For our 50th anniversary my sister gave us the gift of staying at her ranch in Colorado! We have had a wonderful trip and travel home Tuesday, Sept. 22. Oh that is today!!
For those of us from the east, that TN reminds us of Tennessee!
You will hear much more in the weeks to come, once we get home, open the mail, get the groceries in and begin writing! So if you don’t see a post for a while now you know the reason why!!
We were able to stay with our best friends, Betty and Dan, a few days before and after the Notch. They also went with us for a few days. Our daughter’s family went, too. Our son was unable to go as the young kids were starting school and it was deemed best not to take them out of class for a full week.
Our actual anniversary is not for four more days, but we have been celebrating with great joy!
“Beloved, God’s promises can never fail to be accomplished, and those who patiently wait can never be disappointed, for believing faith leads to realization. Abraham’s life condemns a spirit of hastiness, admonishes those who complain, commends those who are patient, and encourages quiet submission to God’s will and way.” – Unknown
Is that a meaty quote, or what? “His promises can never fail to be accomplished.” He is not a man that He should lie. He is faithful and powerful to do what He wills. Numbers 23:19
“Those who patiently wait can never be disappointed.” But wait! I have often been disappointed! Does that mean I am doing something wrong? Well, in my experience, most often my disappointments with God are because I have not waited long enough to see the fulfillment or I misunderstood the will or word of God.
“For believing faith leads to realization.” Do you have things in your life that you have had believing faith towards and then eventually you saw it come to pass? Do you, like David, review those things with joy and thanksgiving to inform your brain when your faith is weak? Speaking with a friend recently we stated that we see fruit from our faith walk most often in the rear view mirror or over our shoulder after the fact. Perhaps you have never listed the times that your faith has lead to realization? Maybe now is the time to review your walk and be reminded of the times this has occurred in your life?
“Abraham’s life condemns a spirit of hastiness, admonishes those who complain, commends those who are patient, and encourages quiet submission to God’s will and way.”
Hebrews 8:11 reads: “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.” He went, EVEN THOUGH he did not know where he was going. Do we have the same sort of quiet obedience? Dallas Willard taught that hurry is the great enemy of spiritual life in our day. The author of the quote above calls it a spirit of hastiness and says that Abraham condemns it. No hastiness, no complaining, be patient and quiet.
I have tried to keep myself in line with the remembrance that God calls me to Quiet, Gentle, Yielded, Peaceful Obedience to the Almighty. Holy Spirit help my life to be true to this call.
Years ago my friend, Marsha, gave us some Obedient Plant. She did not like it because it was not obedient enough for her! This year it is a wonder! Click to watch the video please. It runs just about one minute. I will get better at adding music to Videoshop!
Enough said, unless you want to research the topic. Then type in bumblebee to your search engine.
Recently in the milkweed garden I witnessed something I had never seen! Here are several very short video clips! Usually the monarch caterpillars are chomping away at the leaves, reducing them to mere veins. This caterpillar and then another (which is featured later in the blog), ate their way through the top of the plant. I assume they began from wherever their particular egg hatched. I suppose when all the upper leaves are gone, this is the fastest way down the plant to fresh greenery!
Then a bit later I checked on it’s progress.
Yep! Bent that leaf right down! How do they know those things?
A different one found the fastest way down was to climb! But he seemed to be seeking shade rather than food. Resting at the end.
A prayer
Prayed in truth and faith
Through the Blood of Jesus,
Is as a drop of water
Upon the river of life;
Sending out endless
Ripples and waves
Throughout creation.
As the prayer is said
The answer begins movement.
Not always given eyes to see, I lift my concerns in prayer. As I wrote above, I release them in truth and faith through the Blood of Jesus. Your will be done, Lord. Your will. As one friend says, nothing, else, nothing less, nothing more.
Over about a 36 hour period we had almost 3 inches of rain. Not surprising I was able to catch this beauty with diamonds on it’s back! Filling out nicely and sporting water drops!
The edge of the leaf shows you how busy this monarch caterpillar has been! That ridge is the center vein of the leaf! Only half a leaf remains.
Then there is the dueling duo! (With Lucky’s leg in the lower background! What a good dog to sit while I take photos!)
Wonder which one eats the fastest? The one in rear of photo looks largest until you notice the curve in the head of the one closer to you! Wonder if the eggs began side by side?
When I saw this adult female in the garden I had to wonder if it was newly hatched? I have never found a chrysalis in the wild. I have seen them formed in my terrarium when I was raising caterpillars a time or two. This year I did not bring them inside at all. When they first emerge it takes a while to pump up their wings, dry their wings and then a little rest. Next they go find a flower to nourish them. No more milkweed leaves for them! No, that is not bamboo forest in the background. Those are stalks of Cosmos!
These chrysalis are from a terrarium. The only thing in nature I have ever seen with gold on it! The butterfly has just hatched out. The black chrysalis will open soon. The caterpillar that is curved is about to form a chrysalis.
Make time for the small wonders. Perhaps they are the best wonders of all!!
By now if you have read my blog for any amount of time you likely know I talk about the Holy Spirit “haunting” me with a song. A song I cannot get out of my head. A song that usually ends up being just EXACTLY what I need for that season of my life.
Here is the latest. I repeatedly kept looking it up on YouTube. Finally purchased it. And now I share it with you. I won’t be climbing up on a horse like Chris Tomlin, though it looks like fun. I won’t be climbing up on a huge rock, but I might get to the mountains soon!
Most recently the song reminds me that no matter how dark I THINK things are, Jesus is right there loving me and helping me carry any burden that I am willing to give Him. More than once lately I have said, “Well, Lord, here You go!”and I cast it into His arms.
Remember that applies to you also. But only any burden you are WILLING to give Him. And if you take the burden back, you must be willing to give it to Him again, and perhaps again, and again, and again.
Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.
He seems to follow me everywhere! His interest in dragonflies, butterflies, flowers and nature in general keep me intrigued with his blog. Until he gets to the snakes. Then I tune him out. Yuck. http://michaelqpowell.com/2020/09/04/dragonfly-and-duckweed/
Because of him I am exponentially aware of dragonflies, though I cannot identify hardly any of them. As my oldest friends are aware I love butterflies, but Mike researches his and posts details about them. I merely admire. Well, except for the monarchs and especially their caterpillars. My husband and I garden milkweed especially for those!
Recently Bob and I made a trip to the Cincinnati Art Museum, wearing our masks and social distancing in the almost deserted museum. One exhibit was called “Women Breaking Boundaries” and this painting was done by Maria van Oosterwijck in 1669 entitled Flower Still Life. I was admiring the flowers: nasturtium, peony, tulip, lily of the valley, carnation or dianthus, rose, iris, poppy unfolding and greenery and POP UP! There was Mike Powell! Almost center of the painting is a dragonfly. Closer inspection brought two butterflies into view. Perhaps a beetle, wasp or fly on the edge of the table? Makes me want to return to the museum with a magnifying glass to identify the insects 🙂 Maybe you can study the painting below and use my list as a hidden object puzzle. You might even find more details than I did!
I wanted to purchase a copy for Mike, but alas they only had one small print and a large poster. Then I remembered I do not even know his address, just contact through his blog and mine!
So here is the painting description:
Even with Bob’s best computer photo enhancement tools we have trouble seeing that confident signature!
This is my favorite (without the frame). Thanks Mike for keeping me on my toes!
https://secretimages.org/2019/11/06/flower-still-life-1669-by-maria-van-oosterwyck/ wrote on the blog Secret Images about Maria, “Her signature motif, a Red Admiral butterfly, appears in most of her significant paintings; scholars believe that van Oosterwyck included the boldly-patterned insect to send a hopeful message about resurrection.”
Well I for one love that hopeful message about the resurrection!
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead
I attend a weekly prayer meeting on behalf of our church leaders. Those of us in the group take turns writing the outline and presenting it for the group to pray. Here is one of my recent outlines.
“But oh! GOD is in His holy temple! Quiet everyone – a holy silence. Listen!”
Habakkuk 2:20 MSG
Most of us are familiar with the traditional translation that read “The Lord is in His holy temple; let all the earth be silent before Him.” The message expresses that differently. This passage is from the Old Testament. In the finished work of Jesus we learn that we are the temple of God and He inhabits us through His Holy Spirit. (1 Corinthians 3:16)
During this pandemic it has often been difficult to remember to pray. Covid quarantine seems to have numbed my brain. Paul understood not knowing how to pray. He wrote
And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.
Romans 8:26-27 (NLT2)
When I ponder “What is the place of my deepest need?” I so often turn to the Holy Spirit to illuminate that place for me.
There is a prayer from the Book of Common Prayer, Communion Rite 1, that has always blessed me. A portion of it reads:
“We do not presume to come to this Your Table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in Your manifold and great mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under Your Table. But You are the same Lord whose property is always to have mercy. …..”
In lifting our prayer requests for the church leadership I reminded the group that we do not presume to come to this Your table trusting in our own righteousness. We do not presume to know how to pray for You to touch the deepest place of need in others, even in those closest to us, even for ourselves. We are not God. You are on the throne. You are seated among us.
Use us as You see fit in the call to stand and pray. And having done all, help us to stand.
Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.
Ephesians 6:13 NIV
In the same way, prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare. Pray hard and long. Pray for your brothers and sisters. Keep your eyes open. Keep each other’s spirits up so that no one falls behind or drops out.
Ephesians 6:18 MSG
Lord, help us silence our thunderous thoughts regarding what others need. Help us to stop pouring words upon words and thoughts upon thoughts and listen for Your voice regarding the needs of the church and even our own deepest needs.
I challenged the group to copy out their portion of the list of names and carry it them for one week. Lift those situations to the Throne Room. Simply place them in the Lord’s presence and ask Him to speak wisdom and peace, guidance and compassion to each one. Then as the Holy Spirit guides, pray specific things.
I don’t think I shared with you the pleasure of not keeping a tidy garden?
May 11 the bachelor button volunteers were coming up from last year’s seed that had dropped in the garden.
You can see one flower almost perfectly centered under the window!
Here is a photo from June 1 taken from inside our office when the flowers were getting more full.
Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
Matthew 6:26 (NIV2011)
And eventually they went to seed. I was not quick to go out and cut the stalks back. Lo and behold my surprise when I caught this vision out the same said window!
As the seeds kept coming, so did the goldfinch. Male and female! Such delight.
Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
