The truth of God's love, the Encouragement we all need and occasional humor
Author: anitashope
Retired Quality Manager but still have the "Why" curiosity drive so I am turning my love for Christ and nature into my new why chase and am trying to discover more of His word as it relates to His love for His creation.
Technically for me its still the 27th but…We are tying in with Cee’s challenge for the 28th to showcase the beauty of flowers regardless of the day.
Since mine are not up yet, I give you archives of last summer as the hopes of this summers sunflowers are just now breaking ground.
My neighbors loved my sunflowers so much last year, we are planting them again this year. They are just beginning to break ground in their little cups. Hopefully it will warm up soon before they get too big. LOL.
And with all things spring in mind, lets warm up our kindness as well.
Spring in the midwest can be beautiful, maddening and extremely temperamental.
For example: One one hand we have flowers coming up…
Daffodils beginning to show their greenery
Then on the other hand…we have ice.
The (dirty) bird bath is a block of ice
We got way less than expected snow fall this winter for our area but the polar air from Canada gave us TOO much cold for longer periods of time. Ready for April!!
Three buds showing
Four days until April…Come on flower time.
And remember, as flowers begin to show their beauty that make us smile, share your beauty in the form of kindness and help others smile.
This weekend, SueW and GC have challenged us with perhaps a loving memory or maybe a current love in talking of mothers, even plants have a mother. I repotted several baby spider plants yesterday at my office as the mother plant is doing very well. My one at home is just getting started.
Mothers, we all had one. Some were good, some not so good. My mother, while she had issues (as we all do), it was her mother that taught me the most about courage, faith and surviving this life. She was a school teacher so it is not surprising that she always taught.
Miss Lottie, as others called her, and her love, Brownie
But I did write a poem about my mother and gave it as a frames gift in 1986 for Mothers Day, a lifetime ago. While is may not be a great poem, its value far outweighed it errors because it came from the heart – which is where all family love should come from. And she loved it.
Like A Rose
Like a rose’s sweet fragrance that floats through the air,
So does a mother’s love as it flows through her home.
Like a rose that reflects its rich vibrant color,
So does a mother when she is loving her children.
Like a rose’s thorns that beckon you to beware,
So does a mother who safely guides her children.
Like the velvety softness of the rose’s soft petals,
So soothes a mother’s hand and voice calms a fear.
Like the beauty of a gentle swaying rose,
So the beauty of mother forever will glow.
And as always, I close with a reminder of kindness. We can never be too kind as somewhere, someone will be watching and be encouraged.
Typical with most passing storms, the appearance of a spectacular sunset. I just wanted to pass along that this sunset meets that criteria after all of the menacing gray clouds that seemed to just hang around forever today.
“They” say that behind every gray cloud is a silver lining but todays lining is orangey gold and quite beautiful. I know my photography skills are not as good as some but this needed sharing. May your weekend turn out just as beautiful.
Today we have more fun with Hammad Rais and Weekend Sky #60. I just had to play along as the sky today has been tumultuous, from rain to spiting snow and now the wind is crazy. We are under a wind advisory. BUT, it makes for great pictures. Even though I am no professional, it is fun to join in. So come show us your beautiful sky.
The Red Tailed Hawks are not even having to do anything but stretch out their wings and float on the currents of the wind. But the contrasting gray colors with the occasional blue patches of sky is what makes it so beautiful.
Since we are talking about weekend skies, I leave you with a sunset image of kindness for you to reflect on.
Always Be Kind enough so that the deaf may hear your kindness and the blind can see it.
Devereaux Frazier and Beth Amanda are currently hosting the Tuesday Writing Prompt Challenge which was started by our star writer Christine Ray. We hope to offer all of you something that will spark your creativity and willingness to participate.
Today’s prompt—use the words for reasons they don’t understand in a piece of poetry.
With all of our eyes looking across the ocean, or maybe even next door, we see the greed and cruelty being dumped by one man onto the tenderness of those who don’t understand. So I give you my thoughts through “Who What Why”
For reasons we don’t understand
Greed and cruelty have fill the land
We start this life hoping it to be so grand
Then life surrounds us as though unplanned
Time moves quickly through the hourglass sand
Leaving us confused for reasons we don’t understand
As many of us have asked and prayed, remember those misplaced by the cruelty of war and the oppression of “bullies” all over this world. Especially for Ukraine. For if this door does not get closed, we could be the next saying – “for reasons we don’t understand”
Never forget the power and beauty of kindness, regardless of how small. It can have ripple effects to touch us all.
After blogging now for several years I started doing encouragements for my church, then I started occasionally posting them here. Then came along Susi Bocks’ encouragement of my writing and many of you who have appreciated my encouraging thoughts and have been very kind to me. Thank you for giving me a small voice. Twice now, The Short of It/I Write Her has featured my writing which has encouraged me to the point that I wanted to share some of the short stories I have written that are TOOOO long to post. So I took Susi’s advice and created an anthology featuring my short stories and some of my poetry. A couple of these poems, Susi featured this February.
If you are interested, you can go to Amazon and purchase either the Kindle version or the paperback version of Hope (An Anthology of Christian Perspective) and I hope you will be encouraged.
I thank you in advance if you do but my hope is that even here I can encourage one person who needs a hug. We all need hugs. Below is one of the poems of the book that I also had posted on my blog last year. This kind of sets the theme of the book.
Raindrops of the Heart
Raindrops of the heart can be a sad place to start
As life of those loved around us do inevitably depart
But Raindrops of the heart can also come from joy
As we remember the fun things we both did enjoy
Raindrops of the heart do not always come from grief
As laughter of the heart shows raindrops of relief
Raindrops of the heart are moments to be shared
As raindrops from the heart show moments that we cared.
Thank you for reading today. Remember the power and beauty of Kindness and share it often.
Good morning friends. Today is bitter cold here in the Midwest BUT…it’s the last day of bitter cold. Even though we did not get the normal amount of snowfall this season, we did get abnormally longer spans of bitter cold. But spring will arrive victoriously like the warmth and love that God gives us daily. Winter’s cold did not overtake us, and we can use this thinking for all of our trials. God’s warm love can help us overcome any cold challenge that we may face.
We are super-victors with a joy that comes from experiencing the very things which look as if they are going to overwhelm us. Oswald Chambers
The underlying foundation of the Christian faith is the undeserved, limitless miracle of the love of God that was exhibited on the Cross of Calvary; a love that is not earned and can never be. Oswald Chambers
It is also a love that can never be taken away. however, we can refuse it and walk away in our own stubbornness…but why would we do that? This love is the love that catches us when we feel like we are falling, a love that comforts us when we feel as though the world has forgotten us, a love that warms us when we feel cold right down to our core. This amazing love can never be taken away from us.
So relax in the love of God. Feel His warm love surround you. He’s got this, you will be fine. And as you share in the love and kindness of God, remember to share it with others. Kindness carries an unimaginable beauty.
Hammad Rais creates a fun and interesting way for us to share the beauty in the sky around us. Come join in with Weekend Sky and share your world.
This is a most special weekend sky for us in the Midwest…it’s the clearing out of winter’s hold as promised temperatures for Sunday bring in the start of spring.
Winter’s hold will soon break
After the two inches we got we got Thursday, winter is not going out easily. The thin wispy white you see is snow still trying to rain on us. But alas, tomorrow will be the last of the stronghold…and it will be done with a vengeance of single digits.
Beautiful sky
But Sunday brings in 40s – 50s. And all next week in the 50s. Yay!! Come on spring. And as we get into more tolerable temps, remember the value of Kindness as you go about your day.
For the Love of 