The Land of the 'Unexpected'
It is impossible to believe that we are into the month of November! & so much to anticipate with joy! I love the crackling of dry leaves underfoot. I think the trees, bereft of their leaves, are beautiful in their own way. The landscapes appear barren, but look neat, tidy & serene. Crisp comes into the air & we begin to don sweaters, jackets, gloves, scarves & perky little hats. & here in South Dakotaland, I'm experiencing, once again,
another deja vu moment! Actually, there have been many of these moments for the past two months! Already!
In October
This November morning. I'm "Sitting By My Laughing Fire" as Ruth Bell Graham put it (in a book of the same title), with a cup of tea in hand, watching it snow. There are self-invited guests but they know that they are welcome to the breakfast fare that we have laid out.
From what I could tell, all of this bunch were bucks of different sizes & ages. Aren't they adorably cute?! I want to hug his neck! (Another one!) The downside is though, my yard decor went from this...
to this.
My pumpkins are history, as they say, & the hay is decimated. The disembodied or decapitated scarecrows have already been rescued, albeit a bit late, & my lanterns are on the repair list. At least one was left unmolested. As I said they are welcome, but I need to speak to their mothers about table manners. (Deer definitely in need of improvement. Haha!)
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Breakfast time!
I love setting a festive table, even when it's for two. Or even when I'm alone!
Lollipop is dreaming of the outside possible breakfast fare.
Well, dream on kitty-girl. Dreaming is half the fun. (Except when it comes to food I think!)
& this, thankfully, is not a dream. Yum!
Every season, or even every day, is a good day to give thanks, and also to put the 'give' in thanksgiving. Winston Churchill said,
"We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give."
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I love this Autumn picture that my sister sent for my birthday one year.
See that house-sweet-house in the distance? That's where my pretend Grandmother lives & we're going 'over the river & through the woods' to her house for Thanksgiving. She makes the best turkey & dressing. & pumpkin pie!
There is so much to celebrate every day. Giving thanks should be a way of life for us as Christians because,
"He daily loads us with blessings." (Psalm 68:19)
On a particularly trying day for my daughter, who was cleaning a cat 'happening' up (again!) one of my 'Gabby' granddaughters, (I have two granddaughters named Gabby. This one was about five at the time) put her arm around my daughter & said "At least it's better than a monkey chewing on your hair." I have to agree, (& where on earth did that come from?!) but maybe for others it's relative.
Last night as I was reading in my chair, sitting in front of the window, I felt as if I was being watched, & turning to look out of the window, this is what I saw.
The beautiful big old moon, beckoning me to come out & enjoy his gift to me. So of course I had to go. You just don't turn down an invitation from the moon. It is called a 'Frost Moon' & was absolutely enchanting & mysterious, captivating. I'm so glad I accepted the invitation. Sometimes, things just happen once. One of those daily blessings. A happy sigh here...
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Another of our daily blessings...
There's our Buttonsbaby in his favorite spot to lay in the dining room.
😽😽😽😽😽😽😽😽😽
He is not a lap cat, but he does love to be held & scratched & petted. He's also very patient & calm. Except when he goes to the kitty Dr. Then it's Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde! Cat-thra! All in all though, all of our animals are very 'thera-pet-ic'. 😁 & we have had many over the years, coming & going, leaving a forever mark on our hearts. I know the Lord had us humans in mind when He created animals. & I am so thankful. Speaking of thankful, Thanksgiving is right around the corner! I really think that the whole month of November should be a month of thanksgiving & thanksliving on purpose. I was actually born on Thanksgiving ( a little 6 pound turkey! ), so that should really be my moniker! & I really do want it to be. We should all try & live an on purpose life of thanksgiving & thanksliving. Of course, it isn't easy; a lot of joy stealers out there, even every day. Being blindsided by a cruel & devastating blow of the unexpected that changes our lives forever can be hard to come back from. I remember feeling that if I took one more step into the darkness that I would be sucked into an abyss that there would be no coming back from, the kind of suffering grief that would make one demented, it was so intense, suffocating & overwhelming. I cried out "Help me Jesus!" It seemed like I could almost hear the sirens of the ambulance as my Great Medic arrived instantly on the scene, stopping the flow of my bleeding heart & then giving me His own blood transfusion, restoring life, healing, grace, hope. The 'unexpected's' will always be a part of our lives & the help for them all will always be Jesus. & really, how would we ever get to know Jesus & all that He died to give us, apart from all of those 'unexpected's'. Bad & hard things happen to people whether they are 'good' or bad'. & as long as we are mortals on this earth, they will continue to happen. It is a part of
sins heritage. But when the unexpected happens.....there's Jesus, our Medic, healer of broken hearts as well as broken bodies, broken lives. & I have learned from Him that even when my heart has been shredded, crushed, torn to pieces, even then, I can still have joy, peace, hope, laughter, like they can co-exist, run parallel, even when the situation has not been reconciled. Because I have inside information. I know that someday, these hard times of the unexpected, WILL be reconciled. They will be redeemed. They will be restored. Because I have the hope of expectancy. I love how Jesus takes the 'un' out of 'unexpected'. & then, bringing it to its present tense, it would be, 'expect'. I expect blessing to come out of the unexpected. In me, to me & through me. In me, because the wells of my heart have been dug a little deeper & I know Jesus in a way that I didn't know Him before & because of that, I also love Him more. Blessings to me, because I am able to receive from Jesus what I was unable to before because He can trust me a little more now. Kind of like trusting your son with the family car because he's proven himself to be responsible. & then, comes the best part, through me. Every single thing that happens in our lives whether they are blessings or blessings in disguise, (otherwise known as sorrow, loss, hardship, suffering, which we all encounter at times) we can take hold of Jesus hand,
& let Him love others through us. Our experiences are our testimonies to give others to show Jesus' faithfulness, His love, His grace, His comfort, His deliverance. This is what you have in your arsenal of help.
"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me. To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, & the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord...to comfort all who mourn,... to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that HE MAY BE GLORIFIED."!!!! (Isaiah 61: 1-3)
This is the transformation of the 'unexpecteds' in our lives! It is very painful to give birth, but it is the only way for life to happen. Our experiences, when we walk through them with the Lord, are the embryos of our testimonies which have the potential to give life to others. To give beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. I don't know about you, but I want a whole forest of trees of righteousness planted by the Lord because of the testimonies of life that Jesus has brought me through! Through me!!
Several years ago, on a vacation to an amusement park, my husband talked me into riding my first ( & last!!! ) roller coaster ride. I rode beside one of our pre-teen daughters (she loves roller coasters! Unlike her mother!) & my husband sat behind me with another daughter. When we reached the summit of the ride, I knew that I had teleported to Mount Everest & that the only way down was......DOWN. I cannot express the panic & terror I felt at that moment. My throat felt a terrible constriction, just before a scream of a new dimension of fear erupted from my throat! I closed my eyes the rest of the entire ride. & I also screamed the rest of the way DOWN. I didn't want to see how I was going to die, but I was going to leave this world in screaming protest! (& fear!)
The ride of infinity (& possible eternity!) did finally come to an end, & I had to sit for a few minutes so that life could come back into my body. & so did pain. I realized I ached all over! As my husband helped me off of the ride & back down to solid ground, he said, "You had your eyes closed didn't you?" I was amazed at his supernatural gift of the word of knowledge, but then he smiled & said, "I could tell because you were so rigid. If you had kept your eyes open, your body would have naturally worked with the movement of the roller coaster & you would have been able to enjoy the ride." Also, believe it or not, keeping my eyes open would have alleviated the fear because I could see what was happening & not left it to my imagination of horrors, but not reality.
Another experience I had was when I was in an airplane & an unexpected storm happened & the plane was unable to land, (I don't remember the exact circumstances of why) as were other planes. So we just kept circling the field, over & over, & I was getting extremely nauseated, dreading the idea of throwing up in front of the total stranger sitting next to me. Noting my distress, the man, who was sitting next to me, said, "Close the shade to your window & focus on something stationary in front of you & keep your focus there." I did. & it worked! As it turned out, he was a pilot. (I KNOW God made that seating arrangement!)
Now, two things that I learned in both of these unexpected circumstances. First, to keep my eyes open so I can see the whole picture, a good definition of truth. Then, to keep my focus on something steady, solid, immovable. & that of course is Jesus. A good recipe when the unexpected happens. & I have learned & am still learning, that during those nights or seasons of weeping when there is nothing but to trust Jesus, that joy really does come in the morning, when the Lord turns our sorrow into dancing.
"For the joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross."
Hebrews 12:2
Let's follow the example of our Shepherd. When the unexpected crosses come into our lives, we will endure them with the grace of Jesus, turning our lens until we are able to see clearly, joy in the distance, coming, even running, to embrace us & sweep us off our feet, transforming our 'unexpecteds' into blessings. That sounds like redemption to me. & as the song says, I'm forever grateful.
"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me. To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, & the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord...to comfort all who mourn,... to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that HE MAY BE GLORIFIED."!!!! (Isaiah 61: 1-3)
This is the transformation of the 'unexpecteds' in our lives! It is very painful to give birth, but it is the only way for life to happen. Our experiences, when we walk through them with the Lord, are the embryos of our testimonies which have the potential to give life to others. To give beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. I don't know about you, but I want a whole forest of trees of righteousness planted by the Lord because of the testimonies of life that Jesus has brought me through! Through me!!
Several years ago, on a vacation to an amusement park, my husband talked me into riding my first ( & last!!! ) roller coaster ride. I rode beside one of our pre-teen daughters (she loves roller coasters! Unlike her mother!) & my husband sat behind me with another daughter. When we reached the summit of the ride, I knew that I had teleported to Mount Everest & that the only way down was......DOWN. I cannot express the panic & terror I felt at that moment. My throat felt a terrible constriction, just before a scream of a new dimension of fear erupted from my throat! I closed my eyes the rest of the entire ride. & I also screamed the rest of the way DOWN. I didn't want to see how I was going to die, but I was going to leave this world in screaming protest! (& fear!)
The ride of infinity (& possible eternity!) did finally come to an end, & I had to sit for a few minutes so that life could come back into my body. & so did pain. I realized I ached all over! As my husband helped me off of the ride & back down to solid ground, he said, "You had your eyes closed didn't you?" I was amazed at his supernatural gift of the word of knowledge, but then he smiled & said, "I could tell because you were so rigid. If you had kept your eyes open, your body would have naturally worked with the movement of the roller coaster & you would have been able to enjoy the ride." Also, believe it or not, keeping my eyes open would have alleviated the fear because I could see what was happening & not left it to my imagination of horrors, but not reality.
Another experience I had was when I was in an airplane & an unexpected storm happened & the plane was unable to land, (I don't remember the exact circumstances of why) as were other planes. So we just kept circling the field, over & over, & I was getting extremely nauseated, dreading the idea of throwing up in front of the total stranger sitting next to me. Noting my distress, the man, who was sitting next to me, said, "Close the shade to your window & focus on something stationary in front of you & keep your focus there." I did. & it worked! As it turned out, he was a pilot. (I KNOW God made that seating arrangement!)
Now, two things that I learned in both of these unexpected circumstances. First, to keep my eyes open so I can see the whole picture, a good definition of truth. Then, to keep my focus on something steady, solid, immovable. & that of course is Jesus. A good recipe when the unexpected happens. & I have learned & am still learning, that during those nights or seasons of weeping when there is nothing but to trust Jesus, that joy really does come in the morning, when the Lord turns our sorrow into dancing.
"For the joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross."
Hebrews 12:2
Let's follow the example of our Shepherd. When the unexpected crosses come into our lives, we will endure them with the grace of Jesus, turning our lens until we are able to see clearly, joy in the distance, coming, even running, to embrace us & sweep us off our feet, transforming our 'unexpecteds' into blessings. That sounds like redemption to me. & as the song says, I'm forever grateful.
Raintree Perk of the Day:
Giving thanks because,
"You have turned my mourning into dancing..."
Psalm 30:11
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