Squirt Brings Joy

Well let me tell you!! Joy does come in the morning. My precious 15 year old granddaughter is going to the mountains with me for four days. Four whole days just the two of us!! I am beside myself with joy! She is a petite strawberry blond, blue-eyed dancer who loves her friends and the Lord. This young lady use to spend almost very Friday night with me and Pop. What a joy that was, then alas we were replaced some of the time by her friends which are legion. So tomorrow I am in Heaven being with this precious girl for this special time. Her Uncle Jay called her Squirt and he loved her so much and she has his ease of laughter and the art of making and loving her friends. He would be soooo proud. She helps to bring the joy every morning even when I struggle to see it. Thank you Lord for the joy I have and anticipate in being with our "Squirt". Uncle,she would make you proud!!!

Rain, Oh My

  Rain, delicious, cooling, nourishing, sparkling, cleansing, sustaining, essential.  What other adjectives can be used to describe rain?  Just plain have to have it and it provides unique joy in our lives.  My flowers are suffering because of the intense heat and the absence of rain that gives unequaled refreshment and nourishment.  My best efforts of dragging the hose around to give the artifical water just keeps them going not flourishing.  The difference after a rain is phonemonal and can only be achieved by the heavenly water pouring down.  A gift, an underserved gift, an unexpected gift, an unequaled gift, a unique gift.  The gift from the Lord that changes our environment!!
  What is that gift from the Lord that changes my perspective on my circumstance?  Is it my ability to see all of the gifts He has and does give even in the difficult, awkward, devistating events that I experience.  Do I see the gifts?  Or do I push the gifts to the back of my heart and focus on the circumstance?  Alas, I confess I have and do.  The gift of a grateful heart is there to choose and to often I make the choice to set it aside as I wallow in my circumstance.  Father, give me the gift of spiritual rain on my soul so that I experience the phonemonal difference of a grateful heart!  My I not choose to drag around the hose of my circumstance but experience the Heavenly Water of your Gift to me.  "Oh, that we might know the Lord! Let us press on to know him.  He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn or the coming of in early spring." Hosea 6:3

The Purest of Human Pleasures

Francis Bacon said, "God planted a Garden; and indeed, it is the purest of human pleasures.  It is the greatest refreshment to the spirits of man."  I know that Francis Bacon was a gardener!!  Truly the spirit is refreshed by the digging of dirt, the sowing of a seed and the sprout of a plant.  It is interesting to me that the "work" of the first couple on Earth was to tend a garden.  That encourages me as I anticipate the warming of the soil and the lengthening of the days.  What will emerge first this Spring? 

Adam and Eve were not able to fulfill their duty in the most perfect and beautiful Garden because they took their eys off of the Master Gardener and looked at themselves.  Their need to know it all was their downfall.  My heart's desire is to keep my eyes on Jesus and fulfill the work He has for me on this Earth.  Come quickly Spring!!  I am giddy with anticipation of what it will bring.