the trees and brush are so dense you can’t see the house behind the trees where the gravel driveway meets the county road. the red barn across the road easily seen from my porch in winter is hidden in midsummer.
I sat on the porch listening to the sounds of the forest. They are quite noisy this time of year. I always laugh at how people who have never been to the countryside, much less a wooded area, talk about longing for the tranquility of nature. nature tends to be anything but calm at times.
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It felt so peaceful on the porch, the flowers in various pots added color and hints of greenery. two of my plants bought in the spring had to be discarded recently, they were losing control of life as I watched them. I replaced them with two inexpensive pots of mums, one with rust blooms and the other with bright yellow blooms.
Chrysanthemums are some of my favorite flowers and just as geraniums are the color of my porch in summer, mums are the shades of fall. it is still summer and we will have more warm weather, so only small pots were purchased, those with enough flowers to show the colors they produce. more of your flowers will arrive in the next few weeks and by October, they will probably need to be replaced.
however, the joy they bring is well worth the small amount of money they cost. really, together they cost less than a fast food that would be gone in minutes and it’s not that good for me anyway. its beauty along with the other flowers and houseplants sitting on the porch bring a weary soul to life.
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a verse i often think of when i look at nature is found in matthew 10, where jesus talks about how much god loves us and cares for us. he says that a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without him knowing it and we are worth much more than the sparrows.
sparrows are tiny birds and that line never ceases to amaze me when I stop to think about it. just as I was that night when the forest provided a chorus of birdsong. it was as if all the birds were singing from the same page of the hymnal, each one different but at the same time in harmony.
I’m not as experienced or talented at identifying anything in the wild as my friend, heather (the nature journalist on instagram), so I can’t tell individual birds apart, but I’m sure there was a chorus among them of sparrows.
remember the old hymn, “his eye is on the sparrow”? would be a good time to dust it off and listen to it again… or sing if your singing doesn’t make people cringe like mine.
sometimes we read lines like this and just dismiss them as nice poetry, but they don’t really happen, not in the real world. but… this is god’s word and god breathed so i doubt it’s not true. I mean really, why would I include it if it wasn’t true?
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He cares about the smallest of birds and how much more he cares about humanity, which is made in the image and likeness of God. we are unique among all his creation, god gave life to adam with his own breath. when we accept his offer of salvation in christ, the bible tells us that his holy spirit enters us to be our friend, our teacher, our comforter, and would add…our strength.
Looking back over my life, I discovered that he had been working for answers to prayer, even when I felt as invisible as a sparrow without a nest as the gale force winds of adversity hit me. not unlike the buildings that are hidden by a narrow line of trees between them and the gravel driveway. I know they’re there, but… I can’t see them.
We, who are alive today, find ourselves walking on a journey in what for most of us is an unknown country. our environment is unknown, even though we have lived in it for decades. If life has changed this month in two years, what will it be like next month… next year… in a few years?
I don’t know, but I do know who has the future. the same god who made everything that the eye can see and what is not seen. all. the expanse of the universe. he he he did it. he knows everything. however, he knows what is going on with you. with me. He loves us with an everlasting love and he will never let us slip into the unknown.
maranata…
image: The beautiful wooden sign was a Christmas present from my son and daughter-in-law a few years ago. It’s one of my favorite songs written by Gloria Gaither.
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