Devotionals

“We have no waters to delightOur broad and brookless vales —Only the dewpond on the heightUnfed, that never fails,Whereby no tattered herbage tellsWhich way the season flies —Only our close-bit thyme that smellsLike dawn in Paradise.”~Rudyard Kipling~ Kipling’s poem “Sussex” weaves its meters around man’s tendencies to remember the land and habits where we were… Continue reading Thyme

“He from his lass him lavender hath sent,Showing her love, and doth requital crave;Him rosemary his sweetheart, whose intentIs that he her should in remembrance have.”Michael Drayton, Pastorals “Then Mary took a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house… Continue reading Lavender

“The Basil plant is gods abodeTrinity’s blessings in it endowedBlessed is the place where it growsAir purifies where its fragrance flows.”~C.P. Sharma~      My first experience with planting basil was of the globe variety. My mom had let me begin transforming our childhood sandbox into an herb garden, and with a plentiful supply of organic… Continue reading Basil

“Let my prayer be set before you as incense,the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.”Psalm 141:2      While I didn’t grow up in a church culture that burned incense as a ritual in prayer and worship, I have experimented with it as a household fragrance. After installing new carpet for a home… Continue reading Sage

“There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance,Pray you love, remember.”Shakespeare, Hamlet “God…uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ…”2 Corinthians 2:14-15 My first job off the family dairy farm was at “Sugar ‘N Spice” in Chetek, Wisconsin. It was a wholesale spice supply… Continue reading Rosemary

Cultivate, Kinetic Worship https://open.spotify.com/track/3Dvoip1pHnri5uBDb5uQvJ?si=3RFLbEjrQ3e6YBeGZFObsQ “If God gives you something that you can do, why in God’s name wouldn’t you do it?” ~Stephen King, ‘On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft’~ “Make us more like YouCultivate a heart that’s new, LordMake us more like YouEvery day we surrender our lives unto You”~from “Cultivate” by Kinetic Worship~… Continue reading Cultivating Your Craft

https://youtu.be/NwqTvmpnKeE “I had thought I was growing my garden,when actually my garden was growing me.Teaching me.Making me wiser.”Emilie BarnesTime Began in a Garden Now the Lord God had planted a garden.Gen. 2:8 …He did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited.Is. 45:18“In the rustling grass I hear Him pass,He speaks… Continue reading Planted

https://youtu.be/3PdXmvMTyx0 “How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord Almighty! My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.” Psalm 84:1-2 “Man is a hungry being. But he is hungry for God.” Alexander Schmemann, For the Life of the World “Everyone…hungers for something.… Continue reading Hunger

https://youtu.be/xrAdbH28gIg He that follows me shall not walk in darkness.John 8:12 “Even though I walk through the darkest valley….”Psalm 23:4 It’s like waiting for a miracle. Hands dig in the dirt, uproot the weeds, fingers feel around in the cool darkness, ensuring that the seed will have a nice bed to rest in. Place the… Continue reading Dark

https://youtu.be/QZW4_8_zCBE And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. 1 Peter 3:10 If you will not believe, surely you shall not be established. Isaiah 7:9 Embedded in the Old Testament is the… Continue reading Established