SPRING HAS SPRUNG!

I know our spring event was 4 days ago but i misplaced a pic from that day I wanted to share. Imagine that!

A walk at Deep Creek with hubby and NC grandson required a light jacket because of some wind gusts but it was still a walk of wonder of sorts as winter fades and spring bursts forth!

Parts of the path toward Tom Branch Falls were covered with a light purple glow of Lesser Periwinkles! (Vinca Minor) This pic was taken close up when in fact, the size of each on the flowers on the trail were approximately the same size as the nail on my thumb. Blended among the darkngreen leaves along the trail was eye-catching! 

A simple beauty from our great Creator!

PATHS OF PURPLE!

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

Purple in yards............ 

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

along....park path, wild geranium 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 "part and parcel" of Lent. Purple certainly nourishes my paths this time of year from the One who created Heaven and Earth! (Psalm 121:2)

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)

DST!

Saturday as I reset clocks in anticipation for The "Spring Forward" for DST on my calendar, I accidentally turned on the bedside table alarm!

ARG!--It went off, not only on a "sleep in a bit later day" but an hour earlier.

But God in His love and mercy sets a time for everything and everyone. And today, I needed more sleep.....or so I thought.

Actually, I needed more zeal to do His will. (Romans 12:11) 

More of Thee less of me......regardless of the time of day.

CULTIVATING COMMUNITY!

"Cultivating Community" communicates relational identity that requires deposits from participants. Plural. Think reciprocity.

A continual devotion to apostles' teaching and fellowship of believers.

Cultivating Community in no way negates getting alone to spend time in prayer or meditating on God's Word.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 states that the "Lord has placed eternity in our hearts." Embedded in each of us is a sense of something more..... a longing.

Two needs of life resonate with each of us....to belong and to matter. Fellowship supports those truths. Longing for belonging.

Long to belong--a bedrock for Christian fellowship

Theology of Togetherness. Made to be known. Knowing we matter to God. 

NO "I"-dentity.

"We"-dentity. In Christ together.

Sounds like fellowship at its best.....aligned with awe and one purpose.

Single-mindedness in worship; yet, unity in diversity. Practicing/preserving that diversity without slamming another's politics or opinions on social media. Do unto others....for their benefit. (John 13:34)

You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you. (John Bunyan)

A community coming together to know Him and make Him known not in words alone but in our actions. 

Cultivation that bears fruit of awe and purpose that blesses community.

SPRINGTIME!

To everything there is a season......

......and a time for every matter under the sun.

....a time to pluck up what is planted.....

.....a time to heal....

....a time to weep....

....a time to build up....

...and a time for peace! (Ecclesiastes 3:1- 8)

He has made every beautiful in its time. (Ecclesiastes 3:11)

Let them know that this is your hand; you O Lord have done it! (Psalm 109:27)

SIGNAGE---THAT GAVE PAUSE

I didn't stop dead in my tracks as it wasn't sudden or fearful....

but I did pause to ponder the sign as men of the cloth scurried past.
Do we more often take the path of working toward financial gain than the path of living for heaven?

Wonder if the finance committee has a meeting?

It seems seems that lately I have done more pondering as I've been "thinking carefully" (as Webster defines pondering) about heaven. I recently attended 3 funerals within 8 days. Factor in a heart catheterization requiring a stent for hubby and two recent hospital visitations, with one pending, and you'll understand my concern for self as well as others. 

I've prayed for all and actually prayed in person with two. My heart desires a heavenly trajectory for each.

But God......in my morning reading from Randy Alcorn's book, Heaven, reminded me.....It is God who "set eternity in the hearts of men" (Ecclesiastes 3:11).....That's God's idea, not ours. (p. 114)

Salvation is God's work. (Psalm 3:8, 1 Timothy 2:4)

FOOD FOR THOUGHT FRIDAY

My first "morsel" of thought this morning came in the form of a memory.

Making "Snow Cream" with the kids. Scooping off just the pristine tops of the flakes...

and stirring them in our "melty" ice cream, because I rarely had cream or whole milk on hand.

SNOW DAYS! For both kids and teachers those 2 words are music to their ears.

Why? 

Maybe it's God's way of slowing us all down. 

Snow from Heaven. (Isaiah 55:10)

A way of hemming us in with his "silent" beauty....

away from busyness. (Ecclesiastes 3:11a & Psalm 46:10)

A time for family.

A time to look out the kitchen window.

A shelter of sorts.

A time to focus on Him and His hand in all of creation!(Genesis 8:22)

Yummy "food for thought Friday" as I sprinkle just a tad of snow on top of my Amaretto Cherry Cordial ice cream.

SABBATH SNAPSHOTS: GARDEN TOUR

5/13/12 Garden Tour: A Garden of surprises and majesty. 7374 Abercrombie Lane. A “Master Gardener” lives here---that was not a surprise. Squirrel baffles that actually work. Tidy bird feeders. Stone walkways without mud traces. Different color blooms on the same plant. Roses with a glorious scent. 

DISCLAIMER : This is NOT my garden.:

At my house, “Squirrel Baffles” do not work; Oak Leaf hydrangeas do not survive; voles eat the roots of the hostas; chipmunks dig in the impatiens; Racoons haul off the bird feeders; and birds poop all over the patio furniture. Yet, even in my yard, “Creation's revealing Your majesty.” (“Indescribable,” Laura Story) Come on over anytime.

 For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;

The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing is come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land; (Song of Songs 2:11-12)

A "cuppa" for the birds

 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. (Matthew 6:21)

Oak Leaf Hydrangeas --on my "Garden Bucket List"

A quiet nook---perfect for a cuppa and a good book

"Dolly Parton"---hybrid tea rose---so sweet

"Lady in Red"---a laced cap hydrangea

 Indeed, He hath made everything beautiful in his time:…..(Ecclesiastes 3:11) and we are all welcome to enjoy it! No surprise there!