Category: Unexpected Delight

This Morning’s Walk

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I was up early this morning.  I wasn’t sleeping and the much hyped lunar eclipse making its way across the sky called my name.  So, I got up.  Dressed for the 35 degree morning, I grabbed my camera and stepped outside.  Through the bare trees and thickening clouds I saw the last bit of reflected sunlight succumb to the earth’s shadow creeping across the moon’s face, totally eclipsing it.

And that was it.  By the time I was out for my walk, the clouds pretty much covered the sky and ended any hope of viewing the moon continuing its cycle.  Disappointing, to be sure.

However, another sight was in the making in the east.  Remember those clouds that covered the lunar eclipse?  They teamed up with the rising sun this morning to make for a most delightful sunrise.

Today’s sunrise and lunar eclipse were among the blessings of today’s early walk this crisp November morning.  Morning walks… the days’ gifts.

“Morning by morning new mercies I see…”

Dahlia (2)

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The grand dahlia experiment is about over.  Last spring I planted three tubers.  In September I had one flower bloom.  And today, in late October, just after an evening and early morning of below freezing temps, I can report and show Dahlia #2.

It’s a beauty and worth the wait.

With the coming of frost, is the grand dahlia experiment now over?  Not quite.  There are tubers to harvest, divide, store and to be replanted in the spring.  Each step is something new for me and an opportunity to learn about and enjoy a small part of the Creator’s world.

Today’s gift.

Why Do Hummingbirds Hum?

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The afternoon settled in …

Cool, gray, empty

Looking for meaningful activity, pondering important things … 

I settled in

A book at hand and camera at the ready…

Looking …

For the elusive hummingbird 

And then

So, the question remains…

Hummingbirds hum because … why?

They’re happy… ?

And it’s hard to smile with that pointy beak

Echolocation…? 

That’s a batty idea

Looking for a mate?

Hmmmm…

So why DO hummingbirds hum?

Anyone can tell you…

It’s because they don’t know the words!

Or maybe they do

“This is my Father’s world… 

the birds their carols raise… 

declaring their Maker’s praise.”

Today’s gift.

My Dahlia

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I planted

Just at the right time 

Late spring 

A tuber

I waited

It sprouted

Right through the soil

Right on schedule 

Green leaves

I waited

It grew

Taller, branching out

Just as predicted

More green

I waited

It thrived

Basking in the sunshine 

Blooming time approaching 

No buds

I waited

It continued 

Growing in good soil, drinking pure water

Doing what dahlias are created to do with

No flower

No bud

No hope?

Yet, I waited

Then

It budded 

Round, smooth swelling

In anticipation of

A flower 

I waited

I waited

I waited some more

Then

Behind schedule… My schedule?

It bloomed

A single yellow pinwheel of petals

Right on time, the Creator’s time

A gift

Today’s gift. Worth the wait.

Gray Day

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In the beginning when God created, the world contained the substances and processes to produce today’s gray, foggy day.  A gray day.  God’s creation.

In the beginning when God created all, even the stuff of gray days, he pronounced his creation good.  So, I’m not complaining.  In the midst of the grayness, if one pays attention, one can find surprising moments of delight, also the work of the Creator.

In the beginning when God created, he had a plan.  Today is part of that plan.  Gray day or not, pay attention to the gifts the Creator sends your way. 

  ______________ today’s gift, from God the Creator to you.

Around the Corner

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The trail I walk on just about every morning is a mostly flat meandering path following a creek.  There are woods, fields and marshes that change with the seasons.  Today’s flowers are different from a month ago. Yet day by day things pretty much remain the same.

Sometimes unexpected things come along that surprise and delight.  Like this morning.  I was walking along, turning a corner that bends the path into a swampy area, when I met this curious traveler. 

We stood facing each other for a few minutes, long enough for me to get out my phone and snap a few pictures.  Delightful.

Today, I turned a corner that I’ve walked hundreds of times seeing the same scene almost every time, until today. A surprise.  A gift.  And then more.

So it is with life.  We travel in our day-to-day routines.  We work. We play. We struggle. We enjoy.  We fret.

We worry about what’s next, what’s around the next corner.  It’s impossible to tell.  Yet the One who created fawns and flowers walks with us as we travel our straight and crooked paths.  He tells us there’s no need to worry. 

So today, praise God who has all our corners, beginning to end, in view. Praise the one who reminds us “Do not be afraid… you are mine.”  Isaiah 43:1  Today’s gift.

“This is my Father’s world… O let me not forget…”