I’ve been enjoying mowing this summer. I used to mow lawns for people as a teenager and it was always fun when my brother let me use his riding mower. (Yes we had them way back then)
Anyway this summer I’m enjoying a zero turn mower. You can get nice and close to trees and poles and buildings barring nothing is sticking out too far to cause you havoc. Today some caragana branches succeeded in swiping the glasses right off my face. I felt them going but couldn’t grab them in time. They were gone. I pulled back on the handles to stop moving and I started going backwards. Had I run over them? I pictured my glasses in a billion pieces under the mower. I frantically reached for the buttons, pulled up the yellow one and stopped the blades. I shut the mower off and began to look (to hunt is a better description). I couldn’t see much at all. I was between two rows of trees, so there wasn’t much light. I searched the seat and around the motor and on the mower deck. Nothing. Were they under the mower? I thought. I won’t even be able to drive to town, I thought. I pictured myself at the edge of the highway flagging somebody down. Then I remembered I had a phone. No I’m not like most people, I can forget I have one. I could have called someone who could see, to come and help me find them. I was down on my hands and knees feeling through the grass. I crawled to where the trees started to attack me and I felt around some more. There was nothing. I prayed, “God please help me find my glasses.” I went back further the direction I’d come from. I felt metal and glass. There were my glasses all in one piece. The branches had propelled my glasses quite a distance from where I had stopped. Thank God! Yes, I could have done that without God’s help and maybe I did. I don’t know, but it gave me peace to ask and it made me think about a couple of things when I got back on the mower. My first realization was what it was like not to be able to see and my second thought was what it would be like not to being able to see for a long while or forever. That’s the way we are before we accept Jesus sacrifice for us. We just don’t know we can’t see. The Bible says Satan has blinded the eyes of non-believers. 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 (NKJV) But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing,4 whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. It says there is a veil over non-believers eyes. They can not see. 2 Corinthians 3:15-16(NKJV) But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart.16 Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. There are verses that talk about the veil being removed and about God revealing Himself to us. He is hidden from our sight (I know some would say invisible) but once we accept Him it’s amazing what people can see and experience then. There is a story about Elisha and his servant in the Bible. Elisha could see into the realm where angels are but his servant couldn’t. Elisha said, “God open my servant’s eyes so he could see.” And then the servant saw the army of angels that was with them. 2 Kings 6:17 (NKJV) And Elisha prayed, and said, “Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. Living with the ability to see is an adventure like no other. It was a wonderful feeling to be able to put my glasses on and see to finish my job and drive home. Not being able to see had me at a real disadvantage.
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4/10/2016 0 Comments RelaxAs I sat in front of my computer doing my husband books, a small dove sat perched on the fence outside my window. I picked up my sketch book and began to draw her, I only assume she’s a she because of her curiosity and daintiness. She gave me many poses to draw and then as I watched her, she began to notice me. She turned her little neck from side to side looking in the window. Then she really twisted her neck to have a good look at me. I captured that pose as well. This went on for a good half hour and I enjoyed every minute of it.
This was not always a luxury I would have been able to have enjoyed. In the past people would ask me if I was busy and I would always wanted to say “yes”. And felt bad if I wasn’t. I had such a pattern of busyness going in my life that I would feel uncomfortable while I sat and watched anything on TV or if I sat in the sun reading a book. Two years ago I was put out of the game, so to speak or rather set into a new scenic picture. It was what was happening to me that made me change my life. I have had to teach myself that it is okay to enjoy the little things, the beautiful things, and the moments with nothing much at all in them. Simplicity, not a goal I ever thought I would have set for myself, but now it’s one I greatly want to achieve. I didn’t say strive for because anything can become something pushed and forced after and the peace would be lost. Change is something I have never liked. I have been faced with many things in life and when I have the courage to change things, things improve. This new fight was and is with my thoughts, the closest thing to my being, something I didn’t have as much control over as I should have. But with persistence I have learned how and am continuing to learn how to set boundaries, and retrain my mind to a healthier way of living. I am becoming closer to the balanced life that I have needed for years. I love my walks with my dog, Baxter, watching him swim after ducks in our water filled fields. I like looking at the wild flowers and the birds taking off from the pond, leaving a spray of water flying in both directions behind them. I enjoy listening to children sing, and reading a good book. I love spending time with my family and all the laughs they give me. I am enjoying writing and drawing. I’m so glad God has given me this chance to live my dream and enjoy my life. Philippians 4:6-8 (NKJV) 6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. 4/9/2016 1 Comment April 10th, 2016Lessons From a Little DogI had a little dog once, his name was Ringo and oh… I loved that dog. He knew all of my secrets and he was the most patient and understanding dog I think I ever had. He just seemed to know, (you dog lovers know what I mean).
Well I rushed home from school one day when I was 17 because my mother and step father had picked Ringo up from the vet where he had just spent the last five days recovering after a pretty extensive surgery. The last time I had seen him was the day I dropped him off at the Brandon veterinary clinic. He had been in so much pain for the two nights before that that my mom and I had stayed up holding him until he fell asleep in our arms. So I was looking forward to seeing him all fixed up. I came into the house and sat in my favorite chair by the phone and I called him. He came in the room and went to my stepfather and then went and sat beside the fridge. I called him a few more times and he just looked the other way. This wasn’t his usual response to me at all, he always came running when I called him. But not this time, no matter what I did he wouldn’t come to me. So I went over and picked him up and went back to my spot by the phone. I looked at him and his head was turned away towards the wall. “Are you mad at me?” I asked. He didn’t turn his head. I took my fingers and turned his face toward me and he turned back towards the wall. I did it again. He turned his head to look at the wall again. “I think he’s mad at me.” I said. So I turned his little face again and he turned it back towards the wall. “He is mad at me,” I said, “probably for leaving him in that nasty place where they hurt him more than he was already hurting. He didn’t know I was trying to help him.” “Probably,” mom said, “he was probably thinking about how you left him there for the last 5 days.” I said in a playful voice. “You can’t stay mad at me.” And I turned his face towards me again. And he licked my face and we were fine after that. I said all of that to say my dog was holding a grudge and what would his life have been like if he had have kept that grudge? It never would have been the same again for either of us. God doesn’t want us to hold a grudge either. Carrying anger, hurt and resentment can wound us more than we know. Not only can they keep us away from people (which in some cases is a good thing) but it can have very negative reactions as well. We can isolate ourselves. We can become bitter and our health can suffer for it. It can also keep us from advancing with God and having our prayers answered. Matthew 6:14-15 14 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Mark 11:25 “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. Mark 11:25 is the condition set for Mark 11:23-24 (above) and the results for these verses can be amazing. Mark 11:23-24 23 For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. 24 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. He wants us to give the problem and the person to Him to deal with. Give them to the courtrooms of heaven and let God be your avenger. Romans 12:19 Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,”[a] says the Lord. It is tempting, if we haven’t truly forgiven, to watch a person who has wronged us end up in trouble and we feel a sense of superiority or triumph, this too shouldn’t happen. (Even though the thought of it feels satisfying somehow.) God doesn’t want us to delight in others failures no matter if they have hurt us or not. Proverbs 24:17-18 Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, And do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles; 18 Lest the Lord see it, and it displease Him, And He turn away His wrath from him. My goal is to be as close to God as I can be with nothing standing between us. I want Him to work His plan for me out in my life and I want my prayers to be answered so I want to live His way. And this has brought adventure and freedom in my life. Freedom from anger, envy, strife and resentment. It is an adventure everyday as I live out His plan for my life. |
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