{"id":2397,"date":"2020-06-14T20:36:56","date_gmt":"2020-06-15T00:36:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/?p=2397"},"modified":"2020-06-14T20:36:58","modified_gmt":"2020-06-15T00:36:58","slug":"smell-the-gardenias","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/?p=2397","title":{"rendered":"Smell the Gardenias"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jesus said to His disciples, \u201cCome away by yourself to a lonely place and rest a while.\u201d (Mark 6:31 NASB)<\/strong><\/span><\/em> I\u2019m trying to build a daily habit of being alone, sitting and listening. Elijah heard the Lord in the sound of a gentle breeze.[1] The Lord is always speaking. I\u2019m to watch and listen.<\/p>\n

What you’re\u00a0 about to read is truth, though I don’t always feel it.<\/p>\n

Delight<\/h3>\n

The Lord is here. Right now. There’s sweetness in His nearness; full joy in His presence.[2] He brings gladness to my hearts more than any worldly bounty.[3] The Lord delights in me.[4] He rejoices over me. I make His heart glad. He exults over me with loud singing.[5] I delight in Him and His love for me.<\/p>\n

Present<\/h3>\n

NOW. Only at this present moment can a feel the wind in my face, smell the gardenias, sip my coffee and hear the fountain flowing. Only NOW can I see the vivid crimson cardinal fly in and perch, only feet away in a tree next to my chair on the deck. Only NOW are my senses active. NOW is a gift, a present. Sometimes I’m absent because my mind is elsewhere. When this happens, I miss out on so much.<\/p>\n

As I go, I\u2019m to watch and listen. God is always at work. I\u2019m to present each person, each opportunity before His throne. May His will be done in every person\u2019s life. May His Kingdom come in every situation.<\/p>\n

Watch and listen. Follow Jesus. He did only what He saw His Father doing,[6] He desired only His Father\u2019s will.[7]<\/p>\n

Lead with Love<\/h3>\n

No matter how I feel, I\u2019m to lead with love. Jesus said, \u201cThis is my command, that you love one another as I have loved you.\u201d (John 15:12 NASB)<\/strong><\/span> Sacrificial love. Considering the needs of others before my own.<\/p>\n

Friends come by. They gladden my hearts. Their little daughter smiles. She smells a gardenia and marvels at the sweetness. But my friend cuts his finger. We\u2019re not sure how bad. We scramble for a turnicid.<\/p>\n

At urgent care. He\u2019s okay. Five stitches.<\/p>\n

The focus on loving our friend, gladdens my heart. Joy emerges when I take my eyes off of me.<\/p>\n

Speaking of loving others, Jesus said, \u201cThese things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.\u201d (John 15:11 NASB)<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>Lord, thank you for Your Word. Today I felt gloomy. Yet, you urged me on. You ushered me into Your truth despite how I felt. Thank you for loving me so much! I really can\u2019t fathom\u00a0 your delight in me. The fact that I make You glad blows my mind. Please teach me to delight on Your love for me. This alone should chases away the difficulties of this world.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Thank you for the gift of your sweet presence. Teach me to always watch and listen. Thank you that our friend is okay.<\/em><\/p>\n

Amen.<\/p>\n

[1] I Kings 19:12<\/p>\n

[2] Psalm 16:11<\/p>\n

[3] Psalm 4:7<\/p>\n

[4] Psalm 149:4a<\/p>\n

[5] Zephaniah 3:17<\/p>\n

[6] John 5:19<\/p>\n

[7] John 5:30<\/p>\n

Joy in the Journey is about the gladness of God’s nearness in the midst of life’s adventures. <\/em><\/p>\n

Subscribe below to get email notifications of new posts. We post a few times a month. Thank you for reading.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>Novels by the Author:<\/p>\n

Beyond Time<\/a><\/p>\n

Hope Remains<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jesus said to His disciples, \u201cCome away by yourself to a lonely place and rest a while.\u201d (Mark 6:31 NASB) <\/p>\n

I\u2019m trying to build a daily habit of being alone, sitting and listening. Elijah heard the Lord in the sound of a gentle breeze.[1] The Lord is always speaking. I\u2019m to watch and listen.<\/p>\n

What you’re about to read is truth, though I don’t always feel it. <\/p>\n

Delight
\nThe Lord is here. Right now. There’s sweetness in His nearness; full joy in His presence.[2] He brings gladness to my hearts more than any worldly bounty.[3] The Lord delights in me.[4] He rejoices over me. I make His heart glad. He exults over me with loud singing.[5] I delight in Him and His love for me.<\/p>\n

Present
\nNow. Only at this present moment can a feel the wind in my face, smell the gardenias, sip my coffee and hear the fountain flowing. Only now can I see the vivid crimson cardinal fly in and perch, only feet away in a tree next to my chair on my deck. Only Now do are my senses active. Now is a gift, a present. Sometimes I’m absent because my mind is elsewhere. When this happens, I miss out on so much.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2405,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1904,1908],"tags":[1916,1906,616,1918,1919,1921,493,1361,312,1914,1206,762,1926,1925,1909,510,44,188,271,1912,1913,7,1712,1924,1907,99,1853,466,1911,307,1910,459,457,634,1923,1922,1920,1915,282],"class_list":["post-2397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-declaring-gods-truth","category-delighting-in-gods-love","tag-cardinal","tag-come-away","tag-delight","tag-elijah","tag-emerging-joy","tag-fan","tag-following-jesus","tag-friend","tag-fullness-of-joy","tag-gardenias","tag-glad","tag-gloomy","tag-god-is-at-work","tag-god-is-here","tag-i-kings-1912","tag-jesus-christ","tag-john-15","tag-john-1511","tag-john-159-12","tag-john-519","tag-john-530","tag-joy","tag-kingdom-of-god","tag-lead-with-love","tag-listen","tag-love","tag-mark-631","tag-present","tag-psalm-1494a","tag-psalm-1611","tag-psaml-47","tag-smell","tag-taste","tag-the-lords-nearness","tag-they-will-be-done","tag-thy-kingdom-come","tag-turnicid","tag-watch-and-listen","tag-zephaniah-317"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2397"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2397\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2410,"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2397\/revisions\/2410"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}