down with the heavy responsibilities of the future, but quietly following the Shepherd, one step at a time.”

Indeed, “the blessed life” is that of a calm and quiet spirit that lets the Shepherd choose the path and then meekly follows Him, wherever He leads, one step at a time.