Prayers and Thoughts

for Reflection

Lenton Devotional

2008

March 20

Nature is man’s religious book, with lessons for every day.

Theodore Parker

Trees suspended in mid-air do not bear fruit.  They are rooted.  As one contemplates the endless moral struggle of mankind through the centuries, he is assured that man’s moral effort is rooted and grounded in his faith in God.  One feels that to lose faith in God is to deprive morality of its cosmic significance.  In time it will be no longer compelling.  Like the tree pulled out of the soil, it will die because it is not grounded.

Harold Cooke Phillips

As I hold the flower in my hand and think of trying to describe it, I realize how poor a creature I am, how impotent are words in the presence of such perfection.

Celia Thaxter

God writes the Gospel not in the Bible alone, but also on trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars.

Martin Luther

If you doubt there is a God, look deep into a rose;

See the velvet petals from the folded bud unclose;

Note the tint and texture and the lovely coloring;

Feel the softness of the petal, breathe the fragrant scent;

Need you waste another thought on further argument?

Here is proof of a Creator: God made manifest;

In this little rose we see divinity expressed.

Patience Strong

Nature is the living, visible garment of God.

Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants. I will proclaim the name of the Lord.

Deuteronomy 32:2 - 3

Remain in me, and I will remain in you.  No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine.  Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in the vine.  Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.  I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

John 15:4 –5

The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.
Isaiah 58:11

Dear Lord, Thank you for the promise of Your word. Thank you for the gift of your world - for landscapes and seasons, mountains and valleys, trees and flowers, streams and oceans. Thank you for the seasons of our lives.   Help me to plant a new seed in my life and to become a fresh flower and to be a warm sunshine to those in my life, those I will meet, my family, friends and to myself.  Amen.