Is a hearse on a tow truck twice dead? Not what Scripture teaches:
And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment
Hebrew 9:27 KJV
“Going to hell in a hand basket.” Now wait a minute. you cannot fit very much into a hand basket! Maybe a dozen eggs; certainly not a person! If you study the idiom, it means is to be rapidly deteriorating – on course for disaster.
Sign said, “Right on red arrow after stop.” Explain that to me! Lane only goes left.
And for a snippet of poetry:
The moon smeared the cloud strips with a large brush
She used a small brush to paint through my window
Is seeking for treasures in plain sight a turning away from the things of reality, especially challenging things? Not at all! The goal of seeking treasures in plain sight is to bring the reality of a relationship with the Almighty into the everyday world. Learning to seek the blessings surrounding us, regardless of the bleakness and in times in spite of the bleakness that sometimes accompanies human day to day life. Our paths are strewn with delights if we will open our eyes to see and believe.
Paul wrote:
Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
Philippians 4:8 NRSVA
God used a donkey, (Numbers 22:21-39) He wants to use you, too!Petrified Wood – Lord, protect me from congealing or solidifying!
Brother Lawrence, named Nicholas Herman, “Seeing a dry, lifeless tree in the dead of winter, and realizing that soon it would burst forth into life as the sap rose in the spring, Herman knew that he was spiritually dead and asked God to give him a rebirth. It happened, too.” https://www.guidelines.org/devotional/brother-lawrence/
photo by r m dutina
I am ever aware that the LORD blesses me with seeing things for encouragement. He did not have to let me see this land snail in the heart of the nasturtium backlit by sunshine, and yet He did.
Blessings surround you and me. As I watch snow squalls whip about our yard, the male and female bluebirds are perched at the top of the oak tree. The tree is barely more than a stick!
Keep your eyes open for blessings abounding to you!
Praise God from whom all blessings flow
Praise Him all creatures here below
Praise Him above ye heavenly host
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen.
“Living gratefully offers a merciful path for walking through life with our eyes and hearts wide open.”
Kristi Nelson
“A merciful path,” think about that. Hearts and eyes wide open.
Let’s do that!
Walking about the yard I play Pick-up-Sticks with nature. The wind has brought down many twigs and branches that were loose or just waiting for a gust of wind to propel them to earth. Later I see my neighbor participating in the same game.
I see where the dogs have left their “pee-mail” as my friend Pat calls it. Tufts of grass higher than the others. Soon the neighbors will ask the Home Owners Association Board when the hired help is going to begin mowing!
Hearts wide open – I realize just how many folks my sometimes introverted husband has gotten to know by walking our beagle. Lucky will not ‘do her business’ unless we walk her. So 4 times a day we are out the door.
Bob told me recently about the conjunction of Jupiter and Venus. Walking Lucky for her last walk of the evening I have been enjoying the moonlight, clouds, stars and seeking out those two planets in our sky.
online photo
Last night when I walked Lucky the almost full moon was behind huge clouds. The interplay of light and shadow, the warmth of the evening, made me wish for a lounge chair outdoors! I could hear voices and knew others neighbors were outdoors, too. Could not see what deck though.
Gratitude, merciful path, today is gray and cloudy but the grateful memory of last evening still makes my heart light. What have you seen or heard lately that keeps your eyes wide open? Watch for those treasures in plain sight. They surround us for the discovering!
Praise the Lord! Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever! 2 Who can utter the mighty deeds of the Lord, or declare all his praise?
now to catch up from being away and breaking the writing rhythm!
Okay – all the charges are entered and the checking account is balanced. Got groceries. Took dog to vet for kennel cough vaccine and as the tech called it Lucky’s “Mani – Pedi!” Oi! Saw my new internist and I really like him. We are going to change some meds and reduce some other ones, so please pray for me as my body adjusts!
The next couple days are booked for me. It will be fun, but on the run and no naps.
No, I have not downloaded or edited my vacation photos yet. But I might as well throw in a few, huh?
Rock face at street corner on the way to Ash Cave. I love the tree shadow lines on the rocks.
I have not gotten accomplished in selfie photos. Below I took one and when I looked at it I told Bob, “Now smile!” and took it again.
Who are these white haired folks?
I will have to ask Ellie for lessons. She is a pro!!
We are not rigid about stopping on the way to any destination when we see something unusual we want to photograph. I saw this young sycamore tree. Bob on the other hand saw this tree growing inside a silo! He stopped and turned around for that shot. I do not have his picture yet.
Ye,s we drove as far around the silo as we could go to make certain it was actually IN the silo! Short of puling into the farmyard, yep, it was growing in there!
I am feeling guilty about not walking very far today! But Lucky still gets two walks today, so maybe I can make up for the lack of steps compared to hiking in a State Park. More Vegetables! More steps! Fewer sweets of any kind!! And Lean HARD upon my LORD.
Last but not least the stream that runs in along and through Old Man’s Cave.
LORD I praise You for times of refreshing.
Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, 20 and that he may send the Messiah, who has been appointed for you—even Jesus.
Can you imagine this? Would you be able to praise like this? We read in Daniel 3:16, 19 and on that the King wanted absolutely obedience to himself. “King Nebuchadnezzar was so filled with rage against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego that his face was distorted. He ordered the furnace heated up seven times more than was customary, and ordered some of the strongest guards in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and to throw them into the furnace of blazing fire. So the men were bound, still wearing their tunics, their trousers, their hats, and their other garments, and they were thrown into the furnace of blazing fire.” While in this furnace the men began to praise God, knowing that He was more powerful than the king ever thought about being. Here is a portion of their praise.
“Bless the Lord, all rain and dew; sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever. 65 Bless the Lord, all you winds; sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever. 66 Bless the Lord, fire and heat; sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever. 67 Bless the Lord, winter cold and summer heat; sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever. 68 Bless the Lord, dews and falling snow; sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever. 69 Bless the Lord, ice and cold; sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever. 70 Bless the Lord, frosts and snows; sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.
Daniel 3:64-70 NRSV
They were eventually saved from the fire. This reading comes up often in the Daily Office and Canticles of from the Book of Common Prayer. There are times I wish my current church would use those to remind us of God’s power and glory! As you drive about this winter remember that all the seasons and elements are called to praise the Lord. We are, too!
Every spring I look forward to hearing the Spring Peepers in the local wooded wetlands. Then I am certain that though it might feel cold, spring is certainly on the way! We have had tremendous rain here lately. Today, January 17th, I stepped outside to walk the dog to the mailbox. I almost could not believe my ears!
The Spring Peepers are singing. My favorite thumbnail sized amphibian! Climate change is messing up our ‘predictable’ weather things. The daffodils have sent up 3 inch tall leaves. The ones out back, just planted last autumn, already have 3 bulbs with 1 inch leaves. Forecast is 61 degrees today. My neighbor says, “Next week we will be freezing. The earth is just trying to fool us!”
I remember when I first moved to the San Francisco bay area I was so unhappy. They had poinsettias planted out of doors and climbing up walls. The daffodils bloomed in January and February. I remember thinking, “This is just WRONG!”
I was driving and listening to NPR when I heard this episode of Radio Lab. I hope you enjoy the wonders of their discoveries as a much as I did.
Really? There is dirt in the canopy? The canopy even sends out roots for more trees up in the air?
Here is a quote from the transcript:
ANNIE: Her job up there was to take samples of the moss that was growing on these branches.
NALINI NADKARNI: I had to cut off chunks of it.
ANNIE: So using some clippers, she begins to cut down into that moss on the branch she’s sitting on.
NALINI NADKARNI: And as I peeled back those mats of mosses …
ANNIE: Beneath, instead of just bare branch …
NALINI NADKARNI: I saw that there was all this soil up there.
ANNIE: This branch has a foot of soil piled up on it.
ROBERT: Oh wow!
ANNIE: Soil that had built up over many, many years of mosses and leaves dying and decomposing right there on the branch.
What? I was intrigued. Temperate forest in Olympic rainforest in western Washington state. 100 feet up – a 10 story building! Copepods in the top of Redwoods. Amazing discoveries. And we, the little humans, think we know it all! NOT!!
The wonders our God of Creation made for us to discover. New things after new things we never even imagined.
Cloudy day in Corrales, New Mexico
I am seated in New Mexico looking at the peaks of Sandia Mountain. Visible valleys where water has run down the mountains side. A few places where snow has began to accumulate. Trees that look like dark green fuzz from here, trees that likely are much taller than I am. What wonders reside there? Discoveries the scientists and explorers have not yet made. How many eons have people gazed upon this mountain? Yet, the God of Wonders is NEVER surprised by what we find!!
Same mountain, different day!
Go outside. Take a walk around. Dig into the moss, or rocks, or dirt. See what wonders God has created for you to discover. Treasures in plain sight or on a treetop.
We have had so much sun lately since the weather has been ruled by these mostly drought conditions. I made a note to myself to “finish the sun blog.” Now I wonder what that meant!
The snow collected upon the canopies and had to be cleaned off lest the canopies collapse under the weight! So the folk lore begs the question, since it snowed on November 12 will we have 12 snowfalls this season?
Praise him, you highest heavens and you waters above the skies.
lightning and hail, snow and clouds, stormy winds that do his bidding,
Let them praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is exalted; his splendor is above the earth and the heavens. And he has raised up for his people a horn the praise of all his faithful servants, of Israel, the people close to his heart.
I thought I kept a copy of the first time Bob did at photo bomb on me. I was trying to do one of my first selfies and he popped up between two trees. I can’t find that photo, (of course, since I want it). So here is the next photo when I made him get in the picture. We were at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
There was a report on the news recently of this photo bomb.
Treasures in Plain Sight, A Christian Blog 