The Secret Garden Chronicles: Waiting and Watching Updated for Lent 2026

Good Morning on this first Friday of Lent, 2026.  I haven't been out and about much this week due to all the previously discussed issues we were working through, so I don't have anything new to share today. Therefore, I decided to go back into the archives of previous years to see what I was writing about "Lent".  This particular post goes back to March 25, 2017, when we were still living in our home in the national forest and also where my "Secret Garden" orginated.  I hope you will enjoy this walk back to the Secret Garden with me..

Original Post 3/25/2017:

I bought this beautiful old antique bowl today at the local flea market....

with the idea of using it for a bird bath in the Secret Garden.  So, I've set it up here

And now I'm just sitting here waiting and watching to see if the birds will try it out.  They probably won't while I am sitting here...and where it is placed it can't be seen from the inside of the house...so I may have to rethink this plan.  It is so pretty...I do hope the birds will appreciate it!

Meanwhile, while sitting in the garden my attention was drawn to Lamentations 3:22-26, which speaks a bit about watching and waiting:

22.  "Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed.

Because His compassions fail not.

23.  They are new every morning;

Great is Your faithfulness.

24.  'The Lord is my portion,' says my soul,

'Therefore I hope in Him!'

25.  The Lord is good to those who wait for Him,

To the soul who seeks Him.

26.  It is good that one should hope and wait quietly

for the salvation of the Lord."

What are we waiting for?

We are waiting for God's mercies and compassions...

they are new every morning.

We hope in the Lord..

We wait for His goodness,

because He is good to those who wait for Him...

We wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord...

In verses 40-41, as we sit and wait on the Lord:

40.  "Let us search out and examine our ways,

and turn back to the Lord;

41.  Let us lift our hearts and hands 

to God in heaven."

If we already know the Lord, we have nothing to fear...but it is good to take time to examine our hearts and repent of any lack of trust, lack of faith, and lack of honesty before the Lord. Let Him cleanse our hearts anew and refresh our spirits so that we are able to worship Him in spirit and in truth.

This is a wonderful time...during the Lenten season leading up to Easter...to prepare our hearts for renewal and revival.

I noticed that one of our local churches is having a revival this week...and I wondered in my mind, "Do people still go to revivals?"  And if they do, who goes...the "sinners" or the "saints"?

It's been a long time since I attended a true revival, and it seemed as though only the "saints" were there...but guess what?  A lot of "saints" recognized that they were also "sinners", and there was a lot of soul searching and repenting going on.  So, I guess a revival is a good thing for both the saints and the sinners...we never know when a "lost sheep" will come home to Jesus and be saved...and perhaps there might be some sheep who truly needs to make things right with the Lord as well.

So I'm praying for this church and its revival services. May the Lord do a mighty work that overflows into our whole community, resulting in a true revival where hearts are changed and souls are saved.

While sitting there reflecting on the words of the prophet Jeremiah, the author of Lamentations, 

I couldn't help but start singing this favorite old hymn:

Great Is Thy Faithfulness

1 “Great is Thy faithfulness,” O God my Father,

There is no shadow of turning with Thee;

Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not

As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be.

Refrain:

“Great is Thy faithfulness!” “Great is Thy faithfulness!”

Morning by morning new mercies I see;

All I have needed Thy hand hath provided—

“Great is Thy faithfulness,” Lord, unto me!

2 Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest,

Sun, moon and stars in their courses above,

Join with all nature in manifold witness

To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.

Refrain

3 Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,

Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;

Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,

Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside

Refrain

Amen!

Oh How Great is the faithfulness of our Lord!!! Yes, we who know the Lord are truly blessed with all that we have ever needed...and beyond!  May we watch and wait for Him every day with hope and faith!  

Back to the Secret Garden....after waiting all that time to see if the birds would try out the new bird bath (note the pictures of the birds above...they were all watching and waiting for me to leave)...I decided to go back inside, but I moved the birdbath to a location where it could be observed from inside the house.

And then I came in the house and started writing this into the computer...and it wasn't long before my attention was brought back to the window...

And there was Mr. Catbird...taking a drink from the new bird bath.  I had put a smaller bowl of water inside the large one, which is also filled with water,  in case the birds were fearful of the deep bowl.  After he took a drink from this one, he then flew over to the other smaller birdbath that is in the garden:

And there he sat and took a bath...even though it sits a little cockeyed.  Then Mr. Cardinal also came and drank from this birdbath:

And so I decided to go back out and take out the smaller bowl from the new birdbath and lower the water level a little bit to see if they will try it out that way.

I'll keep watching and waiting!

Meanwhile...

May your day be filled with the joy and blessing of the Lord!!

For another post on this topic, click HERE

Back to the Present, 2/20/2026:

In case you are wondering whatever happened to that beautiful bowl, well, I rescued it from the Secret Garden before something bad happened to it. The birds never did take to it like I hoped they would, so it came back inside and now, at this house where we moved to from that particular house, it resides beside our bed on my hubby's nightstand:

It actually serves a good purpose for him in that he can roll up his extra smaller throw blankets and put them them there to grab during the night if needed. (no picture of that).   

And meanwhile, as we wait for the return of our Lord...let us not grow weary...

Isaiah 40:31 KJV

"31 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; 

they shall mount up with wings as eagles; 

they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."

Amen.

Have a blessed day!

Tuesday 4 and More

 April Showers Bring May Flowers

I am running behind on this because yesterday (Tuesday) was a busy day for us.  But, better late than never, right?

So here we go!

Welcome to the first of Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4 of April 2024.

1. What spring flowers/trees are your favorites?
Here in Florida where I live we don't have my favorite spring flower, the Lilac. But we do have many other beautiful flowers that start blooming in February and it just keeps getting better. I don't have a lot of flowers here in my current yard where we live,  and you've already seen pictures of most of what I have.

This "mystery" flower that popped up in our yard that I've already shared with you the whole story...it's still beautiful!

The Bottlebrush bush is blooming beautifully right now, and the hummingbirds and butterflies love it.

Bottlebrush

This is a new plant that I recently bought at our flea market to put in the butterfly garden. It has just started blooming. It's also supposed to attract butterflies and hummingbirds...

Thunbergia erecta, or King's Mantle

And there's this beautiful Cape Honeysuckle, that is blooming profusely right now! The hummingbirds and butterflies seem to love it as well!

2. Do you ever bring home bouquets for your home?

These are the kinds of flowers bouquets I bring home..."fairy flowers" and wildflowers growing in the woods...

Lady Lupine:

It makes a lovely bouquet, but their season is now passing by as well so no more wild bouquets until the next batch of wildflowers appear!

3. If you are married, what flowers were in your bouquet? If you aren't which flowers would you like in a bridal bouquet?

This is the only color picture I have that shows my wedding bouquet. Of course, this was taken almost 55 years ago, on August 16, 1969.   The little red flowers were tiny roses, and I have no clue what the rest of the flowers were...babies' breath probably.

4.Do you check the weather forecast for an upcoming month? It is said that April showers bring May flowers. Will your April be rainy this year?

I don't know how much rain to expect in  the rest of April, but Lily Grace is ready for it if it does rain!

And we are expecting rain today, so it's a good thing she's got her umbrella ready!

Thank you, Annie, for these fun questions for the Tuesday 4 meme.  Now, why was I so busy yesterday?

Well, we were so happy to have some visitors come calling...my cousin Becky and her hubby Pat were passing through back home to Ohio after a trip/cruise.  They met us at our local "Nanna's Country Cafe'" for lunch, and then we came back here to our house to visit for a while before they had to hit the road.  Here's our selfie on the back porch:

Becky is the cousin I grew up with. We spent many days together during the summer months and whenever possible, playing with our Barbie dolls, building houses for them and making new clothes for them.  We also did lots of other fun things throughout our childhood. We are only 9 months apart and lived about 10 miles from each other, so we did have a lot of memories together. It was great catching up with each other's current "events".

Here's a picture of cousin Becky and me, on my 10th birthday, when I received my Barbie doll from our Grandparents.  She also got one that year, so from then on we had lots of fun pretending and playing. Good wholesome fun!

Well, with that I think I will have to close this post and get started on a new day. Have a blessed and wonderful week dear friends!

I'll finish with this one calendar post..."The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in Him."  Lamentations 3:24      Amen!

Great Is Thy Faithfulness

Me and My Hubby---blessings and more blessings
Praise God!

"Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed,

Because His compassions fail not. 

They are new every morning;

Great is Thy faithfulness.

'The Lord is my portion, says my soul,

Therefore I hope in Him!'

The Lord is good to those who wait for Him,

To the soul who seeks Him."

Lamentations 3:22-25

This past week had its challenges...first my husband's little pickup truck broke down and seems to be permanently broken.  Next, our "spare" refrigerator stopped freezing, causing us to throw out a lot of defrosted meat. These are challenges...expensive issues to repair...and we have been frustrated by these events.

BUT, last weekend, just ten miles down the road, a wildfire swept through the forest, leaving ten families homeless and many others had to be evacuated.  Those ten families lost everything.  They don't have any refrigerator, stove, roof, walls, furniture...nothing left but ashes.  Many of these people were poor and struggling to begin with. Some did not have any insurance on their dwellings.  They have nowhere to turn.

So how can I complain? I really cannot.  We also live in the forest. When the wind is just right, we can still smell the smoke from those fires that are smoldering   It is a reminder to us of how fortunate we are that we are not the ones consumed in the fire. Makes us really stop and think...

"Let us search out and examine our ways, and turn back to the Lord;

Let us lift our hearts and hands to God in heaven."

Lamentations 3: 40-41

To quote a favorite old hymn:

"Great is Thy faithfulness!

Great is Thy faithfulness!

Morning by morning new mercies I see;

All I have needed Thy hand hath provided~

Great it Thy faithfulness,

Lord, unto me!"

On a more positive note: This past week my husband had a Doctor's appointment to get the results of his recent lab work. He had not seen a doctor in over two years due to the loss of employment and medical insurance. Since he recently reached his 65th birthday, he is now on medicare, and able to once again get medical assistance. The doctor was amazed when he read the lab report, showing absolutely nothing wrong in any area tested...pretty wonderful for a 65 year old man I'd say! Praise God!

Our 40 year old middle son has cancer. He had a doctor's appointment this past week also to get the results of the CT Scan and other tests recently conducted to assess the current status of the cancer in his body.  The wonderful news was that there was no sign of any new growth in any area, and the existing tumors seem to be standing still and not progressing. This is excellent news as well. He continues to be on an aggressive round of chemo...but we are hopeful that it is bringing some measure of control over this horrific disease.

"Great is Thy faithfulness, 

O God my Father,

There is no shadow of turning with Thee;

Thou changest not, 

Thy compassions they fail not;

As Thou hast been

Thou forever wilt be."

Oh, one more thing...we had a visit from a mechanic friend this afternoon...and he believes he just may be able to fix the little truck afterall...it won't be cheap, but it will still be better than having to buy a new one and make payments again that we cannot afford.

Now, just to figure out what to do about that refrigerator before the next round of friends and family come to visit...the thing we love most about living here...being able to enjoy the people God sends our way...

I know God will provide.

Thank you, dear Lord,

for Your blessings on me.

I don't deserve them.

But You love me anyway.

Thank you.

"Great is Your Faithfulness"

"Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.  They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness."  Lamentations 3:22-23

I woke up this morning singing the hymn that is written from that verse:

"Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father,

There is no shadow of turning with Thee;

Thou changest not, Thy compassions they fail not;

As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be.

Chorus:

Great is Thy Faithfulness!

Great is Thy Faithfulness!

Morning by morning new mercies I see;

All I have needed Thy hand hath provided--

Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest,

Sun, moon, and stars in their courses above

Join with all nature in manifold witness

To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.

(chorus)

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,

Thy own dear presence to cheer and to guide,

Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow--

Blessings all min, with then thousand beside!

Chorus:

Great is Thy Faithfulness!

Great is Thy Faithfulness!

Morning by morning new mercies I see;

All I have needed Thy hand hath provided--

Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

Written by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1866-1960

Yes, I woke up this morning singing that hymn because God IS faithful...He never changes...His compassions never fail...every morning I do see new mercies...and yes, ALL I have ever needed His hand has provided.

Trust me, there have been dark days, lean days, scary days, days when I feared that God had somehow forgotten me...but even in my darkest hours, I have to say that I KNOW He has never let me down.  His mercy has never failed...and He has ALWAYS provided just what I needed...even when I didn't know that was what I needed.  He knew best.  Like the old TV show, "Father Knows Best"...our Heavenly Father really does know best. First time, every time. 

I don't know what you may be going through right now.  But I can honestly say to you from experience: Trust God...He IS faithful...always and forever!

"'The Lord is my portion,' says my soul, , Therefore I hope in Him!"  Lamentations 3:24