A Simple Cup of Tea

While making a cup of tea I am reminded of a illustration I heard years ago. When making a cup of tea you need to place the tea bag in the boiling water and then wait. Some will wait a few minutes and others will wait for a half hour or so. For you see, your wait time depends on how strong of a flavor you like your tea to be. If we dip quickly we will still have a bit of flavor to our tea and the water will change color, but it will taste weak. If we let the tea bag steep for awhile, we will have a strong and flavorful cup of tea.

Where is this going? When we take time to read God's Word, sometimes we dip in and out quickly. You know the five minute devotions and then you are out the door to start your day, or turn the light off and drift off to sleep. Neither of these are wrong, if done occasionally, but the amount of time you spend with God and in His Word, will carry you through your day. Those who spend time reading His Word, studying the scriptures and then applying them to their daily life will have a much richer and deeper relationship with Him. Those who allow time to "steep" in God's Word, also have a richer and deeper relationship with Him. If you take a quick dip in the Word, you can still have a relationship with Him, but it will not be as rich and flavorful as it could be. He wants so badly for you to spend time at His feet and look into His face for the strength and wisdom He is waiting to share. He never meant for us to go through this journey of life alone, yet, so many times we try to do it by ourselves and then come away exhausted because it simply didn't go as we planned.

Are you a "dipper" or a "steeper"? Reminder to be a steeper, we have to wait and spend time doing things with gradual results, just as the tea will gradually change color and flavor, but in the end the wait will be well worth it! You just can't beat a great cup of tea! **Okay, if your a coffee fan, you need to wait too for your coffee to brew to get that rich, dark flavor.

Hoping you can find a little more time throughout this week to spend with God. It doesn't have to be hours a day. Just spending a bit more time this week with God than you did last week and so on. Before you know it, He will become part of your daily walk. Remember, He desires relationship with us. Not just knowledge of who He is.

I think I may just go make a cup of tea....

Master Gardener

When you look at this picture you see brown and dull colors. You see a mess actually. The mulch has been disturbed and it looks rather plain. However, if you look more closely you will notice:

Tulips!! They are just waiting for the right time to pop open with color. I am waiting too. I enjoy the four season we get where I live, but you know winter seems way too long for me. With the cold, wind, and the short days of sunlight a day seems long. So, yesterday while walking to the garage, I had to look twice at what I was seeing. While I have been busy inside and dreading the outside, they have been working hard below the surface to create a beautiful flower. They will not only give color, but much needed food to the bees who will soon be here and will spread the pollen. Got me thinking about life, you know the Nature connection for me.....Isn't that how my life can be. I can feel plain, dull and at times, like nothing is happening in my life. I go about day by day doing the "little" things, then all of a sudden, POP, it is time to spring into action. Or, sometimes, I feel like I have really messed up. Shouldn't have said what I said, should have helped instead of passing on that opportunity, and just feel like I can't do anything right. But then, God steps into the mess we have made and quietly without my realizing, just like the bulbs working underground, and He makes something wonderful out of what I thought appeared a mess. I took one more picture yesterday that seemed to remind me of Hope. Around all the sticks/stones being thrown around today, I still have Hope, just like this flower bloomed right in the middle of the sticks/stones in the flower bed.

Spring reminds me that God is always working in our lives. Even when we mess up, miss opportunities and disappoint Him. He can bring beauty out of it. We may feel like nothing is happening, but He has a plan and purpose for each one of us. We can't compare with each other and the progress they are making. We are on a separate journey. Some flowers are the first to bloom and then we have the fall flowers who bloom last. Can you imagine what it would be like if they all bloomed at once? Enjoy the journey you are on, the Master Gardener knows just when He will need you and He is preparing you for that time. Trust Him! 

Chicken Corn Soup

This weekend was cold and windy. It was great soup making weather. As I gathered the sweet corn from the freezer, I was reminded of what the weather had been like when I put the corn in the freezer. It was a very hazy, hot, humid August day. I didn't want to check the sweet corn in the garden because I knew it was going to be ready to pick. I was alone that day, with no extra hands to help. But, I checked the garden. It was not only ready, but the majority of it was ready. I was going to be picking, husking, silking, cooking, blanching, cutting if off the cob and putting in containers all by myself. I was exhausted before I started. But I knew that come winter, I would be thankful for the corn to make soup with. I also was reminded that I should be more thankful that I have plenty of food to eat and not crumble about the work.

This weekend made me hungry for soup.  As I made the soup, I was reminded that sometimes in our Christian walk, we have to stand alone, face trials, work hard without results, and do things we don't understand why we are doing them. It seems like an awful lot of work at the time, but then just like the soup hit the spot and warmed me up on a very cold winter day, so does my relationship with Christ. When I work hard, follow this lead and do the tasks that I may not have volunteered for, but know He wants me to do them and He has made those task especially for me, I must do them. I can recall many times having to do things I wish someone else would do, but God had them made just for me. And you know what? I never regretted doing those tasks. In the end, I felt closer to Him and encouraged for the next task. So, if right now you feel tired, exhausted, and overwhelmed, chin up! A big bowl of surprises are right around the corner. If not in this life time, in eternity I am sure. And I believe He smiles when He sees us making the right choices, even if our hearts aren't in it at first, just like I really didn't want to go to the garden that day. Some days we are called to work "in the corn patch" and other days He has planned for us to curl up and enjoy His presence, like a hot bowl of soup. Whatever day you are having today, I pray you feel His presence with you.

Beginnings....

I have decided to start a blog. Many have asked me to write a devotional to go with all my pictures. I have prayed about this and after I shared something I noticed about lightening bugs to a complete stranger (shy I am not), she looked straight into my eyes and said you should write a blog on those type things. I sensed that was God saying now is the time. So, welcome. I hope to write those things that will encourage you and cause you to reflect on the tiny details that are all around us.

I decided to title my blog Following Fingerprints because I feel that God's fingerprints are everywhere, we just need to look for them and then follow. I also had the thought, when solving a mystery, they often look for fingerprints and that leads them to the answer. We are unique and each have our own set of fingerprints. God compares us to no one and loves us just as we are. Hasn't there been times in your life that you said, that just had to be God! Well, I love those moments and you know what, He loves doing those things for us.

I will not write daily, but will try weekly to update. Sometimes photos will go with the comments, other times they will not. Also, please be patient as I work the details of how to edit and make additions. Thanks!