Flowers in the Rain

I am not thinking very straight this morning, and with the pressures of the day before me ( have to be at work in 1/2 hour and must have everything I need with me to make an appointment afterwards, without coming home first).

I am still reading in John 15 about "abiding in Christ".  It strikes me that, no matter where Christ was placed, He was abiding in his Father.  He did not choose his circumstances yet was the perfect example of abiding that there could be.  No matter where my circumstances take me today, as a believer, I can abide there with Christ.

This is not a very profound statement, I know, but it helps my frame of mind this morning as I get ready to head into the day with ailing sinuses; pressures from within, pressures without.

It's raining again on Darling Hill, so I thought I'd take a minute to post these beautiful little pictures of wildflowers which I've taken here.  The Painted and Red Trilliums have now gone  by.  My friend, Dottie's, Gram (and others that I have now heard of) call these "nosebleeds". The Columbine are just coming into bloom now.  We have pink, blue and red ones here on the Hill.

I hope that if you're experiencing rain in your life today, that you can see the flowers along the way.
Take care.

Pictures and Expressions

"He maketh His sun to rise on the evil, and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust."  Matthew 5:45

I am  reminded today, by Andrew Murray, in his book, The True Vine,  that "all earthly things are shadows of heavenly realities.  They are the expression, in created visible forms, of God's invisible glory."  I was reading from John 15 where Jesus declares, "I am the true Vine."  The earthly vine is simply a picture of the Heavenly Vine, whose Father is the Husbandman.  Using this picture, the Lord was teaching His disciples that those who abide in that Vine draw all their life-giving sustenance from Him.  

Seeing this sunrise from Darling Hill, it reminds me that the sun is a picture of our Lord Jesus Chrisit also; rising without exception every morning, warming and filling everything that it touches, revealing flaws and shedding light on dirt.  No earthly picture is perfect perhaps, but this reminder has set me to thinking about many of the things that I look at each day, and it will keep my mind in tune with the Lord more closely, I hope, as I walk through the days to follow.  

The cool of the morning is wafting in through my windows.  Humidity is already hanging in the air.  Even these two things draw me a picture.  Some days start out so fresh and cool.  I am rested and ready to tackle whatever is put in my path.  As the day wears on, sometimes the pressures begin to close in around me and weigh me down with cares.  Praise the Lord that I have a Savior who I can run to for refreshment from these weights!  As in the heavenly picture here, we have cool water that can refresh us by our drinking it in; or even plunging into a nearby stream when the heat of the day becomes overwhelmingly great!

You'll draw your own pictures, hopefully, in the days to come.  

I hope you enjoy a day free of weights and the sins that can so easily beset us!

The Skies Opened

I'm home from work this afternoon, eating my cereal when the thunder hit and lightning flashed and the sky opened up!  My first thought, "where is my Mom?"  I know, that's what you mothers think when your children are outside just before a heavy rainstorm.  I quickly finished my cereal, grabbed my hubby's coat (which covers more area than mine does) and Ruger and I rushed out to the car.  When we drove to the top of the Hill, there she was, enjoying cereal of her own, safe on her porch swing.

I am so thankful that the Lord takes care of His own.  He loves and watches  over our loved ones more than we ever could.   My hubby called to check on me today, to see if there is anything I need from the store.  He is coming home with milk and, unfortunately, a cold that I gave to him.  See, we don't always do the best for our family, so I have made him chicken soup, to make up for it.

I have another sickly occupant in our household.  It was once the most beautiful Oxalis (shamrock) plant.  This particular variety has showy, maroon leaves and was in total bloom.  I tried to keep it as a houseplant, though it said that it enjoyed being outside in shade/part shade.  I could not bring myself to believe that this tender plant could withstand being out in the elements, so I kept it where I thought it could receive some light but no direct sun.   Within two weeks all of its outer leaves drooped and died.  I have now moved it out, though still in its pot, to the great outdoors.  I'm tempted to draw an obvious spiritual lesson (there are at least two that I can think of), but no doubt, you have already thought of at least one of them.  The only words of comfort I can give to the little struggling plant as I pass by is, "poor little oxalis", which doesn't bring much help, I'm afraid.

Well, hubby just got home with the milk and his cold, so here comes the chicken soup!
Take care of your loved ones.

The Waters are Refreshed

The Lord is watering our garden and refreshing our pools today.   While the rains pour down, I read from the book of Mark about the Lord Jesus telling those who would come after Him that He would make them fishers of men. I was directed to a verse further on.  Mark 1:38 reads, "Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also; for therefore came I forth."  I had never noticed that last statement.  I compared the scripture in Isaiah 61:1,2 where Jesus, the prophesied Messiah, is described: "the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound..."  The mainline churches today only look at Jesus' physical ministry of healing, feeding the hungry, etc but often don't want to hear the ultimate purpose, the preaching of good tidings, as in the Mark passage, "that I may preach there also".  Christ's earthly message was for the purpose that man may be reconciled to God.
II Corinthians 5:18 tells us that this is how God reconciles sinners unto himself, through His perfect Son's death on the cruel cross.  There He took all of our sin upon Himself, in agony and died; shed His precious blood for each of us.  He would have done this even if I, or you, were the only person alive on this earth.

Those verses were a refreshment to my soul this morning.  As a person who has put my complete trust in that sacrificial death, as the only means of my being reconciled to God, this is the purpose of my coming daily to God's living Word.  He refreshes my dry soul and fills my pools.

We have a pool, up here on the hill, that is only refreshed by water that the Lord puts in.  It has no underground springs and therefore by the end of summer it may be completely dried up.  The once-living organisms that thrived there in the Spring all die.  It becomes stagnant as the Summer wears on.  Only the occasional passing duck and our dog, Ruger (unfortunately), still plunge down into its shallow depths from time to time; until the water is completely gone, awaiting further refreshing that can only come from above.  As a believer, however, I have the Lord Jesus living within.  He is a fresh spring and sends me these refreshing waters every day, often several times a day!   For these things, I am truly grateful.

I hope you have a wonderful day.  Be happy for the rain.  We have been blessed with a stretch of Summer weather and now it is time for the pools to be refreshed.

On a Hazy Summer Day

I managed to spend the whole morning putting a video clip together and you can see it on my facebook page! It's entitled "Through the Years" and is only three minutes long, but it takes at least 20 minutes to post it to Facebook!...and much longer than that to put it together!  Computers are such time-wasters.  I'm so happy to have a couple days to stay home and just do that kind of stuff though.

Ruger and I wandered up to Mom's at lunchtime; took some chicken - which I finally did do something with last night - We sat on her porch and gazed across the layers of hills and mountains.  The distant Mt. Moosilauke, and others, are so very hazy today.  The humidity hangs heavy and it made us truly thankful for her side  porch and the nice breeze!

It wasn't long before Mom decided to take Ruger and head for the woods.  She so enjoys walking there and I'm glad she can use our dog for company.  I took that opportunity to go in and use her shower!  It's the first time in a couple of days that I've had the energy for even that.

Here are a couple shots of Mom and "her" dog, Ruger.  She loves having him along as much as he loves going!

I'll say "bye" for now.  Clothes are waiting to be folded and eventually I must go up and retrieve the Retriever.

A hot afternoon

I managed to carry a load of laundry up to Mom's, which I was hoping to do today, but didn't dare tell Syd I'd get a load done because I didn't know if this summer cold would allow me to have the energy.  I tried carrying the basket on my head; I don't know how those ladies do that with their heavy baskets!

Mom and I ate out on the porch and we identified some of the wildflowers that are in bloom right now, most of which we knew.  One new one; sheep sorrell.  It's "grasslike" and the masses give a beautiful red hue to the fields.  They're actually tiny clusters of flowers growing on a short stalk.  One that we had identified last year, field pussytoes, is out right now also.  Along with these, Darling Hill is covered in asters, goats beard, clover and buttercups.  I mowed near Mom's house on Sunday afternoon, but left large clumps of asters on the bank.   Someday I'll learn how to post little pictures alongside all these descriptions.  I've so enjoyed other's blogs as they do this.

Now the dishes are almost done and I'm steeping tea on the windowsill.  Ruger's laid out, enjoying the "dog days" of summer in the shade of the car.  It's 85 degrees out there and I'm thankful that it hasn't made its way indoors yet. Chicken's thawing but I have no idea (and no appetite) what I'll be doing with it later.

I hope you are all well.

My first day as a Blogger

We've moved into the 21st century on Darling Hill!  As of Friday we are connected to the internet at all times!  This has prompted me to try blogging, as I'm now not wasting "local minutes" on our phone line.  I'm afraid it won't be very imaginative today, as I am home sick and my head is not very clear.

Being sick brings with it some very good points.  First of all, I can be HOME!  Secondly, I was able to log onto WMUU today and listen to some beautiful music and hear a few excerpts from Beneth Jones, Sunshine on the Soapsuds.  These are very refreshing to me, as we have nothing like this christian radio here in the Northeast.  It makes me miss all those years when life was simple, though we struggled to send Syd through school.  The Lord used those years to draw us so close to Himself.  I sometimes wish we were not so "settled" here, back in Vermont.  For the first time we have a piece of property and a little cabin which was built with the help of many of our friends and family.  True, the Lord has given this all to us and we are very thankful for it.  I still do believe that He may launch us out again, to some "unknown" one day.

Today, I am thankful for God's Word.  I just left the couch after reading the wonderful verses in Psalm 19. "More to be desired are they (the words of God) than gold,  yea than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey, and the honeycomb".

As I have entitled this blog, "Daily Musings on the Hill", I share the following verse: "Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer". Psalm 19:14

Now I go into the "unknown" of this day.  Only the Lord knows what will happen today.  It is an adventure, as our Pastor reminds us each week from the pulpit.  As a born again believer, I am totally in the Lord's hands.  Whatever He brings into my life today will be for a reason and He will use it to accomplish His perfect will in my life.