Good morning, Dear Friends and Prayer Partners! This is the day that the Lord has made and we will rejoice and be glad in it! Nice and sunny this morning with a bit of coolness to the breeze earlier, but it is warming up fast!
My yard man and friend, Dave, came yesterday and after mowing and blowing, he trimmed the rest of the neighbor's hedge and next he will start on my hedge in the back and work his way around to the south side. He is a Park Ranger for his full time job and Sawgrass is part of his route, as they cover all the county parks now that so many workers have been laid off. He used to be full time at Sawgrass which is where I met him. Anyway, he does a lot more for me than just the yard, so it's good to have someone dependable.
What I thought had been a volunteer cleaning up the canal, he said was just the rush of water from the last rain washing the trash all over the weir and down into the other side. Oh, well, at least it looks better. I saw a great blue heron yesterday on a dead stump in the water. His head was bent and he was preening. BTW, we have a hawk close by here, because I have seen it twice now, and thought it was flying over from the park. It well may be, but seems to come from the same tree across the street. Bunny beware, if the hawk spies it!
I also saw a big osprey sitting in the nest at the parking lot in front of Publix. If that's the baby, it looks really ready to be on its own!
God is good!
From Quiet Moments with God devotional book:
Thou hast lifted me up, and hast not made my foes to rejoice over me. Psalm 30:1 KJV
Rev. Purnell Bailey tells of a convict from Darlington, England, who had just been released from prison. He had spent three long years in prison for embezzlement, and though he wanted to return to his hometown, he was concerned about the social ostracism and possible ridicule he might have to endure from some of the townsfolk. Still, he was lonesome for his home and decided to risk the worst.
He had barely set foot on the main street of town when he encountered the mayor himself.
"Hello!" greeted the mayor in a cheery voice. "I'm glad to see you! How are you?" The man appeared ill at ease, and so the mayor moved on.
Years later, the former mayor and the ex-convict accidentally met in another town. The latter said, "I want you to know what you did for me when I came out of prison." "What did I do?" asked the mayor. "You spoke a kind word to me and changed my life," replied the grateful man.
We cannot always know how important the seed of a kind word may be to the one who receives it. More often than we know, words of encouragement or recognition provide a turning point in a person's outlook on life.
Just as Jesus spoke with love and acceptance to the hated tax collector Zaccheus, the mayor set the tone for others' contacts with the ex-convict by openly and warmly addressing him as a neighbor. People watch those they respect for cues regarding their own relationships with certain people.
Genuine, kind words cost the giver nothing, but they can mean the world to the one receiving them. Today, don't be put off when someone to whom you offer a kind word seems uncomfortable or embarrassed. Recognize they may be unpracticed at receiving love and compassion, even though they need it greatly.
Kind words toward those you daily meet, kind words and actions right, will make this life of ours most sweet, turn darkness into light.
Isaac Watts
I always give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers with thanksgiving, joy and love!
Love and hugs, Amaryllis
