Snoopy and Maggs Update

***Please note: my weekly devotional follows this update. I thought they would list a part, but it grouped them into one. This is an update and the weekly devotional is titled: Broken. Thanks!

Many of you have been wondering how the "poor" cats are surving with a new puppy.....I wanted to update you on that. One older post, I wrote about my buddy Snoops. He is very loving and very clueless at times. He is the most gentle cat I have ever owned. He and Maggie are buddies, most of the time, as these pictures prove. Maggie is growing and doesn't realize the size and strength she has so at times he will run and sit on top of a post so she can't get him. However, she whimpers and wines. She loves him. Patches and Toby, they keep their distance and she seems to understand this. She really doesn't bother with them too much. Maybe Snoops really does think he is a dog sometimes and that is why they get along so well! All three cats have been known to go along on our nightly walks in the meadow. Two are a bit more behind, but they come along anyway.

Broken

This past week, while walking past my butterfly bushes, I stopped and look at a butterfly on the bush. It made me catch my breath at first. It was the first Monarch I saw this year. It was resting on the flower blossom. However, when it opened its wings and started to move across the plant, I noticed something terrible must have happened to it. It was missing part of its wing. It was broken. I felt so sorry for it at first and then the more I watched, the more I realized, it was just fine. It kept up with the others as it crawled across the flowers. And since I didn’t put it there, it must have flown there somehow. I would check on it from time to time and it was not suffering in anyway. After awhile I noticed it flew away. I didn’t see it leave, nor did it return.

I pondered this for a bit and I felt that whisper in my soul, say, “You were broken too, until I healed you”. We all are broken. We all are in need of a Savior. We can look like everything is fine on the outside and we fool a lot of people, but just like the butterfly when it opened its wings, the truth was revealed. Now, we can hide a lot from people, but Jesus sees right to our heart. We need to be healed and He is the perfect physician. Do you feel broken? Do you feel like you made choices that leave you wounded and not beautiful anymore? Do you feel like you will never be beautiful again? Do you know that when He looks at you, He smiles and is crazy about you? Do you know He loves you more than any person could? Do you know that when He looks past your physical body He sees EVERY sin you have committed and will commit and still loves you? He wants to wash away all the dirt and stain that sins leave behind. He wants to restore the relationship He planned from the beginning, but He is a gentleman and will not do so, unless asked by you. Jesus extends grace and mercy to a fallen world. He knows we will mess up. He knows we will ask for forgiveness yet, continue to do some type of sin. He loves us anyway. However, we need to ask for His forgiveness, and believe that He is Who He says He is. Who, exactly is that? The Son of God. Will you allow Him to clean your heart? Will you hand over the guilt and shame you have been carrying? You don’t need to walk around broken anymore. Surrender to Him all that weighs you down. You know what, He already knows. You can’t shock Him, but you can love Him and you can have a relationship with Him. Satan wants you to feel defeated and alone. He knows with Jesus on your side, he doesn’t stand a chance. But left on your own, he will move in quickly. Just like a lion. A lion doesn’t wait for the group of deer to come or the strongest and healthiest, no, it waits and waits, until the one by itself comes along. Then it makes it move. Satan is referred to this type of lion in scripture.

 I also loved that the lesson He showed me this week, was once again through the butterfly. I am a new creation when I accept Him. Just as the butterfly was once a caterpillar, it is now a new creation, a butterfly.

What jumped out at me with the butterfly was that it looked broken and I focused on the fact that I, too, have been broken. It looked so normal at first, but when I realized the damage done to it, it gave me a different perspective on it. We can go all our lives looking “normal”, but inside we are broken. God looks at the heart, not the outside like man does. What will He see this week when He looks at your heart? Will it be covered in sins or will it be whiter than snow, cleansed by the precious blood of His Son, Jesus?

Waiting

Just looking at the title of today can make me sigh. I don’t like to wait. Do you? I don’t like having to wait in long lines, or being put on hold having to wait (I don’t care what type music is playing), I don’t like to wait. If we were honest with ourselves, we have become a generation that doesn’t like to wait. Even when heating our food in a microwave, we find that can take too long! We don’t want to wait for appointments, we don’t want to wait in traffic. We don’t want to wait for an item to arrive in the mail, we want to check online to see if they have it in stock and drive and get it the same day.

I remember as a young girl, ordering something off a cereal box. Didn’t we all do that at one time or another? Anyway, we had to send the order form in, wait till they received it and then wait till they sent it. It felt like forever till we received it. Depending on what it was, you may have even forgot you ordered it, which raises the question, did you really need it, if you couldn’t remember you ordered it, but we will save that for another day. My point is no one likes to wait. We are tired before we start, because we know it will take awhile. Yet waiting is a part of life.

How about waiting for God to answer our prayer request or waiting for God to show us where we are to be, or maybe for a healing from Him that He just seems to be ignoring.

I looked up the word wait and this is what it says: stay where one is or delay action until a particular time or until something else happens. Hmmm sounds frustrating doesn’t it?

This past week, I saw a verse posted on a friend’s profile and the words jumped off the page. I knew in an instant it was this week’s message. If you are familiar with scripture you will recognize it right away. If you aren’t familiar with it, I am pleased to be able to share this nugget with you.

“But those who trust in the LORD will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.” Isaiah 40:31 NLT.

However, the translation I read was from NASB and it reads….

“Yet those who wait for the LORD will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary.”

A third translation is the NIV. It reads: “but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint”.

My jaw simply dropped and I had to tell someone about what I just read and they were surprised too. I can’t tell you enough the joy I have when I know the Spirit is teaching me something new buried in the bible. I read this verse for years, but never, never saw this before. Here it goes: when I am waiting, I am not to be sitting and doing nothing. I am not to be tired or frustrated. Look again at those words, I am to be on the move. I am to still be doing what I have always been doing until the Lord tells me otherwise. I am to do this with a renewed strength, not head down and poor me attitude. I am to run and I am to walk. I am to be active the whole time. The LORD will give me renewed strength and I will not become weary. I will also soar high like the eagles. Who has not stood in awe when watching a beautiful eagle fly effortlessly through the sky? We can be just like that! Also did you notice each translation used a different word for wait? They used trust and hope! I am to trust and have hope while waiting! How, you ask? Simply by trusting Him and asking Him daily, even hourly, for the right attitude and strength to handle the task before you. Change may come or it may not. We are not to be having a pity party for ourselves. We are to be active and continuing on. Still praying, still asking, still hoping, still trusting and still waiting, but not like the English definition. I am currently in a time of waiting and not sure when or if change will come, but I know sitting and feeling sorry for myself, isn't what I am suppose to be doing.  

I want to run and walk without becoming weary and I want to soar with the eagles, don’t you! Keep that in mind the next you find you are in waiting. It makes it a lot easier to do.

Something to Celebrate

They come quietly at first. One of the signs seasons are changing. They work very hard to build their nests out of mud. Of all things, mud. They fill their beaks with bits of mud and stack them one on top of the other. They work as a team. The nest isn’t built in a large tree or bush. No, it is usually in the barn beams or rafters. If they are desperate, they will build on the side of the house, against the stones. They are called: Barn Swallows. They have a sweet chirp and basically leave you alone, if you walk on two legs…..If you have four legs, whiskers and claws, they look like bomber jets. They can swoop and turn on a dime, if they feel you are coming too close. Our poor cats get bombed every day by them. Why do they do this? They are protecting their precious young in the nests they so diligently build. The mud nests, that no matter how much rain we get stay on the side of the house year after year. They also love all the insects they can find when I cut the grass they follow the mower, catching any and all bugs in my path.

This past week, they had a reason to celebrate. Their second round of young were ready to leave the nest. A job well done. I was able to watch this batch leave and get a few pictures. I never realized before the group effort it takes for these babies to leave the nest. First, the parents are flying back and forth and chirping like crazy. As if to say “Today is the day! You can do it”! Over and over. Then other adults realize what is happening and they join in. Encouraging them to fly. Now, keep in mind, they have been hidden and shoved down in the nest. All of a sudden, they are to just flap their wings and fly? After awhile one is brave and tries it out. Then before long the others follow, but it takes one to try it first. The cheering that follows is a celebration. They first land on a smaller roof and flap and flap their wings. Then the parents take turns bringing them food to reassure them, that they are still there to take care of them. Once all the babies are out of the nest, the other adults simply leave. It is almost like they are there just for the encouragement. This whole process takes several hours. Then when evening falls, they come back together as a group and sit on the power lines and chirp away as if catching up with each other and the type day they had.

They will leave as quietly as they came only leaving their homes behind. Here one day and gone the next. They will return next year, but their song is missed.

I reflected on this moment and thought we as people can learn from them. Sometimes we are the ones in the nest, scared of the unknown. We never tried it before, so we don’t know or care what we are missing. Others come along and encourage us. Then there are those who need to do the encouraging. We simply need to show up and encourage. We aren’t asked to do the work (the parents did all the work), but we need to be the extra people in someone's life to cheer them on. You may be here one day and gone the next to a new place to encourage.

Do celebrate these times we get to be a part of the bigger picture? All those birds were singing and excited. I bet there was a dozen or more, but only two were the parents. The babies kept sitting on the roof flapping their wings. They were so excited of their new found freedom! Other birds sat with them to keep them safe, while the parents left for food. They were no longer safe in the nest.

Do we come along side and help others whose caregivers are tired or called away to something else. And are we singing while we are doing this?  May you have opportunity this week, to help someone. Whether it be by praying, physically helping, or maybe just telling them something you appreciate about them. A word of encouragement goes a long way. We are so busy today focusing on ourselves and what we want, that we forget to tell people what we like or appreciate about them. If we are honest, we don’t stop and think about those types of things unless we are sitting at their funeral. At that point it is too late.

We are in this world together. The hands and feet of Jesus. We need to be their for one another and help out in whatever way He has called us to give. We all have different gifts, but each one is just as important. I hope you get to celebrate something this week!

A Slice of Summer

Can we believe that we are headed to the middle of August already? Where has the summer gone?Our summer has been filled with busy days, puppy training, freezing peas and corn for the freezer, camps, cutting of the grass, camp fires, roasting marshmallows, hanging out with friends, and much more! I trust your summer has been great. It isn't over yet, and we have a few weeks, but I decided this week, to post many, many pictures I have captured over the past two months. It was hard to pick and choose, but I trust you will be blessed by the ones I selected. Not because I took them or posted them, but ALL because our Creator chose to give us abundant things each season.

 When I started this blog, I wanted first and foremost to praise God and cause others to stop and reflect on all that He is doing in the day to day life. I also wanted a place to post the pictures people seem to enjoy. I often pray before taking the camera for a walk that I will capture the moments He wants captured to share with others. So, I hope you aren't overwhelmed, but I selected 40 of my favorites.

 This is the barn door to the hen house. Every day when I open and close it I am reminded of my siblings. YEARS ago, when painting it, we each wrote our name and left our hand prints behind. It is a treasure to me.

 Honey suckle.  I wish I could capture the smell of it on my blog for you. No wonder it is usually covered with bees.

 On a previous post, you meant these two gems.....When I go for walks they follow me. It really is cute, but I know they are just hoping I feel sorry for them and give them more food when we return.....

 Toby taking a nap on my favorite rocking chair.

 Snoops "helping" take pictures one evening.

 Catching a few evening rays as the sun sets.

 I love to watch the bees and bumble bees on all the flowers.

 Our wheat shortly before harvest. We were blessed this year with our crop. Given the weather, we weren't sure what it would yield. So thankful for what we got this year.

 Snoops is the skinniest cat I have ever seen, but I think it is because he is soooooo busy. Walking the fence rail here, hoping to catch a bird from the blue bird box. All you bird lovers will be happy to know, he was not successful.

Right after a rain shower I went out and took this picture. I love the raindrops.

 Female finch eating my flowers. The male flew away before I could get my camera. I am still trying to get one of him.

 One of my favorite butterflies. They float when the fly. I love to watch them on my bushes.

 Our latest addition. Maggie. We love her and she takes much of our time, but she wants to please you and wants to be everywhere you are. She also can dig holes and grab laundry in a second.....

 This Heron loves to catch fish out of our stream.

Added to our flock this year. Eveyone is getting along finally and I am getting lots of eggs.

A blue bird just sitting on the fence post. So peaceful.

The verse I want to leave you with is this: John 10:10b "I came that they may have life and have it abundantly."  This particular chapter is Jesus reminding us that He is the Shepherd. He could have just given us life and that would have been enough, but He takes it a bit further and reminds us that He gives abundant life! He gives us the fullest life possible. Not only here on earth but with an everlasting life. He is the only one who can do that for us. Are we living that way? Are we thankful and celebrating each day what we have and what we have to look forward to in the life to come? This life isn’t forever, but the one you choose next will be. I couldn’t take my mind off the word abundantly. Do I look at life this way? Do I trust that His way, is the abundant way? When things aren’t going the way I want, do I remember I want what I want, because I am human, but He wants for me, what is best and to the fullest! Enjoy the sights of summer and look out for future photograph type blogs, gotta warn you….Fall is my favorite!