Friday Foto Friends and Thankful Thoughts

 

(My front doormat)

It's Friday already! Wow!  And I realize I haven't had much to say this week, however, I want to thank each of  you who left kind comments on my previous post.  They are each one appreciated. There were, however, a couple of comments that I had to delete! One left a very negative political comment that was inappropiate no matter which side of the aisle one is on.  Name calling and ugly slurs will not be tolerated. Sorry. This one was another anonymous commenter, thankfully. I'd prefer not to know who it was.   

The other comment actually had a name attached, but it is a commenter I don't really know and who often leaves comments that usually have nothing to do with my post, and hence it appears to be a spammer.  But this time this "person" made the comment with words that stated that my post was pretty much worthless and therefore why do I even blog? (paraphrasing...I deleted it so I don't remember the exact words).  But it made me stop and think.  Why DO I blog?  Sometimes I do feel like my posts are not all that great, and I often question myself about it's worth.  I'm not asking for commendations here...I'm basically talking to myself.  The thing about social media is that people can take pot shots at you and disappear back into the woodwork without realizing the hurt or harm they may have done. Or maybe that was their intent.   Whatever the reason, it made me question myself and if I weren't a fairly strong person I would be tempted to run away and hide. But I've taken stock and thought about it and realized that yes, there's always room for improvement, and I will endeavor to do better in the future, but I will be careful to check my own responses and comments to be sure that they cause no harm but only encourage and lift up the person.  Certainly we can all use some constructive criticism from time to time, but it needs to be done with love and respect for each other.  Enough said on that subject.

I mentioned the other day that I was looking forward to reading the newest Jan Karon book, "My Beloved", as soon as I could find it. Well, I found it at our public library and I think I was the first person to check it out!  I can't wait to start reading it!  This is her latest book in the Mitford series, which we all thought she was finished with, but she just couldn't let it all end.  I hope to start reading tonight, right after I finish this post!

This has been a pleasant week, without too much going on. We've taken a few walks, and I was surprised to see this Great White Egret along our walking pathway. Normally we see them in or near water, but the water was across the highway you see in the distance. I guess he just wanted to come take a little walk in the woods. He was a lovely sight to see.

This past  Monday was our grandson Noah's 26th birthday. We did finally get to talk to him and had a wonderful conversation, which was a real blessing to us. He sounds good and we are always thankful to hear from him. He lives in Maine, so we don't get to see each other very often.  Every call is priceless to us.

Noah, last year on a trip out west

I've been enjoying this pot of Penta growing on my front porch.  The light pink bunch is a separate flower pot that I put in the middle of the others, which were already there. The pink ones were a birthday gift from my neighbor (and her daughter) across the street...the same lady that I got  our "porch kitties" Sunshine and Blackie from. She is doing better, but is housebound and needs some caregivers to come and help out from time to time.  She's a dear lady and I am thankful to have her as my neighbor.

Speaking of Sunshine and Blackie...here's where Sunshine spent the whole day today, sleeping on the glass table on the back porch:

He's feeling kind of blue, I think, because his buddy Blackie has been MIA again. He was here yesterday morning for breakfast, but he'd been gone the day before and then all day yesterday after breakfast, and all day today.  I don't know where he goes or what he's doing, but he has been doing this almost every week...taking off for at least a day or two and then he shows back up as if nothing was unusual.  Sunshine stays right here close to home and watches for him to show up.  

I feel sad for him because they are such good buddies  and I know he's lonely.  Hopefully Blackie will show back up soon.

(Older picture)

Speaking of neighbors, our new neighbors in the new house next door to us have agreed to come over and feed the kitties every day while we are on our little mountain vacation next week. I am so thankful for them being willing to do that! That's a real answer to prayer. 

I don't remember if I've shared with you our new Ladies'  Bible Study for this fall/winter:

 The back description says: "You're not the only one who...struggles to trust God's plan for your life; wants to maintain control in the midst of the chaos; prays for a well-marked map from Jesus--but rarely gets one."

I think we all need to have a better understanding in our lives about how to trust God's plan for our lives, even when we can't understand what on earth He's doing.  We want to be the one in control, but life just goes so much better when we let go of our own will and let God be in charge.  It's not easy for us to do that, but there is so much more peace when we do.

I am thankful for this weekly time spent with other ladies, studying God's Word and sharing our own life experiences about letting God be in control.  

I am also thankful that today has been a rainy day, pretty much all day long.  Little by little our Still Waters Pond is getting "revived and refreshed" with new water. What a blessing!  

This makes me think about this song, "Fill My Cup, Lord".  When I was a counselor at the Methodist Youth Camp the summer after I graduated from high school, (many moons ago), that song was our theme song. We would go to area churches in between camps and our team would sing this song. So it became a very meaningful and favorite song for me.  It is based on the story from John chapter 4, where Jesus meets the Samaritan woman at the well.   Here is the song:

1

Like the woman at the well, I was seeking

For things that could not satisfy.

And then I heard my Savior speaking—

“Draw from My well that never shall run dry.”

Chorus:

Fill my cup, Lord;

I lift it up Lord;

Come and quench this thirsting of my soul.

Bread of Heaven, feed me till I want no more.

Fill my cup, fill it up and make me whole.

2

There are millions in this world who are seeking

For pleasures earthly goods afford.

But none can match the wondrous treasure

That I find in Jesus Christ my Lord.

Chorus

3

So my brother if the things that this world gives you

Leave hungers that won’t pass away,

My blessed Lord will come and save you

If you kneel to Him and humbly pray—

Chorus

Songwriters: Richard Blanchard

John 4:13-14

13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”

Yes, fill MY cup, Lord, I lift it up, Lord...

Amen.

Good Night dear friends. Until we meet again.

May God be with you.

 

Thankful Thursday and Friday Fotos All At Once!

Today is Thankful Thursday... and yes I am thankful.
Thankful for the rain that has been falling for the past few days. Still Waters Pond is starting to look like a pond again instead of a mud-pit. The water birds are starting to come back again.

 Can you see the Wood Duck couple above?  And the White Egret below?

This Red Bellied Woodpecker is enjoying a feast in the top of this dead pine tree:

Yes, he's really way up there!! But he doesn't seem to mind.

He can see all over town from way up there.

It is also time for Friday Fotos again, so I may as well add a few pictures from this week's walks:
I am thankful that my hubby and I can get out and walk every day, even in between the rain showers. (sometimes during, but not on purpose!)
Found some new species of flowers while walking this week:  (Do you see that little green grasshopper again? I wonder if he is the same one that was on my rose blossom last week? He sure gets around town! LOL)

Penstemon-Multifloris  found in the woods  https://www.fnps.org/plants/plant/penstemon-multiflorus

Fernleaf yellow False Foxglove

Wild Purple Pea Vine

 Fungi growing on old dead logs. Kind of like the age spots that grow on our "old bodies". LOL.

One day this week our friend Sylvia, who used to write her blog A Grandma's Blessings, invited me to have tea with her on Facebook. (Sylvia hasn't been able to write her blog since her sweet hubby passed away last year and she has moved and hasn't unpacked her computer. We've missed her here!) She sent me a picture of her teacup and delicious looking cranberry orange muffins. So I responded with this picture of my teacup and an apple bran muffin. Soon a few other friends joined us...I think there was Mary from "Visits with Mary" and a banana muffin, and then Linda joined us from "Simply Linda", along with her lemonade because she said it was too hot for tea up in New York!

We had a great time visiting on Facebook, and you are welcome to join in here if you'd like. I think we are all ready for some kind of tea parties and friendly visits with one another.

I just picked up a little book off my bookshelf here beside my desk.

I think someone else mentioned this book or another by Emilie Barnes recently. I love her books and have several of them.

I turned to the chapter that says: "Fill my cup, Lord...I offer you my cup of loneliness and selfishness, that You may give me Your cup of communion."

I think many of us are suffering from various forms of loneliness during this time of isolation. Even if we have family all around us, we can still be lonely. We are missing our friends and our times of fellowship and friendly visits.  I don't think it is selfish to miss that. I wrote yesterday about missing our times of worship at church and my concerns that even when we go back to church it just won't be quite the same as before.  I've been really thinking about that praying about my attitude toward that today.  You know, "the cup of communion" with Christ is not only talking about "The Lord's Supper" that we share with other believers at church on a regular basis. It is a daily communion with Christ...reading His Word, praying, and communicating with Him throughout the day as we walk or sit and watch the birds, or whatever we enjoy doing that is relaxing and peaceful.  And even though our "communion" with others may be somewhat limited right now, we can still have a kind of communion here, through our blogs as we encourage one another and lift up each other in prayer. As we share stories of hope and faith from our own life's experiences...these are all ways of filling our lives with the "cup of the Lord's communion".  

I am thankful for this group of people here who gather sometimes daily to share their lives with us. This gives us each a feeling of friendship and fellowship that we sorely need.

Jesus said in Matthew 18:19-20

"I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them."

So in my combined thankful Thursday and Friday Foto post, I want to thank you for being here! Thank you for listening when I share my concerns and frustrations as well as my joys and blessings. I look forward to hearing from each of you and seeing what things are happening in your lives each week. We are a kind of family here, and you are each very special to me. My cup is full because of you!

"I thank my God upon every remembrance of you."

Philippians 1:3

Tea Time Trivia and Blessings

It is no secret that I love tea.  I love all the stuff that goes with tea...teapots, teacups, tea cozies,

I even have a teatime calendar (thanks to my sister giving it to me every year for Christmas!)

 And lots of books about tea and teatime...

and many tea cups and tea pots

I also have Tea Tins to hold tea...

Added note: I should have mentioned in my original post that this lovely little red Lipton Tea tin with the pretty lady on the front is a recent "gift", from the estate of my husband's cousin Janice, who recently passed away.  I will think of Janice every time I take a tea bag from this delightful tin.

Yes, I have a small collection of Lipton Tea tins. I have some others too, but Lipton is my favorite.

Obviously this one is a bit old and worse for the wear, but that's probably why I keep it...

 Here is one of the several devotional books that I've been given over the years...Emilie Barnes is one of my favorite authors about things pertaining to tea...but in this book she goes to a different level...

 "Fill My Cup, Lord..."  (one of my favorite hymns too!)

Yes, Lord...

 But, Oh! My cup is chipped and cracked, and not in perfect condition...much like my life and my body...How can I serve You?

"He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength...but those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint."  

Isaiah 40:29, 31

"And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness."

Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me." 2 Corinthians 12:9

Yes, even when our strength is small and frail, and our "cup" is chipped and worn, Christ comes to fill our "cups" with His strength, His love, and His peace.  

To quote Emilie Barnes:

"Whatever your circumstances, you, too, 

can hold up your cup and it will be filled.

If your cup is polished and dry, 

hold it out for the Lord's plentiful pouring.

If your cup is full of the old and the unsatisfying,

hold it up for the Lord's cleansing.

If your cup is cracked and broken, hold it up anyway,

for the Lord's resources are plentiful and can keep even leaky cups replenished.

Come to Him as you are, cup in hand, 

and hold it up to receive His blessings.

And then you will say, as I have said over and over again in wonder and amazement...

"Surely...my cup runneth over."

Emilie Barnes

Fill My Cup, Lord...with the Peace of Your Presence

Copyright 1996 by Harvest House Publishers

It's Tea Time somewhere

So put on the tea kettle

and pour a cup of 

tea for you and me!

I'll be right over!