Thursday Thankfulness

Happy first Thursday of Lent, 2025.

Actually, these sunrise photos were from yesterday morning, and these clouds ushered in a very stormy, windy  Ash Wednesday.  The winds are definitely in keeping with the month of March's reputation!

Seems like I can see and angel flying into the midst of this sunrise, which gives us encouragement that even in the midst of storms, God sends His angels to watch over us and keep us in all our ways...

Psalm 91:9-12

9 Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge,

Even the Most High, your dwelling place,

10 No evil shall befall you,

Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;

11 For He shall give His angels charge over you,

To keep you in all your ways.

12 In their hands they shall bear you up,

Lest you dash your foot against a stone.

What a beautiful promise from God's Word for us in these chaotic times! So very thankful for God's protection and provision always!

As you saw in the preceding pictures, the Goldfinches have arrived on their spring trek back up north!  It is such fun to watch them feeding at the finch feeder, and even the Bluebirds don't seem to mind them being here. I think they know they are just here temporarily, and that they are not a threat to their home territory, so they seem to get along just fine for the short while the finches are here filling up on food for their journey. 

Other signs of Spring are these blooming trees on the corner of our property:

This is a Carolina Cherry Laurel tree blossom, which I never realized before now was it's name! We always called it a wild cherry.

And the yellow flowers are some that I've shown you many times before, the Carolina Jessamine, or Yellow Jessamine are growing like wildfire this spring! They are so beautiful, and I've been noticing them almost everywhere we go along fencerows and up in the trees. Funny that both of these plants today have the name "Carolina" in their name!  And yet we are in Florida, but really not all that far from the Carolinas!  I am really enjoying their beauty this year for certain!

And I am really happy that the red Hibiscus plant we planted in the garden on Sunday is still blooming beautifully, and still has a lot more buds on it!  This makes my heart happy indeed, since this is the bush we chose to plant in memory of our son Matthew for his birthday.  

Here is something else that makes my heart happy.  A very dear young woman in our church gifted me with this painting on Sunday.  She actually painted it based on one of my sunset photos on Still Waters Pond:

She is learning to paint with watercolors and said she struggled a bit in getting it just right to her liking, but I love it. This young woman is currently going through a lot of issues in her family...her father has terminal cancer, her mother is not well at all and has some deep emotional issues, and her own daughter is getting married next month and so she is planning a wedding while in the process of being a care-giver for her parents, (and praying that her father is well enough to be able to attend the wedding and watch his granddaughter get married) and balancing that with her own life with her husband.  The painting is good therapy for her, but I honestly don't know how she finds the time to do anything extra.  This young woman's name is Nicole, and if you have a moment to lift her and her family up in your thoughts and prayers, I know she would appreciate it.

Yes, the Sand Hill Crane couple are still nesting, and they still take turns sitting on the nest and then coming to our shore looking for a handful of seeds to eat for a snack to help sustain them.  It has become a regular daily event to have each one of them show up at our back door waiting for us to appear and throw out some seeds. So we do, but it is just a little supplement to what they are able to get from around the pond, which is actually much better for them. But we enjoy the little interaction we have with them, and they seem to appreciate it too.

I just hiked around to the other side of the pond to see if I could catch them changing the guard on the nest, but I just can't seem to hit the right time.  There's mother Crane resting peacefully on her nest as per usual:

I do hope that since we've developed such a "close relationship" with them, they will be sure to bring their young baby colts around to visit us as soon as they are able. I'm sure they will. That has always been their tradition!    Judging by the calendar I've kept, we will be watching for that happy event sometime around St. Patrick's Day or thereabouts.  That seems to be their favorite birthday time period!

Regarding Lent...this 40 day time period prior to Easter, I wonder if or how you are observing it? I haven't made any specific promises or set any goals, but I am using this time to prepare my heart for the remembrance of what Christ has done for us on the cross, and most especially in His resurrection from the dead.

Our choir is working on our Easter Cantata, "It Is Finished", and one of the songs we are singing is this one:

Sung here by the Florida Boys

"When He Was On The Cross, I Was On His Mind"

I'm not on an ego trip I'm nothing on my own

I make mistakes I often slip

Just common flesh and bones

But I'll prove someday just why I say

I'm of a special kind

When He was on the cross

I was on his mind

The look of love was on his face

Thorns were on his head

The blood was on his scarlet robe

Stained a crimson red

Though his eyes were on the crowd that day

He looked ahead in time

For when He was on the cross

I was on his mind

He knew me, yet He loved me

He whose glory makes the heavens shine

So unworthy of such mercy

Yet when He was on the cross

I was on his mind

Yet when He was on the cross

I was on his mind

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Ronald Payne / Ronny Hinson

When He Was On The Cross lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Royalty Network, Warner Chappell Music, Inc

And this is what I am truly thankful for today.  I hope you are too.

Have a blessed and beautiful rest of your week.