PATHS OF PURPLE!

Neighborhood Walk---from porch pansies to wild flowers and iris at every turn. 

Purple in yards............ 

along roadsides...........

along....park path, growing in roots of a fallen tree 

and even in a crack in the asphalt.

Purple everywhere. I was blessed looking for it!

Purple, a royal color reminding me of the true King!

Purple to soothe my soul. I have heard the color purple is seen as the "part and parcel" of Lent. Purple certainly nourishes my paths this time of year!

COMPLETE COLOR!

Color has been taking on a new perspective for me lately. I am celebrating the hues springtime has begun offering. For too long, I have been fearful of colors invading my dreams/hallucinations from colorful starbursts to blobs of black and white switching when I would open or close my eyes. Eyes open....see black. Eyes closed see white......until I could fall asleep.

I prefer appreciating colors afresh. Yesterday, my son-in-law blessed us with bright red strawberries from Darnell Farms. Not just YUM.....but beautiful from inside to the outside. These sweet ones are red all the way through! (Proof in the Pic)

We would eat them as quickly as we capped them. 

Check them out--no white in Nate's crop. 

Red on the inside as well as the out. Sweetness and color through and through.

More pix would have shown brilliant red on top of our ice cream and this morning's bowl full of granola. God's grace pouring out from red resources picked in a field of strawberries. 

"He made everything beautiful in its time." (Ecclesiastes 3:11)

A BAZILLION HUES!

A bazillion hues. Well said by my artist friend Anne B. when discussing the hues of color varieties found in creation. God's color spectrum throughout creation seems to be unending.....at least in our vocabulary.

Red can be in the form of burgandy, coral, crimson, mahogany, maroon,  orange red, ruby, scarlet, vermilion......you get the idea.

Compare to our neighborhood trees & red skies entry!

Maybe that's how she uses color so effectively in both her photography and her "threads."

Last year she began cross-stitching my "One Word, Hope" as a 'bye-bye" gift! Amazing that she got out her "instruments" from the past, things like hoops, needles, fabrics, threads, patterns and knots I have never heard of....and created for me the perfect farewell gift, catching my eye on this Thankful Thursday!!

A gift filled with hope!. 

Not only was "HOPE" my 2024 Word of the year, it carried through to 2025 with medical maladies incurred as 2024 ended. 

Hope much needed and freely given by a dear friend who certainly knows how to keep on giving "hope" in a bazillion ways.....all wrapped up in hues of love! 

GOD'S WISDOM --THE ONLY WAY!

The only way to walk on our life's journey is t take the path of unwavering faith. Faith faltering will take you through meandering moments that are way off  course. Think useless roaming on paths of unbelief.

Our WALK reflects the tenets of our lives.

What do our actions say we believe?

Almost 15 years ago, MS friend Carolyn F., shared with me how Isaiah 26:4 fortified her saying "God will supply my "fuel" for the journey. When looking for the RIGHT path, I've been told to take the first right and CONTINUE straight away to the FATHER!" (Emphasis hers)  

"My hope is in you all day long." (Psalm 25:5b) was written in her journal and yet at the end of the day, she realized once again that she had not Practiced the Presence of the Lord and thus her actions did not point to her "hope" and trust in Him! 

Her resolution was asking for God's wisdom to be reflected daily in her life.

What a powerful decision---choosing God's wisdom over man's wisdom as the only way to go! It's the right path.

SPRING JOY!

One of my NC neighbors is an amazing gardener----from tropical greenhouse gardens and herbs to scatterings of jonquils/daffodils of many varieties; a husband willing to plant them...and both wiling to share them!

Spring Joy

 Maybe it was Spring Hope! She was't sure. I wouldn't know.

If I chose a name, it would be Spring Peace. Their garden is so serene---it calls for one to come and "sit a spell."

Since we moved here 6 months ago, I have had a constant need for peace.

Today's Jesus Calling DAYBRIGHTENER, reminded me "peace is one of our deepest needs."

God  planted that peace in the garden of our heart. Sarah Young also pointed out weeds can also grow there as well---pride, worry, selfishness. God, who is the Gardener of our heart works to rid our hearts of weeds. He uses times when we sit still in the light os His Presence. In His heavenly light flowers flourish and  weeds of troubling can shrivel up and die away or at least become bearable as we face them with Him!

His joyful Presence brings Spring Joy, Spring Hope or Spring Peace.

Take your pick!

GOD'S WORD STANDS FOREVER!

The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God stands forever. (Isaiah 40:8)

Our first months in North Carolina, from hurricane floods to gusting winds and wildfires from drought conditions were unlike any weather induced conditions we had ever experienced. But God in His love and mercy showed truth to be shared off a beaten path.....

......Hope remained even on a toppled sign in the boonies!

Thank you, Lord.

A STAR IS BORN!

All performers have to begin somewhere!

For our youngest grandson it started on the yellow brick road.

Think......WIZARD OF OZ. A county high school production that needed a few kindergarteners as munchkins!

Ready to go..........

We welcome you to Munchkin Land!

Even if the loud nose hurt this ears, he remembered the hand motions with one hand while his other hand covered his sensitive ear----and kept dancing as well. 

For the "show must go on" as this budding "star" learned!

He even learned it kept going on two more times......in the same clothes no less.

BLESSINGS WITH BOUNDARIES!!

The sun comes up----

It's a new day dawning"

Sun Star Ornithogalum

As "10,000 Reasons" reminds me......

"It's time to sing your song again."

What song? The song one can sing regardless of circumstances. 

Fix eyes on Jesus. Think about where your steps will lead you. (Proverbs 4:25-26) Remember God's  design is for His glory and our good, not necessarily our ease. 

Worship His Holy Name.....then sing like never before!

RED SKIES!

RED SKIES! 

For years whitish or rosy  skies in the morning were seen by many ancient mariners to indicate stormy weather ahead. The skies were used in weather prediction, especially for sailors and shepherds/farmers. Shakespeare even used the image of red morn in his poem "Venus and Adonis" to foreshadow, "wrack to the seaman, tempest to the field, sorrow to the shepherds, woe unto the birds". It might be folklore but I bet my DangDang used it to schedule his tobacco planting. A bit ambiguous, I know.

I assume weather with red skies was their version of the FOX Weather app.

What about red skies at night??

My son-in-law told me the redness is intensified as the setting sun is sending its light through a high density of dust. That could certainly be true looking out my windows.

We saw them Friday night as the sun began to set. 

During Saturday morning prayer time, I only saw blue skies!

However, I did a red skies Bible search and found a "new to me" truth, or possibly one I had forgotten.

The Bible verse related to red skies in the morning is found in Matthew 16:2-3. Jesus answers the Pharisees and Sadducees saying, When it is evening you say it will be fair weather because the sky is red. And in the morning, you say, 'It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening. You know how to interpret the sky but you do cannot interpret the signs of the times. (ESV) 

A TOUCH OF TRUE ART!

TRUE ART......touches all one's senses!

Disclaimer---Sometimes the sense of taste comes as I eat chocolate while enjoying it.

My eyes see it as I enter the room! 

My fingers touch and outline the words! My hands enjoy the quilting of the fabric. 

I can even smell the freshness of the fabric.

How does one "hear" such art? The words of my favorite hymn flow from the art right to my heart and my own humming and singing reach my ears.

It's a "SCENT"sational gift of true art from the artist who uses her ability as a ministry to touch the hearts of others! 

It certainly touched  mine