The Goodness of the Lord, In the Land of the Living

I would have lost heart, unless I had believed

That I would see the goodness of the Lord

In the land of the living.

~ Psalm 27:13 (NKJV)

I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

~ Psalm 27:13 (NASB1995)

This goodness is not some breadcrumb, barely hold you over 'till you get Heaven kind of goodness. No, this is a lavish, overflowing, extravegant, my cup runneth over kind of goodness. This is God sized goodness!

A few Psalms before this, Psalm 23, lays this goodness out in detail.

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.

He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters,

He refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for His name's sake.

Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

Surely Your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Here is some of the goodness from today. 😊

These two trees in our front yard have become a favorite feature of this place for me. I'm not great at identifying trees but after some research I've come to believe they are elm trees. (Please let me know in the comments if you know if I am right or wrong.) These trees are so old, somewhat oddly shaped and have a lot of branches that need to be trimmed or cut out completely. But they still stand so strong and proud and provide homes and shelter for a variety of wildlife - blue jays, robins, squirrels, blue birds, sparrows, and woodpeckers who like to go after a whole host of creepy crawly creatures that I can only imagine. And I love to sit on the front porch with a cup of coffee or a good book (or both) and watch the sunrise through it's branches or listen to the sigh of the evening breeze on a cooling summer evening.

We made a nice beef and vegetable soup/stew with rolls for dinner today. It turned out really good and everyone seemed to enjoy it.

Yesterday my niece and nephew were here and helped pick radishes from the garden they helped me plant. This evening Chris and I spent a couple hours pulling weeds from the green beans. Working in the garden and then getting produce from it is so satisfying to me!

Each morning during the week I spend some time with kids going over our lessons. I try to have fresh material each week. This afternoon I printed and laminated some new things for next week.

Michael got to watch this cute puppy today. He's a sweet little puppy who wants all the attention all the time.

I've really been enjoying this series of books about Miss Mildred Budge!

. . . . and she knew inside of herself as if she had suddenly been told that at her age in life, she was now with child that there was a dimension to being alive that was not part of the daily routine, and you could have it every day, or, at least, more of it -- more joy. What a small word joy is to represent living in the heightened awareness of Jesus Saves. ~ pg. 237