A Day of Peace and Prayer

I wrote this from my "Secret Memorial Garden" this afternoon:
It’s 90 degrees outside and I am sitting here beside Still Waters Pond drinking a cup of hot tea 🍵. I must be crazy. But I am enjoying the peaceful surroundings. In the midst of so much chaos and sorrow in our land I just needed to get away from the world situation and pray. Don’t let my silence fool you. I am very saddened by the events of this past week, especially concerning George Floyd and his senseless death. Praying for appropriate justice to be done on his behalf. But I pray one horrendous act does not lead to further irreparable harm for more innocent people. May God help us to do the right things. Amen 🙏  

And that is all I will say about the current situation. We are all being bombarded with the horrific news from around the country...so much so that I had to turn off the TV and just get away from it for a while.  We did watch the launch of the SpaceEx rocket with two astronauts into space. That was something very positive and "uplifting"...pun intended.  Praying for their safety and successful mission to the International Space Station.

Now on to other things from the past couple of days:

Some of you may remember this beautiful Gloxinia plant that I brought with us from our old house when we moved. It is finally blooming again...and even has another bud ready to open:    This was a plant that I had basically given up on. I had just put it out in the bushes at our old house because I thought it was dead.  And then one day I looked and there it was, blooming like this! And so I paid closer attention to it, and it kept blooming all last summer. So it came with us when we moved, and it went kind of dormant for the winter, and now here it is again!  Just goes to show you that you should never give up on someone just because they don't perform exactly as you think they should all the time. Perhaps they just needed a little rest away from the noise and time to recover and bloom once again!

I noticed this little green lizard climbing on my new garden flag in the front yard today.  It looks like he wants to look at that pretty butterfly:

Or maybe he's just jealous that the butterfly and flowers get all the attention, and he wanted some too! So, yes, he got my attention!!

Something else that got my attention was the Great Blue Heron sitting so prettily on the other side of the pond. I tried to be very quiet as I took its picture....

But he didn't like it and up and up and away he flew! Which was just fine with me, because I rarely ever get a great picture of these birds in flight!  This was pretty good for high noon and in motion!!

My Facebook friends already saw these pictures, but today was "Demo Day" for Ben & Rose's Country Woodshop old shed.  For those who may not know, that is the name of our son and his wife's woodworking business where they build shelves for their Etsy Sites,   BR Coastal Rustic Decor and also Rustic Forest Studio.  They also build tables and refurbish other vintage furniture to be sold in local unique furniture shops.   Anyway, this old shed had a leaky roof among other problems, so our son and a friend tore it down today to make way for a brand new shed workshop.  Their business has been expanding over these past several months, even with the pandemic going on, and they need more room to work!

This story is to be continued when the new shed arrives...

Our sweet Grandpuppies, Sugar and Spice, were supervising the whole demo operation. 

I will close this with the words of this Psalm that we read this morning in our daily devotions. I found it particularly appropriate for our current situation in this country.  

Psalm 11

1.  "In the Lord I put my trust;

How can you say to my soul, 

'Flee as a bird to your mountain'?

2.  For look! The wicked bend their bow,

They make ready their arrow on the string,

That they may shoot secretly at the upright in heart.

3.  If the foundations are destroyed,

What can the righteous do?

4.  The Lord is in His holy temple,

The Lord's throne is in heaven;

His eyes behold,

His eyelids test the sons of men.

5.  The Lord tests the righteous,

but the wicked and the one who loves violence His soul hates.

6.  Upon the wicked He will rain coals;

Fire and brimstone and a burning wind;

Shall be the portion of their cup.

7.  For the Lord is righteous,

He loves righteousness;

His countenance beholds the upright."

I don't think I need to add anything to this at all...

Have a blessed night and beautiful day of worship tomorrow...wherever you may be to worship the Lord, make it a day of peace and prayer. Our country is in desperate need for both.  Amen.