Then and Now, a Week

A week is only 7 days but man, the things that can happen in such a short amount of time. Good Friday evening friends, I hope your week was good, as eventful as you wanted it to be and above all safe.

I have been exceptionally busy this week but have approximately 75% of my Christmas decorations up. I know its early but like the commercial on TV says, its only too early if you think its too early. Plus, Hallmark Christmas movies started on October 22, so the house has to look right to watch Christmas movies. Just sayin’.

Because of the amount I like to put up, it takes 2-3 weeks to get it situated like I like it. I takes me a week just to build the village. I added a train this year, a cheap one but it still choo-choos, has a whistle and goes around the track. That’s all I needed. Once everything is up and running, I will start sharing that part of my fun.

I explain all of that because I have not had time to post all the beauty I have seen this week. Coming from the deep south and now living in eastern Iowa, I get a taste of all four seasons. Fall though is probably the shortest, lasting only a few weeks – like 2 weeks max. Summer lasts forever and then winter is a sneeze away from fall. But there are 4 distinct seasons here. What happens with such a short fall is like in a cartoon – poof, the leaves change, sometimes overnight. This last week was fabulous with temps in the upper 60s – its November y’all, In Iowa.(Two years ago it snowed on Halloween.) Then Sunday the temp dropped into the 40s and poof…

Monday and Tuesday were alight with rich color. And because I am not an expert photographer, these picture don’t really show the beauty of their color. But I am sure where you live, the colors are just as striking. And the clear evening skies were amazing.

Wednesday showed more beauty but the cloud cover started moving in and today, Friday, its in the 30s and snowing…Yep, welcome to Iowa.

So thanks, fall, for stopping by with a quick hello. While I love spring, fall to me has the most dramatic colors. Maybe because they have such short lives pushing all their beauty out at once. They they turn brown, turn loose and go to sleep for 5 months. Five months is a long time to not see the rich colors of nature but if we look hard enough, we can also see the beauty of nature as she sleeps. I think the evergreen and its deep green color is a symbol of life and hope and maybe why we put evergreens in our homes, real and artificial, with multicolor balls and lights to remind us the importance of color, smiles and happiness in all that we do. My hope for you this season is to feel the happiness as the lights of Christmas start to come out. Share that joy and remember to always be kind. Being kind, especially at this time of year, can really help a struggling soul to believe in the hope that the struggles may soon be soften in not completely go away. May we all share the kindness this season gives us with the chance to do more.

***Always Be Kind, Share when you can***

Three Strikes, Am I Out?

There is an old saying that trouble comes in threes…

***Three puppies may be trouble but they are cute troubles***

Well I had three “accidents” last week that could have caused serious injury but I walk away with minor bruises. God is definitely protecting me and yes I need to slow down and be more careful. All three incidents were from rushing and carelessness.

Incident 1 – I posted last week about the balloon drop we did from trunk or treat but I did not tell of almost cutting off my thumb with the paper cutter, the big one at the church office. The original sign for the balloons were too large so we had to cut them down …a lot…at the last minute. My right hand going faster than my left insured that I closed my thumb in the device. Fortunately I got away with only a cut on my cuticle and now a bruise coming out under my nail. Moral of story – slow down.

Incident 2 – Doing the final cut on the front lawn and raking up the last of the gourd debris I tried to break my nose or put out my eye. My wrought iron flower pot hook that is attached to the fence was empty but the hook was still quite capable of causing harm…and it did. I never wear my glasses outside when doing yard work as they fall off easy when bending down. But today, I did and it probably saved my vision. As I bent down to gather debris, I hit that hook square on with my glasses, right on the eyepiece. I did not break my glasses but did bruise my nose from the force of the sudden stop. Moral of the story – slow down.

Damaged Eye Glasses Broken Glass Stock Illustration 1540899305 — ***Good grief!!***

We have a theme going dont we…

Incident 3 – I had a small flower pot that the plant was pot bound and so I was going top repot it. It is a cute little pink pot that is prefect for starter plants but I left this spider plant in it too long. In trying to get the plant out without damaging it or the pot, I got impatient, the pot slipped from my hands and fell to the floor hitting me square on my pinky toe before it hit the floor and broke. After a loud word of pain, I reached down and picked up the damaged pot, took the hammer and broke the rest of the pot off of the tightly bound plant. I would have never been able to get that plant out in one piece without breaking the pot. So now, 1 bruised foot and 1 broken pot later, our spider plant is correctly repotted in a correct size pot. Moral of story – slow down.

Life can get us in a bind sometimes making us be more clumsy than necessary because we THINK we need to hurry.

But when we rush, it actually slows us down. Sometime those short cuts are worse time eaters or dangerous to our health. So the moral of todays three strikes – SLOW DOWN

Cartoon Turtle with Sunglasses Images, Stock Photos & Vectors | Shutterstock — ***Be Cool!***

May your week be safe, and as always be kind. That is something you can never regret.

Prayerful Encouragement

Hello friends. I come to you this afternoon with a few words of warm encouragement as it is nearly 60 degrees outside…in November. That’s pretty warm but the dreaded “S” word is in the forecast for the weekend. Welcome to fall in the midwest.

While I was out running my few errands, I couldn’t help but notice a tree full of the season – God’s visual reminder that He always has something beautiful for us to focus on instead of the chaos we face daily.

Music is another way I can focus less on myself and more on what God wants me to understand. There is a song on the radio now that explains that God never lets go of us and our situation, He never can, He never will.

I think sometimes we get so focused on our situation that we lose sight of His love for us and the immense power of prayer. Even when we can’t seem to utter a prayer for our own relief, the scriptures remind us that the Holy Spirit is there to utter one for us.

We are energized by the Holy Spirit for prayer and we know what it is to pray in accordance with the Spirit; but we don’t often realize that the Holy Spirit Himself prays prayers in us which we cannot utter ourselves. Oswald Chambers

We all have family and friends that need prayers but there are probably a lot more of us who think we never need prayer…but God knows hearts, our hurts and our fears. So we are never left alone, the Spirit is always close by.

Just a reminder that prayer is not an afterthought or an idea of ‘all I can do is pray’. Prayer is a power tool, a direct link to a God who loves you. And the more we realize His love for us, the more we can share His love for others. I leave you a link to another song of encouragement called “Still in Control” that reminds me that My God is Still in Control. May it encourage you in whatever you face today.

Have a safe and blessed week and as always remember to be kind. It can open doors of Joy you never knew were there.

Refusal to Leave, FOTD

Its been a while since I posted on Cee’s Flower of the Day but this was by my door this morning, refusing to go to sleep for the winter, so I am posting it again. Cee’s FOTD is a great way for us to connect with each other showing the beauty around us, so join in and share your beauty.

This is my Calibrachoa, a tiny orange flower with large ruffled like leaves that look like nasturtiums. It sits in a pot along my walkway to the front door.

Besides Daisey’s nose, you can tell the edges of the leaves are trying to turn but the blooms are refusing to give in. Nights are now getting down to the mid thirties so they may not last much longer. But I wanted to honor them for their resilience. It’s a reminder to all of us that even though some days we may feel old, we can still shine our beauty, love and kindness to help someone else smile.

The full bloom is no larger than my thumbnail creating another point that size does not matter in the beauty of all things God created. So remember always that we are all part of God’s creation, created for a purpose, if nothing more than to be loved by Him. So look up, shine forth and always be kind.

A Different Idea for Halloween

For Halloween this year, we participated again with several nearby churches on the “hilltop” with Trunk or Treat plus a soup kitchen. The temps this year were chilly for Iowa but not too bad and the sky was clear so it was all good.

The Evangelism team, (I call them the “E” team as in Encouragement team, because they are an encouraging force,) thought outside the box this year. We always try reaching out to the people in our neighborhoods surrounding the church to encourage them and show them the love of Christ. For the Trunk or Treat we had a “Balloon Lift of Prayer”.

The lift was a way to teach children or even adults, that praying for people you don’t even know can be a blessing and fun. Thirty heart shaped balloons that were filled with helium, were attached with the note below. The children were told the purpose of the balloon lift and on que, they prayed over them and then released the balloons into the air for God to take them where they needed to go.

And as the balloons lifted into the air, through the trees and into the sky, the children cheered them on.

The children were then given a package that had the same note, an uninflated balloon, and a piece of candy to remember what they did and why. We gave out over 60 bags. The children and parents seemed to enjoy this fun time and we hope to do it again maybe in the spring with a children’s festival.

All moments can be teaching moments to show God’s love, if we incorporate then in love and fun. As promised, below is a copy of the note we attached to each balloon. A very valuable lesson we learned is the weight of a single sheet of paper is too much weight to make the balloon fly so, we cut it down.

The full intended note did go with the children in their bag with their balloon and candy. Hopefully they will read this note and the pictures with scriptural references and understand how much they are loved by God.

Hope you enjoyed our fun time that we had and as a reminder, I remind us all the power of being kind.

Morning Encouragement

Good morning friends. I hope you are all well. We have now survived Halloween and are on to the real holidays involving turkey and trees. Yes, I am a major fan of the tree holiday and have lots of it to put up. Christmas is a time where I can look through the pinholes of life and see God face to face. What??? Walk with me through Oswald Chambers’ devotion this morning as he shows how this concept ties in perfectly with how we should live our lives.

“Our Lord never insists on obedience. He stresses very definitely what we ought to do, but He never forces us to do it. He prefaces his instructions with an ‘if'”. Oswald Chambers

It’s a hard concept and a personal choice for each individual. We, as humans, want to know exactly what lies in front of us so that we can make safe and sound choices. But in my opinion, that’s now how it really works. We live by faith, trusting that He will take care of us. And He does.

“The Lord does not give me rules, but He makes His standard very clear.” Oswald Chambers

Our lives may seem random and boring with the day to day tasks but Oswald reminds us that when we obey Christ, those random circumstances of life become tiny pinholes through which we see the face of God. It’s like trying to look through the holes in the fence to see the big picture.

Sometimes we can’t see anything but other times when we look with our heart we can see the love of God.

As I stare at the lights of Christmas, I am reminded of the star of hope that came to lead us in our day to day tasks so that we can enjoy the beauty of the tiny pinholes. So today, try to see where the pinhole of your day can find the face of God and see Him smile down at you in love.

I think animals want to see God too, so for a little humor this morning we see them looking through peepholes. They may march to a different drum, but they know who the drummer is.

So I remind you today to smile and know that God loves you. And always remember to show kindness wherever you go. Kindness creates pinholes for you to shine the love of Christ through.

Have a great week.

Morning Encouragement

Good morning friends. It is a dreary day but the rain is a blessing. In reading my devotions this morning, I was most encouraged by Billy Graham’s message. For some, this time of year is hard because they don’t understand the value of the Christian message during Halloween. They lock themselves away from it until it is gone instead of countering its power and sharing the love of Christ. Mr. Graham’s message today was on the love chapter, 1 Corinthians 13. But as I read these verses, I fully recognized a tactic I learned in college of the beginning power of your first few words written and the last few words written carrying the power of your message.

“Love is patient and love is kind….Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes… LOVE NEVER FAILS. 1 Corinthians 13:4,7-8

Halloween gives us an opportunity to share God’s love in a different way. Through Christ, we have all become encouragers of His love. I have found in my life that sometimes the best way for me to be encouraged is to encourage others – partly the reason you are subject to my encouraging notes. But I am a firm believer in 1 Corinthians 13:13…

The faith we have in Christ gives us hope to survive this earthly existence by sharing His love as we go. The Trunk or Treat/Soup Kitchen we do each year at our church shows God’s love to others that come by with hope to encourage their faith in Him. The Encouragement Team this year is participating a little differently in that we are hosting a balloon lift. We will have helium balloons for children to pray over and turn loose into the air. Each balloon will have an encouragement note attached with scripture so that wherever it goes, the recipient will hopefully be encouraged. Then the child who released the balloon, beside getting candy, will receive a small balloon on a stick with encouragement for them and their family to remember the balloon they turn loose for God to take where it needed to go.

My sincerest hope is for today and the following week is that you are encouraged knowing their is a Father in heaven who dearly loves you. And as you are encouraged remember to encourage others and always be kind.

The Difference Between Need and Want

Good morning friends. I hope you are well this morning. I am afraid the winter grays are upon us here in the midwest. At least that is how I see it. During the warmer months, the sun shines its light and warmth upon us to reflect the beauty of God all around us. As the weather begins to cool, the cloud cover appears more often. But there is beauty there also, we just have to look a little harder to see it and feel it. The brightness of the sun is replaced by bright yellow and red leaves. Pumpkins and colorful gourds are in the markets and the corns is getting dry in the field to make food for farm animals. Proof that God is there to fill our needs. We have a needs for all things from God and He wants us to be filled with them.

Many people will not understand how much we need God in all things but those of us who follow Jesus understand just how important our need and His want for us in filling all those needs are tied together.

“Economically, they may manage; intellectually, they may manage; socially, they may get by. But down underneath the surface of rational man is a vacuum-a void that can be met only through Jesus Christ.” Billy Graham

Mankind will continue to believe he can fully fill his needs without Jesus, but the void God created in our inner most depths is to be filled by God Himself. The towers of Babel we try to build to fill that void will still crumble because He wants us to fill that area with Him. It’s kind of a simple hard task – we have needs and He wants to fill them. It’s simple because all we have to do is believe, but it’s hard because it’s a lifelong process. But He is ever by our side to meet any need. I think the trouble man has is understand the difference between need and want. We want a lot more than we need.

So let us reassess our needs today and enjoy God daily gift He wants to share with us.

Dear Father, help us to understand how you want to fill our souls with the beauty of your presence to fill our every need.

Have a blessed rest of the week and weekend and remember always the power of kindness. Kindness can bridge the concerns of a day and allow the waters of kindness to flow out to others in need.

Amazing Stonework, 10/13

Welcome to my ongoing post of beautiful old architecture. If you know of wonderful old buildings with interesting architecture, post them here. I would love to see them and the only criteria is brick, stone or mortar and of course concrete but we are focusing on older buildings instead of the mega concrete structures of today with modern straight lines. The architectures of yesteryear would cost a fortune to replicate today so I share them to show their beauty that I feel we should appreciate. So, welcome to Amazing Stonework. Link up and share what you see.

Today we are focusing on another church, Trinity Episcopal. Churches seem to always have ornate architecture, and amazing stained glass windows. And if you think about it, most older churches follow this pattern where the newer churches are straighter lines with colored glass instead of pictured stained glass. If you are a bible reader are at all, you will remember that in Exodus 35, God told Moses how to build the Tabernacle, with gold, silver and precious stones in honor of Him, so we still try to honor that today, many years later.

I was not able to find a date anywhere on the outside of the building like some have had, but it does have the bronze plaque from the National Register of Historical Places.

This particular church seems to have had several additions and you can tell the era of each by its architecture. Today I am focusing mostly on the original building and its two main entrances; one that faces the busy road and one that faces a small inadequate parking lot. On Sundays, the road and the parking lot on the opposite end are mostly used. This church also has the typical red door of legendary safety. I do apologize for the pictures being a bit crooked. The terrain was not level and I was a bit precarious on some pictures as I tried getting on the grass to get good shots.

With the many interesting shaped windows, I want to tap in with Ludwig and his Monday Windows Blog. Check it out for some interesting views of windows. All of the windows of the original building had this tall arched look to them, even when they were smaller, and all are stained glass.

The shape of the building was also interesting with turrets and sections of the building jutting out like in that last picture. The side door off of the little parking lot was a turret and that entire section of the building was surrounded by huge hardwoods.

The side view shows better and those clover shaped holes are wire messed grills so I am not sure of the purpose for this structure.

From this side view, you also have the side view of the huge steeple. This steeple tower is also a chimes that goes off every hour with a chime for each hour.

The last bump out section of the original building is actually part of the sanctuary. With beautiful stained glass windows and dark oak woodwork on the inside that accentuates the interior.

And the last photo is something I don’t seen much anywhere, decorative metal work along the top line of the roof; maybe its tied to a lightning rod or it may just be decorative.

I hope you enjoyed this walk around with me. I have been inside this church and the sanctuary is stunning but the rest of the church can easily get you lost with all the extra additions. Growth is a good problem to have sometimes.

As you walk about enjoying the things you like to do, remember to always be kind. Kindness makes any situation you face look good.

Morning Encouragement

Good morning friends. What a beautiful day we have today after the dreariness of yesterday – although we needed the rain. At least we did not have the forecasted storms. This morning I am bringing you some encouragement from Billy Graham and Oswald Chambers. I read both of their devotion each morning and this morning their messages easily merge together.

“Being a Christian is serious business. Many will believe intellectually about God but then live a life unworthy of Him believing He will save them in the end.” Billy Graham

I am afraid it doesn’t work that way. Our walk in the everyday day life reveals where our true priorities lay. While we may not walk as pure as Enoch did, we must take our walk seriously.

“The true test of a person’s spiritual life and character is not what he does in the extraordinary moments of life, but what he does during the ordinary times.” Oswald Chambers

It can be a truly hard thing to walk as Jesus asks us to walk because He seems to walk ten paces ahead of us. Remember, when Jesus was here on Earth, He was not doing His own walk but walking how the Father wanted him to walk. So, he fully understands how difficult it can be for us. He knows we can’t do it alone, so He comes along beside us in the form of The Holy Spirit to guide us as we go.

It is the Holy Spirit that changes our mindset in how we see the world churning around us, giving us strength and courage to face whatever comes our way. And those times when we are fully in step with God, we feel a peace about us that even we can not explain.

He doesn’t want us walking intellectually with Him, knowing all there is to know about Him. He wants us to walk willingly, heart to heart with Him and He will take care of all the rest.

So, walk humbly with your Lord today and let Him see your heart and He will ease all of your concerns so that you can continue to walk beside Him at peace. And remember as you walk, share the kindness that He wants us to share. Sharing kindness adds another layer of Joy to your heart..