One Fall Day

Tags

Autumn, baby, baby photographs, fall, granddaughter, joy, moon, morning sky, night sky, positive attitude, Pumpkin, Pumpkin Patch, sky, sunrise photographs, sunset photographs

Sunrise over our Hillbilly ‘hood

As the day awakens and everyone wakes up with it, there is a sense of anticipation for what is to come.  The new day holds a promise of things yet realized — what it brings is up to us.

Sunset over our Hillbilly ‘hood

As the sun sets and nightfall is near, our sense of anticipation can still remain.  Our bodies and minds need rest, but our spirit and drive are still there, waiting to start another day tomorrow.

Moonrise over our Hillbilly ‘hood

Lock the joy of the day in your mind and heart, let go of the trials and pain of the day as you lay down to rest, and let troubles fade away as you drift off to sleep.  Whether joy or trouble, a new day full of new possibilities awaits you.  Nothing is carved in stone — a day and a night can change everything.

Meanwhile, someone is getting ready for her trip to the pumpkin patch…

It’s me, Precious Baby!  And I’m kinda unsure if this will be a  trip that babies like.

Still not real sure about this…am I for sale?

All right, so, now what?

Am I supposed to be doing what he’s doing?

Well…this…MIGHT not end up being so bad…

You’re not gonna cry again, are you?  Between teething and wearing a diaper I’m already pretty wet.

This turned out to be kinda fun!

I’m so glad Daddy and Mommy brought me!

And look what Mommy took a picture of — a bug on a pumpkin flower!  She’s getting pretty good at this picture-taking stuff!  But then she’s had lots of practice taking pictures of ME!

Things in Hillbilly Land and this side of the world are coming to a close for the day, and blessings abound everywhere if we look for them.  Whether it is a beautiful grandchild, a beautiful sky, a bug on a flower, or anything that shows us God is near, enjoy your blessings tomorrow as you travel through the day and through life.  Blessings to each and every one of you!

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The Weather Of Life

Tags

depression, feeling positive, flowers, Joseph Addison, nature photographs, positive attitude, positive outlook, storms of life, Sunlight, sunshine, trials

“What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. These are but trifles, to be sure; but scattered along life’s pathway, the good they do is inconceivable.” 
― Joseph Addison

No matter what happens or how things are now, sunshine, smiles and flowers are scattered from place-to-place in our lives, in different forms and from different people and things.  A smile, a favor from a friend, children’s laughter, something suddenly working right that hasn’t for a long time — little things that make life’s pathway nice.  

Life has it’s ups and downs — sometimes it is sunshiny with blue skies and fluffy clouds, and all is right with the world.  Our world is cheerful and happy when everything is so wonderful and peaceful.

But sometimes dark clouds and storms roll in, obscuring the sunlight.  Some storms are but short, gentle rainfalls, while others last and last, bringing torrents of wind, lightning and thunder.  But, we know that nothing lasts forever, and even while it is storming, we can count on a time when the storm will be over and the sun will show itself again.

It rains on us all, the good and the bad, the just and the unjust — when we weather the storm, beautiful skies and flowers await us.  And, because of the rain the storm brings, the flowers will now flourish.

Whatever our storms are, whatever trials we face, I pray that they are short, steady rains, and that we are even better for the trials we’ve had to face and have come through.  May God bless you with lots of Sunday sunshine and flowers tomorrow!

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Negative Nellie

Tags

Baptist, Bible, Bible study (Christian), church, God, Humor, positive attitude, positive thinking, Religion and Spirituality, sermon, Service of worship, Singing, Sunday, sunny, worship

Today is a beautiful day, and was a good morning for church — crisp and sunny outside.  Fitting to have a wonderful Bible study and worship.  Not a good day to get up in a negative mood.

Normally, I’m a fairly positive person.  It serves little purpose to be negative and complaining, so I try not to be unless I’m just trying to be funny, and the results of that effort are usually fruitless.  This is only an opinion, but here it is: Church, among many other things, is a sanctuary from the things in life that would bring a person down.  It is the house of the Lord, and as such, is a place to enjoy His presence.  In other wards, any negative feelings a person wakes up with should be left at the door once one enters the sanctuary of His house.

Okay, that said, I’ll get back to this morning.  Negative Nellie rolled out of bed and was irritated at the chilly bedroom.  City Boy had gotten up way early, left the room and quietly shut the bedroom door.  That was actually thoughtful, except that he cranked up the alternate source of heat in the other part of the house, making the main furnace shut off, which left the bedroom I was still sleeping in with no heat source.  Actually, we have an alternate heat source in the bedroom, too, but since the furnace had been on the night before, we had shut the alternate heat source off.

All this to say, Me cold!

I fixed the problem, then politely (matter of interpretation) let Frank know what the right way to do that would have been, and proceeded to get ready for church.  

By the time we arrived, both Frank and I were in fairly decent moods, and Bible study was pretty good, and then the worship service started off well.  We all walked down out of the choir loft before the sermon and the person singing the special music stood behind the podium.

The term “special music” in a Baptist church usually refers to a musical number done during the worship service that is special to that service.  Many times it is a solo or small group of people, but sometimes can be a choir.  On this particular Sunday it was a soloist, a high schooler.  I wondered why, when I mentioned that I had never heard this person sing, Frank shrugged and said, “She tries very hard.”

So, all through the song, which I had heard before and was familiar with, this girl sang a completely different tune than I recalled from when I’d heard this song before.  That would even have been okay if she had been singing it even remotely in the same key as the music was.  

While sitting there trying not to visibly wince at every off note, I began to realize that this was not the attitude I should be having, even if I was keeping it to myself.  I had no idea how to possess a reverent attitude when I was having to endure someone whose attempts at singing could take the enamel right off of your teeth.

So, I prayed that He would give me an attitude of love and kindness.  And guess what?  He didn’t.  He intervened on her behalf.

Instead, the singer, on the last chorus, suddenly began singing the song perfectly.  Poof.  

Nobody has all the answers as to why certain things happen the way they do, so all I know is that I still believe more than ever that if a person is having a negative day when they go to church, leave it at the door.  Better yet, try to start out the morning in a positive frame of mind.  It’s not like God asks too much of us, and God has a way of taking care of the rest.

It’s Sunday, and an appropriate day for me to say things that may get me accused of being too preachy, but I just felt good about this morning.  I’d say a lot more (everyone knows I’m not a woman of few words), but Frank has hinted to me to get started on the cookies I promised him.  Not that I mind — he went and got the butter, so it’s the least I can do (smile).

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