Good Morning Sunshine

 

 

 

When I went to bed Friday evening I was excited to wake up Saturday morning for the sunrise.  I woke up several times during the night because I was sleeping away from home from unusual sounds like a train whistle in the middle of the night and sirens.

I woke up well before sunrise.  I got showered, dressed and camera in hand to sit by the lake waiting for the sunrise.  I was excited because where I live I don’t see sunrises over the lake because of the terrain around the lake and our home.

While I was sitting on the shore I watched as the ducks on the lake were swimming past and diving below the surface to feed.  They were busy for over half an hour in front of me.  I loved watching them disappear below and trying to predict where they would surface.  In the distance I could hear gun shots.  The ducks by me seemed oblivious to the fact that there were duck hunters at the other end of the lake.

It was a beautiful unseasonably warm sunny weekend.  Perfect for walking, sitting and just being outdoors. Hope your weekend was as delightful as mine.

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Selah, A Time to Breathe

In the Psalms of the Old Testament you will find the word Selah within the individual Psalms.  I had to do some checking into what that really means.  There are different interpretations depending on where you read for a definition.

One definition of Selah that I found was this, “The Selah is there to signal the believer to ‘measure’ carefully the meaning of what has been said. i.e., here is some deeper wisdom, reflect on it and understand its true meaning.”

Another definition of Selah is to pause…consider…take time.  This is the one that I think of when I look at this picture of Bond Falls that I took last fall.

 

Life has been busy this past year.  This weekend I’m looking forward to a time to pause.  Selah!  A change in scenery, location and schedule.  Nothing as grand as a vacation but a time to enjoy my surroundings and people in my life outside of work and home.  The weather is supposed to be great so I am looking forward to taking some pictures along the way and some time to rest, read and revive to finish the year well.

 

Happy Easter

This is a photo that I took last year on Easter morning at sunrise. I didn’t get out this morning for a new shot so I am sharing this one again. Hope all of you have a blessed Easter with family and friends.

 

Dance of the Hummingbirds

This morning I was reading a daily devotional of the Proverbs 31 website.

http://devotions.proverbs31.org/2011/09/beauty-and-meaning-in-unlikely-places.html

It was talking about taking time to notice the ordinary in the midst of our busyness. This afternoon as my husband and I were heading off for a motorcycle ride I glanced over at my garden.

These days there doesn’t seem much new or special about my garden. There aren’t any new flowers blooming and a lot of the flowers that have bloomed profusely have all but stopped. Flowers are fading with our cooler night temperatures as fall approaches.

I saw something move above my garden that caught my eye. I had my camera in my hand but didn’t have my preferred lens on it. As I focused my camera on the movement I noticed not one but two hummingbirds flying around the Phlox in my garden.

It was a brief visit from the hummingbirds but an exciting one as they danced around the Phlox. As quickly as they appeared they were gone.

Even when everyday things seem ordinary they often deserve a second look……

 

The Eagle Has Landed on Pine Lake

Yesterday afternoon my husband and I took a break from cleaning out the garden shed and hopped in our boat for a spin around the lake.

It was a beautiful blue sky day. The day could only be described as perfect in the weather department. While we were out on the boat we met some new neighbors who were out on their dock and checked the local bay area for signs of some water flowers to photograph. There were none yet. I think this is because the weather stayed so cold for so long this spring and the lake’s water level is the highest it has been since we moved here in 1992.

As we were headed back for our shore we were passing along the east side of the lake and I mentioned to my husband “I wonder if there are any eagles on the lake this year?” When I was more active many years ago in our local lake association we had a guy named Dan who would report each year on the eagle activity on the east side of the lake. It was always very interesting.

Yesterday as we passed by Dan’s lakeshore I looked up as I wondered about the eagles and happened to catch what I thought was a silhouette of an eagle against the blue sky. I had my husband circle the boat around for another look. I was so excited to get his picture of the eagle. I love watching them soar above the lake but to see one perched so majestically next to a nest was awesome.

“but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength, .

They will soar on wings like eagles;

they will run and not grow weary,

they will walk and not be faint.”

Isaiah 40:31 (NIV)

 

Easter Sunrise

 

“Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; He has risen!”

 Luke 24:5-6

 

Weekly Photo Challenge:One

 

One Man Paid It Forward For All

The artistic side of me loves this banner that hangs in our church each Easter. It draws me in to look at each piece that makes the whole. Last Saturday I took a picture of the banner for no particular reason other than I like it and thought that someday like everything else it will be gone and I will try to remember what it looked like hanging on the wall.

The heart side of me loves this banner because it speaks to me of one man’s sacrifice so very long ago for the lives of many. One of my favorite movies in the past has been Pay It Forward. A story of a boy that takes a school assignment to heart with a plan to change the world for the better. His plan was that if each person did something good for three people without expecting anything in return except that they would do something good for three other people, the world would be a better place. 

In my eyes and heart the greatest Pay It Forward act was Jesus dying on the cross for the sins of all so that we could all have salvation and eternal life with Him if we confess our sins and believe in Him. The question has been asked before.Who do you love enough that you would lay down your life for them? I love my husband, children, family and friends. I would hope that if I were put in the difficult circumstance of protecting someone I love that I would be able to lay down my life to protect them but you never know until you are there.

In this Easter season I am once again reminded of His sacrifice for me and desire for a personal relationship with Him. I am not a seasonal Christian attending church only on holidays as some do but that doesn’t make me better than anyone else. I am there in church each Sunday as a reminder of His love for me and to spend time with others in this difficult journey we call life. The more I know about Jesus, the more I want to know.

¹⁰ The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.  John 10:10 NIV

I am not a bible scholar or as knowledgable as I should be for someone who has been a Christian for nearly 35 years but I do know this, that whether my circumstances are good or bad, I have a peace that resides in me that allows me to wade through the most difficult days. I am not rich beyond measure in material things but all my needs are met daily. I am not without trouble but through Him I am able to make it through life’s trials.

Jesus paid it forward for all.

 

The Fine Art of Relaxing

Today as I listened to those around me there seemed to be a developing theme for the day. The morning started with reading my email as I usually do before work while drinking my morning coffee. One email I receive every day is Turning Point by Dr. David Jeremiah. It is a daily on-line devotional. The theme of this morning’s devotional was Crazy Busy.

In his book, CrazyBusy: Overstretched, Overbooked and About to Snap, Edward M. Hallowell wrote about the moment he knew he had crossed the dark side from busy to crazy busy. It was when he lost his temper at a rotary dial phone while on vacation. His cell phone wouldn’t work, and he just about went nuts waiting for the dial to return to start with every number. Then, calming down, he timed the process. The entire dialing process took all of eleven seconds. “What a fool I had become,” he wrote. “I had become a man in a hurry even when I had no need to hurry.”

After finishing up with a few things at home I headed into work and there was a salesperson waiting to see me when I arrived. She comes to our business once every month or two for a visit. We talked about my vacation a bit and then she related a story about their family trip to the Wisconsin Dells with her husband and two kids. They planned carefully for their trip time wise and financially before they left. She said everything went fine for the first two days because they were in one place but then she said that’s when the fun ended and it went from vacation to crazy busy even on vacation.

They spent the third day of their vacation hitting every tourist trap up and down the streets in the Wisconsin Dell area. They denied themselves nothing. They spent more than they had planned on stuff they hadn’t planned than on what they had planned. She said it was like the whole family was in a frenzy going from one thing to the next. It was not what they had planned for their vacation. They came home frazzled, broke and exhausted.

When I started on the work I had planned for the day I managed to get a few things done on my list but spent most of the day “putting out fires” as my husband refers to taking care of the urgent but not necessarily the important.

Some days we are too busy “putting out fires” in our crazy busy world that we neglect what’s most important-time for ourselves and our family. It’s important to build some solitude in your daily routine and rest. On the days when my husband and I get home late from work it is hard to give up the time for the things I enjoy and opt for the rest I need.

When my boys were young one of their favorite things to do was to hop up into Grandpa’s chair if he had vacated it long enough for the boys to notice. They loved to lean back and stretch out pretending to be just like Grandpa in his chair. Our grandson has started to play the same game. I hope that the next generation will learn how to slow down and enjoy the moment better than this generation does, at least that is my hope.

 

Weekly Photo Challenge: Curiosity

This evening when we came home I looked up and saw this beautiful moon surrounded by clouds and I am reminded of all the beauty that has been placed on this earth and in the heavens for our enjoyment and wondered why? 

It certainly wouldn’t have to be filled with the extensive number of colors, textures, flora and fauna that cover the earth.  If the world contained any less of anything, would we have noticed or imagined it to be any less spectacular than we know it to be?

 

Beacon of Light

Last evening I needed to kill a little time while my husband was at a racing meeting for the upcoming race season.  I decided to visit the local airport in Fergus Falls, Minnesota while he was at his meeting. I have often thought about flying to the airport but haven’t flown there yet.  When I am flying into a new airport I like to be as familiar with the surroundings as much as possible before I take off so I know what to expect upon landing. 

One of the most comforting feelings as a pilot is to see the rotating beacon in the distance as you approach the airport.  It lets you know you are almost there.  It projects a welcoming glow of safety to pilots much like the glow of a lighthouse identifies danger to passing ships on the water. 

Airports are not always easy to find if you are not familiar with the terrain and a lot of small airplanes like the Cessna I fly do not have GPS to identify my location.  I have other means to determine where I am at any given time that I learned in my training.  The rotating beacon confirms for me that I am on the correct path to my destination.

This morning my lesson for my Sunday School class of fourth – sixth graders was based on text from Matthew 5:14-16

“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.  Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”

I didn’t look at my lesson until this morning for my class today.  I love how last evening’s photo and this morning’s lesson fit so well together.  As a pilot it would be very difficult to find the airport without the beacon of light especially at night.  We each need beacons in our lives to show us the safe path to travel.  We also need to be beacons of light and safety for others. 

 This morning in class we discussed the fact that even though they are young there are still others that are observing them.  Many have younger siblings or classmates that are watching them for direction.  Young or old we can be a positive influence of light and safety into the lives of others.