Joining Write ALM with a writing prompt, persist(ence)
I have inherited my daughter’s cats.
this one is Grissabelle,
persistent, personified
Whose knitting did you think this is?
Now it is my turn to use the computer.
Don’t touch that mouse!
And this most recent,
trying to get a picture of my Yarn Ends jar of 2013;
who shows up . . .
And she came closer to make sure I knew she was really there,
but , oh so cool about it
Yep, I love her!
Can’t think of a better place to wait!
Good Morning
Genesis 15:12-14
12 And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram;
and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him.
13 And he said unto Abram,
Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs,
and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;
14 And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge:
and afterward shall they come out with great substance.
An assured part of God’s pledged blessing to us is delay and suffering. A delay in Abram’s own lifetime that seemed to put God’s pledge beyond fulfillment was followed by seemingly unendurable delay of Abram’s descendants. But it was only a delay; they “came out with great substance.” The pledge was redeemed.
God is going to test me with delays; and with the delays will come suffering, but through it all stands God’s pledge: His new covenant with me in Christ, and His inviolable promise of every lesser blessing that I need. The delay and the suffering are part of the promised blessing; let me praise Him for them today; and let me wait on The Lord and be of good courage and He will strengthen my heart.
~~C. G. Trumbull
Praising and Waiting . . .Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie
Even Grissabell is bored!
Good Morning
I stole this poem from another blog.
To many and sometimes to myself my life must seem boring.
I like it like that.
Being Boring – by Wendy Cope
If you ask me ‘What’s new?’, I have nothing to say
Except that the garden is growing.
I had a slight cold but it’s better today.
I’m content with the way things are going.
Yes, he is the same as he usually is,
Still eating and sleeping and snoring.
I get on with my work. He gets on with his.
I know this is all very boring.
There was drama enough in my turbulent past:
Tears and passion – I’ve used up a tankful.
No news is good news, and long may it last.
If nothing much happens, I’m thankful.
A happier cabbage you never did see,
My vegetable spirits are soaring.
If you’re after excitement, steer well clear of me.
I want to go on being boring.
I don’t go to parties. Well, what are they for,
If you don’t need to find a new lover?
You drink and you listen and drink a bit more
And you take the next day to recover.
Someone to stay home with was all my desire
And, now that I’ve found a safe mooring,
I’ve just one ambition in life: I aspire
To go on and on being boring.
A Nap in the Sun
Good Afternoon
Ruth 1:1-13, 19-21
1 Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehemjudah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons.
2 And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehemjudah. And they came into the country of Moab, and continued there.
3 And Elimelech Naomi’s husband died; and she was left, and her two sons.
4 And they took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they dwelled there about ten years.
5 And Mahlon and Chilion died also both of them; and the woman was left of her two sons and her husband.
6 Then she arose with her daughters in law, that she might return from the country of Moab: for she had heard in the country of Moab how that the Lord had visited his people in giving them bread
7 Wherefore she went forth out of the place where she was, and her two daughters in law with her; and they went on the way to return unto the land of Judah.
8 And Naomi said unto her two daughters in law, Go, return each to her mother’s house: the Lord deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt with the dead, and with me.
9 The Lord grant you that ye may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband. Then she kissed them; and they lifted up their voice, and wept.
10 And they said unto her, Surely we will return with thee unto thy people.
11 And Naomi said, Turn again, my daughters: why will ye go with me? are there yet any more sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands?
12 Turn again, my daughters, go your way; for I am too old to have an husband. If I should say, I have hope, if I should have an husband also to night, and should also bear sons;
13 Would ye tarry for them till they were grown? would ye stay for them from having husbands? nay, my daughters; for it grieveth me much for your sakes that the hand of the Lord is gone out against me.
19 So they two went until they came to Bethlehem. And it came to pass, when they were come to Bethlehem, that all the city was moved about them, and they said, Is this Naomi?
20 And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me.
21 I went out full and the Lord hath brought me home again empty: why then call ye me Naomi, seeing the Lord hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me?
We all have read the story of Naomi and Ruth.
My question is why did Naomi feel like God had forsaken her;
like He had plotted against her personally;
like He had it in for her?
Many husbands and sons had died.
There were many widows, young and old.
Why did she feel so singled out?
Was it not because she was far from the people of God?
Far from the every day rituals and ceremonies of God’s people?
Far from hearing the songs of praise?
Far from hearing the Word of God read weekly in the synagogue?
Far from the fellowship of people who worshiped the true God?
By herself among an idol worshiping people,
she had no encouragement to remember the ways God had blessed her.
Let us take heed.
Draw nigh to God and His people.
Receive strength from joining in worship songs.
Receive grace from hearing God’s word read and expounded.
He restoreth my soul Psalm 23:3
Let Him restore your soul . . . Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie
Grizz likes bath water.
Good Afternoon
Luke 15:25-32
Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard musick and dancing.
And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant.
And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound.
And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and intreated him.
And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends:
But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.
And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.
It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.
Rylie has some thoughts about the elder son.
“But he spoke back to his father, ‘Look, all these years I have worked for you like a slave, and I have never disobeyed your orders. What have you given me? Not even a goat for me to have a feast with my friends!” (Luke 15:29, GNB)
In the parable of the Prodigal Son, the elder brother had serious personal issues! Not only against his younger brother who had been out running wild and blowing a fortune, but also against his father — who welcomed the ragged boy back home with open arms.
What was his problem? Simply this — he saw himself more as a slave, instead of a son. That’s what religion will do to a soul. It will fill you with an ever-deepening sense of inadequacy, which in turn drives you to reach higher and higher in an effort to perform so as to finally become accepted. And, it inflames you with a raging jealousy against anybody who seems to get in without having to pay the price you have had to pay.
I’ve often wondered how the story would have turned out if the elder brother had met the prodigal returning home before the father had seen him. “You’ve got a lot of nerve showing your sorry face around here,” I can hear him say. “You know you broke dad’s heart, don’t you? And thanks to you, my load of work has doubled! Why don’t you just turn around and go back where you’ve been!”
And I also wonder if the reason the younger brother ran off was to get away, not from his father (who was clearly loving and good), but rather to get away from his controlling older brother.
Remember the scene in Walk the Line, the movie about Johnny Cash and June Carter, when June is in the store and a lady walks up and says, “Your momma and daddy are good Christian folks.” And June says, “Why thank you; I’ll tell ’em you said so.” But the lady then says, “I’m surprised they even speak to you — divorce is an abomination to God!” It crushes Junes spirit, and as she turns to walk away, the self-righteous lady briskly dusts off the shelves in the store with a look of smug satisfaction on her face; after all, she has done her religious duty.
Jesus asked a most pointed question — “Do you have the nerve to say, ‘Let me wash your face for you,’ when your own face is distorted by contempt?” (Luke 6:42, the Message). Yep, the Bible got it right when it said, “It’s easy to see a smudge on your neighbor’s face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own.” (Matthew 7:3, the Message).
O Lord, have mercy on us all . . .
Luke 6:42 Either how canst thou say to thy brother, Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother’s eye. KJV
Matthew 7:3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
Shall we check the mirror . . .Today?
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie
“What are we doing next, Mom”
Good Afternoon
And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.Exodus 2:23-24
God always hears, and He never forgets.
His silence does not mean that He is not listening, and is not planning.
Probably it means that the best time of deliverance has not come yet, and that He is patiently waiting for the moment to arrive when He may prove His love and His power.
Cromwell said to his soldiers just before a great battle: “Know ye soldiers all, that that God always comes to man’s help in the nick of time.”
Yes, God is always on time; never behind and never ahead. Happy the man who learns to wait as he prays, and never loses patience with God. MEN WHO PRAYED.
There is a set time for putting into the furnace,
and a set time for taking out of the furnace.
there is a time for pruning the branches of the vine,
and there is a time when the husbandman lays aside the pruning hook.
Let us wait His time, “He that believeth shall not make haste.”
God’s time is the best time.
But shall we come out the same as we went in?
Ah, no!
We “shall come forth as gold.”
We shall become purer vessels to hold the sweet-smelling incense of praise and prayer.
We shall become holy golden vessels for the Master’s use in time and in Eternity.
“When a great issue is in the balance and the path is obscure, wait;
but with that waiting shirk no the work that lieth before thee,
for in that task may be the solution of thy problem.”
Trust god for your day . . .Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie
The garden and flowers love the bright sunny days. Today they are loving the rain!
Garden is growing.
Stakes have been pounded in.
Tomatoes babies for next planting.
Sunflowers and zinnias blooming.
Grizz
Roses are blooming
All the hydrangeas have blossoms.
Grizz likes to take walks with me.
Two new pots inside, a rex begonia and a African violet’s cousin (I’m still trying to find it’s name)
Sharing with Ginny @ Small Things
Grissabell is more camera friendly.(opps, for some WordPress reason to see Griss, click the space.)
Good Morning
Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast. I will cry unto God most high; unto God that performeth all things for me. Psalm 57:1-2
The beautiful old translation says,
“He shall perform the cause which I have in hand.”
Does that make it very real to us today?
Just the very thing that “I have in hand”–
my own particular bit of work today,
this cause that I cannot manage,
this thing that I undertook in miscalculation of my own powers–
this is what I may ask Him to do “for me”
and rest assured that He will perform it.
“The wise and their works are in the hands of God.” Havergal.
Trust God for your day—Today.
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie
On Wednesday’s we bite our tongues
or should I say fold our fingers
to stay Wordless.
Visit here to see what other folded fingers can say.
This week I hunted, searched and looked until I found every item.
New
This blossom of wild strawberry and ladybug are new to Spring.
Life
In the beginning was the Word,and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
John 1:1, 4
Fragrant
We have Chickens. We have fresh Eggs. We have Fragrance.
Nosy Grissabell! All the chicks left their nests.
What a noisy disturbance occurred.
Pink
I took my camera to church this morning, thinking surely some little girl will be wearing Easter pink. What I found was our pastor’s wife’s shoes!
Obvious
I collect Tom Clark figurines. Wilkes and Molly are my favorites.
It is obvious they are in love and have loved for a long time.
When the Farmer and I were going together, he would often play and sing while I finished my chores. These hold a special place in my heart. The Farmer hasn’t played in a long time.
Our love continues; in June will be our 45th anniversary.
You’ll find more hunters and their photos here:
Scavenger Hunt Sunday items: New, Life, Fragrant, Pink and Obvious
It is Wednesday and it is time to be wordless.
Buster and Grizz
Look over the shoulders of other wordless ones here
I was attacked by a severe case of startitis!
I was knitting along very happily on the Anjou and the Slice of Pi, when it hit.
Alpaca Sox Shawl by Emily Devlin
Now I have to knit a little and knit a little there, here a row, there a row. Oh I love each and every row!
Slice of Pi is blooming beautifully.
This is where my pretty ones sleep, right next to my chair.
Busterford Jones has taken over the basket when Grissabell isn’t in it.
I’m listen to A Widow’s Story, A Memoir by Joyce Carol Oates, the story of her life after the sudden death of her husband. The topic isn’t pleasant (what word to use), but the author’s ability to describe the roller coaster ride of a widow is very well done.
Joining Ginny at Small Things. If you visit, you’ll find many beautiful works in progress – some are even finished.
Emily moved and her cats came to stay. This is Grissabella, named after one of the cats in the musical CATS. When I say Grissabella, or Griss for short, I see it spelled, Grizz, so if you see her name spelled that way, it is still the same cat. Grizz’ partner came too, but ran off before we could get him acclimated, I’m hoping to see him around. Good luck, Busterford Jones aka Buster, whose name also came from CATS.
As you can see Grizz is settling in very well. Baskets make the best beds.
Just don’t disturb, or you’ll get the evil eye!
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Thoughts of Grace 