What Do You See Outside YOUR Open Window Today?

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!

Thursday, March 19, 2020

Happy First Day of Spring!

"Rise up, my love, my fair one,
and come away.



For lo, the winter is past,
the rain is over and gone.
The flowers appear on the earth;

The time of singing has come,
and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.


The fig tree puts forth her green figs, 
and the vines with the tender grapes give a good smell.
Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away!"
Song of Solomon 2:11-13

I'm confused.  Google says today, March 19th, is the first day of Spring. My wall calendar says it isn't until tomorrow, March 20th.  So I had to look it up on the computer, HERE: https://www.farmersalmanac.com/spring-equinox-first-day-spring, and according to the Farmers' Almanac it is today, the earliest it has been in 124 years! Maybe because it's a Leap Year and we had that extra day in there...that could have thrown things off a bit too...but if you read the article, it explains it in more scientific terms.  So, after all that, I guess after 11:50 pm tonight we can officially say it is spring!

Well, no one had to tell these guys that it was spring! They've had it figured out all week long. Apparently it is "mating season" for the Canadian Geese, and we've actually had two couples vying for territory on our not so peaceful "Still Waters Pond".  If you are a Facebook friend, you can actually hear their frolicking on a couple of videos that I have posted.

In this picture below, that male goose is charging toward another male goose to tell him to stay out of his territory...

Their rituals involve much honking and challenging all night long as well as all day long....

And with two different couples going through this loving event at the same time, it can get quite noisy out there on the pond.

 Sometimes they just swim around like normal, enjoying the warm almost summer like days we have been having...
 But then pretty soon they start up their honking again just to let us know they are still there, and they are still "enjoying" each other's company!

As I've said on Facebook, they are definitely not  practicing "Social Distancing" like we've all been told to be doing during this current Coronavirus Pandemic!  Hopefully this virus has nothing to do with our wild kingdom, and life will go on as natural for them.  The upside to all of this noise and excitement is that I hope they will decide to make their nests here on our pond and that we will get to enjoy watching them raise their little goslings when the time comes.  Should make for some great entertainment.

So, switching stories here for a moment, how are all of you adapting to the current "Social Distancing" adventure in your neck of the woods, or corner of the pond? 

By now, it appears that just about everything is shutting down except for necessary services and thankfully not the grocery stores, although they have reduced their hours.  Our church has cancelled services and activities for the rest of March.  I was just looking at the calendar, and realizing that Easter will be coming up soon after that on April 12th.  I certainly hope and pray we will all be able to open our church doors wide to celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord...and the resurrection of healthy living again in our land. That would be a wonderful blessing for Easter!

In the meantime, we must each find ways to honor and worship our Lord in our homes and make this a special, personal time of communion with Christ.  I know many churches have ways of live streaming services to our homes, but our little church doesn't have any such modern technology, and besides, that would require our Pastor and leaders to still have to be there to "perform" this service, so quite frankly I think we should all just find ways to worship the Lord on a personal level and enjoy a time of being still before the Lord.

I find just taking time to find a quiet place, away from the distractions of the television and computer, and sit peacefully before the Lord, praying, reading His Word, writing in my journal, and perhaps even singing some spiritual songs, is a wonderful way to worship.

This is my little outdoors sanctuary, where I can spend time with the Lord, enjoying His beautiful creation around me.

 As I have been recuperating from my surgery, I have found this part of our back yard to be a cool respite from the "world"... a place to forget about the "news", and just enjoy being God's child.
I know for many of you it is still "winter", even though the calendar says it is now "Spring". But even if you can't go outside, I hope you can find a little secluded place in your home where you can "Be Still, and know that I Am God"  (Psalm 46:10) for a while. Don't just wait until Sunday morning...do it as often as you can. It is truly refreshing and comforting to spend that time alone with the Lord in prayer and meditating on His Word.

Okay, that's my thoughts for today.  Oh, tomorrow I go to get my staples out of my incision. I will be very happy to get those little metal things out of there. Day by day I am getting better, but still working towards getting back to some kind of "regularity" and normal. 'nuf said'. 

Have a blessed and beautiful day, and as you "shelter in place", make it a place of peace and joy and praise!! Amen!

17 comments:

  1. Alright, Pamela, stop hogging the geese and send them home, now, grin (and laughter). We did hear some Canadian Geese a while back and now, they are gone, so, they headed back to FL? ((how rude, rolling laughter))). hey, Geese, just because the border is closed, doesn't mean you can't come back! ((More laughter))

    As for social distancing...everything is closed here. I told my husband, its time to practice the social distancing for our daily actvities to here and there...he made the comment this morning he thinks I have already had it, as I was violently ill last spring with re occurring pneumonia etc. All I remember was feeling it was the end of me, not joking, just keeping it real.

    Keeping all in prayer, sweet friend.

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    1. I think these particular geese must stay here year round. We did have a big group of them earlier in winter, who only stayed here on our pond one day, but this one couple has been here all winter long. I don't know where the other interlopers came from, but our resident geese don't appreciate them horning in on their territory. Now, as far as your former illness last spring...it would be interesting if they had any dna from that time to go back and check for this present virus. I know we (hubby and I) both had some severe coughing kind of "flu" or cold this past fall, as did many in our church. It just never wanted to go away, which was something we had not experienced before. But eventually it did go away and we are staying pretty healthy now. (Praise God!). Just please keep looking up and trusting God to get you and all of us through this. It won't be long until things will get back to some kind of normal. Take care.

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  2. I sure hope your appt goes well and you can look forward to time at home recovering and healing. We are staying home except for our hikes. When we hiked yesterday we only saw 2 other people so the trails are a great place to be. I wish more people would get out there and get some exercise and breathe the fresh air! Love your beautiful backyard and pond. I would want to stay out there all the time. We saw the Canada Geese here at our little neighborhood pond this week. They are so pretty! Take care of yourself and let me know how your doctor appt goes! Hugs!

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    1. Thank you Diane. Tomorrow's appt. is just to remove the staples, and then I go back in another two weeks to see the Dr.(surgeon) hopefully for the last time. Meanwhile I am trying to behave and not overdo it. I found out that I really can't do as much as I would like to do, and it may be a while before I have regained my strength. But I try to get outside every day and walk around our yard, watching the geese with their funny antics, and just enjoying this beautiful weather we have been having. We are so blessed to be living here in Florida during this time of "social distancing". At least we can socialize with nature! Take care and have a blessed week. Love seeing your pictures.

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  3. So glad to hear you are recovering well from your surgery. I so love your little pond and what a lovely place to sit and relax and be with the Lord! You are blessed for sure.

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    1. Thank you, Cathy. I am so thankful to have this place of peace to retreat from the world for a while. Praying you and your family are safe from the "virus". Stay strong and be at peace.

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  4. Praying for complete healing dear lady. Love all of the pictures. I want to dig in the dirt so bad but no time right now! This sweet weather makes me want to plant, transplant and well...Hoping too soon. Happy Spring. Hugs and blessings, Cindy

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    1. I know the feeling. I would love to start planting more flowers around our house, but I don't have the ability to do so right now, and can't go shop for the things to plant, so it will have to wait. Spring is here, but it will be here for a little while yet. We just have to be patient I guess! Stay healthy my friend.

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  5. Still keeping you in prayer, Pamela! Thank you for sharing these lovely photos that remind us that spring has definitely sprung. It is a shame that churches have had to close their doors, but you are so right - we can worship and praise the Lord no matter where we are, and you have such a special, peaceful (well, except for the geese) place to be in communion with Him.
    Blessings!

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    1. Ha Ha, the geese have been quite the distraction, although they gave us a little break from the noise today and flew away to somewhere else for a while. I expect they will be back, but either way is fine. Geese just gotta do what geese do! Praying you and Danny are staying safe and healthy and finding pleasant ways to pass this time. God is with us and we are blessed. Thinking of you today.

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  6. Such great entertainment right in your own backyard! We are all praying and trusting in Him to let all of this play out and put things right again. All we can do is sit tight and be careful! I really enjoyed your post today and know you will feel better with the staples out!

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    1. Thank you, Terri. Yes, this is a time where I believe the Lord has orchestrated our country to come together and focus on what is really important in life: LIFE! Praying it will make some differences in our overall attitudes going forward. Yes, I hope the staples coming out will make me smile. I am ready!!!

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  7. "Sheltering in place" pretty contentedly here. I love being at home and am thankful for the assurances the Lord will get us through this, whether it's easy or hard.

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    1. We are blessed to be able to stay at home and know that we are being provided for. My heart goes out to those who are losing income during this time. Praying it won't be long, and thankful our President is working hard to try and alleviate some of that particular "pain". God is working in the midst of all of this, and we will come out stronger on the other side.

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  8. We too are sheltering in place and have the things we need. Trusting God to get us through this virus and to stay healthy. I pray the same for you and yours.

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  9. Happy Spring Pamela! We can worship anywhere, just lift our hands and voices to our Lord. It is sad not to be able to come together as a congregation to worship, we must remain together in spirit and unite as one church to pray for the world.

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  10. Those geese get pretty aggressive when they are in the mating season. Fun to watch that's for sure. My church is closed for several weeks, but the Pastor records a message which we can listen to online. He has also started sending out a weekly email, so we feel more connected .

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