"Hope Springs Eternal"

This is one of my favorite pictures of hope. This robin is perched on a cross we have in our front yard. It is a cold & snowy day in April. I believe in his little orange Robin breast, he has a hope that Spring is really here & if he just waits, the sunshine will come out, the warm breeze will once again stir, the flowers will bloom & the worms will be plentiful for his dining tastes. 

We are waiting too for the blessings of Spring, hoping that it will make it's appearance sooner than expected. April here in the Black Hills requires a great amount of patience & hope because it is still mostly winter, although we have a few teaser days like today, warm & soft & sunshiny. Yet later in the week it will be snowy & back down in the thirties. Still, the grass is showing green & I can see green at the base of all of my rose bushes. Now that fills me with hope. Though Spring is not in the second stage of 'Sprung' (😊), the hope of it is definitely in the vernal air.

🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷

I have been doing some Spring cleaning & organizing the pantry, shelves, drawers, cupboards, those little homey chores that give me great satisfaction. I love a tidy, neat & sparkling home. It gives an aura of peace to the atmosphere, very nurturing to all who live or visit. Another homey-maker chore is cooking & baking, an essential to the feeling of homey-well-being. I mean, can anyone feel crabby or insecure or unloved with a plate of cookies & an ice-cold glass of milk before them?

It has Grandmother written all over it, like a big hug!

My youngest daughter (still at home) made her first Irish Soda Bread in honor of St. Patrick's Day.

It was delicious with a hot, soothing cup of tea

 A lighted candle for an added bit of ambience.

Another homey hug that really gets my perk-o-later going!

As Wives, Mom's, Grandmother's & women, when we make our own happi-ness, we are building a happy-nest, for ourselves, our family & all who enter our homemade castle on a small scale. 🏰

I like to do a bit of decorating in the Spring, mostly in celebration of the resurrection of Jesus.

Come Easter, that table will be laden with traditional cuisine to tempt & satisfy a variety of taste buds! 😋

Now you see Buttons boy...

Now you don't!

This is a picture of the most profound hope there will ever be.

Jesus came. He saw. He conquered. My heart. 

"...& while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."

Romans 5:8

He died so we could be cleansed & forgiven for our sins, so that we could then have & know the love of our Father. So we could be a part of His family. So we could belong, not ever be alone again, so we could have a home-sweet-home, a place to rest our hearts & we could understand what love really means, what love is really all about. & who would know more about love than Jesus??

Let's go back to Romans 5.

"For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us in that 

while we were STILL sinners, CHRIST died for us."

Just let that soak in for awhile. Feel the worth, the weight of that statement. Jesus brought hope to our world, to all mankind, through His 'death to resurrection'. In all of the wretched uglinesses, the greed & unbelievable selfishness of the human nature, the stench of death that clings to the wicked heaped on the innocent, the cruelties, the brutalities, the hideous & heinous unspeakable crimes of humans against humans, the diseases, the darkness that has permeated our atmosphere from the beginning of time. & yet, at just the right time, Jesus came into our world. He came. He saw. He conquered. He brought HOPE. Yes, there really is a better way, a better life.

"...but I have come to give you LIFE & give it more abundantly."

John 10:10

I LOVE this scripture. 

Jesus is life. & He is the Light in whatever darkness you are personally facing. Back in the eighties, there was a slogan advertising the 'Motel 6'. This is a slight but monumental variation. That in the middle of the darkest darkness, don't worry or be afraid. Because Jesus will leave the light on for you. His Light will lead you to safety, lead you home. This is your eternal hope. & mine. Hope really does spring eternal. Because hope is Jesus.

& He is forever. 

Raintree Perk of the Day:

"Jesus & me, Shepherd & sheep.

Nothin' can beat,

Jesus & me."

for me....