This "Branch" is going "Down the Shore"

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This "Branch" is going "Down the Shore"

From my very first year of blogging and just about every year since (sometimes several times in a year) … I’ve been blogging my journeys to my “happy place”…the Jersey Shore.

This blogpost is a trip into yesteryear — one of my early Jersey shore blogs, Aug 2016.

And actually today, we are again on our way to that favorite place on earth for me. It’s not just the ocean that calls me. It’s my roots — the precious loved ones (family and friends) and memories of my growing up years. So off we go for another adventure…

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Friends of God: "Be Thou My Vision"

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Friends of God: "Be Thou My Vision"

For years this hymn has been my go to song…from the time I was “in the convent” back in the late 1960’s to this very day no matter my Christian context. And recently it has been my morning song as I awaken the dawn walking in my area — even as the darkness is departing and my neighborhood owl is singing out the final hoo-hoo of his “day.”

And so I sing…even aloud…despite the high school young people passing me by on their way to the bus stop, wondering about this weird, white haired woman softly singing. I love the focus. I love the plaintive melody. I love my indwelling God who draws me toward thoughts of HIM Alone. And I love the story behind the song…

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A Final Benediction -- Worshipping the ONE

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A Final Benediction -- Worshipping the ONE

Thank you, dear readers, for following along with us through these beautiful blessings and benedictions. We have only scratched the surface of the treasury of scripture blessings.

I would like to end our series with a benediction hymn that leaves me speechless… truly. I feel I must lay flat on my face before our Almighty, Glorious God. The hymn is Immortal, Invisible by William Chalmer Smith. We rarely sing this hymn these days. But we did sing it in our church just a few weeks ago. I was transported to “the Throne.”

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A Family Blessing -- Singing Together

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A Family Blessing -- Singing Together

The Lord bless you, and keep you;
The Lord cause His face to shine on you, …
God loves families. He has placed each of us in our family at our birth. If we are adopted or marry, we gain another family. And so, we belong to each other.

God blesses families. Our human family is a picture of the family of God. In His family, we belong to each other, and we need each other.

This was especially true during the recent worldwide pandemic. During the quarantine, we were amazed how people across the miles connected with one another in many ways. We needed to “be together.”

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A Benediction at Sunset ... Remembering with Gratitude

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A Benediction at Sunset ... Remembering with Gratitude

Sunrise, sunset
Sunrise, sunset
Swiftly flow the days ...

So goes the beautiful wedding song from the movie, Fiddler on the Roof. And so go our days, don’t they? One day follows another – sunrise, sunset.

And so has followed the days of our Gulf Shores family vacation — from early morning sunrises together to all of a sudden a final sunset.

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A Blessing for Aging ... Trusting and Flourishing

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A Blessing for Aging ... Trusting and Flourishing

Aging is hard. When we are young, aged people are often “invisible.” Life is so busy for parents of growing families, adults who are building careers, even middle aged people who are young enough to travel and serve. They all have “big, busy lives.”

As we get older, our lives can get smaller. Our capacity shrinks and much of our time, attention, and energies are absorbed by health issues. Life gets hard and can feel hopeless.

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A Mother's Blessing ... Speaking Truth Over Your Children

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A Mother's Blessing ... Speaking Truth Over Your Children

My husband John and I are currently on a long car trip. In the midst of it, we find ourselves heading to a beloved place — Tucson, Arizona. John is an Arizona “native son,” and Tucson is the home of our Alma Mater, the University of Arizona (Go! Wildcats!). Also back in the 1950’s, Tucson was my family home. So Tucson truly is special to us.

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A JOYful Benediction -- Catching the Wave of Abandonment

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A JOYful Benediction -- Catching the Wave of Abandonment

Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away
and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault….

Several years ago, we were at Bethany Beach, Delaware with our daughter and son-in-law and their three amazing boys. It was a hot one . . . NO, a scorcher. …

It made me think of this entry from Penny Mandeville’s and my manuscript, Glory in Disguise: Experiencing God in our Every Day. This is the wave that is always available to us.

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