Ask....and you shall receive

Still following up on those silly hummingbirds!!  I love watching them - they're gorgeous.  But have you ever noticed that they don't just fly right up to the feeder and eat while sitting?

We have two hummingbirds that come to our feeder.  One is incredibly skittish, flying about and looking carefully before feeding while in flight.  She never sits.

The other flies up, looks around briefly, then sits down and has a big drink.

I realized yesterday that perhaps we're like that with the throne of God.  We're afraid to even come close, then we only ask for just the bare necessities because we're afraid we'll make Him mad, or that He'll smite us for something we've previously done.

I think we should do as the scripture says and "come boldly before the throne".  We don't do this lightly, or without the realization that we are only allowed to come because of the marvelous grace of God and the gift of Jesus Christ, but, and I say this as a Christian who took a good 15 years to get to this point, God is not looking to smack us down at all times!!

God loves us.  And....wait for it...He even LIKES us.  He likes me.  He likes you!  He's not sitting on His throne saying, "Oh brother, back again, are you??  Why do you just keep asking me for things??"

This thought was confirmed to me today as I'm going through Beth Moore's study on the book of James.  Read James 1:5 and then read Matthew 7:7-8.  Those were my readings today, and I think they really verify what God illustrated to me through the hummingbirds.

I'm going to go sit with God and have a big drink.  I hope you do too.

Ungrateful

This is kind of a follow-up to the last post.  Yesterday, I refilled the hummingbird feeder.  I think the hummingbird was watching, because right after it came down, she was there.  Right after I put it back up, she zipped by my head and then took off again.  She didn't stop to drink, but buzzed me.

I thought, "what a brat!"  She's drinking the perfect nectar for her, she's done nothing to provide it, it's always refilled, and yet she makes sure to guard it and annoy the person that DOES continually refill this "fountain of life" for her.

Hmmm....can you see where this is going?  I am so blessed with everything I need and many things I want.  I start to assume these things are "mine" and I'm going to guard them.  If God takes them from me, I get mad, I shout, I pout....and then, oh, wait....FRESH blessings.  Yum!  And I start all over again.

I'm sure you can't relate at all, right???

Lots to Learn

Today I spent watering and weeding my garden - it was overdue.  Apparently my lessons were also overdue, because I felt there there were a LOT of applications today.

I had to tie my cucumbers onto the trellis netting, because they were getting into the tomatoes and they would try to take over the garden.  They also need the training up the trellis because I think the fruit is better when it's up off the ground and I can see it, so it doesn't get chewed on by slugs or stepped on by people.  As I tied, I realized sometimes I'm tied to, or being trained up, the trellis of God's instruction.  It's for my benefit as well as for others (those tomatoes will be happy the cukes are out of their way!).

I moved on to the tomatoes on the other side.  They're growing like crazy, with branches coming out all over the place and crowding out the smaller tomatoes.  As I hacked the extra branches back and restrained them back to their own cages, I saw that sometimes I am trimmed and pushed back to where I belong so that others can grow.

I started to clean out between the carrots - what a mess.  I left the water running all morning as I weeded and cleaned out old plants, and as I looked at how great the lettuce and carrots are doing (you should know those two things hardly ever grow for me!), I thought about my dad's admonishment about watering.  "It should be done every day," he said.  I have ignored that advice for years, because I thought, well, why can't they survive on the rain they get??  They do....but they're bitter and they're tough and we don't like to eat them.  I pondered the idea that maybe I COULD grow on only what I learn on my own (personal Bible reading), but that I don't really THRIVE unless I'm being watered by others....my pastor, my home group, my husband, my kids, my neighbors.

Lastly, an application that goes along with the picture.  I love feeding the hummingbirds, but have you ever noticed how they won't share?  There's a huge fountain of sweetness that will be overfilled without any work on their part and they fight to keep others away.   I'll let you ponder that one on your own.

In His Presence

Today I finally made it out to the garden today after having been gone for a few days last week and then having a busy weekend.  Usually, I go out every morning after exercise and my Bible reading (and some coffee, of course) and one of our cats, Mittens, comes with me.  I don't know why he does it, but he comes trotting out after me, meowing excitedly.

I open the gate and we both enter the garden.  I start weeding, trellising, clipping, watering...and my cat spends a few minutes traipsing between my legs, meowing and making cute noises.  Then he wanders away.  He's not far away, mind you, just a couple of feet, but he just lays down in the mulch and watches.  Every once in a while he'll meow at me and I'll talk back to him, but mostly he just lays there.  If I leave, he follows, but as long as I'm in the garden, he's fine.

As I watched him laying contentedly between the rows, I realized that's a good picture of how to be with God. Follow Him, talk to Him, and then rest because He's RIGHT there.  Hmmm.....

Teeny Blessings

As I poured my coffee this morning, I looked out, as I do every morning, over the backyard.  I look to see if there are any creatures (we've had foxes, rabbits, groundhogs, 'possums, and of course birds) roaming around.  This morning I noticed my garden gate had been left open.  After reading that list of animals, you can see why I went out immediately to see if there had been any damage.

I checked the lettuce first, because I figured that would be the tastiest to the bunnies I've seen, but nothing.  I did a quick look to be sure there weren't any creatures actually hiding in the garden, and then I went around, just "surveying the kingdom".  It needs to be done every day, anyway.

As I checked out the potatoes, I noticed several leaves had been chewed up.  I instantly thought, "oh no, potato bugs".  I've had them every year I've grown potatoes and I HATE them.  They're voracious eaters, it's really hard to pick off all of them, and it usually means that I just have to use pesticide.  I try really hard not to use pesticide, but these little buggers are so awful.  

When I lifted a leaf to check out the underside (because that's where those rotten things hang out), I didn't see any potato bugs....but I did find this little guy.  I cheered !!!  The picture's a bit fuzzy, since he's so teeny, but it's a praying mantis nymph.  They are wonderful predators.  We used to buy ootheca (mantis egg sacs) off Ebay, hatch them, and release them into the garden.  

I also have many garden spiders this year, which is also terrific.

A lot of you won't understand my teeny blessings post and will wonder why I'm so happy about "creepy-crawlies".  That's okay.  God blessed me by giving me bugs in my garden and I appreciate it.  

Have you counted any teeny blessings??

Shells

We recently returned from a week at Ft. Story.  Very relaxing - no internet, no cell, no news from this crazy place known as northern Virginia.  While we were there, I was really trying to be paying attention to the moment and to the blessings otherwise known as my kids.  They loved the beach.  We went every morning, several afternoons, and even a few evenings after dinner.  They never failed to enjoy finding crabs, searching for the perfect shell, and jumping in the waves.

While I was walking along the beach, keeping an eye out for just the right shell, I asked God what I should take away from this.  I seem to hear God in nature, as I have said before.  Here's what I "heard".

There are thousands, if not millions of shells out there.  None are perfect.  We like them anyway, don't we??  They're all different - colors, shapes, sizes - even the broken ones are interesting.  How did they get broken?  Why are the same kinds of shells broken in different ways?  Do I consider every PERSON as interesting as a shell?  Do I wonder how they got broken?  Do I find them beautiful anyway?  Or do I just want to "toss them back" instead of learning more about them?

This is a bit disjointed, but I'm feeling convicted in my relations with people.  I do have a tendency to be judgmental and assuming.  I want to see people as Jesus sees them.  Broken people with broken hearts who need to be loved and pointed to Christ.

Swallows and Sinfulness

My cat is great.  He hunts mice, moles, voles, and bunnies.  Because I have a garden, I encourage him.  However, sometimes he kills things I don't think he should....cardinals, robins, and most recently, two baby swallows.

As I thought on his actions today, I realized that even though he does things I don't think he should, I take the good with the bad.  God does that with me.  And I'm ever so grateful.