Good morning, Dear Friends and Prayer Partner! This is the day that the Lord has made and we will rejoice and be glad in it! I see high puffy white clouds scudding across the blue sky and the sun drying up the wet grass. I just had a call from David, my yard man, just back from Ala. and he is coming over to mow, which the grass sorely needs.
Last night we had another thunderstorm with more rain, which we need, but not all the wind and blowing, which was good.
I have been watching a mango develop on the neighbor's tree which is right outside my window, but now it has disappeared. So I don't know whether it dropped off, or they picked it green. Unfortunately, none of them drop in my yard. :o) I walked into the produce of the supermarket yesterday and at once, the scent of peaches and nectarines hit my nose with their fragrance! Ummm. beats any man-made perfume , for sure!
I almost picked up a bag of raw peanuts for the critters in my trees, but decided not too, yet, because there are still plenty of acorns on the ground and in the ground for them to eat. I know at the park they are always busy eating acorns and running back and forth across the street to see if there are more pickings on the other side. I had to stop for one yesterday who sat for a minute right in front of the car, before scampering off. The water in the canal was full of trash and debris from the runoff of the houses that border the canal. That will probably be cleaned up soon by a volunteer. It was strange...I didn't see any anhingas drying wings. That's a first. Well, God is good!
Thought I would send a little different version of the "Love" chapter from The Message. See how you like it;
1 Corinthians 13
If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.
If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "jump," and it jumps, but I don't have love, I'm nothing.
If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believer, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.
Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
Love doesn't strut.
Doesn't have a swelled head.
Doesn't force itself on others.
Isn't always "me first".
Doesn't fly off the handle,
Doesn't keep score of the sins of others.
Doesn't revel when others grovel.
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything.
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best.
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.
Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day, praying tongues will end, understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete but when the Complete arrives. our incompletes will be canceled.
When I was an infant at my mother's breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.
We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But ti won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!
But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward the comsummation. Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.
I always give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers with thanksgiving, joy and love!
Love and hugs,
Amaryllis
