Wanna Guess?

Should we hold a contest to see when we might see one of these???....

Or these? ...

Or be able to plant these?

"But hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it." (Romans 8: 24 & 25 KJV)

So far we definitely can't see, but we can hope...and patiently wait.

Meanwhile....do you wanna guess?

Ah, Hope!

"Ah, Hope! what would life be, stripped of thy encouraging smiles, that teach us to look behind the dark clouds of today, for the golden beams that are to gild the morrow."

~Susanna Moodie

 

There is something about....

.....a Brand New Year...and here we are in 2012...in day 4!

We already have left tracks....

Each day we leave more.....where will this year take you?

Here is to, hope rewarded, dreams realized, and all kinds of beautiful adventures!

Today I get to be....

"The Bride!"

I've been thinking of weddings and anniversaries and hence this post. After all aren't most brides hopefully minded? Hope you enjoy...

Today I get to be "The Bride"
by Betty

Today my heart is filled with hope and delight,

As I stand in my gown of satiny white,

Today I will celebrate a new chapter in my life,

Where soon I will acquire the awaited status of wife,

I rethink the words of the vows I will make,

And hope some of the clauses I won't have to debate,

I know the words say for richer for poorer, for better for worse,

But I hope for the better and the fatter the purse,

Today I gaze down the long aisle where soon I will meet,

My friend at the end all odds to defeat,

Today I will soak in the cheers and the laughter,

And stick to my dream of happily ever after,

Today I step forward with confident stride,

Because today I get to be, The Bride!

............

What were you thinking on your special day?

Did you walk right by?

Ever look for the sugar bowl? You can't find it so you go on a search. You look high and low, up and down and all around only to discover that it was right there in front of your nose and you missed it. And you feel kind of silly.

Ever go for a walk down the road? You look around and enjoy the scenery and observe all the things around you. On the way back you discover something that you hadn't seen on the way down and you wonder how you missed it. Were you looking in too many directions?

The eye is for seeing. It is an amazing part of our body, but there are times when we just don't see. We look but we don't see.

Are you looking for hope? Did you miss it because you couldn't see? Did you walk right by because you were too busy looking in other directions?

Hope is there. Can you see it?

Hope is like....

"Hope is like a bird that senses the dawn
and carefully starts to sing while it is still dark."
~Anonymous

There is something about...

that first snowfall that stays.

I dread it. I wish with all my entire mind and heart that it will not come. I beg, I plead, I hope that it doesn't come till January. But it doesn't help. It comes when it wills. And it has come and it seems it is going to stay.

I don't think all this snow is going to go away soon.

So I got to thinking, why do I dread it so?

What is it about that first snowfall that really bugs me...besides the driving in it?

And I thought. When winter comes I have to let go of the hope that my favorite seasons are still here....spring, summer and fall. When winter comes there is no more planting, or growing or harvesting. It is over.

Winter is the end of all that.

Winter is the end of the warm days and evenings when you can just run outside with one layer of clothing and simple shoes.

Winter is the end of getting into the car, starting it and driving off quickly.

Winter needs more thought and preparation. Winter is cold and dark.

But God bless the chinooks He sends, for without them there would be no hope.

The days of bone chilling below zero temperatures would be long and endless without them. I am so very glad for those nice warm winds that unthaw us and give us hope.

Aren't you?

The power of a rainbow

"God puts rainbows in the clouds
so that each of us - in the dreariest and most dreaded moments - can see a possibility of hope."

~Maya Angelou quotes

A Day without color....

...is like a day without hope."
~Betty
...

I thought back to the white days.
The ground was white. The trees were white. The sky was white. The air was white. It was all white.

I thought I should like white. For white is clean, white represents purity. It was white after all that dressed the trees and made them look quite extraordinary on all those frosty days.

However I couldn’t get excited about white. It was more like it says in

Daniel 5:27….
“….thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.”

Then the next morning as I was looking out the window I saw the pink of the sunrise above the trees.

There was color. It was pink, and it was beautiful.

Then I watched as the warmth of the sun creep in. The blanket with a hint of yellow slowly swept its warmth first along the ground then up the trees and then up to the sky.

Now that was a refreshing sight!

Just as the sun colored up the world, the warmth of the sun unthawed my heart. It was like hope crept back into my weary soul.

Now that is why I thought we like those nice sun shiny days….we need the color. Color brightens up our life and our world.

White accents.....

........are hanging around a bit longer than expected!

but...

I still see color (anybody see green?) in there...

so...

here's to hope for warmer days ahead!

This is my pond...

I was out walking on a nice sunny day when I stopped to glance at the dugout on our acreage. There he was… a little duck swimming on the water. I was always happy to find some wildlife enjoying our dugout.

I walked a bit closer, as close as I dared to get without scaring it away. Then I sat down on the ground and watched. This little duck swimming on the water just looked so very, very peaceful. As I watched, it gave me an awesome sense of peace.

I watched him swimming on the water and it was like this little duck was saying…….

“Today this is my pond and I’m swimming in it!”

“I’m doing laps from end to end. I’m swimming side to side. I’m diving. I’m causing ripples. I’m chasing bugs. I’m twirling round and round. I’m enjoying the warm sun on my back.

This is a beautiful pond!…I have it to myself today.….

Thank you God for giving me this pond today.”

Sometimes we need our own special little blessing.

Hope one comes your way today!

......

...

.

ps bird in photo may vary from actual bird seen

When Skies are Blue...

This was about a week ago........

I looked outside my window at the beautiful day. The sky was blue. There was not a cloud to be seen.
I decided to check the forcast online. For my area things looked pretty good but for an area about 50 km away there was a "winter storm warning". Hm. We called a friend who lived in that area. There too the sky was blue with not a cloud in sight.
Later that day I checked the forcast again. Now too for my area there was a "winter storm warning". I looked outside the window. Still the sky was blue all around.
How could there be a "storm warning"? I pondered. Hard to believe a storm was coming when the day had been nice and the sky was still blue.
But sure enough by morning things were looking pretty white!

I thought back to about a year ago. The skies looked pretty blue in the "economic world". Jobs were still plenty. Business seemed to be humming. I wondered, did anyone see "a storm warning"?
By early Fall things were different. We all saw it, or felt it.

I checked out this blog..... http://davidwilkersontoday.blogspot.com/
For a different perspective on what is happening in our world today check out his Mar 7, 2009 post.
You may also want to check out todays post (We are not without hope).

Imagine this....

I just like this quote...........

"Hope is that thing with feathers

that perches in the soul

and sings the tune without the words and never stops......at all."

~Emily Dickinson