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.
This summer has been exceptional for lilies. Those in my yard are just about gone but they are still beautiful around the church so I am posting one of the normal color I knew growing up.
Day Lily
Cee has given us such a fun prompt for summer with FOTD. What ever are we going to do when it snows, oh yea, the bottom have of the globe gets to play. Enjoy the flowers as you have them, then go to the inside botanical gardens when it gets cold so you can still smile and enjoy their beauty.
Flowers for me inspire hope. Hope inspires encouragement. Encouragement inspires kindness. Kindness in spires Joy. Joy = beauty in flowers. A never ending cycle.
May we all share hope, encouragement, kindness and joy in all that we do. Spread it thick like jelly on toast so that all can taste it.
In refilling the bird feeder at the church this morning, I took several pictures for FOTD but latched onto the one below for Irene’sSunshine’s Monday Macro. I call it “Flower and Friend”.
I think the flower is a type of Coreopsis but not sure about his friend, maybe some type of stick bug?
Friendship is how we survive this world, so remember to be a friend and be kind….but gentle….
Sorry, in kind of a silly mood today…actually got some sleep last night. Have a great week.
I am a firm believer in the healing powers of laughter. It changes our current mindset so that we can “reboot”. A dear friend sent this to me and while you may have seen it before, read them again, smile, reboot and sing a long.
The highway hymns are more truth than humor….
Try to be lighthearted and kind. It may the spark you need to brighten your day as well as others.
Time to be serious. The blogging world is a wonderful place for friendships, creativity, sharing amazing photographs and…expressing opinions. I am a Christian and those who read my words know that my main platform is kindness. In December of last year I wrote a post about taming the tongue vs being kind. I have linked it in case someone wants to read or reread it. Words have power whether they are spoken or written and that power should never be misused to hurt any living being. Animals may not understand your words but they KNOW your tone and can tell if you are being mean or kind. And way too often we wound instead of bless.
“Words have such great power to bless or wound.” Sarah Young
(Pictures courtesy of Google Photos)
I was reminded this morning with my morning devotion of the importance of watching what we say.
“The ability to verbalize is an awesome privilege.” Sarah Young
Ephesians 4:29 tells us – “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”
Now as I read that I also realized that those who listen could also be bystanders. People all around us everyday are watching to see what we do in any given situation and will use it accordingly. God gave us two ears but 1 mouth for a reason. James 1:19 tells us – “be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.
Being in control of our mouths helps gain control of any situation but we must always control with love. In this way, your speaking becomes more positive than negative and the response you receive in return will be more positive than negative. With more positive energy in the air, more joy will be allowed to infuse the area.
So I encourage you to be mindful of your words, spoken and written to allow for a more positive world that we live in and let the joy of our hearts fill the earth.
Kindness, joy, peace, happiness…..
(Pictures courtesy Google Pictures)
Always try to end with kindness…and here is one of my most favorite pictures to date to help you smile.
Wow, this summer is really zooming by. My flowers have been amazing and I will miss them while they sleep. My Gerber daisies have really been nice and are my feature for today’s FOTD of Cee’s daily challenge for flower beauty.
After a good drink of water
In honorable mention of a most “un-wow-moment” flower I give you the…
tomato blossom
Tomato blossom may nit be especially beautiful but it does give us a marvelous fruit to enjoy through the summer. Thought I would give them a high five. Remember that the little guys of life need encouragement, so remember to always be kind.
Today is August 3rd, a beautiful Saturday, and a new feeder has been added to the yard. CitySonnet’s challenge for today is the letter F so I have a House Finch be the first visitor to the new feeder.
House Finch
I had heard that saffron seeds were a favorite of some birds and not a favorite of squirrels, so we are giving a new food a try.
Come join in all month to see the wide variety of pictures that come from our camera’s eye.
I also tie in with Granny Shot It and her prompt of Bird of the Day. I enjoy the several types of Finches that graze at my feeders.
It has been great to tie in with Cee’s Challenge list so that you can add in other people’s fun with prompts and photography.
As you enjoy everyone’s view on natures beauty, remember to share that beauty with a smile and the kindness of its beauty.
I am so enjoying the pictures from everyone…almost as much fun as I am having taking pictures of flowers that I see. Today we have a tiny part of a flower that looks to be a flower all its own. Amazing things you see when you focus on the small things of life…in reality they are all small things in comparison.
Can you see it?
Here is a close up…
Five petals trying to shine on its own.
The amazing creations of God as he shares his beauty with us. Thanks to Cee and her Flower of the Day page as well as all who share what they see. As we share our love of pictures, remember to share the kind feeling that they bring with their beauty.
I have been meaning to play along with CitySonnet’s challenges this month and just haven’t so I am jumping in with the last two days together – Jellyfish and Algae green as they both have to do with water.
I love the different things that you can find at true art fairs, not the ones that draw you in only to be crafts fairs or someone junk. There is one that I miss going to in Georgia over Labor Day that is usually fabulous and I picked up these two paper weights of jellyfish. He told me that he did not color them that this was their actual color and since my knowledge of jellyfish would not fill a small seashell, I believed him, as they were still fascinating.
The bubbles add a special realistic look to them. He did tell me that he swirled one as the solution was getting thick to give the “arms” their fashion flare.
I thought I would show both sides as it is such an interesting creature, at least to me. And the large bubbles make it look alive. And since they are almost algae green, I thought they were green enough to pass for July 31st challenge.
As you browse over all the thinks that you enjoy that ,make you smile, remember to share that smile with someone who may not have a smile. Your smile could be just the thing to bring a smile to them.
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge for this week is probably my favorite subject but we are telling the story from a different angle to ask the age old question….’Who really is the boss in my life?’
Is it Royal King Max who makes his demands known as he is fully aware when it gets to be 5:00 pm because he is an excellent teller of time…..
Or maybe it is Police Chief Mimi who guards the roost and gives me those exasperated looks when I don’t jump to her panic state on her views of danger or the very idea that someone would walk on her sidewalk.
Although she knows when True Thief arrives she is immediately allowed out for the chase…as long as her 20 foot chain will allow. The True Thief get a double photo op for pose clarifications. Do note the onlooker’s disgust of the Thief stealing their goods.
Then of course there is Scrappy who hopes to pickup any tidbits left from Thief or dropped by others enjoying the goods that I put out for them.
And boy do they get bossy when the feeder is empty…pecking on the window and such…
So really who is the boss of this house…’cuz it sure ain’t us humans.
But I am sure they would all agree that kindness is a strong factor in all manners of life so remember to always be kind.
For the Love of 
