Like Water

I have always liked flowing water. In Hinds’ Feet on High Places Hannah Hurnard wrote “The Water Song.”

Come, oh come! let us away - 
Lower, lower every day,
Oh, what joy it is to race
Down to find the lowest place.
This the dearest law we know -
"It is happy to go low."
Sweetest urge and sweetest will,
"Let us go down lower still."
Hear the summons night and day
Calling us to come away.
From the heights we leap and flow
To the alleys down below.
Always answering the call,
To the lowest place of all.
Sweetest urge and sweetest pain,
To go low and rise again.

Later in the book she wrote.
"From the heights we leap and go
to the valleys down below,
Always answering the call,
to the lowest place of all.

Why am I quoting this now? I have been following a few lessons from a musician on the app Insight Timer. She recently did a sabbatical with her cello and studied the qualities of water. She leads a meditation and then has about 15 minutes of water and cello music blended together. Hearing the first lesson I immediately thought of Hind’s Feet. The lesson about going low is throughout the book. The Shepherd calls us to humility. The way of water is the path of least resistance.

Towards the end of the book Hurnard writes, “(They) saw that the great waterfall quite close at hand was leaping down to the Valley too, with the tumultuous, joyful noise of many waters, singing as they poured themselves down over the rock lip:

For the heights we leap and flow
To the valleys down below.
Sweetest urge and sweetest will,
To go lower, lower still.

Such a wonderful image for the call upon our lives. If we are to serve well we must desire the humility of our Risen Lord. The Almighty calls us to go lower still, just as Jesus did when he came to earth for us.

Listening to the meditations on water with the cello presented by “The Wong Janice” is helping me as I serve Bob during his recovery. When I am tired I remind myself to go low, take the path of least resistance, be like water.

We have a dearth of water in Ohio right now. Some counties have been declared drought areas. The farmer’s tomatoes have tough skins. The garden soil in my back yard is cracked. This is unusual as a natural spring flows on the back edge of our property. Anyone trying to grow anything around here is needing to drag the hose around and provide water to the plants. Yards are brittle and dry. I am surprised there are not more fires along the roadways. While trying to be like water I am praying for water, pleading with the Lord to let it rain here. We occasionally have a one to two minute sprinkle, not nearly enough to saturate the ground. I realize some areas of the country are flooded. There is nothing here but sunny days and dry air for the last six weeks of so.

We choose to go lower, lower still.

 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

Who, being in very nature God,
    did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing
    by taking the very nature of a servant,
    being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
    he humbled himself
    by becoming obedient to death—
        even death on a cross! Philippians 2:5-8 NIV

My Prayer Chair

Almost every morning I use a chair in our bedroom for my prayer and meditation time. Lately there has been a racket outside!

Remember when we recently went to the dirt track?

The cars zoomed around, not in lanes as much as trying to be first, not crash and get the prize.

Things began just after dawn. Seated for prayer I suddenly had a ruby throated hummingbird just the other side of the screen looking me in the eye! It might have flown in had there not been a screen! Are you familiar with the twitter of the hummingbirds?

Soon the fun began as they raced past the window, twittering their territory song? warrior song? fighting over the feeder about 36 inches from my window. I wanted the flags the guy at the race track had! The more I thought of the similarities the funnier it became!

Love those extended feet! “Incoming! Incoming!!”
Bob caught some great images!!
Fighting is thirsty work!
Hey! Whatchu lookin at?

They will migrate in a week or two. I will truly miss them until they return next April.

ZOOM! Watch for those treasures in plain sight!!

The heavens declare the glory of God;
    the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
    night after night they reveal knowledge.
They have no speech, they use no words;
    no sound is heard from them.
Yet their voice[b] goes out into all the earth,
    their words to the ends of the world.
In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.
    It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,
    like a champion rejoicing to run his course.
It rises at one end of the heavens
    and makes its circuit to the other;
    nothing is deprived of its warmth.
Psalm 19:1-6 NIV

What?

We often take a Sunday drive to a small village called Bethel. there are many fast food establishments going up in Bethel, but there a few unique places, too. The Feed Store and a coffee shop, a breakfast place and of course, our favorite, The Legendairy creamy whip.

Last weekend when we drove out there a sign caught my eye. This was an item I have never in my life seen spelled out. Certainly has never made my shopping list!

DEER ATTRACTANT

Our friend who goes deer hunting likely has a shelf just full of the various products. I had just never seen it on a sign! Somehow, it seems like cheating to me!

No thanks!

What is on your shopping list?

Open The Window

The weather has been too awful to keep a window open at night. The sound of the crickets this morning had me opening the window. And poof the cricket symphony poured in! Sweet, sweet sound. Then I noticed the twittering song of hummingbirds fighting over the feeder. The air was cooler than the house. The breeze pouring in through the open window was refreshing. Not a huge wind, just a tiny movement among the leaves.

And I noticed the thrasher was here again.

Once he found the berries on the spice bush he has been a regular customer. This is also called lipstick bush. Remember the tiny lipstick samples that Avon used to produce and give away? These berries are a bright red and just about that size.

They must be difficult to get into as he spends a long time pecking each one as he picks it and takes it to the mulch. He is so camouflaged that Bob had some difficulty seeing the bird.

“It can be tricky to glimpse a Brown Thrasher in a tangled mass of shrubbery, and once you do you may wonder how such a boldly patterned, gangly bird could stay so hidden. Brown Thrashers wear a somewhat severe expression thanks to their heavy, slightly downcurved bill and staring yellow eyes.

“Brown Thrashers may come to backyards if food is offered. Sometimes they visit feeders or the ground below to pick up fallen seed. There is a better chance they will visit if dense cover is close by. You can also attract them by planting shrubs that produce berries.” Cornell Lab https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Brown_Thrasher/overview

We have the shrub with berries and the dense cover is provided by neighbor. I first noticed the thrasher in the spice bush when I saw his long body along the branch.

Not a great photo but there he is!

I praise God from whom all blessings flow. I encourage all creatures here below to praise God, too!

Spice Bush berries 2024

Orange Sherbet

Yum. We have visited two different creamy whip places for orange sherbet mixed with vanilla ice cream. The place across town had the best. The local one called it creamsicle and the orange was mixed with vanilla. Not as tasty or refreshing. They also sell an orange/vanilla swirl. Across town is the most flavorful. Look far right. Yum!

Then there is my New Mexico rock that I think of as Orange Sherbet, actually called orange calcite. We bought it at a rock shop. I just love it! This morning as I looked out the window I realized it captures the brilliant orange of the nasturtiums.

The nasturtiums are lovely this year. Sadly the ones that were to bloom red did not prosper as far as a bloom. Rabbit found they were tasty. The others have me cutting, smelling them and trying to capture the differences in photos. I just noticed a few are out of focus. Drats.

Look at the accent lines in the back of the flower. Blotches of dark orange like flames!

I used to have 2 photos from National Geographic that showed how we see a flower and how a bee sees the same flower. Wish there was a program to do that! Wait, there just might be one out there!

Common Dandelion in both lights
The pale peachy colors amaze me.
Solid petals and deep accent lines.
The variety is glorious!

Flowers to rocks to frozen desserts. What a wonderful world we inhabit. Just as the orange colors can be amazing so can the variety of ways to see life. I pray you yield your eyes to the Lord of all Glory. May that same Lord open your eyes to see the power of the Almighty in the universe and in your heart.

Rabbit Fascination

The opening photo is the front flower bed right outside my office window. If you have followed this blog you likely know my fascination with the neighborhood rabbits. I was so relieved to see a baby bunny in the garden a few weeks ago. I did not even get upset that it was nibbling on the plants.

My attitude has changed. The bunny has sheared the leaves of many off the nasturtium plants. None of the ones in the front flower bed, thank Goodness, just out back.

Bunny is center left in photo

There is a music group in Puerto Rico called Bad Bunny. I should be grateful this Bunny does not eat EVERYTHING!

Naughty hungry bunny

Those particular nasturtiums are not likely to ever bloom! I know I am to be sharing with nature. Maybe I should plant twice as many next year?

A Place

Grateful Living posted Thomas Merton wrote, “In a world of noise, confusion and conflict, it is necessary that there is a place of inner silence and peace; not the peace of mere relaxation but the peace of inner clarity and love.”

Remember my post about where daughters go to die? I shared it with a new friend. She is quite talented with poetry, photography and music. She took my barely understandable tune on staff paper and sent me an audio file through messages where she sang it back to me. (Ain’t technology grand?”) I mean it. This was unthinkable a decade ago! She was at the farm in Adams County at the time. There are cicadas and crickets in the background. I am absolutely delighted. I played it often these past few days to keep myself centered in surrender and the Presence of God.

When she returned home she sent me an audio file with the piano added.

I am trying to learn how to upload these so each of you can hear it. Not making much progress with Sound Cloud which WordPress says I should use. Grrr – old dog, new tricks. I finally found another way to convert it.

And the piano chords? Well, only the singing loaded so far. On to other writing and stay tuned for updates!

Thank you, Joan. Sincerely, thank you!!

Buggy Day

For the fourth time this summer I am battling ants in the kitchen pantry. These are those tiny little ‘sugar’ ants. It was hard to find an online photo as they are SO small.

It is not unusual to find a few exploring in early spring. I got rid of those. Then while we were on vacation my Grandgirl found them in a cookie tin. (I had to wonder if the lid was left askew?) She killed them off and cleaned up the pantry.

We were not home two weeks when they returned to the pantry. I sprayed, cleaned got rid of them. Yesterday I not only found them in the pantry but in that same cookie tin with the top firmly affixed. HOW?

Reading up on safe ant repellent sprays I mixed blue Dawn soap 50/50 with water and put it in a spray bottle. It was also said they hate lemon so I mixed lemon juice into the sprayer. I sprayed the suspected tiny crack where the footer boards meet inside the pantry. I sprayed the baseboard they were traveling upon. As the website said, it made for easy cleanup wiping up Dawn solution!

I am not afraid of bugs, but I do not like them IN our home. There is a spider living under one bathroom cabinet. I have only seen it once or twice. It leaves a pile of dead pill-bug carcasses on the floor beneath the edge of the cabinet and I know it has been well fed. I leave it alone.

Last night as I was about to take my blood pressure I spied a spider on the rug next to my side of the bed. I tried to capture it but it literally jumped away under the bed frame. Drats. I do not like spider bites. As the blood pressure cuff was inflating I spied a tiny ant walking across the base of the floor lamp. I am literally outnumbered! Yes, this is the same wall area as the pantry. https://www.science.org/content/article/how-many-ants-live-earth says Counting ants is a bit like counting grains of sand on a beach. But six researchers have proved they were up for the task. They’ve come up with the latest—and most comprehensive—estimate of the number of ants in the world: 20 quadrillion. That’s 12 megatons of biomass—more than all the wild birds and mammals taken together. Yes, we are seriously outnumbered!!

Good news is that while the ants and spider aggravated me, my blood pressure was nice and low.

Now, to go check that pantry for any possible invasion!

Go to the ant, you sluggard;
    consider its ways and be wise!
It has no commander,
    no overseer or ruler,
yet it stores its provisions in summer
    and gathers its food at harvest.
Proverbs 6:6-11 NIV

Summertime

Not liking the humidity this summer, we still need to walk this feisty beagle 4 times a day. The only time she will pee in the yard on her own is if she did not go out the night before because of thunder and is desperate in the morning. Then we simply tie her out early as her only option. Maybe we should get hard heart-ed and make this a new practice!

I was complaining to my neighbor about having to walk this dog. Then I began to notice the evening sky. I would have missed these sights had I not taken Lucky outdoors.

“The Lord wraps himself in light as with a garment; he stretches out the heavens like a tent.” – Psalm 104:2

The snapdragons have kept me entertained as the other plants bloom and wane. This guy was an extremely busy bee!

Year before last I bought a Mallow shrub. It did not survive the winter. Sadly, I could not locate teh receipt to return it for a refund. Last autumn, I bought another mallow and kept the receipt just in case. It survived the winter and is starting to amuse us with saucer-sized flowers. What a strange delight.

Enjoy your summer, whatever the weather where you abide! Keep your eyes open for those treasures in plain sight!!

In The Quiet

The doe enters the yard with her twins, fawns still bearing their white spots. One is curious and inquisitive. The other stays close to mama.

I scan the two yards next to us. The rabbits are not to be seen. I proceed with my meditation and prayer time. I glance up half an hour later. Two lumps of brown in the distance. No, not mole hills. Binoculars reveal my large rabbit friends. So silent, just grazing. They too, listen to the gravel crunching on the roadway. No threat there. Just noise.

These creatures of the quiet draw my heart and mind. Where does that doe hide two long-legged babies? How does she corral that inquisitive one?

Where do those rabbits live when I cannot see them? Is there a clutch of bunnies some place? When will they be old enough to graze? Will I get to view them, also?

Lord, I want to be your woman of the quiet. Help me to sense every signal of Yours as to my activities and terms of stillness. Your call to me from Isaiah 30 is always life giving.

In returning and rest I am saved, in quietness and trust is my strength
In the presence of the Lord there is joy forevermore
Rejoice, rejoice in the Lord oh my soul.

Are you drawn to the quiet? How do you get there? Do you return to the quiet when things get hectic around you?

Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord Acts 3:19 NIV