There is something very nice about being surprised by your own favorite music. I put my mp3 player on shuffle tonight while I was sewing and heard some things I'd forgotten were on there. Jim Brickman, Pink Floyd, Third Day, Selah, James Taylor, Norah Jones, Eileen Ivers.
Some are old favorites, some are new favorites.
Some have great vocals, some have no vocals at all.
I love that music is a language all its own.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Sunday Evening Storm
I sat outside on the front porch for an hour this evening. There was a thunderstorm passing our way and I couldn't resist. I took a cup of tea and a shawl and pulled a rocking chair close to the house so I wouldn't get too damp.
I've never paid that much attention to the different voices of thunder. There's the booming, rolling roar that is felt as much as heard, and there's also the quiet, rolling whisper that seems to go on and on. When the storm was right on top of me, it sounded more like a hammer shattering a gigantic pane of glass. The peals of thunder would overlap just behind the flashes of lightning.
The storm finally passed and the voices of the thunder were replaced by the voices of the birds. I could hear several jays screaming at each other in a tree up the lane. There were 3 mourning doves on the wire along the lane... not together, but solitary distances apart. The whoooo whoooo they called seemed the perfect sound to follow the pounding of the thunder earlier.
Those birds were all at a distance from me. The hummers were not.
My rocking chair was about 4 feet from the hummingbird feeder. While the rain was still pouring from the sky, the first hummer arrived. He buzzed up to the feeder and was immediately joined by another who beeped at him and they both zipped off. In the passage of an hour, those 2 and at least one other made stops at the feeder. Sometimes one would drink quietly alone, and other times one would run another one off. When they whirred off, they would head to one of the pecan trees and light on the end of a leaf. They aren't heavy enough to make the leaf stem bend.
It was such a sensory experience to sit out there for that time. I want to keep the sound and the feel of it in my heart, just in case I need it.....
Update: El just pointed out the back window. I had to add these:
I've never paid that much attention to the different voices of thunder. There's the booming, rolling roar that is felt as much as heard, and there's also the quiet, rolling whisper that seems to go on and on. When the storm was right on top of me, it sounded more like a hammer shattering a gigantic pane of glass. The peals of thunder would overlap just behind the flashes of lightning.
The storm finally passed and the voices of the thunder were replaced by the voices of the birds. I could hear several jays screaming at each other in a tree up the lane. There were 3 mourning doves on the wire along the lane... not together, but solitary distances apart. The whoooo whoooo they called seemed the perfect sound to follow the pounding of the thunder earlier.
Those birds were all at a distance from me. The hummers were not.
My rocking chair was about 4 feet from the hummingbird feeder. While the rain was still pouring from the sky, the first hummer arrived. He buzzed up to the feeder and was immediately joined by another who beeped at him and they both zipped off. In the passage of an hour, those 2 and at least one other made stops at the feeder. Sometimes one would drink quietly alone, and other times one would run another one off. When they whirred off, they would head to one of the pecan trees and light on the end of a leaf. They aren't heavy enough to make the leaf stem bend.
It was such a sensory experience to sit out there for that time. I want to keep the sound and the feel of it in my heart, just in case I need it.....
Update: El just pointed out the back window. I had to add these:
Friday, July 10, 2009
Really Big Bug
When I came back from lunch today, this guy was at the door to greet me.
To give you some perspective, here's my foot next to him.
I'm glad this guy doesn't bite or sting!
To give you some perspective, here's my foot next to him.
I'm glad this guy doesn't bite or sting!
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Fear and Faith
As I sit and write this, I'm not speaking from my own experience, but from observing friends around me. I have a friend who, at this very moment is at UAB while her 12 year old son is receiving cancer treatments. I have another friend who is wondering which of his co-workers will be unemployed by the end of the day. There are things to be afraid of in this world.
And yet, God is in control. He knows the answers. Nothing surprises Him. He can do ANYTHING!
Isn't that an amazing thought!!
...anything...
...the possibilities are absolutely endless...
So what are we supposed to do?
Simply whatever He asks us to do. And what is He asking me to do? you ask.
It's right there in His Word to us:
Trust Him
Love each other
Don't hold on to the world too tightly,
because we're just passing through,
after all.
And yet, God is in control. He knows the answers. Nothing surprises Him. He can do ANYTHING!
Isn't that an amazing thought!!
...anything...
...the possibilities are absolutely endless...
So what are we supposed to do?
Simply whatever He asks us to do. And what is He asking me to do? you ask.
It's right there in His Word to us:
Trust Him
Love each other
Don't hold on to the world too tightly,
because we're just passing through,
after all.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Sightings
Yesterday, I saw 2 very interesting and totally unrelated things. Well, being in a rural location probably works in my favor. We'll say "rurality" links them.
The first was on my way to work. I think the reason it made such a big impression on me was because it was turning left in front of me and I had to slow down for the entire thing to clear my lane. It was a large pickup truck pulling a big camper trailer pulling a boat on a trailer. It was more like a train than a truck. Which leads me to a question: Is it really legal (or safe) to pull that many things behind one vehicle? If so, is there a limit other than the one imposed by the horsepower of the towing vehicle? If he had wanted and his truck could handle it, could this guy have added another trailer full of 4 wheelers or dirt bikes to his train? It just made me wonder.
The other interesting sight was on the way to the high school to get Em's reading list (that we just found out about!) I was on Cook's Corner Road and a hawk flew right over the hood of the car. I see them on utility wires quite often, but not usually that close or that low. The thing that really caught my attention wasn't so much the hawk itself, but the snake it was carrying! I am SO thankful that the hawk was able to keep a grip on it and not drop it on my hood!
The first was on my way to work. I think the reason it made such a big impression on me was because it was turning left in front of me and I had to slow down for the entire thing to clear my lane. It was a large pickup truck pulling a big camper trailer pulling a boat on a trailer. It was more like a train than a truck. Which leads me to a question: Is it really legal (or safe) to pull that many things behind one vehicle? If so, is there a limit other than the one imposed by the horsepower of the towing vehicle? If he had wanted and his truck could handle it, could this guy have added another trailer full of 4 wheelers or dirt bikes to his train? It just made me wonder.
The other interesting sight was on the way to the high school to get Em's reading list (that we just found out about!) I was on Cook's Corner Road and a hawk flew right over the hood of the car. I see them on utility wires quite often, but not usually that close or that low. The thing that really caught my attention wasn't so much the hawk itself, but the snake it was carrying! I am SO thankful that the hawk was able to keep a grip on it and not drop it on my hood!
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Childlike
Last week, a little girl came to my office. She was very excited. (actually, "bouncing off the wall, about to explode" is probably a better description than "excited") She'd had an idea. She had been saving money in a piggy bank for a special purchase, but she wondered what would happen if she gave it to God instead.
She thought she had about $40 and decided that she would give it to the building fund. When the decision was made, she got her mother to help her count it out. The total came to $62. (God was already blessing her decision to give to Him!) She was able to give her original gift idea of $40 , and STILL had $22 for the special purchase.
She was going to miss Sunday because her family was going on vacation, but she couldn't wait to give her gift. Her mom brought her to the church on Friday afternoon so she could give it before Sunday. You could feel the excitement radiating from her as she dropped the envelope into the safe. As she closed the drawer, she turned to her mom and said, "I wonder how much there will be on Sunday!" Her mom, a wise woman, replied, "There's just no telling what God can do!!"
There really is no telling what God would do if we were all as willing... as excited... as delighted... as this child was to be able to give a gift to God.
So, do you want to know what God did?
The total given just this week to the building fund was $15,008.00!! I don't believe it's a coincidence that another family chose this week to make a large gift to the fund. That child's sacrificial gift and that family's sacrificial gift were each part of God's big picture. And those were not the only gifts - -and they all came together on this one day as a great blessing.
God's timing is perfect. I suspect this is a lesson that one little girl will never forget. There's just no telling what God can do.
She thought she had about $40 and decided that she would give it to the building fund. When the decision was made, she got her mother to help her count it out. The total came to $62. (God was already blessing her decision to give to Him!) She was able to give her original gift idea of $40 , and STILL had $22 for the special purchase.
She was going to miss Sunday because her family was going on vacation, but she couldn't wait to give her gift. Her mom brought her to the church on Friday afternoon so she could give it before Sunday. You could feel the excitement radiating from her as she dropped the envelope into the safe. As she closed the drawer, she turned to her mom and said, "I wonder how much there will be on Sunday!" Her mom, a wise woman, replied, "There's just no telling what God can do!!"
There really is no telling what God would do if we were all as willing... as excited... as delighted... as this child was to be able to give a gift to God.
So, do you want to know what God did?
The total given just this week to the building fund was $15,008.00!! I don't believe it's a coincidence that another family chose this week to make a large gift to the fund. That child's sacrificial gift and that family's sacrificial gift were each part of God's big picture. And those were not the only gifts - -and they all came together on this one day as a great blessing.
God's timing is perfect. I suspect this is a lesson that one little girl will never forget. There's just no telling what God can do.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Expectant Ferns
My ferns must know it's going to rain today. Instead of hanging in their usual places on the front porch, they are now sitting expectantly in the grass just past the overhang of the roof.
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