Monday Monday~

 Good Monday Morning! This is the last Monday in June and it will be July 4th before we know it! With all the hoopla and celebrations going on this week, it appears that we will most likely just be staying close to home with no major activities. Our extended family has other things going on and can't travel up here. My sister Doris is having cataract surgery this week! Her first one...and then will have the other one done in a few weeks, so traveling is not really in her best interest right now. (Praying for her now, because I think it's actually happening today!) And our DIL Rose actually has to work on Saturday the 4th (Home Depot!), so we can't plan anything without her! So I think we will just enjoy a quiet 4th of July here at home and probably go watch the fireworks from a good vantage point that evening. We'll save all the traditional home-made ice-cream making fun for some other time when we can all be together to enjoy it.  We could go participate in our town celebration throughout the day, but it will most likely be too hot and too crowded for us old folks, so we will stay home and keep cool.

Today we are under a heat advisory, and it's already been too hot to stay outside for more than a few minutes anyway, and it doesn't look any cooler throughout the week, so I will take the "advice" and stay indoors where it is cool. (Praise God for air conditioning!)

It was extremely hot and very dry yesterday afternoon, so I went outside and watered my poor plants, and then later the skies looked like this:

And lo! and Behold! We actually got a nice thunderstorm that lasted for about 20 minutes, which was a surprise! Maybe going outside and watering things was the thing to do! The "heavens" looked down and had pity on me and decided to give us some reprieve!  Thank You, Lord! We'll take whatever rain we can get!!

It's been "good weather" for staying inside and reading and watching TV.  I've been "binge reading" these Rhys Bowen novels, which could be considered  kind of historical fiction mysteries. They are what I consider relaxation reading, and although they are not what I would consider to be of much "spiritual value", thankfully "the good" in the heroine wins out over the "evil" in those around her, so there's that redeeming value. This author has a LOT of books to choose from at our public library, and several different series as well as some good stand alone novels. 

The other thing I enjoyed was watching this little mini-series "Seeking Persephone". The only thing was that due to the intense British accents, I needed to use "close-captioning" to understand what they were saying. LOL.  It was a good story, and even my hubby watched it with me, which is unusual. Normally he considers these "chick flicks" and has no interest in watching. LOL.

I am sorry I haven't been around much in blogland lately. It was another busy weekend, with the memorial service for our dear friend Opal on Saturday morning. There was a packed church, with family and friends attending from all over the country, literally. One of the highlights of the service was a video of Opal and a couple of our other choir members singing with her, "He Could Have Called Ten Thousand Angels". That was one of Opal's traditional songs to sing at Easter, and the other one was "O  Holy Night" at Christmas.  The video was done last year at Easter, when she had come back to church after recovering from a stroke, and she was still able to sing. I remember then that there was not a dry eye in the church, and yesterday, watching that recording, was another tear jerking moment.  My "infected tear ducts" have certainly had a workout these past few weeks. Thankfully they are getting better with the help of the 10 days worth of strong antibiotics.  

Have you ever noticed this verse in the Bible before?

Internet photo

I have seen it before, but thought it was mostly a symbolic kind of thing, not an actual "bottle".  But in our new Ladies' Bible Study that we will be resuming in September, "Jesus and Women in the First Century and Now", by Kristi McLelland, we learned that the tear bottle is an actual item that "in the ancient Near East, Jewish women collected their tears in a tear jar and poured them out to God in worship as a sign of faith, embodying God's message in Psalm 56:8 where He says He keeps our tears in a bottle." (Jesus and Women, page 6, Kristi McLelland, Lifeway Publishing)

Can you imagine literally putting all of your tears into a bottle, and that God is aware of every tear that falls? I've tried to figure out just how one could physically put their tears in a bottle in the first place...there have been times in my life when my bottle would be overflowing and have to be emptied frequently and refilled...or would I have several bottles to use instead of just one? Seriously, I'm not sure how they physically did this, but apparently they did...and God saw that and still today, He sees our sorrows and griefs, and He knows the depths of our pain...and He comforts us with His great love and compassion...and restores us and gives us the courage to keep moving forward beyond the grief and sorrow.  

The Psalmist says  "You collected all my tears in your bottle", and "You have recorded each one in Your book."  Oh my, what a book that must be! But then He wipes away our tears and gives us fresh hope and renewed strength, and a brand new day to begin again.  

Earlier in that same Psalm King David says:

"3 Whenever I am afraid,
I will trust in You.
4 In God (I will praise His word),
In God I have put my trust;
I will not fear.
What can flesh do to me?"

And later in the book of Revelation...the very last book of the Bible, it says:

Revelation 21:4 NKJV

"4 And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”

I don't know about you, but I look forward to that day...

Well, on a lighter note, I know you all look forward to some pictures of "King" Blackie...so here's some of the latest...

Blackie has gotten rather attached to our computers lately, I guess because he figures if he can get in the way of our doing our work on our computers, he will get more attention...so here he is snuggling up to my hubby's laptop...this was taken right before he pushed it off the little table and right into hubby's lap (thankfully...and not on the floor!)

And here he is laying on my desk, guarding my mouse and keyboard...I don't dare try to touch them or he will grab at my hand with his sharp little claws. He thinks it's a game...

He's daring me to even TRY to touch that mouse or keyboard! LOL.

Yes, "King Blackie" has certainly taken over our household and captured our hearts.  He's a rascal and a scamp, but he's managed to even get my hubby to feed him and cater to his desires.  It's still amazing to me how far this neighborhood stray cat has come in the past year! Perhaps God knew we would need a happy diversion from all the sorrows and sadness in the world today.  Yes, if God is keeping a record of our tears and writing them down in a book, then He certainly can send us some little joys along the way as well...and perhaps He's writing that down in "our book" as well.  I hope that someday we will see that our joys far outweighed our tears and we will say with King David in Psalms 30:11-12:

"You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, To the end that my glory may sing praise to You and not be silent. O Lordmy God, I will give thanks to You forever."

Amen.

I hope you have a joy-filled rest of your week, and that all your sorrows will be turned to joy.  Amen.