Interesting Bird, Encouragement

Since I have been bird watching, I see that all creatures have slight variations even in the same specie. We humans are short, tall, fat, skinny and various shades of skin tone but…we are created by the same creator, in His image…according to how I believe.

And variation concept is true for the animal kingdom and it is how those who work with wildlife can tell the different individual animals apart, like zebra’s stripe patterns are individual. Again, same creator.

I always thought the one exception to the rule was birds. Yes you can always recognize the bird type but if you look close, there are variations. Case in point, our beloved cardinals…

This is a beautiful red cardinal from early this spring. Rich red body, red top crest and black face and neck area, large triangle beak. We are all familiar with this bird in the US. However…

Today, this cardinal stopped at the feeder.

Same size bird, the beak seems slightly larger but his color is the most striking. He is not a bright red so I don’t know if that is a seasonal change but the biggest difference is his entire head is black. And there seems to be more black than usual mixed in his tail feathers. He is still beautiful. A difference in creation I guess. I think it is a reminder to us that in God’s eye we are perfectly beautiful, even though we may look different. Even identical twins are different in subtle ways.

So I send this out to all who may read it to remind each of us that we are all special in our own creation from God for a purpose only fully known by Him. So listen to His voice as he guides you for the purposes He has just for you, so that you can enrich His kingdom and those around you. Proverbs 3:5-6 reminds us…

Have a safe and blessed weekend and remember to be kind in all that you do.

January 26th & 1Minute Fiction

Bruster stared down from the top of the towering building. How could a creature have done this on purpose. All the beautiful forest, its majestic trees…gone. And the loss of so much life. All done in what they call growth…or something called progress.

“Humph,” said Bruster shaking his head, ruffling his feathers and stretching out his massive eagle wings.

He thought on memories of before. The beauty of the land, the sounds of life from those who lived in and around the trees…all gone, replaced by unimaginable noise. He raised his head and took flight in hopes of finding another forest he could call home.

Come join in with Cranny’s Cove of #1MinFiction and share your thoughts. And as you play with your writing and pictures remember the beauty of kindness and be kind to all of creation.

It’s Beginning to Look…

I know it is not December yet…but it is after Thanksgiving, so I don’t feel bad about showing you my new Christmas toys. I promised I would share my pictures once everything was up but its been up since mid-November. I wanted to wait until after Thanksgiving to start sharing. I put it up early so that I can enjoy it. Since it takes me two plus week to get it all up, I put it up early so that I can enjoy it all of December… cuz it’s a lot.

Last year I started a tree for my bathroom. Whaat?? Yea. I kept seeing these cool nautical ornaments and my bathroom is beach themed…so, there you go. Yes, my daughter and I are addicted to interesting looking and different ornaments, so this was a natural direction for me to go. The tree (4 foot) sits on a small table inside my corner tub. A tub I can’t use because its too difficult to get in and out of.

The tree is white and the lights are blue and all ornaments except for a few small dark blue balls, are ocean or river themed. I love this picture because you see the tree, its reflection in the mirror and the reflection of the tree that is in the bedroom. We will do that tree one day soon.

I am not sure I really have a favorite ornament on this tree but I am partial to my manatees, because I am from the south and manatees are in the rivers of Florida. This ornament is ceramic and shows a mom and baby.

For the sharks and whales division, they are broken down by ceramic like the above manatee or glass with pearls added to represent bubbles in the water. Plus we girls like the bling anyway.

**You have the** ***whale shark with bubbles and a humpback w***ith baby behind the Orca mom and baby

The mammals of the sea show the tight bond of love and caring between mother and child, as well as male to female pairs as most mate for life.

Sharks are most important to the ecosystem. Because of the limited understand by most people, they are doomed as evil beast instead of their own form of majestic beauty.

Here we have the Hammerhead shark with bubbles and the ceramic version. We also have the Starfish Santa, a notable hero of all children of the sea, and a dolphin making bubbles of her own as she plays.

Stingrays are also in the shark/skate family and while they can be dangerous if you are not careful, they have a grace and beauty of their own. And of course we can’t leave out the turtles, amazing sea creatures.

***And with the turtle we have the unicorn of the sea…the narwhal.***

I am still looking for other interesting creature’s of the sea, a sailfish would be fabulous but I have yet to see one. So I close with her close cousin in appearance, the Marlin. Then of course you have to have a lighthouse for your seascape. The lighthouse was originally part of my village but I felt it fit better here. I will share the village as well soon.

***The mom and baby seals are playing by the sand castle in front of the lighthouse.***

I hope you have enjoyed this fun traipse through the ocean of my bathroom. Remember all creations of the ocean have a beauty and purpose and most of them have an understand of family, love and kindness. So be kind in all you do to all kinds.

A Morning of Encouragement

I step out to the early autumn day to feel the light coolness still present from the night before. The summer has been hot and we are ready for it to move on. With camera in hand I head out to see the beauty of the day. The sun is awake but the trees are hiding its heat for we know summer is not ready to fully let go.

My gourds are still blooming but the vine has seen its better days. I find it interesting that the older sections of the vines are becoming dry and leafless while yet it determines to reach out with new life.

My neighbor still has cherry tomatoes robustly growing. They have grown over the fence daring anyone to stop their journey. The dew is quite heavy this morning beading up on the fuzzy leaves to drip further down the plant to nourish the lower limbs.

Further onward I see sweet peas displaying their rich dark red color including splashes of yellow. They too are covered in this morning’s heavy dew.

I am always fascinated with droplets of dew or water drops that cling to leaves and flowers after a shower; God’s attempt to refresh the earth.

As the sun reaches higher into the sky, the clouds begin to make their way further on in their destination wherever that may be.

The beauty of nature shows us the beauty of God as he left us these sights for us to enjoy his creation. He created all of it for Himself to enjoy but then gave it as a gift to us so we could enjoy it together with Him.

As you enjoy the beauty of this earth, remember the beauty of you, as you are part of His creation as well. We are all beautifully and wonderfully made.

As you remember the beauty of everything around you, remember the beauty of kindness and share it as much as you can.

And the War Goes On

Since the fall of creation, the planet and its many species have been at war with each other. Some fight to establish dominance, some fight to protect their homes. When we think of war, we think of people for they are the most ruthless and demeaning of all but I want us to think of smaller territories…basically the back yard.

Since March I switched from the suet feeders to the seed feeders. I have been enjoying the various birds that come to my yard and through switching feeds around, I have settled on Saffron seeds for two reasons. One squirrels don’t like them and various birds that I consider take over birds (Grackles & sparrows) are generally not a big fan of Saffron. Yes, I lose some of the other birds I enjoy watching but the ‘war’ seems to be less intense. While sparrows are cute and cuddly, they come in swarms and deplete the feeders before anyone else can have any so, sorry guys but you are pigs.

What I did not expect to see was the war between the Blue Jay and the Robin. While I do have a ring of peanuts for the Blue Jays and the Woodpeckers, I have a platform feeder with Saffron for the Robins and the Mourning Doves. The rest of the feeders are tube feeders filled with Saffron.

I did some research and found that Jays and Robins generally have strong animosity towards each other but will nest in the same tree. Coming from the south, I am well aware of tactics of Jays and always thought the Robins to be the gentle bird. Not in my yard. If a Jay dare show his face in my yard, the Robins come out of nowhere and run them off. Its quite comical. The obvious leader of the Jays in this area is quite large and beautiful. He is a large male that is a good bit bigger that the Robin – no matter, he runs from the Robin.

***Is he around…not back there…not on the ground…***

I write a lot in my blogs about being kind to all kinds but you can’t train out instincts of nature. One day we will all get along, but not today. So until, that day, try to always be kind. You will be surprised of the encouragement you will spread.

Well, It is February…

Yes, as we hunker down for the 3rd winter storm in two weeks here in the midwest, with well over two accumalative feet of snow already, I am ever thankful I am not in the northeast. The second storm that hit us with 8 inches of snow dumped 3 feet on them.

But I am blessed with a warm house, plenty of food and a nice view of amazing trees, none of which are on my property. Another blessing during the fall. This year I am more taken by the beauty of these naked trees with their innate understanding as they twist their limbs to reach for the sun, their life force in the sky.

The hardwoods are the most amazing as their branches will bend down and then twist up to reach the light as the sun peeks through the leaves absorbing its love. It reminds me of a praying man raising his hand toward to his life source. But there is something majestic about the ever greens as well, as they created a sort of triangle, again pointing to the heavens to it’s life source.

Trees are a reminder to us all showing where the life forces come from for all of creation.

And if we can ever really grasp that concept, then we will begin to understand the beauty of all creation as was meant to be shared and enjoyed. From the largest mountain to the tiniest snowflake. So as we enjoy all there is to see, remember the kindness that begs to come out of creation’s beauty and share that kindness to its most beautiful potential.

Our Firm Foundation

Good evening friends. Tonight we are reflecting on this past year and WOW…what a year. Definitely a year for t-shirt recognition…

Or here in the US we had a toilet paper crisis….even now I don’t understand that and now its all paper products are scarce.

Putting aside all joking, this has been a rough year. The isolation had been detrimental to our elderly, people who are social butterflies have not done well, jobs have been lost and the tensions in our homes is high. But on the flip side there has been some good with it all. We have learned that those who are able can in fact work just fine from home. Some people’s stress level has lowered and they have rediscovered themselves, and gotten reconnected with their families and some have reconnected to or just now connected with God. I have always been a believer that God will get your attention one way or another and while, I do not believe God caused this virus, I do believe God will use circumstances around us to help us learn or relearn to refocus on Him. In Paul’s second letter to Timothy, he explained that there would be times of suffering but that the Lord would always rescue us…maybe not how we envision to be rescued but rescued nonetheless.

All through the scriptures, we are reminded of the importance of a firm foundation which allows us to stand firm and that foundation for Christians is Jesus Christ. He is the rock that can not be broken.

So I encourage you tonight to stand on the rock we know is firm and stand tall. We will get through this mess, all of it, together, and hopefully somewhere we will recognize God’s might and love as He pours it out for us. Click on the link below and listen/watch the video of a version of Christ the Solid Rock. The song is beautiful but the videos of nature are amazing. I think you will enjoy it and be encouraged by God’s beautiful creation. And as always, remember to be kind.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCuOW6bdfMU

Compassion Encouragement

Happy Saturday Friends. I want to share some encouragement with you as we all need encouraging from time to time. Today I want us to think about how encouraging compassion can be for those who receive it as well as those who give it. It is a key component I believe of Christians, yet those who don’t really know Christ have the ability to have compassion as well. It is a gift from God. I saw a video this morning that showed true care and compassion towards animals. For encouragement to our church family, my pastor’s has a daily devotion online since some are still on lockdown. This week he has been going through creation and how as creation was done, it was methodical. Each part of creation was essential to the next part of creation. For example the sun, moon and stars were created before much else was to establish the ability to mark time, and to give us light – a separation from all darkness. Plant life, which needed the light that was earlier created, was then created to sustain life that came after it as food supply and for the air we breathe. We breathe in oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide, plant life breathes in carbon dioxide and exhales oxygen. It is all important for survival. We support each other. And later animals were created right before man and man was created to care for the animals. Of course that changed with the fall but the intent was care, compassion…and mutual love.

While Genesis 1:26 reminds us that we have dominion over animals, Proverbs 12:10 reminds us to do it with compassion.

I am always encouraged when I see people going above and beyond in caring for animals who find themselves in a no win situation. The video below shows the compassion of a group of men who found a dolphin that had been washed up by Hurricane Laura landing the dolphin in a pond 9 miles away from the ocean. They came together to safely capture the dolphin and take it back to the ocean. It was most encouraging.

https://weather.com/storms/hurricane/video/hurricane-lauras-storm-surge-traps-bottlenose-dolphin-miles-from-the-ocean

God made us all with compassionate hearts towards His creation, not only to the nature side but also to the human side. Where would any of us be without the compassion from others. WE all have struggles. The definition of compassion is a strong deep feeling of sympathy and sorrow for anyone or any creature who is hurting in any fashion. Jesus is our greatest example for us to learn by, as He was compassion for us and taught us how to have compassion and use it to further His kingdom.

When we think of the compassion God always has towards us, we should embody that compassion for others. We should always be on the alert to share His love in any encounter we may face. We all know many friends or family members right now who are fighting health issues, hurting emotionally, scared, wondering what’s next and we should always be ready to reach out to all of them to let them know we are here ready to help in any way we can and that we are to fervently pray for them. Tonight, I lift my heart out to all who are hurting in any way and hope this prayer below brings you a moment of encouraging peace and compassion.

And as sad or hopeless you may feel, know there is always kindness out there for you to receive and share wherever you can. Sometimes it needs to start from you first and then blossom to a beauty you didn’t know existed.