Inspired by Others...

Noticing the Beauty...

I was thrilled last PM to accept my Farmer's invitation to go on a date with him as

he planted his last acres of organic crops before the rain was predicted to arrive.

 It's been a very rainy spring

so far, and altho every year

seems to be a walk of faith

in the farming world,

this spring especially

seemed that way with 

all the rain keeping

us out of the fields

and the calendar silently

telling us that the

deadline for planting

all those seeds we bought

was marching steadily

closer each day.

Our family is in a

strange season of life,

the parents have reached

middle-age and the

children are all 

teenagers,

and it seems the Lord

is doing a bit of

shaking in our

lives, preparing

us for a new season,

the details of which

only He knows.

We are open to His call

to come higher in our

personal walk with Him,

and we are waiting on

Him to show us 

what He has in store

for us in the next season.

 

The longer Lamar and I walk this journey of marriage/life together,

the more we are aware that is is important to enjoy the beauty and life

while it is today. No one knows that tomorrow we will have each other,

and so we are trying to simply enjoy the days as God gives them.

So last night, even tho

the buddy seat in the tractor is

meant for a small child and is

uncomfortable, requiring the

occupant of said seat to 

hold herself on in many

uncomfortable positions,

and even tho there was a whiff

of stinky fish fertilizer that

wafted to my nostrils on

occasion,

I basked in the beauty of the

evening...the sun that was sinking

down behind the hills,

the fresh summer night air

each time we got out to refill

the planter,

the honeysuckle blooming

profusely in the hedgerows,

the giant purple alliums

growing in the tall grasses

that tell their tales of days

gone by when a gardener lived

on this farm,

the 'birthday cake' white chocolate

that I was saving in my purse

for a special occasion,

the calloused hand of the Farmer

in my own hand as we

hiked across the freshly worked

soil and up the steep hill of the field

lane to get the truck at dusk,

that I had health enough to do that

with him, for the climb was arduous;

the quiet of the tractor cab,

with occasional conversation 

mingling with the comfortable silence,

and most of all,

I praise God that this Farmer of mine

seeks Him,

and cares for my heart.

"We have this moment today..."

Friends lost their father this week,

suddenly and without warning.

"Yesterday's gone, and tomorrow

may never come...

BUT we have this moment

today."

Will we spend those moments in worry?

Fretting over lost hopes and broken dreams?

Or will we appreciate the gifts that He 

DAILY loads us with,

resting in His unchanging grace

and completely trusting His ability

to lead us safely to wherever we are going?

I choose praise.

I choose trust.

I choose to love.

I choose HIM.

Because He lives,

I can face tomorrow.

The view out of our window a few weeks ago...

We plowed the fields...
We scattered the good seed on the ground...

Now we wait expectantly for the harvest

that only GOD can produce.

And while we wait,

we will live and love in the moments

He gives us.

Inspired by Others...

Inspired by Others...

That Others May See...

The many workings of God I will only ever see 'thru a glass darkly' 

on this side of eternity.

But something really stood out to me when I read this

 Psalm on this quote card one day this week, 

and then it popped up again in the "Praise Him Anyway" reading challenge

 that our family is doing several nites a week.

If I have been rescued from a pit and my feet have 

been set on a rock

and I have a firm foundation on which to stand,

this puts a song in my heart and I praise the Lord.

It's obvious in the last two lines of this Psalm

that the praise will radiate from my life and my mouth

because other people will see and fear the Lord

and put their trust in Him.

This sentiment is echoed in the Sermon on the Mount

where Jesus tells us to let our lights shine before men

'that they may see your good works and glorify

your Father which is in heaven'.

The purpose of people noticing the change in me?

SO that they may be reminded of Who is calling them

to repentance and a new life.

Nothing new here. But fresh thots that blessed my heart deeply.

Let us go forth in full and glad surrender,

loving the Lord and knowing Him.

We have a God who yearns to have us follow him fully,

and who has commissioned us to be witnesses that

Jesus lives!

Inspired by Others...