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! Well, I am hearing reports from the weather people that rain is possibly in the forecast! Yay! We need it so badly! The birds and squirrels are still visiting the bowl I have on the porch wall, because as far as I know, none of the gutters around the neighborhood have any water in them from lawns being watered. I have never seen a bird drink from a lake or canal, but they have to get water somehow.
Yesterday I accomplished some errands I had been putting off. I went to CVS, where I came across my friend, Karin, and we chatted for awhile, then I made a trip to the library, and then to the park. Before I went to the park, I stopped in at Dowdy Optical because my nose was very sensitive from the nose piece. The optician said it was a good thing I came in because the glasses needed major repair. One lens was coming out which was causing the glasses to sit crookedly on my face. So he fixed them up and fitted them in just about five minutes. He is always good to take care of my needs.
There were not many people at the park at the hour I was there, but the sun was shining and the wind was blowing. I saw a white egret standing far down the canal looking so Florida against the dark green background of the shrubs and trees. The leaves come back so subtly on the maples that before you know it, they are all green again! God is good!
From Quiet Moments with God devotional:
It had been planted in good soil by abundant water so that it would produce branches. Bear fruit and welcome a splendid vine.
Ezekiel 17:8
An employee approached his employee and said, "I've had ten years of experience on this job, and I'm still making the same salary that I made when I started. It's time that I got raise."
His boss retorted, "You haven't had ten years of experience. You've had one experience for ten years!"
Many of us feel that our lives could be described in the same way: one experience over and over again--or at best, boringly few experiences. When this is the pattern of our lives, we not only become depressed, but we also have no growth. Just as a garden needs fertilizer and nutrients to enrich its soil, we need the enrichment of activities and experiences to broaden our lives and stimulate our souls.
Joseph Campbell once said, " I don't believe people are looking for the meaning of life as much as they are looking for the experience of being alive."
How. then, may we enrich our lives? It must be intentional. Don't think that someone else can do it for you. There are multitudes of ways to get started:
. Take up a sport that you always wanted to play.
. Take your spouse or a friend out to dinner and the entertainment of your choice.
. Plan a trip to see something or someone interesting.
. Volunteer to do work that will help the less fortunate.
. Visit a friend that you haven't seen for awhile.
. Get involved in a place of worship that challenges you.
Participate! Learn! Sing! Read! Praise! Listen!
Give! Talk with your God! In experiences such as these, you will find the Source of all the excitement that you can handle.
Experience is the mother of truth, and by experience we learn wisdom.
William Shippen, Jr.
I always give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers with thanksgiving, joy and love!
Love and hugs,
Amaryllis
