Tuesday 4 "What Things..."

 

What Things.....



It's time for Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4.  You can join in by clicking on THIS LINK

Questions about your life...


1. What makes you tired?
What makes me tired? Physical and emotional distress will wear me down pretty quickly. Not to mention the fact that I am rapidly approaching 3/4 of a century of living...and that's enough to make anyone tired. LOL.  I wish that I had the stamina and energy that I had when I was a young mother of three very active little boys, juggling babies, housework, and outside work along with being an active Pastor's wife, participating in many church activities such as singing in the choir, teaching children/youth Sunday School, leading our women's ministries/Bible and prayer fellowship, acting as the church secretary, preparing bulletins and all other kinds of communications...yes, those were the days, my friend...and in some ways I'm glad they are over, but in other ways I wish I could go back do some of it over and maybe do a better job having the wisdom I've gained by living to be this great age. LOL.

Me with my three sons back in the early ministry days. Precious memories

2.What things do you value in life?

My relationship with Jesus Christ is the most valuable gift I've been given. My family is next...yes, next, because my relationship with Christ is eternal whether or not I have my family. My family is a gift from God, but ultimately my family belongs to God, not to me. It is a treasure that I am very thankful for and give thanks to God daily for this blessing...but I've already learned the hard way that my family, my children, are not my own. But the good news is that when we all belong to God, we will be together again eventually in heaven for eternity. So it all goes back again to that relationship with Jesus Christ.

Here's a song that expresses how I feel about this...

Lyrics: 

Lord, You are more precious than silver.

Lord, You are more costly than gold.

Lord, You are more beautiful than diamonds,

And nothing I desire compares to You.

3. How do you want others to see you?

I pray that others can see Jesus living in me.  I know that I am not perfect and I often fail to do the right thing or say the best thing, but it is my prayer that God will have preeminence in all that I do and say...

My theme verse for this blog and for my life goes back to something my mother shared with me many years ago  (you can read about that HERE) in my little autograph book:

"Let the words of my mouth

And the MEDITATIONS of my heart

Be ACCEPTABLE in Your sight,

O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer."

Psalm 19:14

4. What things do you enjoy most and find most relaxing to do?

Well, most of you know how much I enjoy watching the birds and God's creation found in nature.  

Like watching this little baby bluebird poking his head out and waiting for his parents to come back and feed him!

That was on Saturday, and I haven't seen him or his parents since. I think the birds fledged out of the nest sometime during the night!

I enjoy watching even the "good, the bad, and the ugly" of God's Creation.  

The Bluebirds would be the good.  This below would be the bad and the ugly.

This is what is known as an Eastern Lubber Grasshopper:

If you read that link above, you will understand why they are the "bad and the ugly".

This creature was sitting on top of our flag pole, and I almost brought him inside the other evening when I brought the flag in.  Thank goodness I saw him just in time.  Can you imagine having this beast hopping around inside your house???

These critters will devour every green leaf in sight if you don't watch out. They especially love amaryllis plants and will totally defoliate them in no time.

There really is only one good kind of lubber grasshopper, but I won't tell you what it is in words.

Just know that if you see one, you really don't want it to stay around for dinner...

Okay, morning has broken and blackbird has spoken...it's time to get up and get a move on.

Thank you to Annie for these questions this week.

Again, you can join in over at the Tuesday 4 linkup each week.

Have a blessed and beautiful day!

Last Day of March? No Fooling?

 Here it is the last day of March already! What happened to this month? Although this particular week has seemed rather slow. I kept trying to make it go faster. I thought Tuesday was Wednesday, and Wednesday was Thursday, but now here it is really Thursday and tomorrow is April Fool's Day! I feel like I've been fooled already! LOL.  

Like this squirrel is trying to make like a statue and fool the Bluebirds into thinking he's not really there. They weren't fooled, however, and were keeping a watchful eye on him, dive bombing him if he got too close to their nest.

And these Canada Geese are standing at attention on the little marshy island in Still Waters Pond. They are standing like statues too...

Until someone gave the honking alert sound and they all started honking and here they go into flight mode.  Of course I couldn't get the in flight picture. They were too fast for my camera.

Last evening I was walking around the yard and came across this ugly sight:

Those are baby Eastern Lubber Grasshoppers, just freshly hatched apparently and eating the flowers on a weed in the yard. HOWEVER, they will soon move to other plants, like my amaryllis plants, and totally destroy them if I don't destroy them first. So, sorry, folks, but they are history! These fellows are not to be fooled with!

Speaking of Amaryllis Plants:

They are just getting ready to open up and bloom, and if those grasshoppers got on them and destroyed them, I would NOT be a happy camper!

My little blueberry bushes are developing blueberries. Sadly, there aren't very many. I accidentally knocked off some when we thought we were going to have a late freeze and I was trying to cover the plants.  We were fooled by the weather report and ended up not getting the freeze after all. Oh well, maybe they will get better as the season progresses. Time will tell.

The wild blackberries are certainly producing...but the birds usually get the berries before I do. Besides, there are too many thorns to get through to pick them to make it worth my while.

The birds will be happy.

Last evening's sunset on Still Waters Pond was lovely again:

I just stand in awe and watch it as it progresses.  I've been known to stand there and clap my hands and sing praises to God as well...

Psalm 113:1-6

1  Praise the Lord!

Praise, O servants of the Lord,

Praise the name of the Lord!

2 Blessed be the name of the Lord

From this time forth and forevermore!

3 From the rising of the sun to its going down

The Lord’s name is to be praised.

4 The Lord is high above all nations,

His glory above the heavens.

5 Who is like the Lord our God,

Who dwells on high,

(Sunrise this morning)

6 Who humbles Himself to behold

The things that are in the heavens and in the earth?

(this picture was taken a couple of weeks ago when we had a full moon. It was reflecting on the water and Mr. Blue Heron was out there fishing for his breakfast)

And here is some encouragement and hope for us today:

17 ‘Ah, Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. 

There is nothing too hard for You.

Jeremiah 32:17

No Fooling!!!

Have a blessed last day of March!