Thankful Thursday Reflections

One week until Thanksgiving!  I am going over my lists and checking them twice...gonna find out who's naughty or nice...No wait...that's for Christmas! That list can wait another week! Right now I'm concentrating on the grocery list and the guest list, and making sure we've got everything covered! Gotta get to the store and pick up the turkeys, sweet potatoes, white potatoes, stuffing ingredients and various other things. Our guests are bringing the rest of the dishes...and I am sure we will have more than enough of everything.

So very thankful for friends and family, and most of all for how God has blessed us and taken such good care of us this past year.  When I look back over the year and all that has happened, I just have to stop and thank the Lord for His amazing grace, protection, and provision.

We've moved into a new house...

 and new community and are establishing new friendships and enjoying our wonderful little church and family.

We've been blessed with good health, although right now hubby and I are working through a siege of coughing/sinus issues. Praying this will pass before next week's festivities.  Seems like a lot of people have been afflicted with this lately, and all this good "fellowship" with others just seems to keep it going around...

This past week's cold/rainy spell kept me housebound for a while, but this morning is gorgeous, and I just had to get outside and enjoy the beauty that surrounds us. Here's a few pictures from our pond taken over the past week:

 Here's our beautiful Great Blue Heron...

I love seeing his reflection in the water, don't you?

I wonder if he ever notices his own reflection and wonders if his feathers are laying just right. Or if his beak is pointed and sharp enough to catch the fish?
Probably not. Birds are more sensible than we are about such things I am sure...

Here are this morning views on "Still Waters Pond":

from one of my favorite vantage points...

Way out there across the pond I could see these wood ducks swimming by, but they were pretty far away, so the pictures aren't very clear.  There are quite a few of them swimming around together:

They swam around behind these bushes on the island, so I lost sight of them. I am tempted to get a kayak and start exploring...but I probably should just leave them alone so they can eat and take care of their own little family...

This picture gives a better perspective of how far away they were:

Back along the shore of our "Still Waters Pond", I am delighted to behold the lovely wildflowers growing in "God's Garden".  It is "God's Garden" because He planted it.  These flowers grow naturally at His direction...I don't have to tend them at all. They belong to God, and He provides the soil, water, and sunshine so that they will grow and give beauty along the shore. They only come up and bloom in the fall, but I've noticed them around all of the ponds in the area...and they come back every year without man doing anything to help them.

I am reminded of the passage from Matthew 6:25-34,  where Jesus was teaching His disciples (and us today) wonderful words that seem to go along with these thoughts:

25.  "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life,

what you will eat or what you will drink;

nor about your body, what you will put on.  

Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?

26.  Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns;

yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  

Are you not of more value than they?

27.  Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?

28.  So why do you worry about clothing?

Consider the lilies of the field,

how they grow:

They neither toil nor spin;

29.  and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these...

30.  Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven,

will He not much more clothe you, 

O you of little faith?

31.  Therefore do not worry, saying,

'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 

'What shall we wear?'

32.  For after all these things the Gentiles seek.

For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.

33.  But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,

and all these things shall be added to you.

34.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, 

for tomorrow will worry about its own things.

Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."

So the reminder to us today, as we prepare for Thanksgiving next week, is don't worry about all the details of food, who's coming, will there be enough to eat, will the house be clean, will there be enough room for everyone...what shall I wear? How shall I decorate?...etc., etc., etc....Yes, we plan, we make our lists, and we prepare...but don't worry about it!  Enjoy the wonderful time with family and friends...make memories together, laugh and sing...and most of all,  remember to Thank the Lord for all His bountiful blessings!