Thursday Thankfulness and Friday Foto Friends and Good Intentions

 Might as well combine the two days as I doubt I will have time tomorrow to write another post. We have a busy day with an out of town Doctor appointment and then just getting back to "normal", whatever that is! I know I will be thankful for some "normal" again.  Things have been a little "abby-normal" here lately. (Who remembers that word from the movie "Young Frankenstein"? Ever since then abnormal has become "abby-normal" to those of us who loved that movie).  LOL. 

Moving right along...This was going to be a serious post, but somehow it isn't starting out that way! Maybe that's a good thing!  We can all use some levity during these highly stressful days in the world right now.  But yes, continued prayers for Israel and all that is involved with that horrific crisis. Our eyes are fastened on the Eastern Skies every day.

If you read my last post HERE, you may be wondering how I am putting my new "Listen" Journal into use.  Well, I started out with great intentions.  Yesterday afternoon I took my journal in hand and went out to the "Secret Garden" to sit and "Listen" for God to speak to me.  Here's what really happened:

There I sat, with my journal, ready to "listen" as I waited on God in my thoughts and prayers.

No sooner had I sat down and began to write one paragraph about how this journal had come to be than I looked up and saw this neighborhood kitty come running across the yard like a long lost friend:

He immediately began to wind around my feet and brush against my legs, obviously marking me as his personal property...

This cat is no stranger, but he doesn't belong to me. He's a "neighborhood cat"...maybe homeless, but seems to be well fed (a neighbor feeds several cats) and healthy looking.  He often shows up in our back yard, watching and stalking the birds (much to my displeasure), or taking a catnap on our back porch in my favorite wicker chair on the best cushion...

The next thing I knew he was giving me a very strong look right up in my face, with his ears somewhat pinned back...I wasn't sure whether to push him down or get up and run, so I just talked sweetly to him and cautiously began to pet him...

So he decided to stay awhile...

He kept a close watch over me, however, and every time I tried to open my journal and write, he nudged against me and kept me from it...

So I just sat there and enjoyed the moment of a warm, purring cat rubbing against me for a while...

You could tell he still wasn't too sure about my intentions, and kept giving me that "look"...

So I stroked his back a little while longer and talked to him like we were old friends, and he seemed to appreciate it.

He laid down and started to take a little catnap here on the swing, until I tried to open up my journal and start writing again, and then he jumped down and started batting at my ankles and even kind of tried to nip at me a bit, so I decided it was time to get up and go back inside the house.

I wasn't able to take any more pictures as he was basically tripping me with every step and blocking my path all the way to the steps of the porch. I really don't think he had any intention of letting me go back inside, and he wasn't being very nice about it either so I decided to get out of dodge before his behavior turned ugly.  Needless to say, I didn't get anymore writing done in my journal yesterday!

But I was listening!  Not sure what the message was...but after sleeping on it overnight I kind of settled on a couple of different thoughts...

Was this disruption to my good intentions of spending time alone with the Lord a message from God or a distraction from the devil? I mean at first I welcomed the kitty and enjoyed his company, but then things began to change.  Either he sensed my little bit of irritability at his interruption to my quiet time and then got irritable himself, or his full purpose was to keep me from spending that time in peace and quiet.  Was this a test of my will to stay tuned in to a task or a test of my compassion for another creature in need of some love and attention?

Sometimes we can get so caught up in our "good intentions" and doing good works that we overlook the needs right in front of us...for some it may be our loved ones or close friends or neighbors who are in need of our attention and we are too busy with what we think is important to notice...or it could be just the opposite...we get so caught up in doing for others that we neglect our time alone with God and our personal spiritual needs begin to fade into the distance...

Either way...it got me thinking. I guess God did get my attention after all.

This morning I made a more concerted effort to spend some quiet time alone with the Lord on the back porch and I believe it paid off. I will write more about that later.

Mark 6:31 

"And He (Jesus) said to them, “Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” For there were many coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat. 

32 So they departed to a deserted place in the boat by themselves."

Meanwhile, here's some pictures I took the other evening in and around "The Secret Garden"/Butterfly Garden, just at sunset.  The light from the sun at that time was so perfect that it made these flowers just glow...This is what I call "God's Garden"...He grew it without my help!

The Holly Berries are turning bright crimson now

The golden yellow wildflowers of October are showing up everywhere:

Even the Goldenrod is beautiful:

And these yellow flowers along the edge of Still Waters Pond lift their faces to the sun each afternoon:

Not sure what this is called, but it's another wild flower growing along the shores of the pond...

Another sweet purple marsh flower:

A kind of Honeysuckle in the butterfly garden...Oh! There was a hummingbird on this flower just before I took this picture! I thought they were all gone now, but I guess not!

These are "cats whiskers"!  How appropriate for this day!

Milkweed continues to bloom:

Beauty in the Butterfly garden at sunset...

Okay friends, that's all for today.  I will be back when things are settled down a bit after tomorrow if not sooner.  Peace and blessings to you and yours...