“Open up my eyes in wonder
And show me who You are.”
~ Housefire, “Build My Life”

I should have posted a note last week here that said, “Gone Hiking.” My husband decided to take some time off work – and he wanted to hike – so instead of working with the blog and its community, I went hiking. My Forever Man’s idea of a vacation and mine can be different sometimes, but even in the contrast of how we each depressurize – God knows what each of us needs and in the giving and taking of marriage. Yes, God knows the needs, and and when we are selfless with each other, God gifts us blessings in ways that speak to our souls.

God blesses me with I call Love Letters He leaves me in the walk. The last time we’d hike the South Cumberland State Park Trail, God’s message was that He makes a path through the broken places. As I walked through all the trees that had fallen and were broken up to make a way through the path, He seemed to say, “The lesson is different today. Today, I want yo to pay attention to the little things. I know you’re here for The Big Show – the waterfall – but that’s not where you will find the blessings I’ve left for you, today.

I turned my attention to the little things, finding tiny mushrooms with their caps already eaten, wild rhododendron petals floating near the cascades , spider webs woven for catching dinner, the snap, crackle and pop of tiny critters foraging for breakfast beneath the fallen leaves, and the stomping hooves of a deer’s grazing interrupted, the darting Blue May Fly, little openings to little homes of all those who live in The Wild Woods.

I’ve learned to let go of what I’m wanting to see or what habitual expectations lead me to see because I know God has something more satisfying, more needful to my soul. Last week’s path was familiar as was the message I’d found there before, but He wanted my eyes opened to something other than what I’d already seen or learned before.

Yeah – it was in The Great Big Beautiful Outdoors – and mid-way through the journey would be a waterfall. But it’s not just there in a Gone-Hiking Holiday,” that He wants me to find His message, His blessing, More of Him. He wants me to open my eyes to find every note, every blessing in the everyday ordinary daily: in The Grocer’s Aisle between the bottles of Summer Savory and the hamburger buns, on the road to run errands between the stop-lights and the car moving 10 miles below the speed limit, in between The Kitchen Battle between Summer Ants and The Catch-My-Breath Moments.

My husband finds God in the science of a hike – the rope-like fossilized root that seemed to still be winding through the rock below the overhang as though its roots were still alive reaching for the water, the history of the landscape, the holes for birdhouses high in the limestone. He hears God in the knock of the woodpeckers, the coo of a dove, in the croak of a frog.

“Do you realize we’re walking on the overhang?” he said. “Just think of the weight with all the trees, the massive rock.”

“Let’s not jump,” I said, visualizing jumping up and down in an elevator, but instead of the elevator crashing down, the overhead crashes down. That’s what would happen in an old Road-Runner cartoon probably. My husband marvels at what God does in nature. He’s a science guy who opens my eyes to detail I would overlook, detail the very un-science-minded me would rarely consider.

We both find God in the hike – but we go about it differently, see His handiwork differently, and it blesses each of us differently. How effortlessly, God creates individualized lesson plans for each of us! He’s a good! Good Teacher! He teaches at our own pace, opening our soul eyes more and more to who He is.

Yet, I want to see more. I want to see what Elisha’s servant saw.

“When the servant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was all around the city. And the servant said, ‘Alas, my master! What shall we do?’ He said, ‘Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Then Elisha prayed and said, ‘O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.’ So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha ” ~ 2 Kings 6: 15-17.

Yet, we both need for our soul eyes to see more of God, to learn more of God. Every day doesn’t feel like a joy-hike to discover more of God or His blessings. There are challenges – big and little – not just in our individual selves, but our families, too. Challenges in our community. Challenges in our country – World Challenges. Just listening to the news can overwhelm a soul.

“Elisha prayed and said, ‘O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.” ~ 2 Kings 6: 17a

Yes, I want to find the love letter, the blessings He gives me in the day – but if there’s more for me to see of God and His kingdom, then I want to see it, too.

Yet, to see chariots and Angel armies, I need to first learn how to see the little things He leaves me, to read the messages He sends me in the daily blessings. It’s not just about finding the little blessings, though, friends. It’s about seeing the over-looked, the unnoticed, the lost – those the world considers little, but God considers His – it’s about seeing and acting with intentionality to love those that are His – that I see between the Summer Savory and the hamburger buns, the slow car between my destination and my impatience, between my coffee order and pick up, between every Hello-moment and Have-a-Nice Day parting whether it’s at church, hobby lobby, to a mom you’ve not met before at the playground while the kiddos or grandkids are playing, or someone sitting at your kitchen counter (not to be confused with a six-leg critter).

I must learn to be faithful over a little before He trusts me to be faithful over much (Matthew 25:21).

So today, I pray that He open my eyes that I may see more of Him, to know more of Him. I pray that I am faithful and responsible over the little He gives me and that one day my eyes may be opened as the servant of Elisha’s eyes were opened .

 “The more God opens our eyes the more wonders we see in the word of God, which we saw not before” ~ Matthew Henry on Psalm 119:18.

Remember Me Monday: #44 & Linky

“I’ll make a list of God’s gracious dealings,
    all the things God has done that need praising,
All the generous bounties of God,
    his great goodness to the family of Israel—
Compassion lavished,
    love extravagant.”
~ Isaiah 63:7, The Message

In the Old Testament, God repeatedly, quietly and loudly, tells his children, “You have forgotten me!”  (Jeremiah 3:32, Ezekiel 22:12, to name a few). It’s a heart cry from a father to a child who has forgotten all the love, all the saving, helping, little and big blessings – and it leaves me stunned when I realize our Father, the creator of the universe, who knows things I cannot begin to fathom, who authors storylines that leave me amazed, delights in all of us so much, He cries out, “Remember Me.”

While every day is a Remember God Day, I am inviting you to join me on Monday mornings to come by and remember what God has done for you, for your family. Maybe God sent a cardinal darting out in front of you, as if to tell you, “I’m here,” or broke a child’s fever after you laid it all down at His feet in a 2 a.m. bedside vigil. Maybe He stood with you in the wait of a prayer sent out, or brought someone you loved to Christ. Maybe He healed your broken heart, gave your courage, or you gave Him your dreams as a love offering only to have Him give them back in an unimaginable way. Maybe God helped you survive to bedtime after a crazy Monday, or forgive yourself for missing it with your kiddos –– Whatever it is, let’s Remember Him. . . in a “Remember Me Monday” love letter.

“My mouth will tell of your righteousness,
Of your salvation all the day long,
Though I know not its measure.
I will come and proclaim your mighty acts, O Sovereign Lord”
~ Psalm 71:15-16.

Let us delight in Him by telling the  stories of what He’s done!  If you wrote a blog post remembering what He’s done for you, join the linky. If you didn’t but still want to praise Him for what He’s done – write it in the comment section. Then visit a comment before or after yours! One of the beautiful things about the blogging community is the relationships it builds!

Rules?  Write long or short, a list or a story, include photos or not. Just Remember Him and what He has done, and let the gratitude of your heart guide you. Let’s make Monday so Rejoice, that the goodness of God spills into the rest of the week!

Places I’m Linking at This Week:
 Inspire Me Monday,   Instaencouragements, 
Legacy Link-Up, Recharge Wednesday
 Faith on Fire, Tell His Story, Grace&Truth
Let’s Have Coffee Wednesday