Sunday Evening Meditation

Psalm 25:1-5

1 To You, O Lord, I lift up my soul.

2 O my God, I trust in You;

Let me not be ashamed;

Let not my enemies triumph over me.

3 Indeed, let no one who waits on You be ashamed;

Let those be ashamed who deal treacherously without cause.

4 "Show me Your ways, O Lord;

Teach me Your paths.

5 Lead me in Your truth and teach me,

For You are the God of my salvation;

On You I wait all the day."

I thought you'd enjoy seeing that we not only have Bluebirds here on Still Waters Pond, but we also have "red-birds", a.k.a. the Northern Cardinal, and in this case, the male Cardinal. His mate is around there somewhere, but she didn't make it into the pictures.  This male just seemed to be waiting and watching and perhaps listening for God's instructions. "On You I wait all the day."  A good lesson for us today from God's Word.  Be patient and wait on the Lord for instruction...follow God's leading and teachings and you will not go astray!

Last evening I thought I would outsmart the Sand Hill Crane couple and go way around the shore of Still Waters Pond to where I could see their nesting place and wait for them to land for the evening.  They usually fly in around sunset and land on this little scrap of marshy floating island, (see below) where they will spend the night and also where they are building their nest for this spring.  

As I stood on the shore...this close to the water's edge! Yes, if I lost my balance I would be in that water!...

I looked around and across to where our house is and our shoreline, and what do I see?  Mr. and Mrs. Sand Hill Crane had landed on our shoreline, and they were enjoying taking their time and finding things to eat in the weeds along the shore!

So I stood there on the other side (I zoomed in for these pictures) and waited patiently for them to get tired of eating there and fly on over to their nest...

They seemed to be enjoying a leisurely stroll along the shore, and they were in no hurry at all to get back to their nest!

Meanwhile, I'm standing over there waiting and it's getting kind of chilly...I had run out of the house without a sweater thinking it was still warm out since it had been quite warm during the afternoon...

But no, they were in no hurry.  I took these next pictures with my cell phone, so I couldn't zoom in as well, but I liked the way the sunlight was changing the colors as it was setting in the west beside me.

I almost think they knew I was over there watching them, and therefore they weren't going to fly over that way as long as a strange human with a camera was there waiting for them!

Finally I gave up and decided to head back to the house before it got dark.

I didn't take another picture, but when I got back around to the house to go in the back door, they saw me and came right up on the shore into our yard and waited for me to go inside and get them some birdseed! Yes! That's what they were waiting for, the stinkers! LOL.  So I threw them out some seed and they were very grateful and stayed there and ate it until it was too dark for me to even think about going back outside to see where they would go next. Besides, it wouldn't have shown up in a photo anyway!  But perhaps I did what I was supposed to do.

Psalm 145:14-19

14 "The Lord upholds all who fall,

And raises up all who are bowed down.

15 The eyes of all look expectantly to You,

And You give them their food in due season.

16 You open Your hand

And satisfy the desire of every living thing.

17 The Lord is righteous in all His ways,

Gracious in all His works.

18 The Lord is near to all who call upon Him,

To all who call upon Him in truth.

19 He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him;

He also will hear their cry and save them."

No, I am not trying to say that I am taking the place of God for these birds. But perhaps I am doing what God wants me to do for them.  Perhaps I am His ambassador here for these creatures of His creation. Or maybe it is simply an example to us of how God cares for us.  When we fall down or are feeling sad or blue or in a difficult situation, we can rely on God to provide for us.  "The Lord is near to all who call upon Him...and He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He also will hear their cry and save them."    If God provides food for the creatures of the earth, how much more will He provide for us, His beloved children who are calling upon Him in truth, and who are looking expectantly to Him for help in time of need?  Yes, as surely as we take care of our own, even sometimes in exasperation because our own don't always perform the way we want them to...yet because of love we take care of them...God also cares for us, even when we don't always perform the way He wants us to...because He loves us.   He will "hear their cry and save them."   Amen!

Now just for laughs as I close this out for the night, this afternoon I looked out the window here in my "Room with a View", and saw "Blackie" the neighborhood cat sitting on a little container on the back porch that has an old rug on top of it...just sitting there giving himself a bath and then relaxing and looking around like he owned the place.

I had to chuckle, because everytime I look out on the porch, Blackie has chosen a different place to sit! We have three wicker chairs, and he goes from one to the next and back again, depending upon his mood I guess. I told my hubby he reminds me of Goldilocks, trying out each chair and then the "bed" to find the one that is "just right".  

And speaking of beds that are just right...I guess it's time to say good night!

Isaiah 26:3  NKJV

3 You will keep him in perfect peace,

Whose mind is stayed on You,

Because he trusts in You.

It's February!!! The Month for Love!

  

Can you believe it's February already? Although January seemed like a whole year took place in one month, there was so much going on in our world and country...some good, and sadly, some not so good. Praying still for families of the victims of the Washington D.C. plane crash and now another plane crash last night in Philadelphia. So very very sad for these families. Add to that the wildfires in CA., the horrific tragedy in New Orleans on New Year's Eve, and the plight of so many still in NC...it's been a rough beginning to 2025. But I am thankful that through all of the heartache and sorrows, there has been much good happening in our country and world too...the release of the hostages in Gaza, and the very positive things that are happening in our government since January 20th. We have hope and encouragement that things are going to get better and better, but still there is much to pray for and about. I know there are some who will disagree with me on some of these issues, but I don't want to debate or discuss that here. Let's just all agree to continue to pray for our nation, our President and his staff, and our families and people in general. We are exhorted to pray for our leaders whether or not we always agree with them!

1 Timothy 2:1-6 NKJV

Pray for All Men

1"Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, 2 for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. 3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

5 For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, 

6 who gave Himself a ransom for all..."

Here's hoping and praying that February will be a calmer and gentler month!  It's the month for "love", with Valentine's Day in the middle of it! 

 

Lily Grace reminded me this morning that it's about time she changed her outfit from her warm winter coat and hat and boots (since it warmed up to 80 degrees already yesterday afternoon!) and get dressed in her Valentine's dress and start preparing for a Valentine's Tea Party with her friends.

So here they are, all dressed and ready to celebrate Valentine's Day and give little hearts to one another...

Do you still send Valentines to family and friends?  I do sometimes, but if so, I'd better get a move on before all the good ones are gone! Or I may have to just make some!  Did you ever do that? Make your own Valentine cards?  Those are some of the best ones of all!!

Since it is February 1st, it is also time for the calendar roll call for the month! I already showed you the Thomas Kinkade calendar above, which is always beautiful!!

Here's the John Sloane Country Seasons picture for February, entitled "Morning Commute".  I like that idea...for farmers this would be their morning and evening commute...out to the barn to feed the animals, or milk the cows, or whatever needs to be done, regardless of the weather. Those of who who have farm animals know that the work goes on no matter what!  

That looks like our neighborhood cat "Blackie", who is sitting on our back porch right now enjoying a nap in the wicker chair. Seems to be his favorite place to spend the days lately. Not sure where he goes for the night...probably "prowling around". LOL.

Speaking of farm animals...we took a little ride this morning and these fellas were heading toward the road. Thankfully they stopped.  I'm not sure if they are someone's pet pot bellied pigs or what...but if so, they'd better get them back inside the fence before they become someone's bacon for breakfast!

I think the one is saying to other, "Oh, you're such a ham!" LOL.

Yeah, that one sure does have a "pot belly" !!  He's a real "porker". LOL.

Now this is a switch...the Teapot Calendar had an interesting teapot for this month:

Are any of you Star Trek fans?  This is actually from the Next Generation of Star Trek, which I never watched.  I only remember Captain Kirk and Spock and his crew, but this one is all about Captain Picard and his love of tea!  And apparently this teapot and cups is what they envisioned we would be using in the future! 

Here's an interesting thought...

I'll take the tea, please, anyway you want to serve it! LOL.

Ah, this is a lovely little basket of pink violets...what a delightful Valentine's gift!

May our hearts all be united with love!

And last but not least, the calendar in my bathroom has what is called "Quiet Moments" on each month.  I don't know how many of you will be planting flowers in February where you live, but here in Florida that would not be uncommon. It's time to start cleaning out our gardens and preparing for some fresh new colors for spring!

Speaking of spring...Mr. and Mrs. Bluebird were back to look at house #1 again. I guess they are still trying to decide which one will be most suitable for building their nest this time:

Mr. Bluebird is giving the house a complete checkover, roof:

Front Door:

Meanwhile, Mrs. Bluebird sits in the tree above patiently waiting for his assessment:

This time he goes inside and checks out every detail:

He comes back out and says, "Hey, Marge! I think you'll like this one! It's nice and clean!"

So he went back inside to give it another inspection:

"Yep, I think this is the one!! I like the view from here the best!"

I guess Marge is telling him that it's up to him. She's still up in the tree and doesn't want to come down for a look.

He's looking at me as if to say, "So, what would YOU do?"

Time will tell which one they finally decide on. Stay tuned for further episodes of the saga of Mr. and Mrs. Bluebird at Still Waters Pond!

And speaking of Still Waters Pond, this was our visitor early this morning:

Mr. (or could be Mrs.?) Great White Egret!

He was stepping right along in search of something good for breakfast.

I think he's spied something in those weeds...maybe a juicy frog...

He fished around for a while and then flew away.  Maybe the fish (or frogs) just weren't biting today!

So that's about it for this first day of February. I've just put a pork loin roast (no, it's NOT one of those pot bellied pigs, but could be a distant cousin! )  in the oven and soon I'll need to go peel some potatoes to cook so we can have mashed potatoes and gravy with it. (Hubby's request).  BTW:

Our trip back to the eye doctor yesterday morning for hubby's follow up appointment was rather "eye-straining" for me:

The fog was "thick as pea soup"!    (Don't worry,  I wasn't taking pictures while driving. I was either stopped, or hubby took the pictures for me)

This is just a brief video hubby took wile we were moving.  

I can tell you I was "white knuckling" the steering wheel all the way there of that 1 hour drive!  But the good news is, hubby's eye is doing very well and the doctor was pleased with his progress after 24 hours. We go back again next Friday for a one week check up. Hopefully it won't be foggy again! But hubby can drive then! LOL.

Here's some words of wisdom for today from 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a. (NKJV)

4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, 

is not puffed up; 

5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 

6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 

7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never fails.

Just one more:  I John 4:7-8

7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 

8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

Let us love one another! Amen! So long until next time!!