Sunday Contemplations and Exaltations

Psalm 89:1

"I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever;

With my mouth will I make known your faithfulness to all generations."

It is Sunday...the Lord's Day. A day set aside from the beginning of time for rest, worship, and praise to God, our Savior, Lord, and Coming King!

Since the onset of the Covid 19 (I strongly dislike that name/word/and all that it implies), we have not been able to gather together for Sunday worship.  I know many churches have had "drive-in services", and online/streamlined services. Our church has had online services...and as much as we appreciate all the effort put forth by our Pastor and other church leaders to make that happen each week, it still does not take the place of gathering together for worship and fellowship with our fellow believers and friends in Christ. 

The following verses are an encouragement and exhortation to believers to not neglect the gathering together , so that we can encourage and teach one another from God's Word how we should be living during these difficult times:

Hebrews 10:24-25 (NKJV)

24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. 

Since we have not been able to assemble together at our church all these weeks and now months, several of us have gathered together for a Sunday morning "brunch" at our local restaurant (once it opened again for service), just so we could be together and spend some time enjoying the presence of our beloved friends and encourage one another that way.  But then this week the restaurant had to close again because an employee was showing some symptoms that could be "the virus", and so they were being tested and the restaurant shut down until further notice. Of course that leaves us all wondering if we were also exposed, but until that person receives the test results no one knows. And so today we did not gather together as usual.  Our church is scheduled to reopen next Sunday, but with the current uptick in virus cases here in our state recently, we are not sure if that is going to happen or not. And so we retreat back into our homes and await the verdict.

However, I am not going to just sit here idly waiting. No, I am going to bake blueberry bran muffins for breakfast.  They looked and smelled so good as they came out of the oven I just had to take their picture! Then I ate a couple while they were still warm.

Then I told hubby I was not going to sit around all day and do nothing. Since it was a perfectly beautiful morning for a kayak ride around Still Waters Pond, that is what I did. Here I am, ready to go!

As I paddled around the pond of course I paused to enjoy the scenery along the way. There weren't any birds to startle away this morning...I think they got scared off by this "Loch Ness Monster" that showed up in their pond this past week! LOL.

The cattails remind me of roasting a hot dog over a campfire. Hmmm, something I love to do, but when it is a bit cooler so we can have a fire.

The pond is so covered with lily pads it looks like you could walk right across the tops of them. They are pretty hard to paddle through too, as the stems go down to the bottom of the pond and they are quite thick under the surface. I am getting a good workout paddling through these things!

I love this little sanctuary from the rest of the world. But if you look through those trees, you can see the sign for a handy store across the highway that is just on the other side of those trees.  But, except for the constant noise of traffic, you'd never know it was there...However, I have learned to tune out that noise and enjoy the peace and solitude of my special refuge from the turmoil outside my little sanctuary.

See what I mean about lily pads so thick you could walk across them?

Don't think I'd try it, however.

The morning sun was a bit bright so the pictures are not quite as pretty as before, but you still get the idea.

There's one of those bees I've told you about!  That lily pad looks like "pac-man" coming to eat him  up!

I finally made it all the way around the pond and back home. I always try to bring back at least one lily as a souvenir of my trip. If you notice the long stem in my hand, that tells you how deep the water was where I picked this flower. I measured the stem and it was 4'3" long! So that is how deep the pond is in the place where I picked the lily. There may be deeper spots, but I haven't discovered them yet.

I know I look kind of goofy here. I had taken my hat off so I could pull my camera over my head and hand it to my hubby so he could take this picture. I didn't realize the hat strap was covering my face! LOL.  You should have seen me getting out of the kayak, if you really want to see something goofy! LOL.

As I was writing this just now I looked out my window and saw this Great Blue Heron land out there in the pond. I am glad to see him come back as I thought I had scared him away for good!

He must be eating pretty good because it sure looks like he's getting bigger!

To finish with a few more verses from our morning Psalm 89

Psalm 89:13-16

13.  "You have a mighty arm; Strong is Your hand, 

and high is Your right hand.

14.  Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne;

Mercy and truth go before Your face.

15.  Blessed are the people who know the joyful sound!

They walk, O Lord, in the light of Your countenance.

16.  In Your name they rejoice all day long,

and in Your righteousness they are exalted."

I hope you have found a place to have peace and rest and a refuge from the noise and strife of the world around us. God truly knew what we would need when He created a day of rest for His children. 

Until next time, have a blessed day, my friends!!