Thursday Thankfulness and Friday Foto Friends

It's Thursday of Holy Week...many will be observing this day as "Maundy Thursday", "Maundy Thursday, also referred to as Holy Thursday, or Thursday of the Lord's Supper, among other names,[note 1] is a Christian feast during Holy Week that marks the beginning of the Paschal Triduum, and commemorates the Washing of the Feet (Maundy) and Last Supper of Jesus Christ with the Apostles, as described in the canonical gospels.[1]" (Wikipedia).  Our church does not have a special Maundy Thursday service, but we will be having a Good Friday service tomorrow night.

HERE is a link to a post I have shared several times in the past regarding Maundy Thursday, or the observance of The Lord's Supper.  You may want to read it again for a special blessing today. (I actually reposted this earlier today, so may have already seen it.  I just couldn't let the day go by without acknowledging how special this day was in the life of Christ and for Christians today).

I am so excited that my Amaryllis flowers have finally blossomed!  I was afraid they weren't going to make it this year, and now they are open and beautiful for Easter! To me, this is significant, that they are blooming in time for Good Friday...the crimson red of this flower reminds us of the blood that Jesus shed on the cross for our sins.  The white Easter lilies on Easter Sunday will remind us of His resurrection from the dead and that He, the perfect and spotless Lamb of God has overcome sin and death on our behalf.  Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Hallelujah! What A Savior! 

by Philip B. Bliss

“Man of Sorrows!” what a name

For the Son of God, who came

Ruined sinners to reclaim.

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Bearing shame and scoffing rude,

In my place condemned He stood;

Sealed my pardon with His blood.

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Guilty, vile, and helpless we;

Spotless Lamb of God was He;

“Full atonement!” can it be?

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Lifted up was He to die;

“It is finished!” was His cry;

Now in Heav’n exalted high.

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

When He comes, our glorious King,

All His ransomed home to bring,

Then anew His song we’ll sing:

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Back to the present...This morning we took a ride to the Blueberry Farm! The blueberries are finally ready to be picked...and thankfully they pick some for us for a little higher price...

You could also purchase your own blueberry bushes, already loaded with berries!  I did that a few years ago, but most of them have never really produced anything since...

Except for this this one..it looks like it will have some berries for us this year in a little while...

So until then I will purchase the already picked variety and enjoy them! They are so plump and juicy I may have eaten a few before we even got home.  Hubby said "They haven't been washed yet!"  I said, "If they kill me I'll die happy!" LOL.   I didn't eat that many...and if that little bit could kill me then they shouldn't be allowed to sell them! LOL.  Besides, I know the people who pick their own berries eat them while picking and I haven't heard of anyone getting sick or dying from it yet.  I'll trust these berries more than the ones I buy in the grocery store, which can't even compare in flavor and quality.

The plan is to bake a blueberry pie for Easter Sunday...hopefully I'll still have enough left by then. LOL.

I know you are probably wondering about the kitty-cat situation here...

Well, here's Blackie Sue, still just relaxing in her favorite blue chair on the back porch...no kittens yet...and the full moon is over...so she's on her own schedule, and the kittens will appear when they are good and ready!

And this picture is hilarious to me...this is how Sunshine was posed this morning as we were leaving to go get blueberries...He'd just had his breakfast, and because it had been a chilly night (or maybe he's just all tuckered out from whatever he was doing last night!??) I think he wanted to soak up some "sunshine" for himself!  I've never seen him able to get up on the porch railing before...and his face was resting on the little light fixture there. He seems to be a bit more frisky lately...oh...and there's been a pretty little black and white female cat coming over to visit from down the street...I hope she's been appropriately "fixed"...and so I am thinking something is going to need to be done about Sunshine. Here I thought he was just a tired old cat...but I think he still has some tricks up his paws.  I am anxious to see what color Blackie Sue's kittens are...that will tell us the true state of their "friendship".  

Good caption "It's been a hard day's night..."

Oh My Goodness!  I just heard via Facebook that our family's former store, "Dixie Cottage", is moving out of Interlachen to Keystone Heights (a town about 20 miles northwest of here)!  The person who bought the business from Benton and Rose a couple of years ago lives in that area, and apparently she has found a place there that is more reasonable rent and it will be closer to home for her, so we wish her well.  There will be a big sale here at the store before she leaves at the end of the month. 

 

This is how the store looked on our Grand Opening Day

This is a link to when our kids first opened the store here in Interlachen, after moving it here from St.Augustine.

Our kids enjoyed owning the business while they did, but they were also happy when God provided a buyer so they could sell it! Owning your own business takes a LOT of work, time, and money.  They are much happier now working from home (Benton), building things and selling them online and in local farmer's markets.  Rose has continued to work at Home Depot all these years, so for her trying to run a business and work outside of that was pretty exhausting.  

Although we are sorry to see the store leaving our town, we wish the owner much success and blessings in starting over in a new location.  And so closes another door...but a new window of opportunity for her and for that community.

Here's some thoughts to carry us through tomorrow on Good Friday...

This weekend will be pretty busy for us, with Good Friday service tomorrow night, and a wedding at our church Saturday afternoon. (There will also be a community breakfast at the church Saturday morning and an Easter Egg Hunt for the children, but we most likely won't be participating in those). Then Sunday morning we have Sunday School and Church, and our choir will be presenting the Easter Cantata "It Is Finished".  The kids will be coming over after church for dinner.  Rose will be baking a ham and I will hopefully get some potato salad and deviled eggs made on Saturday sometime to have ready for Sunday, as well as bake that blueberry pie. So, if you don't see much of me over the next few days, you will know why!  Praying you and yours will have a blessed and joyful Easter weekend.

 

A Comforter in the Garden - Updated

This is a repost, but well worth repeating.  

3/29/2018:  This has been a week for "comforting" in the garden. Just last evening I sat in this very garden with my dear daughter in law, whose mother had passed away early that morning after a prolonged illness.  Even after "prolonged illnesses" our hearts are broken when a loved one is finally called home to heaven.  I was able to share some of the ways God had comforted me with the passing of my own mother and also our son. I pray the Lord will comfort our sweet daughter in law and her family during this time of sorrow, just prior to Easter.  My own father passed away just prior to Easter, and I remember thinking how marvelous that he would be celebrating Easter in heaven with Jesus! What a glorious time to enter heaven's gates! And, if it weren't for Easter and all that Jesus did for us at that time, we wouldn't even have an opportunity to enter heaven at all. Hallelujah, What a Saviour! (click here for a previous post about this song)

Original Post 3/24/16:

"Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; 

nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.

Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him.

And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly.  

Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground."

Luke 22:42-44

I was sitting in my garden, enjoying the sounds of the birds and admiring the beauty of the flowers blooming on this lovely spring day, when suddenly it hit me:  Today is Maundy Thursday...the day Christians remember that this was the day that our Lord went to the Garden of Gethsemane on the night He was betrayed...the night before His crucifixion and death.  It was in the garden that the Bible tells us He prayed to His Father, pleading if it were possible to "take this cup away from Me"...meaning the cup of His sacrifice of His life for the sins of the world...knowing that He would actually become sin for us, so that we would no longer be lost in our sins.  The Bible tells us that Jesus was actually in agony, so much so that "His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground."

In Luke's Gospel quoted above, we are told that "an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him."

I had never noticed this particular passage until this past Sunday when we read it in our Bible Study time.  It truly touched my heart to think that our Lord was suffering so greatly that God the Father actually sent an angel to comfort Him and give Him strength for the horrendous journey ahead.

As I was writing this just now a friend called me and asked me to pray for her daughter. We've been praying for this dear one for quite a while. She's been going through some very difficult surgeries and has a serious bacterial infection right now.  As I spoke with this distraught mother, I visualized this angel comforting Jesus in the garden...and I reminded my friend of this story as she had also been here with us on Sunday when we discovered this verse in our time of worship and Bible study. We both were comforted as we thought about the angel comforting Jesus...and realized that God sends His angels to comfort us during times of distress as well.  The angel may come in the form of a friend who is there to pray or lend a helping hand. Or perhaps a word of scripture that gives hope and encouragement at just the right moment...much like this one.

I don't know about you, but I find this so comforting. Jesus was not alone in the Garden of Gethsemane, even though His disciples had fallen asleep just a stone's throw away when He had asked them to watch and pray with Him.  God the Father saw His Son's agony and sent an angel to minister to Him.  God sees our agony and sends His angels to comfort us...just when we need it most.

My garden above is a special place set aside in our yard to honor the memory of our son, who died in May of 2014.  I love to sit there and pray and think about God's mercy and grace.  Even though our son died after a long battle with cancer, God did not leave us comfortless.  He sent His angels to minister to us throughout that long ordeal...and His Holy Spirit is always with us to comfort us during our times of grief.  

Maybe there are some of you who need these words of comfort today. Perhaps you are in your own kind of "Garden of Gethsemane"... and this picture of Jesus being strengthened by the angel might give you hope.  I hope so.  

Remember...even though things may look dark today...Sunday is coming...Easter day! The day we celebrate Christ's resurrection from the dead...the day He burst forth from the tomb victorious over death to give us life everlasting!  So...no matter how bleak things may appear today...we have this hope in Christ Jesus! Victory is on the horizon!