The number two has played a very prominent part in my life these last several weeks.
I won't go into any great detail because after much frustration, I distinctly sensed the Lord telling me to let a certain situation go. I did, and instantly and miraculously, all the turmoil churning inside of me was replaced by a great peace that I do not wish to forfeit.
In brief though, it all centered around the number two. Two little paint pots in a paint by number kit I had ordered that were not the color code they were supposed to be, and my numerous and futile attempts to get the company I purchased the kit from to replace them.
This week's FMF prompt, coming just a day after my decision to let it go gave me a good chuckle.
I tried to write a cute post about it on Facebook that I thought would make readers smile.
Facebook did not like that I included the link to the Instagram account his mom set up for him, or that I mentioned he had a book on Amazon, so they removed the post and threatened to restrict my account.
I think this is going a little too far, don't you?
Thanks for letting me vent about my frustration. I hope you don't all unfriend me as well.
This summer we have had a serious infestation of spotted lanternflies in my neck of the woods, and the plague is not yet over.
At first it was just one interesting looking bug sitting on a leaf on a plant on my balcony. It must not have liked it much though, because after I flicked it off, I never saw another one on any of the outdoor plants. They do however enjoy walking around and around the floor of the balcony and the table the plants are on.
They have also swarmed my windows.
At first it was just a few of them walking up the outside of the screens, but the few turned into hordes of them in the corners and all across the glass.
Despite how careful I have been not to open my windows, and to make sure I quickly close the screen door behind me when I go out to water my plants, a couple of them have found their way into my apartment.
They are actually quite pretty, and I need to constantly remind myself of how destructive they are, and not be deceived by appearances.
I still can't bring myself to stomp on them, but I do scoop the ones that manage to get inside up in a piece of tissue and flush them down the toilet.
The other day I saw one get caught in a spider web, and felt overwhelmed by sadness as I watched it try to escape. And I know that what I am about to write next is probably a real stretch, but I thought about how even though God does not want anyone to perish, but for everyone to repent and receive the gift of salvation Jesus purchased for us on the cross (2 Peter 3:9), He will not impose His will on us or force us to accept it. The choice is ours.
In the case of the lanternfly, I'm sure it was oblivious to the trap it was about to walk into. It was just going on its merry way, not realizing there was any danger ahead, as would be the case if you were headed towards a cavernous hole in the sidewalk hidden from view, unless someone warned you about it or yanked you aside.
So that is what I am doing now. If you have not yet received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, I am begging you not to be deceived as I once was, into thinking that there are many paths to God, or that we get to Heaven by our good works.
Regardless of what anyone else may have told you, or what your intellect tries to convince you of, or how foolish you feel the message sounds, please, please don't ignore it. Please don't let pride stand in your way.
The Bible tells us in Romans 3:23 that "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," and in Romans 6:23, that "the wages of sin is death." Because of Adam and Eve's sin in the Garden of Eden, a vast gulf separates us from our Heavenly Father, and there is no way we can cross it through our own efforts. Only one path can lead us across the bridge to eternal life, and that is Jesus, who is "The way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through [Him]" (John 14:6).
Jesus stands at the door of your heart knocking and waiting for you to answer and let Him in (Revelation 3:20). I pray that you would open the door before it is too late.
This image came up in my Facebook memories the other day and I thought of it with a pang of sadness when I saw this week's prompt.
9/11/2001 was an evil day in the history of our country, and there are many memorials to preserve the memory of it, lest we forget. But I can't think of any erected to preserve the memory of 9/12, when for a brief time people put aside their differences and came together, and many even turned to God.
From the very beginning, God called us to use visual aids to help us remember. The Israelites, for instance, regularly preserved memories of His miraculous works by erecting altars of remembrance, as in Joshua 4 when the Lord had them erect a pillar of 12 stacked stones taken from the middle of the Jordan River in remembrance of how He parted its waters to enable them to cross over on dry land.
Without something to trigger our memory, we tend to forget the good things and focus on what is wrong. We forget who God is and what He has done.
Reminders of God's mercy, grace, and faithfulness can lift us up and encourage us on dark days and preserve us from the danger of forgetfulness , which leaves us vulnerable to the attacks of the enemy and opens the door to fear and doubt.
Today we take communion in remembrance of what Jesus did for us on the cross. We can also preserve memories through journaling, pictures, and keeping a written record of the ways He has worked in our lives. We also have His Word to use as our guide, and I preserve memories in it as well by writing dates next to the promises I've seen fulfilled.
Elephant's Childis hosting a link-up called Sunday Selections where we can post unused photos languishing in our archives. I have so many, I'd love to participate.
It involves posting the photos under the header, Sunday Selections, and linking back to her. My problem is that I don't know how to do that unless there's an actual linky to click on. Can anyone reading this tell me how to do it?
For the first time in probably over half a century, I actually followed through on a fitness challenge and a fitness resolution I added to it going into the month. Exercise (other than ballroom dancing, which I can no longer do), has never been my thing.
For the month of August I joined a fitness challenge to exercise a minimum of 12 times during the month (I actually did 13 times), and the resolution I added to it was to walk a minimum of 2500 steps every day.
I can't believe I actually managed to do it--especially the steps, since that was a daily commitment with no days off, and there were some days that only the grace of God carried me through.
Some other firsts this week--though I'm not sure they qualify as history. Fungi growing in my indoor dracaena flowerpots. I've never seen such a thing before or even thought it was possible.
The other surprise was the discovery that a plant I thought was a weed was not.
The other times I've planted wildflower seeds on my balcony, plants such as this leafy green one were the first to pop up and I thought they were weeds because they never flowered. They just seemed to take over the flower pots they were in and crowd everything else out.
This year, however, and at the end of summer no less, I was proved wrong.
When I least expected, it started to bud, and now has some pretty yellow flowers.
Good thing I didn't pull it out when I was tempted to.
Usually, the wildflower seeds I plant in the spring that are supposed to attract butterflies and hummingbirds produce little to no flowers.
Usually, the only things that gets attracted to my balcony are hoards of stinkbugs.
Usually, the plants I put out for the summer so they can get pollinated start out doing great, but end up getting destroyed by said stink bugs.
At the end of very summer, for the last 15 years or so, I've wondered why I bother fighting what seems to be a losing battle and promise myself I won't do it again, but every spring I'm right back at Dollar Tree buying seeds yet again and hoping that this year will be different.
This year, to my great surprise, it was different. The wildflower seeds I planted did actually bloom, and they bloomed profusely. It was exciting to see the variety of colors as they appeared in turn, and I've spent many happy moments just gazing at them.
This morning, I was greeted by an even greater surprise. A hummingbird. The very first one I've ever seen on my balcony, and it seemed to be really enjoying the little blue flowers.
I rushed for my cell phone, but by the time I was able to get the camera focused, it had flown away. Hopefully it will be back and bring some friends.
That was not my only surprise. Even though it is late in the season, I found three new little green tomatoes on my tomato plant, bringing the total to six, and there are a bunch of flowers on it as well.
Not the usual morning I had expected at all.
Five minutes are up so there's no more time left to share my insights, but God has used my plants time and time again to show me things and if you are interested, a very good example can be found in an old 2010 post I wrote entitled It's Not Over 'Til It's Over (click link to read).
I never used to be one to admit defeat. In fact, when I was young, I thrived on challenges and proving people wrong when they said something could not be done. I remember two experiences in particular.
One was in high school when my math teacher tried to convince me to wait another year before taking the college entrance exams because if I took them now with the rest of my classmates, I would not pass.
As was my M.O. I set out to prove her wrong. I studied so hard for those exams that even though I soon forgot most of what I'd crammed into my brain, I was not only able to hold onto it long enough to pass, but to do so with high grades.
Another time was in graduate school.
Back in the day we didn't have career counseling or aptitude testing and I wasn't sure what direction I wanted to take, so I settled on Speech Pathology just because it was a field I had never heard of before and it sounded interesting. The only catch was that the only school in my area that offered a degree in it was a French University and my knowledge of French was limited. I enrolled anyway.
As it turned out, we were an unusually small group of only four students. The other three were French Canadians who spoke little English. They helped me with the lectures, which were in French, and I helped them with the textbooks, which were mostly in English. It turned out to be a win-win for all four of us, and we soon bonded and became a close-knit group.
They told me about a summer camp for handicapped children and adults in the Catskills that employed speech therapists, but nobody from our school had ever been able to get a job there because their English was not considered good enough. I asked them if they would like to go, and when they said they would, I filled out all our application forms and we all got hired.
Now, however, in my very senior years, I seem to have lost my spunk. Even though the Word tells me that I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength (Philippians 4:13), and exhorts me to not grow weary or give up (2 Chronicles 15:7; Galatians 6:9), I am weary. Very weary.
Two major issues loom large right now, threatening to defeat me. Even though my faith is in the Lord, and I know how the story ends, there are still moments when I almost believe the lies.
But God! He put this song in my heart this morning, which has provided me with just the little push I need to keep on keeping on.
The scene that unfolds before me, both globally and in my personal life, is an unsettling one. Words may fail me, but God never does.
The Lord has been using the wildflowers growing on my balcony to lift my spirits and remind me of His love and His faithfulness, and to assure me that no matter what things are looking like around me, He is in control of the scene.
Look at the birds. They don't plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren't you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don't work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith? -- Matthew 6:26-30, NLT
