What Do You See Outside YOUR Open Window Today?

What Do You See Outside YOUR Open Window Today?
Remember: "When God closes a door, He always opens a window!" You never know what might be out there waiting for you!
Showing posts with label trash. Show all posts
Showing posts with label trash. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 5, 2017

What Do You See?

When you look at these pictures, what do YOU see?

 An old rusty plumbing pipe with even older old faucets?
 Ancient garden spigots?
Well, I can tell you that when I saw this at our local dump/recycling station today...someone had purposely left this pipe with all these fittings sitting on top of the dumpster just in case someone would come along and have a "need" for it...and as we drove away, I told my hubby,
"I sure would love to have those old faucets".
He kept driving.
I said, "I can just envision all kinds of neat stuff I could do with those old spigots and faucets..."
 He kept driving.
 I said, "I sure wish we could go back and get those faucets before they disappear."
He still kept driving.
I said, "You know, I could create birdhouses and other cute things using those...people love that kind of stuff..."
He sort of started to slow down.
I said, "Of course, I would need help building a birdhouse. I don't know how to use the saw. But you could help me."
He pulled over and waited for an oncoming vehicle to get out of the way. Then he did the most amazing thing...he turned the car around and headed back to the dump! I could hardly believe my eyes!

However, when we pulled up to the dumpster, I jumped out of the car and ran to look, and they were gone!!! I looked down inside the dumpster, but there was no sign of them.  I said out loud,
"Well, I guess somebody else saw the potential in those and got them already."
There was a man standing next to his car on the other side of the dumpster, and he saw me looking and heard me muttering.  He asked me, "Did you forget something, or change your mind about something?"
I told him, "There was a plumbing pipe with some faucets here a minute ago, but it is gone now."
He asked, "Oh, did you want those?"
I said, "Well, I had some ideas of things I could do with them."  And then I realized that he must have taken them, so I asked him, "Oh, did you take them?"  And he said, "Yes, but I'll be happy to give them to you if you want them."  I said, "No, that's okay. If you want them, you keep them."  He said, "I really didn't have any plan for them...just thought I might need them someday."
And I said, "Well, you keep them. I was just going to make birdhouses or something like that with them, you know, repurpose them?"
He said, "Then here, you take them! I really don't need them." And he got them out of his truck and handed them to me.
I graciously thanked him and told him how much I appreciated it, especially because I had talked my hubby into turning around and coming back for them!  He laughed and said "Well, then you better go make something with them!"  And I thanked him again and put them in our car and we drove away.

So now!  Now that I've gone to so much trouble and even had to take them from another person...what shall I do with them?  Do you see any new purpose for them?  What do you see when you look at these old spigots?  Could they possibly be repurposed to a new life? Become useful or even interestingly attractive again?  I truly would love to hear your ideas.  I know, I just looked on Pinterest, and I can find hundreds of ideas there...but maybe you have something special in mind too. Please tell me in your comments.  Here are a few of the Pinterest Ideas:
Pinterest Picture of Birdhouse w/ faucet

Photo from Pinterest

Photo from Pinterest

Meanwhile...while we consider this, other thoughts came to mind.  (And you know, a MIND is a terrible thing to waste!  Just like these old faucets! )  But the thought that came to my mind was  how God looks at us and sees our potential.  Others may look at us...or even we ourselves might look at ourselves, and say, "What could God do with this rusty old person?  I'm tired, I'm weary, and I'm quite worn!  There are surely newer and better equipped people out there to take care of the world these days...what possible purpose (or repurpose) could God ever find for me at this stage in my life?

Many of my friends out here in "blogland" are like me...retired, or almost retired, or at least dreaming about retirement sometime soon.  And one thing I've discovered since retiring almost two years ago is that there are times when I feel like I'm not fulfilling my full purpose here on earth anymore. There are many days that we sit here and do practically nothing...and I really don't like that...(well, sometimes I actually do like that, but I don't want to stay that way forever!)  What can I do about it?  We have limited resources, limited energy, and limited mental capacity it seems at times....(more often than I like to admit!) But I figure if I live to be in my late 80's or 90's, I don't want to spend the next twenty years doing nothing of significance!  I'd like to be "repurposed" into doing something useful, pleasant and meaningful for the rest of my years.  How about you?

A scripture verse I found this morning while thinking about this is in Psalm 20...

4.  "May He (God) grant you according to your heart's desire,
and fulfill all your purpose.
5.  We will rejoice in your salvation,
and in the name of our God we will set up our banners!
May the Lord fulfill all your petitions."

I wonder what God sees when He looks at me today.  I wonder if He sees a new purpose for my life...if He sees my "heart's desire" and knows exactly how to "fulfill all my petitions".   What do YOU think?  How about we all pray about this for each of us in our own circumstances...and then we can rejoice together when the Lord rescues us from our rusty old state and gives us a new purpose and plan for our lives....and

"in the name of our God we will set up our banners!"

Now that sounds like a great plan!

So now, I'd better go figure out what to do with those old faucets! 
Have a blessed and glorious day, my friends!!!

Monday, April 17, 2017

A Different Perspective on Life...and /or The End of the Fence Saga

I know many of you enjoyed reading about our "Fixer Upper" Fence project...(Click HERE if you missed it), and now I feel like I have to give you the final episode and we can be done with this story...We could probably name our new fence "The Eyes Have It"...



This Owlie face is smiling at me every time I open the gate...


And these little Sand Hill Crane faces remind me of our many such birds that live in our neighborhood:



(Doesn't everyone see faces in their fences? Surely it's not just ME!)  (maybe I have been living in the woods too long...)

So, moving right along...
All of that demolition of our old fence resulted in many piles of discarded old fence slats, broken, brittle lattice, vines and general debris scattered and piled in several places throughout our back yard.


My original thought was that we would eventually have a big bonfire, (or several big bonfires) to get rid of all that stuff...but with the current drought in our area there will be NO burning for a long time.  So we couldn't leave it here forever...I mean, it was a mess...rusty old nails, staples, scraps of wood, just a too much to ignore or overlook...


So finally we determined to get it all loaded up and take it to the county landfill, which is about 40 miles away.  Thankfully, a friend of ours loaned us a flatbed trailer to haul it all:


The guys loaded it all up and wrapped it securely in tarps, secured with bungee cords, etc., and off we went.  The trip to the dump was thankfully uneventful...had to stop once to resecure the tarp and bungee cords, but that was all.  Hubby and I followed our son just in case he ran into a problem.

Anyway, once we got to the landfill, they had to weigh in to determine the fee for depositing all of this lovely stuff, and then they had to drive the truck and trailer up onto the high mountain of trash to unload all of the stuff.
photo courtesy of http://www.marioncountyfl.org/departments-agencies/departments-o-z/solid-waste/marion-county-baseline-landfill
 I sat in our car down below and waiting for them to return, just listening to the radio and basically not paying much attention to anything around me, except to watch for them to return.

Then all of a sudden I heard the familiar call of an eagle, and looked up and saw two eagles soaring above me, coming from the top of the landfill with some kind of materials in their talons, apparently for nest building or something...didn't look like food...but I wasn't quick enough with my camera to catch a picture then.  But you can bet I whipped out my camera right away and watched and waited for them to return, and here is what I finally was able to capture:


Yes, there was a magnificent eagle, sitting high up on the "mountain" of trash...sharing the view with quite a few buzzards and other types of  birds, each waiting for their share of the "goods"
 See the eagle flying?
 There were so many birds flying overhead I couldn't keep track of them all...many vultures, eagles, hawks, sea gulls...

But this eagle kept going back to his 'kingdom' of trash...

Isn't he magnificent?

Oh, look!  Here's two of them together...for a moment...

And then he's all alone again...for now...

 Wow!!!  Those few minutes watching those magnificent birds just "flew" by (no pun intended...), and before I knew it, the guys were coming back down the "mountain" and were there waiting for me to catch up with them and head back home.

They had stories of driving through and walking upon mountains of putrid trash to unload the trailer and couldn't wait to get home and get rid of the stench...and I had stories of seeing that "mountain" of trash from a totally different perspective...enjoying the view of some of God's most powerful birds ever created, going about their daily routine of gathering food and materials for their home and family and soaring above the stench and ugliness of that mountain of trash...

Sometimes they say that life is what you make of it.  Some look at their lives and see only bleakness and misery and sorrow (and mountains of trash).  Others look at the same situation and see God's handiwork and beauty in the midst of the storms and difficulties of life.  I am trying to  learn to keep my eyes focused on the Lord, and no matter what garbage piles up around me...if I just look up I will see the handiwork of God on the mountaintop...

Deuteronomy 32

10.  "He found him in a desert land 
and in the wasteland, a howling wilderness;
He (God) encircled him, 
He instructed him,
He kept him as the apple of His eye.

11.  As an EAGLE stirs up its nest,
hovers over its young,
spreading out its wings,
taking them up,
Carrying them on its wings,

12.  So the Lord alone led him,
and there was no foreign god with him...."

Wow!  All of that from going to the county landfill...and finally finishing the fence project once and for all!!! Amazing how God has little lessons on life out there for us...if we just look UP where the eagles are!!!   Have a blessed day my friends!!!