Not meaning to offend anyone, but if the Spirit and the bride say come, then certainly might we bathe in the free gift of the water of life?
The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.
Revelation 22:17 NIV
Drench me, Lord, come and flow. Wash, renew, and overflow. Show me how to soak then splash Rest and float in Your life-giving bath.
Let anyone who wishes take (REV 22:17) Let anyone? – so unlike human ways! Let anyone who wishes – even those who just wish Let anyone? What are we to make of this holy declaration?
Come one and all, old or small Drink from the provision of the Manger King. All heaven says to you, “Come, freely have this gift, the water of life from Jesus Christ.”
Why do we so often choose to remain parched?
Choices to be made here! Examples of spiritual truth in nature! What will your decision be?
I was in the living room chair watching the news when the light seemed to change outdoors. I looked out the window and was wowed. I am always fascinated with the creation. God did not have to make it so diverse and He did not have to share it with us. Daily there are things to marvel at. The photos below could not quite capture the intensity of the stormy looking sky.
By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth. He gathers the waters of the sea into jars; he puts the deep into storehouses. Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the people of the world revere him. For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.
Got an email about meeting with Ryan on May 7 for education about how to run our home equipment. This is getting more and more real.
I told Bob on April 9 that I am now ready to UNPACK. We had a thunderstorm that terrified the Lucky dog. My sister had given me dog sedative drops and treats. Of course, I had packed them instead of thinking to keep them with the dog food, poop bags, dog treats, etc. So next morning I was searching for the box marked kitchen junk drawer. Finally found it and sure enough, there were the dog drugs (all natural mind you).
Closing is still holding at May 7! Here are some photos of doors, woodwork and cabinets. The next day we got electricity, too.
Front door and coat closet.One (of two) office window and closet doors.Partial installation of kitchen cabinets and open pantry door.Master bath sinks. Still waiting on installation of correct shower.
We are still packing. Our son will help me lift some of the perennials and the rose bush this weekend. Whew!
Under the bird song
Below the raucous calls of mating
Rhythm of tree frog
Melody of spring peepers
Ah breathe in spring
Through your ears
Hmmmmm they seem to say
This is lovely
Exhale on their melody
Inhale during the chorus
Slow your breathing
Tempo of April
There are pauses
In their score
Wait for next stanza
Focus here now
Find your center
Cadence does not vary
Catch the next bar
Tame frantic monkey mind
Bring all to peace
Lower your shoulders
Tiny amphibian power
Tames futile mind race
7:27 and song seems to cease
I listen and recall
I have this power within
Enter center down silence
Direct me Lord
On cusp of next breath I am led
Spring rains
wind thunder
fragrant hyacinths
hillside purple with flowers
demure trout lilies quickly go to seed.
Forsythia blooms
lilac buds opening
pussy willow full blown
soon to send out leaves
Twisty willow branch from florist
rooted in the arrangement and sent out one leaf!
hope to nurture it and plant it outside
February Primrose is pot bound now
ready to live in the garden
I’m pot bound in homemaker duties
Lord help me enter
Your center-down silence
and glory in praising You
even in activities of the mundane
Oh fragrant April morning
gusty hyacinth perfume
raindrops glisten on garden border fence
Symphony of bird song
sidewalk littered with night crawlers
Insistent bird cries, “Awake! Spring is here. Now."
I praise You in the work You have given me
in this part of Garden Earth.
Coming soon! To be my new address! Yes, I am getting excited as we count down the weeks instead of months to moving 🙂
Funny, the opening shot is not the entrance to our house!! We requested a brown front door. You have to imagine this with brown spice cabinets, no carpeting in great room, laundry will have washer, dryer, hot water heater and stationary tub. Owner shower will have a short tiled bench, not 5 foot. One guest room will be our shared office. The other guest room will be sewing room and Bob’s space for prayer. My space will likely be in the master bedroom. For the video they took down all the doors 🙂
We are grateful as we wait. Please lift us in prayer. Moving is listed as one of the top 50 stressors in life. Last time we moved and were trying to get settled I called Bob at work one day and said, “If the woman who lives here would tell me where the muffin pans are I would make you some cupcakes!!” Humans do not like change, even good changes like a new house and getting rid of all the stairs!
When I worked as a secretary and encourager at Having the Courage To Change with women recovering from drug and alcohol addiction as well as many released from prison, one of their sayings was about not quitting too soon. “Sunday is coming.”
“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.” (1Corinthians 15:58)
“If you stop one hour before God is done, you will miss the blessing!”
I love Danny Gokey’s line that “God had the answer before you had the problem.” Reminds me of Isaiah 61:24 “Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear.” Yes, He is more powerful than we are. He is NOT surprised by what occurs in our lives.
Have you been praying and you still have no answers? Have you been pouring out your heart for so many years? Have you been hoping that things would have changed by now? Have you cried all the faith you have through so many tears?
Don’t forget the things that He has done before And remember He can do it all once more
It’s like the brightest sunrise Waiting on the other side of the darkest night Don’t ever lose hope, hold on and believe Maybe you just haven’t seen it, just haven’t seen it yet You’re closer than you think you are Only moments from the break of dawn All His promises are just up ahead Maybe you just haven’t seen it, just haven’t seen it yet Maybe you just haven’t seen it, just haven’t seen it yet Maybe you just haven’t seen it
He had the solution before you had the problem He sees the best in you when you feel at your worst So in the questioning don’t ever doubt His love for you ‘Cause it’s only in His love that you’ll find a breakthrough, oh
It’s like the brightest sunrise Waiting on the other side of the darkest night Don’t ever lose hope, hold on and believe Maybe you just haven’t seen it, just haven’t seen it yet You’re closer than you think you are Only moments from the break of dawn All His promises are just up ahead Maybe you just haven’t seen it, just haven’t seen it yet Maybe you just haven’t seen it, just haven’t seen it yet Maybe you just haven’t seen it
He is moving with a love so deep Hallelujah for the victory Good things are coming even when we can’t see We can’t see it yet, but we believe that He is moving with a love so deep Hallelujah for the victory Good things are coming even when we can’t see We can’t see it yet, but we believe that
It’s like the brightest sunrise Waiting on the other side of the darkest night Don’t ever lose hope, hold on and believe (Don’t ever lose hope) Maybe you just haven’t seen it, just haven’t seen it yet (Just haven’t seen it yet) You’re closer than you think you are (Think you are) Only moments from the break of dawn All His promises are just up ahead Maybe you just haven’t seen it, just haven’t seen it yet Maybe you just haven’t seen it, just haven’t seen it yet (You gotta hold on, hold on) Maybe you just haven’t seen it, just haven’t seen it yet (Hold on) Maybe you just haven’t seen it, just haven’t seen it yet (Just haven’t seen it yet)
A few weeks ago I saw the bathroom design in the master bedroom and questioned what was installed in ours. Guess I did not question it enough! Last week we went in the model and I saw what I thought it should look like. Yep, I was right. The wrong bathroom was installed. Turns out after the search of how that happened somehow the actual workers were given the wrong blueprints of what we requested. For now we do not know if other items were ordered wrong or not, (things like flooring).
Here are some photos. WE HAVE WALLS NOW!
No driveway or yard, but soon to be ours!
From kitchen, looking into great room.
From great room looking towards dining area and sliding door.
The office location I will be writing from.
Now, about writing. One estimate was we would close early May. Since they have to tear out the bathroom and start over, I have no idea how far closing will be set back. I’m thinking that there will likely be a few weeks I do not post anything. Than again, if I get really cracking I might be able to create enough entries to not miss a week!
After 15 years in one location, there is lots to pack and plan. We have been at it for months now. When we actually have the movers come to pack, move (and unpack at least the kitchen) I realized the other day, we will still not know WHERE most of our things are. Tried to label boxes as we went along on things we packed. So yes, life will be somewhat of a mess. Who knows when I will write? Or, just maybe, writing will be a great diversion once the computers are set up!
Lucky will be kenneled for 3-4 days during the initial chaos. We took her to the house the other day after walls we installed. She was not delighted as huge propane dryer and fans were blasting away. She could no longer walk between the studs, but had to go room to room with us. Here, she has taken to sleeping on a ‘blankey’ in our closet during the couple thunderstorms we have had so far. She is in for a neat surprise! The new master closet in 12 feet long! Sure, it will be filled with clothes and storage tubs, but it is massive compared to the one here.
Will try to keep you updated on the bathroom fiasco!
It is a treat to see a Pileated in the back yard. It is unusual to see two at a time. Three Pileateds equal a huge event! We have lived here 15 years and never seen them courting and dancing tree to tree, wing displays, calls and all! Perhaps they were simply defending their territory? We may never know. It was exciting for us! There was no time to set up a video camera on a tripod. Besides, that would have sent them off to some other part of the woods. Robert Dutina shot the video while I just ooh-ed and aah-ed!
Facts from Wikipedia: “Adults are 16 to 19 in long, span 26 to 30 in across the wings, and weigh 8.8 to 14.1 oz, with an average weight of 11 oz. Each wing measures 8.4 to 10.0 in , the tail measures 5.5 to 6.9 in, the bill is 1.6 to 2.4 in.”
I swear, from the kitchen or bedroom window they look like small chickens compared to the black capped chickadee or sparrow! Here is a shot out our bedroom window one winter.
At times when I hear them call I think of the zoo or a jungle somewhere!
Ears and eyes alert! Never know when you will happen upon a treasure! Hoping there are some at our new address!!
Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?
According to https://www.best-poems.net/algernon_charles_swinburne/index.html he was a popular English poet and writer. His life was 5 April 1837 – 10 April 1909 and evidently he wrote about many off color topics, but I like his phrase about spring. Wikipedia says: “Swinburne was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature every year from 1903 to 1907 and again in 1909.”
For winter’s rains and ruins are over,
And all the season of snows and sins;
The days dividing lover and lover,
The light that loses, the night that wins;
And time remembered is grief forgotten,
And frosts are slain and flowers begotten,
And in green underwood and cover
Blossom by blossom the spring begins.
Chorus by Algernon Charles Swinburne
Here are some of the images of ‘blossom by blossom’ from our neighborhood!
Certainly a favorite of early pollinators!
I thought it was barberry, but it is not. Neighbor’s shrub. He is Nepal, so I do not know identification.
Old, untended crab apple.Oh, so fragrant in the evening especially!
Thanks, Lucky, for continuing to get me outside and looking for those treasures in plain sight!
Treasures in Plain Sight, A Christian Blog 