Wednesday Treasures

This morning on Still Waters Pond. Need I say more?

"For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."  

2 Corinthians 4:6

What a glorious way to start the day!  That full moon was just as beautiful this morning at 6 a.m. as it was last night at 9 p.m.  Sadly, I didn't take a picture of it then, so I am thankful it was still there in all this beauty this morning. Thank you, Jesus!  

I put that picture on my Facebook page this morning. I am so thankful to the Lord for giving me such wonders to behold, and I believe He wants me to share them with the world.  I became convicted about my lack of thoughtful content on Facebook lately.  It seems as though the only things I have been posting lately are my Wordle, Connections and Strands game results.  For those of you who play these daily brain challenge games from New York Times on your computer or cell phone, you understand what I am talking about.  They are fun and sometimes exasperating at the same time, but they are good ways to keep the brain cells functioning. There are a few of our friends who also enjoy playing these games and we post our results on Facebook so we can either congratulate or commiserate with each other, depending upon how well we did.  It's good clean fun and I enjoy it.  But it's not the only thing I want the world to see on my Facebook page...so God gave me a little nudge to start posting a daily photo with a scripture verse included as a way of encouraging one another and giving glory to God each day.  

 

So here are the previous photos w/captions that were posted on FB this week.

"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." Matthew 5:16

"This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long!"

This is a new "brain challenge" for me to find appropriate verses or quotations or, as in the case of the bluebird above, songs, to go along with whatever photos I am able to capture throughout the week. I know many of you already do something like this on your Facebook page as well as  your blog, and I used to do more of that but have gotten away from it recently, and in these difficult and turbulent times in our world we need more positive messages out there.  I am praying that God will help me in this endeavor and remind me when I forget or get caught up in too much other stuff.  So many of you are such good examples already, and I really appreciate your faithfulness. Thank you!

In other events of the week...nothing too major except for doctor appointments and the usual weekly activities, i.e.; Bible Study on Monday and Choir practice on Tuesday.  We finished up one book this week in our Ladies' Bible Study, and will begin this new study next week:

Looks like another great study so I am looking forward to it. We had hoped to start it this past Monday, but the books didn't get here on time, so we just reviewed some things in our previous study and pretty much had an open discussion about "life". 

Get a group of ladies together and they never seem to have a problem in finding something to talk about...isn't that the truth? LOL. There were some discussion questions in the back of our study book that we had not discussed, so this was a good time for it.  Here are the three questions we discussed...you may wish to think about these questions in your own life...

1.  Have you ever been angry with God when His answer to your prayer was no? Share briefly about that time and how you processed your anger.

2.  How does letting go of our anger and bitterness position us for God's better blessing?

3.  How does believing that our story is for God's glory help us trust Him in times of waiting?

As you can imagine there were a lot of thoughts and personal stories from our ladies in response to these questions. It was a very good discussion and I think very helpful and encouraging for each of us.

Back on the waterfront of Still Waters Pond...it seems as though the Sand Hill Crane family has graduated to a different level...they are no longer coming back here to the pond each night to sleep, so they must be showing the colts Abe and George more of the big wide world around us.  I expect they will still be coming by occasionally for a visit, but apparently not every day.

The Bluebird family seems to have slowed down again...I am not seeing much action out there at the birdhouse in the past couple of days. I don't believe the baby birds could have been big enough to fledge from the nest yet...so I really am not too sure what is going on.  If I can figure it out, I will let you know.

And the Canada Goose couple are apparently in the waiting room of their new little family emerging. I cannot see their nest, so I really can't report on whether or not the mother goose is still sitting on her nest.  Here's what I have seen:

If you look carefully you can find Daddy Goose actually napping in the pond...can you find him?

Here's a close up.  I had to really search to find him, as he blended in so well with the water and background.  He was situated out a little ways from the big island where I believe the nest is. Even though it appears he is napping, I am certain that if anything came around to disturb Mrs. Goose on her nest, he would be right there to defend her.

The past several days I have noticed this goose come into our yard around the same time of the afternoon.  I believe this is the mother goose on one of her "breaks" from the nest. She comes into our yard looking for food and only stays a few minutes and then she swims back around to the island to get back to the nest and relieve Daddy Goose from his nest-guard duty.

She is very "tame" and comes right up to the porch where I am standing, expecting me to give her something to eat apparently. I know I am NOT supposed to do that, and once I start, she will expect it every time.  There may be some stray birdseed out there on the ground, but I am being careful not to make her dependent on us for her food.  I think these geese have been fed by humans over on the other lake where they spend the rest of their time when they are not nesting.  It's not a good thing to feed them as it's really not healthy for them. There is plenty of natural food in the pond and on the ground for them to eat.  So I am trying to not give in to her "pleas".  It's not easy...

Isn't she lovely?

Here are some thoughts from God's Word that came to mind as I was thinking about this subject...

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?

Matthew 6:25-27

Well, speaking of food...it's about time to cook supper, so I need to get going.  Not exactly sure what we are having, but it will be something along with some pork loin chops that are quick and easy to fix! Nothing fancy, that's for certain. 

I hope you are having a good week so far. Little by little I am making my way around to visit. Blessings to each and every one of you!