Tuesday 4: "What Do You Think?"

Writing Happy Things

 

What Do You Think?

Annie came up with some provocative and interesting questions for us to answer this week. I will attempt to do my best to give appropriate answers from my own personal perspective. If you wish to join in and share your thoughts, you can link up over at the Tuesday 4 link up HERE

Welcome to Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4. It's so nice to have you here.

Let's talk about you this week. Let others know your feelings and convictions. Give some advice and some wisdom. And remember to visit the other contributors to get to know them and find out their opinions too!

1. What do you believe the purpose of life is?

HERE (click on link) is a list of Scripture verses that give us an idea of what God's purpose for our existence is.  There are so many that I can't list or quote them all for you here, but I will share a couple that stand out to me:

Micah 6:8 NKJV

"He has shown you, O man, what is good;

And what does the Lord require of you

But to do justly,

To love mercy,

And to walk humbly with your God?"

Psalm 145:1-3

I will extol You, my God, O King;

And I will bless Your name forever and ever.

2 Every day I will bless You,

And I will praise Your name forever and ever.

3 Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;

And His greatness is unsearchable.

Matthew 22:36-40 NKJV

36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”

37 Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

Romans 12:1 NKJV

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service."

2. How do you handle stress ? What do you recommend to others who are stressed out?

"If you long for a mind at rest, and a heart that cannot harden...

go find a gate that opens wide into a secret garden."

Yes, to relieve stress, go find a quiet place to sit and rest and watch God's beautiful creation around you. Talk to the animals...listen to the birds singing, sing hymns of praise and glorify God...and soon the stress will go away...

The Sand Hill Crane Family came to visit while I was sitting in the Memorial/Secret Garden...

Also, this sweet little Dove of Peace came and followed me around while I was watering the plants and filling the birdbath.

I guarantee this to be a stress reliever...

3. What enjoyable things do you wish you could do more often? How would it improve your life?

Spending time with my family is one of the greatest things I love to do. I am blessed with these special people in my life, and more...this was on Sunday afternoon...and it truly blessed my heart to be with these guys...our two sons and our grandson, who is the son of our other son who is in heaven.  Also our daughter in law and granddaughter in law to be were here and we had a belated "Cinco de Mayo" taco dinner! 

Being with good friends, family, and maybe doing some traveling to beautiful places in our country...that is something I truly love and would love to do more of...

How would it improve my life? Well,  I believe having happy times with loved ones and visiting beautiful places releases the tension in our bodies and helps us to feel much better about life in general. I am a people person and enjoy interaction with like minded and interesting and funny people.

4. Do you believe in God? Why or why not?

Yes, I believe in God... The Apostle's Creed sums it up pretty well:

"I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and earth;

and in Jesus Christ, His only Son Our Lord,

Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.

He descended into Hell; the third day He rose again from the dead;

He ascended into Heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God, the Father almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and life everlasting."

Psalm 19 NKJV

1The heavens declare the glory of God;

And the firmament shows His handiwork.

2 Day unto day utters speech,

And night unto night reveals knowledge.

3 There is no speech nor language

Where their voice is not heard.

4 Their line has gone out through all the earth,

And their words to the end of the world.

In them He has set a tabernacle for the sun,

5 Which is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,

And rejoices like a strong man to run its race.

6 Its rising is from one end of heaven,

And its circuit to the other end;

And there is nothing hidden from its heat.

7 The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul;

The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;

8 The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart;

The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes;

9 The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever;

The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.

10 More to be desired are they than gold,

Yea, than much fine gold;

Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.

11 Moreover by them Your servant is warned,

And in keeping them there is great reward.

12 Who can understand his errors?

Cleanse me from secret faults.

13 Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins;

Let them not have dominion over me.

Then I shall be blameless,

And I shall be innocent of great transgression.

14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart

Be acceptable in Your sight,

O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.

Psalm 8

1 "O Lord, our Lord,

How excellent is Your name in all the earth,

Who have set Your glory above the heavens!

2 Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants

You have ordained strength,

Because of Your enemies,

That You may silence the enemy and the avenger.

3 When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,

The moon and the stars, which You have ordained,

4 What is man that You are mindful of him,

And the son of man that You visit him?

5 For You have made him a little lower than the angels,

And You have crowned him with glory and honor.

6 You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands;

You have put all things under his feet,

7 All sheep and oxen—

Even the beasts of the field,

8 The birds of the air,

And the fish of the sea

That pass through the paths of the seas.

9 O Lord, our Lord,

How excellent is Your name in all the earth!"

Ephesians 5:1-3 NKJV

5 Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.

I hope these verses help to sum up how and what I believe about God and also about our purpose in life.  I believe that I am here on this earth to serve God and to let my life be a testimony of His marvelous grace and love.  There can be no greater purpose.  I may not always succeed at this, but hopefully even when I fail, Christ shines forth in the midst of my failures.

1 Corinthians 10:31 NKJV

"Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."

Saturday Odds and Ends and Surprise Endings

Happy Saturday to you!  Since I didn't post a "Friday Foto Friends" post yesterday, I thought today would be a good day to tie up a few loose ends of photos from the week for your enjoyment and edification. That's a big word that means: 

"ed·i·fi·ca·tion

/ˌedəfəˈkāSH(ə)n/

Learn to pronounce

noun

FORMAL

1. the instruction or improvement of a person morally or intellectually.

   "the idea that art's main purpose is to supply moral uplift and edification"

I don't know how much this post will improve you morally or intellectually, but hopefully it will be entertaining and somewhat educational...

This wind whirligig was blowing in the wind the other day.  There's a story behind this and if I can find it I will link it.   Here's the original post that led to our interest in this particular kind of item...(but I will warn you it is a beautiful, yet difficult story to read)  and another post that tells about when we received this gift.  Anyway, it was originally given to us  by my sister in memory of our son Matthew.  Now it is getting old and a bit bent out of shape and needs to be overhauled a bit, but it does still work and I enjoy watching it spin in the wind. As we approach the 8th anniversary of our son's passing next week (May 25th, 2014) I guess this has been in the back of my mind a lot.

Now I will switch gears a bit to something educational:

This Yellow-bellied slider (turtle) came on shore last evening, and was busily digging into the ground with her hind legs. apparently digging a place to lay her eggs. (But I didn't know that at the time).

Isn't she interesting? Look a that design on her shell. Do you see the face in the markings?

I think that is very remarkable.  Anyway, she hid her head in the shell when I first showed up to take her picture....

And she got very still, hoping I would go away I think.

But when she realized I was not going anywhere while I spoke softly to her, she got a little more brave and poked her nose out at me to have a better look...

She kept moving her mouth around as if she was trying to tell me something.  She didn't seem afraid anymore.

I was obviously fascinated and just kept taking pictures while I talked to her and she seemed to be listening.

It could be that she was trying to say to me, "Why don't you go away and leave me alone. Can't you see I'm trying to lay some eggs here???"

Well, I did leave her alone and I went on about my business, but I kept an eye on her out of the corner of my eye.  After a while she turned around and headed straight back to the pond.

Then I went and looked at where she'd been to see what I could see, and this is what I saw:

These holes are actually kind of deep. But I couldn't tell if there were any eggs inside them. And she didn't make any attempt to cover them up. I don't know if she just gave up because of my interruptions, or if she really didn't have any eggs to lay. I checked again this morning, and it still looks the same. So, unless she comes back again, I don't expect there will be any eggs in that nest...unless they are down there and I can't see them.  I guess if I see her again I will just ignore her and let her do her own thing...

Down on the shore of Still Waters Pond are these pretty little Marsh Pink flowers. 

And then these other pretty yellow wildflowers. I don't remember their name, but it doesn't really matter. They are just so pretty growing along the shore...

Usually we keep this section of the shore line cut back, but we haven't done so yet this spring, and I like having the wild flowers growing there anyway. However, we will probably have to clean it up soon or we won't be able to see the pond!

Walking on around the pond I found these blackberries growing. The birds usually eat them before I can get to them, so I just let them have them. There are too many stickers on the stems anyway to make it worth my while to pick them.  There really aren't that many of them...not enough for a cobbler...so let the birds have them!

Speaking of birds and flowers and such...Little Miss Lily Grace helped me plant a few more flowers in our butterfly garden this morning:

She even has her own garden tools to use. I found these in a box in the shed among some other craft supplies. I forgot I had them. They are just right for Lily to use! She was a big help!!

We need to do a little more weeding and cleaning up around there, but this is an all-natural butterfly garden.  If it looks too sterile, the butterflies won't think it's for them. LOL. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Little by little it is coming together. Now if we could get some good consistent rains it would help things grow better.  That yellow flower plant doesn't look too good, but it is actually okay. I think I need to just cut it back and let it start over.

A little later I looked out my window and saw Mrs. Bluebird sticking her head out of her "open window", enjoying the view of the garden outside her house.

She seems to approve!  I've noticed that she is spending more time in the birdhouse these days, so I am assuming that she is sitting on some eggs.  I'm sure it gets hot in there, so she likes to poke her head out and look around frequently.  I'm glad we've provided a nice garden for her to enjoy while she waits for her babies to be born.

Now I'm sure you are wondering about this "Closed Door"...I told you this would be some odds and ends or loose ends, didn't I?  Well, this closed door is actually someone's trash thrown out in the woods where we like to walk. People are so lazy and inconsiderate. There is a dump right down the road from there where they could take their trash, but they don't want to be bothered and have to pay a fee, so they just dump their trash in the woods.  That makes me very angry, but it does make for some interesting pictures.

And with that, I will close this door on this post for today.

Here's Proverb for today regarding learning something new:

Proverbs 18:15

"The heart of the prudent acquires knowledge,

And the ear of the wise seeks knowledge."

HOLD THE PRESSES:

Just as I was ready to publish this post I looked out my window again and saw another amazing sight!

This Florida Soft Shell Turtle, a totally different kind than yesterday's turtle, was hurrying up the bank to my freshly dug garden...

She seemed to be in quite a big hurry...

She was examining all of the freshly dug dirt for a perfect spot...

I'm glad she gave us a nice view of herself so we could see what she looked like before...

Because she immediately, as if in a very big hurry, started digging up the dirt and practically covering herself with it as she dug...

Of course I am thinking "there goes my flowers..."

But I wasn't about to stop this lady with an urgent mission...

She turned over rocks and uprooted plants...

Reminded me of an army tank moving through the garden, or a bulldozer...

She kind of went all around and back again...

I guess she decided t his was the right place to lay her eggs...

By the way she was moving, I feel quite certain that is exactly what she was doing...

And then, just as quickly as she came she was gone.  I went outside to see what I could see, and this is how it looks...neatly covered up...but I did have to put a flower plant back in place and turn the stone back over...and now we will just have to wait and see what develops.

Two different turtles in two days...what next??? Stay tuned for the next episode of "The Days of Our Turtle Lives..."

Until then, be happy and enjoy your weekend.

I'm wondering if you can top these stories?

LOL.  Never a dull moment by Still Waters Pond! 

Oh, I didn't get a picture, but Mrs. Bluebird sat on top of her house and watched the whole episode. She was very interested in what that creature was doing in her pretty new garden too. But she didn't attempt to drive her away. I think she could see, like I did, that this lady was on a mission and she was not going to be driven away until she had accomplished her task!

Isn't God's Creation amazing?

Okay...Good Night for now. (unless another turtle shows up to lay her eggs!)