The Power of Seeds and Sacks

"Encourage- the act of inspiring others with renewed courage, spirit, or hope.  When we encourage others, we spur them on, we stimulate and affirm them.  We appreciate what a person does, but we affirm who a person is."-Charles Swindoll, Strengthening Your Grip

As I contemplate seeds to plant for my garden this spring, my mind wandersto the possibilities of being able to plant "seeds" of encouragement or hope in others.  I would buy seeds of Hope, Love, Kindness, Courage, Perseverance, Joy and Faith to "plant" in my family, friends and children I work with. What if we could just open up a head, and pour a few seeds from whichever sack of seeds needed.  I could use some of those seeds myself!  

While this method of planting encouragement is not possible, there are other ways that don't require that much more effort and will produce a big harvest.

One of the easiest ways to encourage others is with our words...a good Mom or teacher, or wife, or friend knows that noticing and speaking to those actions/attributes that are good in a person encourages their growth.  When my youngest son was a little guy, I prayed with him every night, just as with my other kids.  I made sure at the end of our prayers to always thank God for my son's "strong helping and building hands". Those hands may have gotten into some trouble that day, but I wanted to encourage my boy in the ability to help others I saw in him, and that God could use.  Over the years, I've seen his heart and hands develop and he has become a helper and builder... of Godly relationships and of things!

Other than cherished Bible verses that encourage me, I have a small clipping from a magazine that my Mom sent me about 29 years ago.  It has yellowed over the years and is even falling apart, but it always has the power to lift my spirits.  This is what is says: "Life is a strange, two-sided thing.  A dirge to chant or a song to sing.  Nothing adds beauty and harmony to our life and the lives of others more than the power of enthusiasm. "  To the side of the printed words, she simply wrote my name. 

I remember receiving it and thinking, "Wow, I never thought about being an enthusiastic person".  My mom saw something in me that I never even realized.  We each have the power to affirm others in this way.

Sometimes spoken or even written words can be that which help you keep hanging on in the really hard, tough times. The right words can be a lifeline when you're about to give in or give up.  I know in my own life others have encouraged, or put "fresh courage" into me when I was in despair over a situation.  I pray  that God would help us be that encourager to others when they need something to hang on to.  

We recently had an event at the Taste and See Coffee House where we made knotted scarves to remind us that God's word and His promises are the true encouraging words and even the "knots" we need to tie and then hang on to when the going gets rough.  Here are some of my favorite "knot" verses:

"May the Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.-Thessalonians 2:16-17

"Be strong and courageous.  Do not be afraid or terrified..the the Lord your God goes with you'he will never leave you nor forsake you."-Deuteronomy 3:16

"Don't let your hearts be troubled.  Trust in God and trust in me."-John 14:1

"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time, we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."-Galatians 6:9  (Goes along with our seed story!)

"So we're not giving up.  How could we?  Even though, on the outside, it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without His unfolding grace." -2 Corinthians 4:16 (The Message translation)

"May your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord, even as we put our hope in You."-Psalm 33:22

Keep these verses for when you're "at the end of your rope", or share them with someone else .

We also made our scarves (directions follow) and put them in paper sacks..you could make one for someone and stick these verses in the sack as well for someone who needs encouragement.

With Spring Break coming, you may have the chance to plant some seeds of encouragement to younger friends of family members.  Use a brown bag or sack and:

-pack a snack or lunch to have a picnic.  Talk about what God has been doing in their life.

-gather the troops and get some trash bags and start Spring Cleaning with a 100 thing decluttering challenge.  Have them look through their things and you do the same to find 100 things to bag up for donation or the  trash!  Talk about how God is the God of order and creation, not Chaos!

-Go collect a brown bag full of seeds to plant.  Early spring seeds such as lettuce, spinach and some flowers can be planted in potting soil in egg cartons, even in empty egg shells and transplanted outside later.

 Discuss the seed lesson above in that we reap what we sow..if we plant (act) kindness, we get kindness  back usually, or plant seeds of anger, we harvest those.

-make some cookies or snack mix and sack up to deliver to someone along with smiles and kind words

 Share these words with your fellow encouragers:

"We mustn't give up!  We might be the one to communicate hope to someone else, maybe by a gesture, maybe without words.  We must love and pray and hold one another up/"  Mary Crowley

Directions for Knotted Scarves (idea from Michelle's Crafts in Hayward, Wisconsin)

Supplies:  2" in diameter plastic or metal ring and 4 to 5 different yarns. (Note-this can get expensive if you buy new yarns yourself, you may want to go together with friends to each buy a yarn type for this project) Choose yarns of different textures and weights, use some silver or gold or shiny for "bling" if you want.

 Your yarns can be all of one color family or combine several colors.

Cut the yarns into 7 foot lengths. about 4-5 of each yarn type.

Wrap the ring with one of your yarns.  Double each yarn strand and attach to the ring by pulling the ends through the loop of the yarn around the ring. Repeat with each yarn until half the diameter of the ring is full.  Place the scarf around the back of your neck with the ring in front and pull the ends of the scarf through the ring.  To keep the ends of the yarns from unraveling, tie a knot on each stand.

Enjoy and let the knots remind you that God's promises keep us from becoming completely unraveled!  He always gives us fresh courage and hope.

Set Apart

Consecration: defined as to be set apart for a holy or noble purpose.  There can be no doubt as to the function of this building.  It is a church or cathedral with the purpose of worshiping God. Visiting the beautiful old cathedrals leaves one with the impression that people were serious in their intent to "set apart" or to make special their places of worship.  If you have visited the Cathedral of the Plains, you see and feel the results of many families' sacrifices in obtaining wagons of stone for building and in giving hard-earned money to make a very special place to honor God.

As a child, I was blessed to attend church at the old country church my mother's family had attended for many years.  New Hope Methodist Church, while a modest structure, is where I got my first lessons in setting apart something special for God.

Every November finds my Aunt Sue, Aunt Norma and Cousin Martha dishing up the best chicken and noodle dinner you will ever eat at the annual Lord's Acre Sale.  Their cinnamon rolls and bubble bread will bring high dollars at the auction to follow, with the proceeds set apart for the church's mission funds.

This concept intrigued me as a child--do farmers really keep an acre that belongs to God?  Do the crops grow better on that ground?  It was explained to me that the money earned from the crops on that acre, or the sale of some livestock, or the other products made for sale by church members were special and given for the Lord's work.

As an adult, I want to embrace more the idea of consecrating things in my life.
What if I set apart as holy a place in my home to worship, pray and read the Bible daily?  Some people have a place they go to pray, their "prayer closet", set apart for that purpose only.

What if I set aside time for the Lord's service....just like other appointments?  I read a book once in which a lady set aside every Saturday morning to "do the Lord's work".  She took food to those ailing, visited the downtrodden, and tried to encourage or perk up others who needed her attention. Of course,we can be serving others in Jesus' name at anytime. However, setting apart time in our week for service, just as for prayer, Bible study and worship as a deliberate choice  would show we are serious about the idea  of consecration.

I've read of other people who set aside specific times for prayer, they even call others by phone to "call out the names" of friends and loved ones in agreement to God in prayer. A group of my friends and I have done this for years...each Friday morning, when possible, we meet around my dining room table to pray for our families, our schools, church and communities.  As we look back at our prayer lists over the years, it is a testimony to God's love and goodness in how He has answered our prayers. You would think there would be a "holy" glow over the table, but the only "glow" is the dust motes dancing in the sunlight. I still think that table is special, though, as we have gathered around it to lift our prayers to the Lord.

What if I gave God the "first fruits," the first and best of my time and energy instead of giving Him the leftovers?  This is the Old Testament idea that each person owed God their best as sacrifices or offerings, the first of the crop, the best of the new livestock, which is where people got the idea for the Lord's Acre Sale.  This would mean the first of my money, too...to set aside funds for His work first, and adjust my other living expenses after instead of giving what is left.

What if I took God seriously when He said as His child and follower, I was to be consecrated..holy and set apart for His purposes?  I heard a speaker on the radio addressing a new class of students at a seminary.  He reminded them that in the Old Testament times, God had chosen the tribe of Levi to be consecrated, or set apart as the priests for the people.  They were the ones to tend the temple, offer sacrifices and carry the Ark of the Covenant, the special box containing God's word. The speaker told the students that they, too, as followers of Jesus were to be the carriers of God's word to the people.  They were also to carry God's grace.  He said all of us as followers of Jesus should imagine we carry buckets with God's words and grace.  When people bump us, not only physically but "bump" us with different ideas or rude behavior, what splashes onto them from our bucket?

What if I could splash others with His grace and His words?  Only with God's help and the help of the Holy Spirit in me would that be possible...but I could do my part by remembering I am to be "set apart".   Just as with the Levite priests of the past, we have a higher calling, a noble purpose. Memorize His words to be equipped as a "carrier", pray for a mind set of giving grace.

What if...we each made an effort to set some things aside as holy--a place to pray, a time for worship,
prayer and service, part of our money and most importantly our hearts and minds?
What an adventure it is..to see what God will do in us and through us!

Gifts You Can't Take Back

Happy New Year!!!  The tree may be down, the fudge gone, and the gift wrap out in the trash.  You still have some gifts that you may have forgotten about...let's open them and consider how to use them as  you can't take them back!

My Christmas season was different in that we lost my wonderful mother-in-law unexpectedly on December 4th.  Our weeks since have been marked with planning her Celebration of Life, hosting out of town relatives and thanking people for their many acts of kindness.  As we read the many sympathy cards we received, I was struck again by how much even simple things we do matter and leave holes when we're gone.

As I think of the impact we each have in this life we've been given I began cataloging the gifts of God that we can't take back or return. He has graciously given them to us to use on His behalf.

1.  People to love on....  We each have lots of people in our lives that God has put there for us to love for Him.  We don't love them perfectly, but we can keep trying and ask forgiveness when we mess up. This is the most important gift we have!

2.  Time....  Each of us has 24 hours in a day, yet our days are numbered by our Creator.  Live with no regrets.  Jesus tells us that He came to not only give us life, but to give us an abundant life!  He wants us to live fully, trusting in HIm for our protection and provision.

3.  Purpose....  The Bible tells us God made us with a purpose, a special place to fill in this world and even the next!  He made us the way we are because our combination of characteristics is just what He needs to do the jobs or fill the purposes He created us for!

I was talking to a man recently retired and he said, "You know, I used to think it would be great to have lots of free time with no particular claim on it..but that lasted about 3 days.  I felt useless without a purpose." So it is with us...how amazing that God trusts us to do special things in His Kingdom; things He had planned for us even before we were born!

At the beginning of a New Year, I like to evaluate how I'm using these gifts I've been given.  We've been reading the book "Going All In" by Mark Batterson at Lovely Branches and the author is motivating us to really put what we have out there to serve Jesus.  The principles reminded me of another article I read recently in Sound Mind Investing. It amazes me to think of all God has invested in me and what He has entrusted to my care, or stewardship.  The author of this article, Matt Bell, uses The Parable of the Talents from the Bible to illustrate this point.  Remember the story?  The master gives each of three servants some money or talents to keep safe for him while he is gone. Two servants invest the money and earn interest, but one servant is afraid of losing the money so he just buries his.  He gives it safely to the master upon his return but is rebuked as lazy and wicked!  Here's what the article goes on to say:

"God affirmed the two servants who took appropriate risks and multiplied what had been entrusted to them.  In God's economy, we are entrusted and empowered to make something more of what we have been given.  The multiplication is best seen when we use money (or time and energy-my add)
in ways that enable us to fulfill the three overarching purposes of our life:

To love God, love people, and use our God-given talents and passions to make a difference.
These purposes lead to a countercultural way of prioritizing the use of money.  Our culture teaches us to make lifestyle spending our highest financial priority.  Next come debt payments that come from the first spend-first priorities.  If any money is left over, we should save, invest and maybe even give some.

Scripture flips this approach on its head.  It makes clear that God wants us to approach life from an other-centered point of view, which is why He teaches us to make generosity our first financial priority.  (Proverbs 3:9)  He wants us to use His resources to care for the poor (Proverbs 19:17), share the Gospel (Matthew 28:19-20), and help provide for those who teach us His word. (Galatians 6:6)".

Financially, we need to also stay or get out of the bondage of debt, have some savings, invest patiently and THEN use what is left to support our lifestyle.

What a difference in how God wants us to use those things He has entrusted to us compared to what we see and hear in the world.  Even knowing these principles, I have spent too much time, money and energy on lifestyle even though I want it to be pleasing to God.

As we go into 2014, remember the principles of good stewardship:  Invest in others and help the poor, be generous, share the Gospel, and provide for those who teach His Word.  Which is just another way to seek His Kingdom first...and remember the rest?....  All things will be added unto you...an abundant life, with people to love, time, purpose and provision to do God's will with what He has entrusted to you.

Let's get going...there are people to see and love, things to do.  When we turn our priorities upside down, we can turn our world upside down as well!

Use those gifts and Go All In!

Come Let Us Adore Him

Something funny happened in my basement closet as I was getting out Christmas decorations.  I pulled out the handmade manger scene with Mary, Joseph, shepherds, angel and sheep, the usual cast of characters, but when I pulled out the manger, Baby Jesus fell out and was lost in the  bottom of the closet amidst all the other decorations !  As I peered down through all the Christmas clutter trying to find Him, the message became clear:

Don't lose Jesus in all the other Christmas stuff!!!

This season of  His birth should be all about waiting for Him expectantly and rejoicing in His arrival.
Whatever we do to celebrate Christmas  it should be about adoring Him!

Here are my top ten ways to have a simpler Christmas with the focus where it needs to be.
1.  Get our your manger scene and turn a Bible to Luke chapter 2, the story if Jesus' birth.  Give these a place of prominence in your home. You can download free manger scenes that you print out for children to move the characters as you tell the story of Christmas.

2.  Establish the habit of meeting together as a family to do an Advent calendar of activities, or read scripture or Christmas stories each evening of as often as possible.
Our family did this before bedtime, all cuddled up on the couch by the tree.  Even as teens and now  adults they remember fondly the stories I clipped from magazines about selfless acts of service and Christmas miracles and still want to read old favorites.  The Jesus Story Book Bible has a adding for each day, begin at the front and day 24 brings you to the Birth of Jesus, and God's great rescue plan for his people has arrived.
Togetherness is what matters here, as well as refocusing on the reason for the season.

3.  Make your home an inviting place to be...inviting, not perfect, not magazine worthy, not spectacular!
You can decorate with very little..a tree perhaps, or even little trees from the thrift store, or evergreen branches stuck in bottles.  Make handmade ornaments, put out favorites with lights.  Part of the fun is seeing everyone's favorite ornaments again.  We always chose an ornament that reminded us of a milestone in each child's life that year as a present ...a football player, a camper, ballerina, etc.
Shop for decor at your grocery store...put candy canes in mason jars along with other Christmas candy, have a big bowl of red and green apples, a glass container of lemons and  limes.  Have the kids stuff some oranges with whole cloves and place in a bowl with cinnamon sticks and pine comes.  Shop for decor out your door...cut evergreen branches and gather pine cones for displays throughout the house.  Shop your house..use thing in a different way.  Put Christmas bows around stuffed animals in a wagon! Wrap your picture frames. Tie bows around your sofa pillows.  Make a
"Snow village" with branches spray painted white, batting for snow and  Epsom salt snow in mason jars with tea lights, or the snow spread on a tray with candles.

4.  Make your family's favorite cookies and desserts.  We have some cookies we only make at .Christmas...Reindeer Haystacks, which are chow mein noodles and melted chocolate chips and peanut butter.  We do not make fancy cookies and neither should you unless you enjoy that!  We do make a Jesus birthday cake, which I never dreamed would still be requested as it is only a jello poke cake with white cake mix and red and green jello,  Who knew?

5.  Cook ahead and freeze extra for busy days...chili, roast beef sandwiches, lasagna, etc. Have a stash of crackers, chips and dip for unexpected company.

6.  Make your home smell like Christmas whether you bake or not.  Collect peels from oranges and put in a small saucepan on your stove with cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, and some water.  You can reuse this mixture several times.

7.  Keep the grinch of consumerism and commercialism away...or it will steal your Christmas joy! Don't look at magazines, decor and fashions at the mall, or ads that urge you to spend more, and even make you discontent with what you have.  This includes children.

8.  Focus on giving..not "I want, I want".  Have your children make a giving list and an acts of service list as their gift to Jesus!

9.  Have a silent night.  Sit together with just light from candles and of the Christmas tree. Play Christmas music and just ponder  the wonder of Christmas in your heart.  This is the way to truly adore Him!

10.  Do less and enjoy the season more..your family will cherish memories you make together and you can enjoy the season.  For too many years I tried to be the overachieving Mom and hostess, ending  up frazzled and snippy with my family instead of  relaxing and being present in the moment.  I was thinking of the next items on my to do list and playing martyr because I has so much to do...a lot of which really didn't add me that much to our adoration of Jesus.
Let that be the funnel you sift activities through...do they help you worships Jesus and bring your family together or not?

Giving Thanks with a Grateful and Contented Heart

Happy November!  Thanksgiving is right around the corner and I'm getting my quota of pumpkin products made. I enjoy making and eating pumpkin pies, bars, bread, lattes, etc.  While making pumpkin pies, I started thinking about the evaporated milk can, the one with the cows on the front. The company's motto says something about their cows' milk being best because it comes from contented cows.

As I stood at my kitchen window and looked out at a beautiful red maple against a crisp,clear Kansas blue sky I began to ponder contentment and realized that the most thankful hearts come from contented people!
 

Contentment means that we realize we have enough, whether it's food, shelter, clothing, money or other things.  It really means that we are thankful or grateful for what God has done in our lives--with our "lot", so to speak.
 

We are content with where He has put us, with what He has given us to do, with the people He has given us to love and serve, with our talents and abilities and even our shortcomings. When we're truly content, we simply rest and trust because we're not busy trying to tell God what to do to improve our lives!  (Disclaimer-I am a fairly content person, and usually a very thankful one but not always...sigh)

I read once that one of the best acts of thanksgiving is to be content. The Bible specifically tells us  "be content with such things as you have, because He himself (Jesus) has said I will never leave you nor forsake you." Really....What more do we need?  We don't need tons of money, the latest fashions or home furnishings, techno gadget or anything else if we could just grasp the reality of this promise.
 

Sharing our abundance - If we are not content with what we already have, we'll never be content with more...when is enough?  If your home is like mine, we have more space than we use each day. (Except to store extra stuff!)  We have more sets of dishes than we use daily, more clothes than we can wear in a week, more food than we need!!!  I am always convicted to clean out and pass along those things we really don't need.  I've been collecting and culling winter clothes and coats, gloves, scarves to pass along to others.  Get your family involved...it's a great way to demonstrate to everyone how richly you have been blessed. We always cleaned out toys and books with the kids over as we explained that Christmas was coming and they could part with some of their things so other children could use and enjoy them.  Sam Levenson, a comic and educator whose immigrant family lived in the city tenements, tells that his mama had a box for the poor.  Even though they were the poor, they felt richer when they put some pennies in the poor box.  Clean out your pantry and pass along extras to your community food bank. (Check expiration dates first.) Help serve or donate food for holiday meals.  We all have something to give!

Sharing your home and hospitality -You don't need to create a perfect Norman Rockwell Thanksgiving feast for family and friends to make the day memorable.   Simplify meals if you're entertaining, plan and cook ahead...the freezer and crock pot are your friends!

Keep an emergency stash of snacks, cookies, or even soup/chili you can pull out in a hurry for unexpected company.  Even prepare for the very real but unwelcome possibility that your plans may be thwarted by the flu or weather and be ready with an alternate "feast" of chicken noodle soup or clear liquids.  (My youngest son was 5 years old before he attended an extended family Thanksgiving as we had a run of illness those years!)

Remember that "less is more" in menu planning and decorating.  Pour some popcorn into some mason jars with candles on top, or gather some nuts, leaves and pumpkins or gourds for a natural grouping.

Have a cider/hot cocoa bar, apple slices with caramel dip and popcorn for easy snacks.

Plan a family walk, football game, movie time or even look at old pictures and share times past.  

Use paper plates for some meals or choose whatever shortcuts will help you relax and et to be part of the fun.  The less you are stressed about entertaining, the more everyone around you will enjoy the day.

Share you heart...your gratitude and contentment - Look for ways to express your thanks and to let others share as well...a thankfulness journal, lists at each place at the table, leaves on a tree, etc.  The more we find to be thankful for, the more we see how mightily God has worked in our lives and the more we will be content to let Him be God and trust in His care for us.  

And last, but not least, lead those you are thankful with in a rousing chorus of "Come Ye Thankful People Come" or "Count Your Blessings".  As that song goes, it really is amazing to see what God has done!

Put Your Hands Together

Hands On Experiences
I've been thinking about "Hands" a lot this month.  Our hands are pretty incredible instruments or tools.  I do not have lovely, graceful hands.  I got the short stubby finger gene and playing piano was a real "reach" for my fingers, if you'll pardon the pun.  However, I come from a long line of do-it-yourselfers who rely on our hands, to make life better.  I did have an ancestor who probably had lovely white hands and lived in her English manor, but insisted on marrying a  mere clerk and setting off for America in the 1840's. Instead of ringing the bell and asking the maid to remove the tea things, she found herself in the wilds of central Missouri doing everything for her family "by hand".
I started thinking of what capable hands the women (and men) of my family have had:  their hands have built homes, cleaned homes, killed chickens, plucked feathers, made the chicken into dinner and sewed pillows using the feathers, made quilts and clothes, knitted many articles, turned pages of the Bible and taught children how to read books, soothed fussy babies, smoothed hair or troubled faces, arranged flowers, set lovely tables, refinished furniture, painted and papered walls, driven cars, trucks and tractors, operated telephone switchboards, made jams and jellies, canned food for families, corrected an errant child, hugged and loved on the same errant child, washed dishes, planted gardens, bottle fed calves, pounded gavels at meetings, taken food to the needy and any other task needed to keep their families and communities safe and growing.  I realize all our pioneer ancestors had to do these things, but my family still does!
I do a lot of those same things and try to maintain the "handy" legacy.  My daughter got married this summer and it was a handmade wedding.  I sewed 2 wedding dresses, just to make sure I got one right--she was not at home so she then chose the one she wanted!  We made silk flower arrangements and decorations by hand, stirred up 24 dozen brownies for the reception, cut wildflowers from our garden for the tables.  Her friends and our family also helped wash fruit, curl hair and do makeup, play violins, throw wheat at the happy couple and cleanup afterward.
It was a beautiful wedding and fun time thanks to "many hands making light work!"
  We use our hands in many ways to bless others...and God designed our hands and us for this reason!
Our hands also tell a story..my hands are covered with age spots from too much tractor driving even though I wore gloves, and some dirt under my nails from time to time testifies to my time in my garden.  Right now they have black spray paint remnants from a project and the real kicker is that I am wearing an ace wrap on my left hand!
I have gained a new appreciation for hands, being as I am "short handed" right now.  It is really slowing me down as I use my left hand a lot more than I realized and it hurts now to use it for some things.  I have a new empathy for the many people who have arthritis or have lost the use of their hand(s) for some reason.

Lift up your hands...even if I'm unable to do something right now, or can't always be available to "lend a hand", I can always lift my hands in praise to our Father God who does all things well.  The most important thing I can do for my family or anyone I want to help is to pray.  I can bless others with my hands but God can bless others through my prayers and supply those things I can not, which brings us to:

Hands Off!
         I've been attending the Bible study, Seated, mentioned in our Lovely Branches website and learned something that I'm still trying to grasp.  Sometimes God wants me to just sit down and rest in Him, trust in Him and even sit on my hands..in other words, let go and let Him work in a situation.  He does not need my help nor is it even help if I try to "fix" things when He is the one with the plan and ability to do whatever is needed.  Actually, I ought to get out of the way! Well, this was disconcerting news to a "Martha", a do-it-yourself type such as myself.  How freeing though and a little scary. It turns out that everything does not pivot on my ability to fix things...thank goodness and thank God!!  I can trust Him to work and do those things I can not.
Give yourself a hand-
There are things we can be doing to help ourselves and our families, though. The holidays are coming up.  Now is the time to think about expectations and alternatives.  If you want to simplify things or change how you give thanks and how your family celebrates the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, now is the time to start talking and planning.
Do some fall cleaning and get rid of outgrown clothes or extra knickknacks. Put some casseroles or chili in the freezer for later.  Sip some cider, collect some leaves, carve a pumpkin or make some pumpkin bars.  Rejoice in the things your hands can do!  And praise, pray and give thanks to our Heavenly Father who has us all in His hands.