Welcome to my "Open Window"...a place of hope, encouragement, and adventure as we journey down the road from "Closed Doors" to the new opportunities God places in our pathway. I hope you will take the time to go back and follow the trail of mixed blessings and fears, failures and triumphs from the past and side-trips in the present. Perhaps it will conjure up some of your own special memories, and be an invitation for you to share with others. I look forward to spending this time with you!
What Do You See Outside YOUR Open Window Today?
Remember: "When God closes a door, He always opens a window!" You never know what might be out there waiting for you!
Golly! Here it is Easter Monday already! I never got around to writing yesterday on Easter Sunday, because it was just such a busy day from morning 'til night! But it was all SO good!! What a joyous day it was!! Let's start at the very beginning and journey through the day together, shall we?
The first thing I noticed was that the stone had been rolled away from the tomb! And all of "nature" was in awe of the great event that had taken place there...the tomb was empty!!!
And so I rushed outside to see...and even the cross had been changed...and I thought I could hear the angels singing..."Alleluia! Jesus Lives!!!"...for after all..."With God, all things are possible!"...
What a glorious morning! We rejoiced to say, "Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!"
So then we got ready to go to church...and here is the "message" for the day...our choir sang the cantata "I Will Embrace the Cross". If you wish to listen to the whole thing, I think you'll enjoy it. This prerecorded last week at our rehearsal. If you go all the way to 26:26, you will find a bit of a surprise as I sing a solo. The only thing I will say is that I give God the glory and thanks for getting me through this. My voice was about gone that night. But thankfully Sunday morning God refreshed me and my voice and I believe it sounded a lot better...at least my hubby said so. LOL. I am just thankful to be able to sing for the glory of God and I pray that the message of the whole cantata was a blessing to those who listened and participated.
After church we came home and the family gathered here for dinner. Thankfully Rose had baked the ham and made the deviled eggs. I did the scalloped potatoes, but I will confess they were the quickie variety from a box...but I added extra cheese to make them extra good. Yes, I much would prefer to have my homemade scalloped potatoes, but on Easter Sunday morning with all the other stuff I had going on this weekend, there was just no time for slicing potatoes, etc. Anyway, they were very good. We also had "Amish Fruit Salad", and broccoli, and a tossed salad and Hawaiian Rolls. All in all it was a feast.
I thought my new "Dollar Tree" plates for spring looked really pretty, don't you? They are so inexpensive, and it was fun to have something different to use.
After dinner we all had to hunt for our Easter Baskets...yes, that's a family tradition...and this year our "Easter Bunny Kids" brought baskets for hubby and me and hid them when we weren't looking, so we had to hunt for ours too!! I found mine!
John found his! (we wrap them in grocery bags so that no little critters or cats or dogs might find them first).
Scott found his!
Rose found hers:
And Benton was the last one to find his! He was perturbed because he had been so close to it several times and didn't see it! LOL. It's always a fun time and a happy tradition that our big kids look forward to even at their great ages! LOL.
Then we posed for a family portrait, and Sugar and Spice wanted to be in the picture too:
(of course we couldn't bring Blackie inside to join us, or there would've been a turf war between the dogs and the cat!)
Oh, but Lily Grace and Bailey joined in the fun, and there was even a new little puppy in a basket for them to play with and enjoy!
Oh, and Lily was so excited to discover this flower had the same name as she did!
However, I was reminded by a few people that Easter Lilies are highly toxic to cats, and so last night we took it outside and put it in a wooded area of our fenced lot where Blackie never goes, so that hopefully he will not come in contact with it. It was pretty while it lasted in the house, I but we didn't want to take any chances on the pollen dust falling on Blackie and making him sick!
So all in all, it was a wonderful Easter Day, and we rejoice in knowing that because Christ arose from the dead, we too shall live!!
I was SO happy that our church sang this wonderful old hymn yesterday. "Christ Arose". No, this isn't our church, but maybe you'll want to sing along with this church from FBC Atlanta.
It's the Saturday after Good Friday...the day before Easter...and the tomb is still closed...we wait for the sunrise tomorrow...or perhaps I should say, "we wait for the SONRISE" tomorrow! For those of us who know "the rest of the story"...that death could not hold our Savior in the tomb...we look forward to the dawn tomorrow...because we know that the stone will be rolled away...and the tomb will be empty...and the angels will proclaim that Christ is risen as He said...but today we wait...
Hear what Jesus said to His disciples before His crucifixion...
John 16:19-22
19 Now Jesus knew that they desired to ask Him, and He said to them, “Are you inquiring among yourselves about what I said, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’?
20 Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy.
21 A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.
22 Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you.
At the time, the disciples did not understand what Jesus was trying to tell them...but once Christ was resurrected from the dead, it all made sense to them, and their sorrow was soon replaced with great joy!
So we who already know that Christ is risen from the dead can rejoice in this knowledge. There's no reason to be grieving now...we anticipate the remembrance of this joyous Easter morning and we can live our lives with joy and peace and much thanksgiving for Christ's amazing grace and gift of salvation!
"Amazing grace (how sweet the sound)
that saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
was blind, but now I see."
And so today, while we anticipate the joy of the resurrection morning tomorrow, we have spent the day having another kind of celebration. Tomorrow is my sister Doris and also her husband Art's birthdays. Yes, they were born on the same day, just 2 years apart. I was thrilled when she said they would love to come to our house to celebrate...because they live 2 hours away, and it's getting harder and harder for them to drive all the way here and back home. We often choose to meet somewhere 1/2 way at a restaurant to celebrate different occasions, but it's always so much nice to be able to relax and enjoy being in our home together. Sadly, none of their or our kids were free today to come for a party, but they said they didn't mind that. They will have a party with their kids tomorrow after church to celebrate Easter and their birthdays at the same time.
So, I decided that if they were going to drive all the way here, we would make it extra special somehow. We decided to invite some mutual friends who live about a half hour away, and who used to always participate in our family parties when we lived in the same town before moving here. One of our dear friends has just very recently, within the past month, lost her husband of over 71 years! Yes, that's right! They were married for over 71 years! So you can imagine how difficult it has been for her...but she was thrilled to be able to come and spend the day with us. Another couple from the same town brought her with them. So here we go with some pictures to show you how the day went:
After a delicious (if I do say so myself) lunch of homemade chicken pot pie and salad, we had cake.Art prefers a coconut cake, and Doris prefers an angel food cake, as I've told you about before...with daffodils in the center of the cake per an old family tradition. Since it's almost impossible to find real daffodils here in Florida at this time, I had to resort to using artificial ones, but it still looked good and she was pleased. We just had trouble making her candles stand up straight, but other than that it was all good. LOL.
Here's Art blowing out his candles...
And then it was Doris' turn to blow out her candles...
Then we all had cake and Blue Bell Ice Cream and some fresh sweetened strawberries. It was really good.
I was excited to give Doris this gift. I found it at the Deep Creek Trading Post here in our town...it is a little wreath for the hair with flowers and tiny fairy lights entertwined. The best part was that the yellow flowers were daffodils!
Here's the back of it. Isn't it sweet? I know, she probably won't ever wear it again, but I told her she has to wear it tomorrow for her family party. She said she didn't think she would wear it to church since she sings in the choir...oh well...at least she's a fairy princess for the day! I remember us making such little flower wreaths of dandelions and daisies when we were little girls on the farm in Pennsylvania. Not that elaborate, of course, but just wound around through our hair. Somewhere there's a picture of us, but I can't find it and Doris says she doesn't really remember that...??? What??? Oh well...she's 80! Some things we forget I guess. LOL.
The other gift I gave her actually is a gift from Benton and Rose and us. I commissioned Benton to build some kind of sign for Doris' garden, and this is what he made...
Doris is the gardener in the family, and she spends a LOT of time in her lovely garden. So I am sure she will find a place to put this.
Oh hello...here's hubby and I...
Here's our friends Marian and Chuck...
And they brought our dear friend Maura, who just lost her sweet hubby "Woody". We all missed him being there too, but we rejoice that he's celebrating in heaven today. He was almost 91 years old when he passed, and had lived a wonderful life.
It was a lovely and perfect way to wait for the SONRISE tomorrow.
Oh, one more thing I've been meaning to share with you. Last week we took a little ride, and I noticed something amazing on the tops of these very tall pine trees...
If you look really closely you can see little crosses on the very tip tops of the new growth on the trees:
Here is some information that I found on Google about this annual phenomenon: "AI Overview
In Florida, and across the Southern U.S., many pine trees (especially Loblolly) develop small, yellow, cross-shaped, or "X"-shaped, growths at their tops during early spring. These, often referred to as "[Easter Crosses]" or "candles," appear as the tree grows new branches, with the phenomenon often peaking around the Easter holiday. Lakeland Ledger +2
Even though the tree "experts" don't consider it anything unusual, for those of us who see the significance of God's amazing creation all around us, we consider this just another way that even the trees in God's creation rejoice in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
“For you shall go out with joy,
And be led out with peace;
The mountains and the hills
Shall break forth into singing before you,
And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands."
Isaiah 55:12
Okay friends, it's time to head to bed. It's going to be another busy, but joyful day tomorrow. It's Easter~and our choir will be singing our cantata, "Embrace the Cross". After church our kids will be coming here for dinner. Thankfully Rose is baking the ham and doing some other things and I don't have to do too much. It will be a day of rejoicing and enjoying our family.
As I went outside early this morning to put out our flag, I was struck by the beauty of the skies...beautiful, and yet kind of moody and foreboding...as if they knew what this day was all about.
As I placed the crown of thorns on the cross, I was once again struck by how sharp they are, and how painful they must have been as they were forced down upon Christ's head as they mocked Him and hailed Him as the King of the Jews in jest...
This past week we took a little ride and I saw these thistle plants blooming alongside the road, so I asked hubby to pull over so I could take some pictures...Once again, I was struck by how painful those thorns would be if I happened to bump into them or tried to pick the flower from the stem...
The flower certainly is beautiful by itself...but I know better than to try and pick it for a bouquet...
Oh My! Once I again I was blessed with the sudden appearance of a beautiful Swallowtail Butterfly who wanted to get some nectar from the thistle flower! He didn't seem to be afraid of the thorns at all...
I was amazed at how this magnificent creature showed up just as I approached the plant...I felt like it was a gift from God at that particular moment...a reminder that He is always very close to us...and also that His Son endured the pain of those thorns just for us...
Because He loved us so much...He was willing to go to the cross and die for our sins so that we might be saved...
What a beautiful reminder...
Thank You, Lord, for what you did for me and for all mankind on that day...and what you are still doing for us today.
So, as I decided to share those pictures today for Good Friday, I remembered that I had already shared something very similar here many years ago, and have revisited it several times through the years. I thought I should come up with something new today, but this message really says it all and I can't think of anything more to say, so:
I am revisiting this post again for today, Good Friday, April 3, 2026. The message is still the same. May we honor and revere His Holy Name today...
Original Message 3/30/2018:
Dear Friends...Please bear with me as I share these pictures with you and tie them into Good Friday...a very sacred and Holy Day...The day our Lord was crucified for our sins...so that we might live forever with Him in heaven one day! What an amazing day this is...
Sunday morning as we went forward to take communion, I knelt before the altar to pray, and I was struck by the emblems displayed there on the communion table...the whole of Holy Week was right there before my eyes...The palms for Palm Sunday, The Bread and the Cup for the Last Supper, and the cross with the crown of thorns that Jesus wore...
and upon a closer look, I was shocked to see the nails that pierced His hands and feet, and the whip of cords that struck His back and body over and over again, and the money bag with the thirty pieces of silver that Judas received for betraying our Lord...
These items took my breath away...I wasn't expecting to see them there...and it brought me face to face with the agony that our Lord endured that week on my behalf...and as I ate the bread and drank the cup, I prayed that God would forgive my sins and make me worthy of His shed blood...I am only worthy because of His shed blood...His sacrifice that made me whole and declared me to be holy...what a humbling and beautiful experience...such joy in knowing Christ died for me...because He loved me! And He died for YOU, too, because He loves YOU. I hope you know this to be true in your own life...
Earlier last week during one of our walks I noticed this thistle plant growing alongside the road...look at those thorns...can you imagine the pain of bumping into this plant? Now imagine having a crown of thorns forced upon your head...and nails hammered into your hands and feet...No, I can't imagine how painful that must have been...
"Who has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant,
and as a root out of dry ground.
He has no form or comeliness;
and when we see Him,
there is no beauty that we should desire Him.
He is despised and rejected by men,
a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him.
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
Isaiah 53:1-3
Surely He has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
the chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all."
Isaiah 53:4-6
A few days later we passed by this same thistle plant, and look!!! Out of something so wicked and evil as these thorny thistles came a thing of great beauty...All of these beautiful butterflies were drawn to this prickly plant to find food and sustenance for their lives! There were so many they had to fight each other for a place on the flowers to sip its nourishing nectar and live...
Who would have thought that out of something so full of "sorrow" as this thistle would come such life giving food?
Isaiah 53:10-12
"Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him;
He has put Him to grief.
When You make His soul and offering for sin,
He shall see His seed,
He shall prolong His days,
and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.
He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied.
By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many,
for He shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great,
and He shall divide the spoil with the strong,
Because He poured out His soul unto death,
and He was numbered with the transgressors,
and He bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors."
Thank You, Lord, for Your sacrifice for my sins. Out of Your suffering and great sorrow came new life and extreme joy. Thank You for the beautiful gift of Your grace and salvation...and food for our souls so that we might live, and that more abundantly. Amen.
Thursday, April 2, 2026...Reposting this for today, which is "Maundy Thursday" for this year...It's well worth repeating each year. May you be blessed as we remember our Lord's great sacrifice for us.
Thursday, March 28, 2024...Since today is "Maundy Thursday", I thought perhaps it would be a good time to revisit this post again. Whether or not your church observes this day or not, today is a good day to remember the events of Holy Week...the days leading up to Christ's death and resurrection. Here is what I shared with you a couple of years ago, and also a couple of years before that. It's a story and event that we have been asked to remember whenever we come together in Jesus' Name.
4/14/2022: I originally posted this when we were still under "lockdown" and unable to worship together in person. Thankfully we are no longer under such restrictions, but not every church has a "Maundy Thursday" service. Even so, we can still join together wherever we are, in a spiritual bond with our brothers and sisters around the world and observe this remembrance of our Lord's "Last Supper". Here is what I shared in previous years on this date. I hope it will be a blessing to you:
Today is Maundy Thursday, the day we observe and celebrate "The Last Supper" during Holy Week. I have revised this post from a previous post regarding The Lord's Supper observance from our church, so that we can remember the Gift of Christ's sacrifice for us as He willingly gave up His life so that we might have eternal life with Him. Whether or not your church observes this particular day or not, many will be joining together across the land to partake even if we are not able to assemble together physically. I believe God is using this time to draw many to Himself as we are focused on finding ways to participate in Holy Week/Easter services from our homes. May God be glorified and praised through these difficult days.
This is from a previous church service. Please follow along and be blessed:
Our Scripture lesson is from Luke 22:7-20, but the following verses 14-20 were highlighted:
Luke 22:14-20
14. "When the hour had come,
He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him.
15. Then He said to them,
"With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you
before I suffer;
16. For I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God."
17. Then He took the cup,
and gave thanks,
and said,
"Take this and divide it among yourselves;
18. for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine
until the kingdom of God comes."
19. And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying,
"This is My body which is given for you;
do this in remembrance of Me."
20. Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying,
"This cup is the new covenant in My blood,
which is shed for you."
Our choir sang this beautiful song prior to the message today. It was so beautifully written and sung.
Refrain:
"Every time we eat this bread,
Every time we drink this cup,
We proclaim the death of the Lord
Until He comes.
Take and eat this bread,
This is My body.
Take and drink this cup,
This is My blood.
(Refrain)
"I am the bread come down from heaven.
Eat this bread and live eternally."
(Refrain)
"I am the vine,
and you, the branches.
You who live in me
will bear much fruit."
(Refrain)
"My command is love for one another.
This I pray so your joy will be complete."
(Refrain)
In the above passage in Luke 22, Jesus said He desired to eat this Passover with His disciples. Passover was and is a very special time of remembrance of the great redemption of the children of Israel from the Egyptians. You can read more about this in the Old Testament book of Exodus, chapter 12. Particularly verses 12-13, God is explaining to Moses what He is going to do to redeem His people...and providing the very first Passover through the blood of the unblemished lamb.
"12. For I will pass through the land of Egypt on the that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast, and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment:
I AM the Lord.
13. Now the blood shall be a sign for you
on the houses where you are.
And when I see the blood,
I will pass over you;
and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt."
Fast forward to the New Testament and to Luke 22, where Jesus is explaining to His disciples in essence that He is about to become their "Passover Lamb"...and so when we celebrate Holy Communion, we are to remember Christ's great sacrifice for our redemption. This is much more than just a history lesson. It is a celebration on the hearts and lives of believers until Christ returns...It is only through the cross of Christ and the shedding of His blood that we have redemption from our sins.
In Luke 22:16-20 Jesus is foretelling for all of us the glorious promise of when we will one day sit at the banquet table with Jesus at the "Marriage Supper of the Lamb" (see Revelation 19:7-10)
In partaking in Communion we are remembering the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross for our sins. For a prophetic description of the sorrow and anguish and pain that He suffered for us, please read Isaiah 53. This is a vivid description of the vicarious sacrifice of Christ. Jesus took on Himself all of our sins...and because of this our sins are forgiven when we choose to believe in Him.
Hebrews 9:22 tells us:
"According to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission."
In John's Gospel, chapter 6, Jesus tells His disciples in verse 56:
"He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me,
and I in Him."
And so we come back to the communion service, where we follow Christ's example given to the disciples at that Last Supper before His death.
I Corinthians 10:16-17
"The cup of blessing which we bless,
Is it not the communion of the blood of Christ?
The bread which we break,
is it not the communion of the body of Christ?
For we, though many, are one bread and one body;
for we all partake of that one bread."
Please read I Corinthians 11:23-34 for the order of Communion, and where we see again how the Lord gave thanks, and then said to His disciples,
"Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you;
do this in remembrance of Me."
In the same manner He took the cup after supper, saying,
"This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me."
We need to rejoice together in Communion. I want to live my life in such a way that I can one day stand before Him.
Remember the great gifts He has given us:
Promise of eternity
Promise of sins forgiven
Partaking in the remembrance of Christ Jesus through this ordinance of the Lord's Supper.
(we sang the following song during the Communion service:)
In Remembrance (Ragan Courtney and Buryl Red)
"In remembrance of Me eat this bread In remembrance of Me drink this wine In remembrance of Me pray for the time When God's own will is done
In remembrance of me heal the sick In remembrance of me feed the poor In remembrance of me open the door And let your brother in, let him in
Take eat and be comforted Drink and remember too That this is my body and precious blood Shed for you, shed for you
In remembrance of me search for truth In remembrance of me always love In remembrance of me don't look above But in your heart, in your heart Look in your heart for God
Do this in remembrance of Me Do this in remembrance of Me In remembrance of Me"
Have YOU decided to follow Christ? Take time to remember His great sacrifice for your sins as you celebrate communion with Him and His body, the church.
After partaking of communion today we closed the service with the following song, (one of my favorite hymns): "And Can It Be?" I hope you will sing along with me here:
VERSE 1
And can it be that I should gain
An interest in the Savior’s blood
Died He for me, who caused His pain
For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
Amazing love! How can it be
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
VERSE 2
He left His Father’s throne above
So free, so infinite His grace
Emptied Himself of all but love
And bled for Adam’s helpless race
‘Tis mercy all, immense and free
For O my God, it found out me!
Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, shoudlst die for me?
VERSE 3
Long my imprisoned spirit lay,
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light
My chains fell off, my heart was free
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee
Amazing love! How can it be
That Thou, my God shouldst die for me?
VERSE 4
No condemnation now I dread
Jesus, and all in Him, is mine
Alive in Him, my living Head
And clothed in righteousness divine
Bold I approach the eternal throne
And claim the crown, through Christ my own
Amazing love! How can it be
That Thou my God, shouldst die for me?
2/3/2019: Personal notes from me (Pam) here: I don't know if your church observes Holy Communion once a month, once a quarter, or every Sunday, but I know for me when we started coming to this particular church at first I was a little uncertain about the necessity for taking communion every Sunday. But then I remembered that the early church "continued steadfastly in the apostle's doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers" (Acts 2:42), and that the believers were encouraged to "proclaim the Lord's death until He comes." (I Corinthians 11:26) I find the time of communion at the close of our service to be a personal time of worship, prayer, and introspection as I examine my own heart and seek God's will and direction for my life. It is a cleansing time, where I can once again remember how Christ sacrificed His very blood for me so that I would be washed clean from all my sins, and therefore I want to surrender my life to Him for service in whatever way He leads. Sometimes we get complacent and lazy in our faith walk, and we tend to forget why we are here and what we are supposed to be doing in God's kingdom. The communion service is a stark reminder to me that my life is not my own. I belong to Christ, and therefore I want to serve Him fresh and new every day. I am very thankful for this time of remembrance each week. It has been life-renewing to me. I hope this has been meaningful for you as well.
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Lakeland Ledger +2
