For Linda G Hill’s monthly challenge of the Escapist Coloring Club, I have created another idea of spring. Our winter was brutal and spring is not being very friendly either. So I color you a fun idea of spring in hopes that your spring will be kinder than mine here in Iowa.
HOP INTO SPRING!!!
The fun side of Spring
As you enjoy your spring, remember the beauty of new life as plants start bringing forth their beauty. As this beauty makes you smile, remember to share that smile with others and be kind. Kindness is a reflection of God’s love so share it often.
You know that look you see …or give when someone says something really…outlandish, (didn’t want to say stupid, oops, said it anyway).
Yea, this look.
The animal version…
This is the look I give people when they say animals don’t display love, kindness, naughtiness or other “thought of only as human” emotions. Below are a few of my favorite pictures that I repost from time to time as they are precious or hilarious and show a wide range of emotions.
As with all people, all animals are creations of God. God created the ability for emotions. Therefore… ‘Nuff said. But my fun post on this dreary rainy afternoon deals only with one animal in particular…Mimi. For those who may not know Mimi, she is my black and tan coonhound/black lab mix of a best friend. She was a rescue so she is very protective…and loud. When she sees the very idea of someone walking down the sidewalk, it is a high pitched reverberating noise from living room window, running through to bedroom windows then back to living room where I get this look…
Are you seeing this???
I assure her I see it and all is well. You can literally hear her sigh as gives up and comes back to the sofa until someone else breaks “her” rule of walking on “her” sidewalk.
But today it is raining and while she is welcome to go out at her leisure, she looks back at me when on the stoop and comes back inside. Heaven forbid our feet getting wet unless it is absolutely necessary for business. So now we look for ways to entertain ourselves. The rope is no fun, the sick is boring, the chicken bone is not right either. Lets see, oh look, mommy left her hair clip on the end table and left me to go wash clothes downstairs.
A lot of her shenanigans come from boredom or not getting the attention when others are in the room. Jealousy, just a human emotion?? When I came back upstairs, this is what I found.
I pick it up and say nothing but show it to her. This is the look I got and of course the hiding pace where no one can see her. Dead give away that she knows she did wrong.
I am not looking at you, in my safe zone, so you cant see me.
I had another dog that thought the dining room table was a good hiding place. Guess she knows she is too big to get under the bed. Knowing right from wrong only a human emotion??
Do they take clues from us in guessing right and wrong, yes, but I think it is already there, just like children. If you don’t keep it in check, it gets out of control. But the majority of the time they are just loves, providing that they are allowed to share their love for us. They love us, they need us, they want us to know they are always there for us. And they want the same from us.
Love you mom .
So look at your family pets with a different perspective in knowing they need you as much as they want you to want them. Share in their love and kindness and watch them smile at you when you do.
And remember to share the kindness with others…people and critters. Kindness is a reflection of God’s love so share it often.
What an open ended statement. Love is many things to many people. I have been away from my computer for a few days as I have been busy with one of my loves…gardening. We have finally been blessed with spring weather, temps anywhere form low 60’s to mid 70’s. Awesome. And this is what I did. You can buy the plants and put them in hangers or buy plants already in hangers. I did some of both. Plus added some to the ground. But in reality, I am just getting started.
I was trying to get it all done before the rain started last night. Thank goodness I didn’t as what we call where I come from, Blackberry winter, has come upon us. Good grief, wasn’t the real winter long enough. Apparently not. Therefore…the hangers are now decorating my living room as temps are expected to drop below 30 with an inch of that dreaded white stuff. Sorry guys that are already in the ground, hang on.
So since there was no loving to do outside I sat down with another love and read. I finished the next to the last book of a 14 book series by Jan Karon called the Mitford Series. It is a wonderful series set in the North Carolina mountains about everyday life, its tragedy’s and triumph’s. Since I am from the south, I was very familiar with the areas she she spoke of and how very true the conditions she wrote starting in the early 2000’s are even today. I strongly suggest reading this series. You will laugh at the absurdity of its richness and cry with the truth of the pain.
Reading this series really brought home to me God’s love for us as people, human beings and how we as humans are just so…lost sometimes. It is astounding how we as a creation of love can cast off another human or animal as discarded trash or a conquest as we strive to what we believe is a higher purpose leaving destruction in our path. I looked through my study bible to see how many time the word love was used – didn’t want to count them as it was a full page and a half. Scripture tells us to love our neighbor as we love our self. Do we not love our self? And who exactly is our neighbor. My opinion is we are all neighbors, all brothers and sisters, all family. Do I fail at loving my neighbor …daily. But if we as humans who can reason with some form of clarity about how we are supposed to be, we should be getting closer to our created purpose, yet at times we are in far left field.
So as I write my blog, I always try to remind all of us about the beauty of life that has been handed to us. Yes our circumstances may be in the bottom of the barrel but we can always CHOSE to have joy. There is a vast difference between joy and happiness. Happiness is a feeling we get due to circumstances around but joy is having inner peace. This peace comes from Christ. Jesus says “My peace I give you.” Its a peace beyond all understanding to our human minds but it is a free gift. A gift we often do not use.
As you go through your week next week, remember the inner joy and let the light of it shine through you to others around you so that to may enjoy the light and the joy it brings and always be kind.
The finger bone is connected to the hand bone, the hand bone is connected to the wrist bone, the wrist bone is connected to the arm bone….and so on…What a fun song that was when we were kids. Today’s fun is brought to you by way of Tuesday Photo Challenge of Jansen Photo on Connections. So I bring you connections with the hand.
Think about what our hands connect us with. It is a resource that connects us physically with life through a handshake, a gentle touch, an angry strike, a written word, a flower planted, a baby carried and we could go on forever with all the hands do. But the hands are connected not just with bones but also with the heart. The hands along with the face are the two most expressive parts of our bodies that connect to the world with ways you could never fathom creating every emotion available. Think how a dancer can move your emotions with her movements and her hands in gentle swaying movements of freedom, drooping despair, the hard fist of frustration or the lifting of praise and prayer.
And these emotions are tightly connected with our heart and with God. Scripture reminds us how His hands are forever reaching down to connect us with Him…to even carry us in His hands during great times of despair when we can no longer stand much less walk. Connections. Life is about connections, good or bad. They can be fleeting or lasting. I challenge you to make your connections last for the beauty available in this life.
One of the easiest ways to connect is with kindness. A connection made with kindness today will plant a seed of love and before you know it you have a beautiful tree to shade others in kindness where they can then grow their own seeds to make other trees of kindness. It all begins with a connection from the heart.
We approach this new season with a lightness in our hearts. New life comes up from the ground as new flowers begin to show their faces. The air is warmer and we enjoy outside more. We open the windows to breath in fresh air and thankful for the brightness around us.
Where we have fun at Christmas while we celebrate His birth, the celebration of His rising at Easter brings us all new life, new hope and the strength to carry on. Even if you are not a believer in Christ, the understand of what it means is somewhat familiar to all. It is fun to share the newness of life about the resurrection and be able to relate it to children with the newness of spring.
New flowers who have been dead all winter are not waking up to new life parallel with the resurrection story. The trees and bushes coming back to life with the new leaves of new life.
New wildlife babies are born representing the newness of life as created by our Father in heaven.
Then there are those who love to decorate their home to show a newness of life or the welcoming of spring, like door wreaths.
This pair of purple house finches are the first to visit my feeder this year. They are really pretty.
I also like to show off some of my mothers fun Easter stuff as it makes me smile and remember the fun parts of her. The silly waving rabbit family I painted for her when I was in college.
So while Easter is a celebration that should never be taken lightly for its true meaning, we can enjoy the newness of spring as it also bring us new life and new hope for the coming year. And as you take in the new life, let it send out kindness roots that spreads kindness seedlings wherever it goes.
Even with the roof debris scattered on the floor, the cross remains…and seems to be glowing.
So many feelings have run through us over the tragedy at Notre Dame. Watching it blaze, knowing what the building stood for over the centuries. The history that took place in that building. The love the people of Paris, France and around the world people had for this building. The art it contained. Such a loss, and yet, now as the dust is settling, we are amazed at what was not lost. The millions of people who visit this place daily were not there. The most sacred artifacts were saved. A lot of the artwork was saved. Some of the beautiful stained glass windows as in the beautiful rose window was saved. The fireman did an amazing job saving as much of the structure as they did from the over 200 foot high flames that rose about this structure with an intense heat that I could never imagine.
The unity of the people on the streets as they sang hymns in loving memory of what it used to be but I think the comment I heard says a lot about this tragedy and the fact it is Holy week. As Christ died this week, he arose to bring new life. This building will again rise to bring new life. My hope is that the love and passion felt in the streets as it seemed the building would die, would remain and go forward in the Godly love that is to come out of any building of worship of our Father. However, Acts 7:48 reminds us that ‘The Most high does not live in houses made by man.’ We must never worship the building or anything in the building. And we must also remember that we who follow Christ have Christ living in us and we together are the church. We go to worship in a specified building to honor him for what he did for us on the cross. This is Holy week and that must be our focus, whether we are a fine church or a tent meeting, needs to be Christ and what He did for us.
I am enclosing pictures of my church as it is nearly 200 years old and has many beautiful stained glass windows. It would be tragic for us if we lost it but we know we would continue onward. In 1955 a tornado took off the tall spire of this church and it was not replaced when repairs were done.
Below are the 3 large windows that I thought you might enjoy. All of the windows in the sanctuary and parlor are beautiful stain glass that reflect color all through the room when the sun is shining.
My favorite. Jesus carrying us, His beloved lambs.Baptism by JohnJesus in His youth
As we focus on the meaning of this week, Holy Week, let us remember to share the love God shared so richly with us. You never know what tragedy someone may be going through in their own life so always remember to be kind. Kindness is a reflection of God’s love.
My devotional reading this morning was about thankfulness. When you focus on what you don’t have or on situations that displease you, you inner mind becomes dark and disgruntled. When you approach God with thanksgiving, the light of His presence surrounds you. Lets have some examples from my life –
The harshness of this past winter only to be reminded of the ever resilient fabulous bulbs of spring.
The poor commitment of the “handy man” that showed up to get the old curtains down but has yet to show up to put up the new rods. But yet the light shining through the windows has been beautiful and helped my violet to burst forth in fabulous white and purple blooms.
The most inconvenient idea of being without a refrigerator for 10 days, yet I can still enjoy a fabulous cup of hot tea. And last but not least…
Mandarin Oranges
The ability of being able to enjoy fabulous fruits all year long from those warm climate zones and the trucking industry getting them to the stores for us to enjoy.
The inconvenient challenges of life can drag us down or we can give thanks to God that we have an ability to view those challenges through His eyes and find that silver lining – there is always one however small it may be.
So all the more reason to understand you inconvenience and be thankful of the light they can shed on us and bringing forth kindness to others who are also experiencing inconveniences themselves. Remember to always be kind.
Show kindness to others
Linda G Hill’s challenge today for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “fab.” And I think if we really look around we can find more fab than non-fab. You just need to correct frame of mind. So I challenge you to review and give thanks for all the fabulous things you have in life. You could probably amaze yourself in seeing your gifts.
When I first saw the challenge for Tuesday Photo Challenge of Roll by Jansenphoto, my brain went straight to a song from my college days – “Rolling, rolling, rolling down the river” but nobody wants to here me sing so I will display my recent “Punch of Life”, and I will added a bit of poor man’s poetry. Come along and join in on the fun.
The Lack of Cold
Ole Fridge, Ole Fridge
How could you leave me so warm?
The ice cream now puddle on the floor
For bees to come swarm.
Ole Fridge, Ole Fridge
With my life visible on display
Of pictures and magnets in sad disarray
Does you life reflect on your fridge
Ole Fridge, Ole Fridge
Repairman could not be repaired
Stripping you clean of life really seems unfair
The hideous wallpaper looks even worse now, that’s the next project
Ole Fridge, Ole Fridge
As the punch slams you to the floor
We roll for new cold we can find in the store
Which do we chose
New Fridge, New Fridge
Which one shall we choose
I think the silver will be better, with it we can’t lose.
As with all of life, there are times where you just have to Roll with the Punches. So in remembrance of how life can hit us square in the face, know that it hits others just as hard, so try to give extra effort in being kind. That may be the only time that day an individual may receive any form of kindness. Always be kind.
When you think about trains…and wake…your brain automatically goes to sound, as train can be very loud. When you think about boats…and wake…your brain goes to the waves put put by a boat as it goes through the water.
Boat wake
Trains can wake you up…but trains don’t make a wake…oh yea…just watch. With the spring thaw the Mississippi is currently at 19 feet with full crest expected at 20.5 feet. The river leaves it banks at several places at different levels depending on the land shape but generally in down town area it starts flooding at 18 feet.
May be only the beginning
We are expecting rain tonight and tomorrow so who knows what that will do but we feel fortunate as the snow melt north of us has been slow. Their warm up has not been all at once so the snow melt has been gradual which is helping. When I left work today, I went down to see what it looked like from the ground level as from the bridge level it looked really bad. It isn’t good but could be worse. You can’t tell but just past the chain link fence are the white seats of the park with only the tops visible.
I saw some ducks, a mallard and his mate, feasting on the grasses under the water at the edge of the parking lot. Then I saw the train tracks well under water. I had heard that if train tracks get under water they are OK as long as the water is less than a foot. Really?? Amazing. While I was looking at the band stand by the river and the chairs being under water, I saw a train coming, so you know I had to wait and see how it would do.
Sure enough, they crept along very slow but has no issues. So in question to the wake issue, yes, trains can make a wake.
So that was mt fun for the day and my first walking and photo opportunity. I will be curious to see if the added foot of possible flood water will make that not possible. And I wonder how long the flood waters will hang around. It took several weeks last year and there was a lot more snow this year but the spring rains have not started yet. So we will see.
So as we get into a warmer spring, let us also remember to warm and kind to all of creation. As Jimmy Dean says ‘It does a body good.’ We all know what winter has been like and are so looking forward to spring. So remember…
For the Love of 