sunshine after rain
life can hold more joy
than pain
Life’s Joy
Tag: Courage
Dreams & Designs
A NEW DAY
Crest of a wave on the eastern horizon
a barely discernible glow at first
seeps over to inundate the heavens
driving night to the west end of time.
As it travels across the sky it washes
away the pain and sorrows of yesterday
prompts pardon for past wrongs
effects forgiveness in its undercurrent.
The sun arrives to shake the sleepyheads
insisting on new designs and dreams.
People open their eyes to grumble, moan,
or thank God for a new day!
— Christine Goodnough
Adventures Await
Good morning! We are in the sunshine as I write this, but clouds in the west may bring a shower later today. We had a day of rain Tuesday, a heavy shower Thursday, another shower yesterday… It appears the Lord has decided to refill our sloughs that were cracked and dry at the beginning of June. During our extremely dry spring months we’d never have predicted this much rain in summer. The flowers are lovely and the lawn lush. Needs mowing.
On Tuesday morning I was working with my g-mail account and somehow wiped out the delivery of same. So most of this week I wasn’t able to access my g-mail through Windows, though I can still get it through Google and on my phone. Yesterday I noticed that it’s being delivered as usual. Don’t know how it righted itself, but I’m glad it did. I actually have two g-mail accounts and the one I haven’t been able to get through Windows for months; it was the attempt to rectify that problem that shut the other account down. Do I dare try again?
On Thursday I was back to digging up family tree roots, trying to find some record of my great-great-grandfather’s brother David, who came to Ontario around 1833 along with his three brothers. The others settled in Oxford County; I’ve heard that David moved up to Waterloo County. Thankfully so many records are available to us through the internet. Sad to say, though, every one of his brothers and their offspring gave their sons the same names.
In the city yesterday I noticed a huge motor home roll by. A nicely set up motel room on wheels. A person could almost imagine the life of adventure awaiting…
This morning I saw this image on Pixabay and started to ponder possible captions and quotes that might go with it. Something like, “I’d rather risk a tumble now and then than spend my days peering out of a shell.”
Below are a few applicable quotes I found on goodreads, but you’re welcome to leave your suggestions in the comments.
“An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered.”
― G.K. Chesterton“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the
courage to continue that counts.”
― Winston S. Churchill“You cannot swim for new horizons until you have
courage to lose sight of the shore.”
― William Faulkner
Gladiator Mouse
“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” James 4:7
You had to admire the little guy’s spunk. With no means of defense, pitted against an enemy twenty times his size, he was putting up a brave fight.
He was only a mouse captured in the claws of our family cat, but he wasn’t taking this lying down. For a moment the cat let him go and took a step back; instead of running away squeaking in terror, the mouse stood up on his haunches, jumped as high as his little legs could send him and tried to bite the cat’s face.
Whoa, I thought: Kamikaze mouse! Another Reepicheep, lacking only the sword.
For a few minutes I watched the unfair contest. The cat would bat the mouse around and he fought back as best he could, rushing toward the cat, trying to scratch it or nip it with his tiny teeth. I actually felt enough sympathy for the gutsy little gladiator that I might have picked up my cat and removed him from the conflict – had the arena been elsewhere.
However, the battle was going on right beside my garden where I surely did NOT want a mouse to find refuge. At one point he made a dash for freedom under a tomato plant but the cat snagged him and carried him off. I walked away and let nature take its course.
Later on I saw his lifeless body lying on the lawn. Well, at least he died trying.
As Christians, we have an adversary, a foe much greater than we. The Bible describes him as cunning and ruthless, opposed to all that is godly:
“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist steadfast in the faith…” I Peter 5:8
Yet we are told, “Don’t just lie there and whimper when the devil rakes you with his claws. Get up and fight back.” And we think, Are you serious?
We feel the devil’s hot breath on our neck at times as he sends us evil thoughts, temptations, depression, negative feelings about ourselves, wounded pride, anger, misunderstandings. Maybe we are inclined to wring our hands and say: ”Why are we troubled with these thoughts?” or “Why do I feel the way I do?”
As surely as cats hunt mice, our adversary will attack us. The Bible tells us that Satan is determined to decimate us, to dissuade us from following the Lord, by terror or temptation. Unlike defenseless mice, however, we have God’s promise that resistance pays.
Wisdom
Of Bugs & Bucket Lists
I’ve been thinking LOTS but writing little, owing to feeling down in the dumps lately. It’s a type of writer’s block: you know that lingering line: “Why should I bother who cares anyway?”
This started a few days ago as I was reading and admiring a number of online haiku verses. Such talent! A wave of blue (green?) swept over me. I’ll never be able to write meaningful haiku with clever twists of phrase. Here’s a sample of mine:
grasshopper munching
the eye of my daisy
instant mashed
(Historical note: I’ve observed that grasshoppers just love to munch the tender eyes of coneflowers like rudbekia. Justice is dispensed speedily.)
I read a quote by fellow writer “Biff” that made me smile; I think his words will resonate with writers everywhere:
The only item on my bucket list is to someday be satisfied with something I write.
While this quote is part of his reply in the comments, the article itself is something all writers can relate to. Do take a moment to pop over and read his post: A Writer’s Lament.
On the cover of the latest issue of FellowScript Christian writers magazine I read the question, “Should You Write For Free?” And my obvious answer is, “Of course not! I should be getting thousands of dollars for what I write.” Okay, hundreds. I’d even welcome tens.
Do what you love and the money will follow.
Ha!
I’m somewhat cheered today, seeing the haiku I submitted to Troutswirl, the Haiku Foundation’s blog, has been published. Also, I accept that, even though I don’t ever earn a penny, I have the complete freedom to write and post on my blog.
But now that I’ve shared my ups and downs with you, I’d best get back to digging my flower bed in preparation for some pretty blooms.
ducky digging in the flowerbed
trying to win it back
nary a feather to be seen
but sure no lack of quack
🙂
