Wildflower Walk

something new with my fine feathered friends...

Decided to take my love of photography and the great attraction I have to my fine feathered friends to the next level. I am listening to “Birds of PA” Audio CD in order to listen  and name the birds that sometimes I can’t even see with my lens.

While I was out for my walk today there were at least 6 or 7 different birds I could hear at one time.  I was excited when I was able to name the sound of a warbler!

While listening to the CD earlier this evening, I almost skipped listening to the raven, however just before I hit forward, this is what was told of the raven, “The raven is one of the bird world’s most intelligent birds, they have a complex communication system consisting of a wide variety of calls…..they communicate information such as the location of food, the presence of danger, or simply to keep in contact with each other.”  At that moment I remembered that the first bird that Noah sent out of the ark was a raven.  I had often wondered why a raven was sent and not the dove first….for me, I have a new understanding that I didn’t previously, Noah sent out an intelligent bird to check things out!!  Thinking I will try to capture a picture of this intelligent bird sometime soon!.

Looking forward to all God is going to show me about my fine feathered friends :)

Oh--wait-- my favorite football team are the Raven’s…well, what do you know!

Sunset...snow happenings and some other things....

march snow bird

Scary Close

I am halfway through Donald Miller's, Scary Close.  It is such a great book!  There are many intriguing quotes...here's one...

"So I wrote, I wrote as though God thought my voice mattered. I wrote because I believed a human story was beautiful, no matter how small the human was. I wrote because I didn't make myself, God did. And I wrote like He'd invited me to share my true "self" with the world."

Wow, these words are powerful, beautiful and true for each one of us!

Shortly after reading these words, I thought about replacing the word wrote with the word live then the word love...

So I live, I live as though God thinks my voice matters, I live because I believe a human story is beautiful, no matter how small the human is.  I live because I didn't make myself, God did.  And I live like He's invited me to share my true "self" with the world.

So I love, I love as though God thinks my voice matters, I love because I believe a human story is beautiful, no matter how small the human is.  I love because I didn't make myself, God did.  And I love like He's invited me to share my true "self" with the world.

How do you write, and live and love? 

Thank you Donald Miller for writing this book!!! Thank you God for so very much!!

remember....

Lately I have been going back through some of my journals from the last couple of years.  

As I look at my written thoughts, I am reminded of the questions I have asked the Lord, the struggles we've walked through, and what has taken place as we journeyed together~some beautiful and some-not so much.

Bondage and freedom have been words that have shown up often on those pages.... 

Once during quiet time, this came to mind..."Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom."
Another time I wrote, "I want to live securely in freedom"
Later, as I was struggling with letting go in a particular instance, these words came to me..."the ties that bind."
And yet another time, one of my favorite songs came to me, "Amazing Grace-my chains are gone".

I believe as I have been looking back and remembering, there is more that God wants to show me.

This morning I woke with this going through my head, "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free."

With that...today I have been reading and pondering Galatians 5. These are the words that stood out to me...the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love...Love your neighbor as yourself...So I say, walk by the Spirit...the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

I am thankful for what He is showing me as I think through these words and the connection they have with freedom.
 
What would it look like to live in freedom? How would it feel? In order to live in freedom what wouldn't it include? Sometimes it's easier to name what something isn't rather than what it is....

As I write this, today is Valentine's day-how's the conversation going with the One who loves you like no other?

Annapolis MD