Hugging Thirty-two Degrees

This morning, I had the privilege of riding to work on two wheels instead of walking the Google-calculated two hours (They lied! I am an Olympic walker and it took forty-five minutes for just under a third of the way). As I breezed along with slightly less effort than the hurried trot walk from previous days, my fingers lost consciousness, and shortly thereafter, my toes followed suit. Due to the darkness, I was unaware until later in the dawn's light journey that the ground was covered in frost; thus my frozen state from embracing thirty-two degrees of cold air with every pedal stroke!

Eventually, that means preferrably sooner than later, I will be able to procure the neccessary accoutrements for rain, snow, sleet, dark, danger, rear view, and some sort of weather proof carrying container in case I should need to stop off at the store for much desired ice-cream without having it melt on the way home. Wait a minute.....Scratch that!.......Guess there is no need to worry about the melting aspect when you are neighbor's with St. Nicholaus!

The ride home this evening was three minutes shorter than the ride to work. I was stopped at a railroad crossing and discovered that the rail cars were covered in Sherwin Williams paint, blue something or other code number and black something or other code number. I also was educated that they have 2 inch HF disc something or others (apparantly, my retention isn't that great when I am feeling hungry, cold and over-worked). Just a little beyond the train tracks, I passed a man who commented on my nice donkey. I assume he meant the men's Cannondale bike upon which I was riding, albeit slightly to large for me, and seeing clearly that there was no Poitou donkey in my vicinity.

I don't know.....Do you see a resemblance?

A Perfect Word at the Perfect Moment

Morning and Evening: A Devotional Series by Charles H. Spurgeon


Evening Devotion

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

"When my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the Rock that is higher than I." {#Ps 61:2}

Most of us know what it is to be overwhelmed in heart; emptied as when a man wipeth a dish and turneth it upside down; submerged and thrown on our beam ends like a vessel mastered by the storm. Discoveries of inward corruption will do this, if the Lord permits the great deep of our depravity to become troubled and cast up mire and dirt. Disappointments and heart breaks will do this when billow after billow rolls over us, and we are like a broken shell hurled to and fro by the surf. Blessed be God, at such seasons we are not without an all sufficient solace, our God is the harbour of weather beaten sails, the hospice of forlorn pilgrims. Higher than we are is he, his mercy higher than our sins, his love higher than our thoughts. It is pitiful to see men putting their trust in something lower than themselves; but our confidence is fixed upon an exceeding high and glorious Lord. A Rock he is since he changes not, and a high Rock, because the tempests which overwhelm us roll far beneath at his feet; he is not disturbed by them, but rules them at his will. If we get under the shelter of this lofty Rock we may defy the hurricane; all is calm under the lee of that towering cliff. Alas! such is the confusion in which the troubled mind is often cast, that we need piloting to this divine shelter. Hence the prayer of the text. O Lord, our God, by thy Holy Spirit, teach us the way of faith, lead us into thy rest. The wind blows us out to sea, the helm answers not to our puny hand; thou, thou alone canst steer us over the bar between yon sunken rocks, safe into the fair haven. How dependent we are upon thee—we need thee to bring us to thee. To be wisely directed and steered into safety and peace is thy gift, and thine alone. This night be pleased to deal well with thy servants.

Living Requirements

Micah 6:8

He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

Shared Musings

HOPE is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul.

That sings the tune without the words and never stops at all.

And sweetest in the gale is heard and sore must be the storm

That could abash the little bird that kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land and on the strangest sea

Yet, never, in extremity, it asked a crumb of me!

 

 

(My friend passed this poem along, written by her granddaughter whose heart is from a bygone era.)

Empty Vessels

"Empty vessels, fit and prepared for the Master's use..."

While washing clay flower pots, cleaning up from this summer and readying for the next, I was reminded of the importance of this.

We can only be useful to our Master when we are devoid of anything that would detract from His ultimate purpose.

We can only be useful when we are ready and waiting...yielded and still.

As another reminder, I am reminded of this lovely hymn:

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!

Thou art the Potter, I am the clay.
Mold me and make me after Thy will,
While I am waiting, yielded and still.

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Search me and try me, Master, today!
Whiter than snow, Lord, wash me just now,
As in Thy presence humbly I bow.

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Wounded and weary, help me, I pray!
Power, all power, surely is Thine!
Touch me and heal me, Savior divine.

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Hold o’er my being absolute sway!
Fill with Thy Spirit ’till all shall see
Christ only, always, living in me.

Saying Farewell to Summer

The colour of Sunshine

Sapphire...growing up and sweet as chocolate pudding! 

The essence of summer

Childhood remembrances of great summer fragrance

The epitome of summer's farewell

Hydrangea rivaling the Sugar Maples

Did Sunshine ever smell more exquisit

Olivia the Spider..Who loves Hexagons and Octagons!!

Going Toe to Toe

Immovable. Resolute. Unbending. Fixed. Determined. Unyielding. Belligerent. Dogged. Unwavering. Adamant. Obdurate.

Good Words. Excellent Description.



I couldn't help myself; there was no yielding of ground. I knew I had rights and wished the other smaller and younger person to defer. I looked around for an opening, measured my rights carefully and stood firmly fixed on the line. Hoping against all odds that she would give up, yield to my FULL rights. Fatigue had set in as firmly as its fellow soldier-at-war 'Stuborn'.

In one final effort, I called a truce and allowed myself to meet her as equals at the line....I must admit, however, that my half of the padded airport bench felt considerably small, even after I folded myself up into a muffin. With both of our toes carefully curled into the half-way crack, we rested weary bodies during an unexpected midnight layover.

Morning arrived an hour later when the first of the morning travellers arrived en masse to catch the early flight out. ( Although the clock said an hour had lapsed, I do declare that daylight savings took effect and swallowed the hour. ) Who knew that there was so little time between closing down an airport, and readying it for the next day!

As one group of Aussie travelers poured through the frigid sliding doors, a gentleman smiled at me and said "Deed yuh slipe the noight he-uh?" I nodded and smiled in amusement as he responded "Oh! Bugguh!"

Fezzik the Giant

I LOVE SPIDERS (in there proper element of course). HOWEVER..............There is something essentially creepy to me about having the spider facing toward me from the inside of its web. I rearranged garden pots, cleaning them and preparing them for next season when I ran across many spiders from every tongue and nation One minute I was speaking with an oriental flare, trying to shoosh the creature away, while the next minute I was speaking with gutteral clicks and clacks, encouraging the arachnid to find a more suitable home. This photo is of Fezzik (the giant in Princess Bride), facing toward me from behind a veil of guaze and stanchly determined to stand his ground. I tried to coax him off, introduced myself in as many languages as I knew. All he did was tear a hole with his front two legs and dangle them outside his protective sheath like a newly wakened child standing at the side of his crib. I wasn't sure if he was going to hop out, fly out or slither snake-like up my arm. I decided that he was not my favourite; therefore I jogged his memory by snapping the pot top on the ground to shake him off. He slithered out, all right, but clung to the side of the pot. As determined as he was to keep his home, I handed him my business card that stated simply "World Wide Web Relocation Services" with a picture of me holding up a shoe. He decided to relocate himself. Atta Boy!!

I would hate for him to die embarrassed!

From the Mouth of Babes

My youngest niece left this note on her desk.

I love the short hand for upstairs bathroom and the single letter denoting to whom the chore was assigned!

What a pretty powerful reminder of GOD's Word!!

• Colossians 3:17 "And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus , giving thanks through Him to GOD the Father."
• Ephesians 5:20 "Always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to GOD, even the Father"
• II Thessalonians 5:18 "In everything give thanks, for this is GOD's will for you in Christ Jesus."

Sweaty Feet/Feat

Yesterday, I discovered that feet have fear sensors; in fact, I believe that every square millimeter of the foot's surface is able to function as its own fear determining center of operations.

While removing corner boards on my parent's home with the aide of a ladder, I discovered my feet were rather damp, but thought that I was working up a bit of heat from crow bar leverage and ladder clinging. After removing all the corner boards that were accessible from the ground level, I had to use the ladder to hoist my overalled figure up to a small overhang in order to remove corner boards from six corners on the upper story. Who designs these houses, anyway? My tennis shoes, while being perfect for ground work, were quite slick against the roofing shingles. After gingerly removing my shoes, all the while clinging tenatively to the side of the house, I tested my stocking feet and bare feet. Bare feet were no good since my feet were so sweaty, so I went with the grabbing ability of the stockings. I managed to remove the corner boards, albeit a hilarious process for the neighbors to observe, to be sure!

Through all this process, my feet should have cooled down outside the confines of the shoes. The opposite occured, however. My socks were soaked, and my bare feet did not cool down or stop sweating for a good twenty minutes afterward.

Who knew feet had brains?!!

I left one dangling board that was wedged up top into the barge board, but for the life of me I could not bring myself to yank it down without having anything for myself to hang on to. I told my Dad that I had left a dangling participle for him, that I had gone as far as I could and was now playing my 'woman' card!

A Bountiful Summer

The month of August has been very full of all things intrinsically summer. Here is a sample list of those blue sky days:

• raising fluffy, sleepy chicks into fine feathered and alert pullets.

• chopping down disintegrating Japanese plum trees, chopping and stacking the wood, and collecting the remnant plums to preserve as juice and jelly.

• removing overgrown brush and hauling multiple trailer loads of debris. Didn't think you needed a picture of this!
• pruning limbs (the size of small trees) up to allow light into the yard. Who knew you could fit over thirty mature trees on a city plot! Just imagine the helicopters, seed pods, bark bits, twigs, moss, leaves, cones, pitch, sap and pollen that were infiltrating. Even a forest has less variety to contend with!

• planting colourful perennials for present and future beauty.

• leaving a few tidbits on the back fence for the hilarious backyard squirrels.
• sharing a fresh peach waffle cone sundae with Mom at a roadside produce stand.

• making art projects with my nieces, some edible, others more for artistic value!

• Bar-B-Que! Mmmm! Fresh roasted corn on the cob and Boeuf - my favourite! Sorry, I ate the evidence, alas, no photo.
• Going for walks and drives to see all the varietal beauty, including three deer and ten eagles!

• blowing insulation into the attic to ward off winter's chill.

• selecting and purchasing paint colours for the house.....now the prep work begins!
• Excellent messages at church, particularly  the Wrath of God series. What feasting! What Divine Goodness!

There are many more things that I could include, to be sure, but these definitely top the list of priority.

You Should Have Been There...

......it was a perfect moment!

Remembering Jack

Last night, while reposing at the close of my day, I sang "Man of Sorrows" to Him Who is intimately acquainted with grief. Suddenly I recalled a very dear moment from a few years back when I attended an old Presbyterian church. One of the older members is a well known baker in the community who was on this particular Sunday giving a financial and progress report on various church outreach projects. He was stoic but cheerful as he read through the various ministries and when he was finished, he folded his glasses and tucked them neatly away. Quiet, but overcome with emotion, he sweetly said, "I feel like shouting 'HALLELUJAH! What a Saviour!', but I am Swiss, and we don't do things like that!"

That made me smile!

It is said that the word “Hal­le­lu­jah” is the same in all lan­guag­es. It seems as though God had pre­pared it for the great ju­bi­lee of hea­ven, when all his child­ren shall have been ga­thered home to sing “Hal­le­lu­jah to the Lamb!”

Man of Sorrows! what a name

For the Son of God, who came

Ruined sinners to reclaim.

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Bearing shame and scoffing rude,

In my place condemned He stood;

Sealed my pardon with His blood.

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Guilty, vile, and helpless we;

Spotless Lamb of God was He;

“Full atonement!” can it be?

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Lifted up was He to die;

“It is finished!” was His cry;

Now in Heav’n exalted high.

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

When He comes, our glorious King,

All His ransomed home to bring,

Then anew His song we’ll sing:

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

O Love, O Light, O Joy, O Cross

1.O Love, that wilt not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in Thee;
I give Thee back the life I owe,
That in Thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.

2.O Light, that followest all my way,
I yield my flickering torch to Thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in Thy sunshine's blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be.

3.O Joy, that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to Thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain
That morn shall tearless be.

4.O Cross, that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from Thee;
I lay in dust life's glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.

Poultry Pantaloons

Three of my favourite summer things, eating zucchini bread out of my hand. Today was so windy, deliciously so, and their petticoats were swishing about them like, well, feathers in the wind! What a beautiful way to spend time!

An Auntie by Any Other Name

This morning, I sent off a lovey greeting to my nieces, and in response, received one of my own.

They called me Poppy Petal Pie.

Isn't that lovely!

The name fits like a glove!

World Wide Web of Spiders

Every year, I befriend a garden spider, or two, name them, and relegate them to the role of shepherd/shepherdess of my pesky garden bugs. Pictured above in his carefully folded rose leaf home, is King Henry VIII, a large beauty who did ample service during the summer of 2008.

The following summer I had Haddasah, a real beauty of pure white with a slight raspberry pink stripe on each side of her abdomen. She was gorgeous, dainty and was as elegant as a spider could possibly be.

 

Joining her a few weeks later was a black hopping spider named Zipporah, a swarthy dark lady with a rather furry complexion, and one who fiercely guarded her babies. She was too savvy to be captured by a shutter.

This summer, I found another mammoth garden orb spider who was eating her weight daily in unwanted bugs, perhaps even a rodent or two, judging by her size. Her name is Esmerelda. She is lovely, just as long as she stays in her neck of the woods (translation: eaves!)!