A Rare Gift

God gives quietness at last.
~John Greenleaf Whittier~

I am enjoying some much needed quiet and solitude right now.
My husband is off helping his sister.My granddaughter has not
yet arrived for us to babysit and even our cat is sound asleep.
I do not get these moments often enough so I really relish them
for the rare gift that they are.I am one who has always needed
time to myself.Time to be quiet.To think.To read.To pray.
To just be.

Thank you Lord Jesus for this rare and precious gift.
I appreciate it immensely Lord.

Blessings all~Sharon

Round Two

Our granddaughter Hope had a follow up appointment with her doctor today.She was seen recently and diagnosed with a urinary tract infection.Today's appointment revealed it has gotten worse.She seemed to be doing better and then BAM!It was revealed that the apparent lull was only the calm before the storm.At least now our daughter is getting a referral for her to a urologist!And speaking of our daughter...April could use your prayers as well.She is an underemployed single parent and needs more work.Steady work with regular hours and weekends off.Things just keep getting tougher.And I keep praying more and more.And honestly,at times it seems as if God has fled the scene.Which is why we are to look to Him and not at the circumstances themselves.I will confess that His ways are hard to understand at times.Which often leaves me frustrated.But I must continue to trust,continue to ask.And thank Him for the answers.So,please keep us all in your prayers at this challenging time.It's hard for me to watch them struggle and suffer.Thank you all dear readers.

Blessings~Sharon

The Harvest Season

September Song
by
Diane Romanello

"Spring scarce had greener fields to show than these
Of mid September; through the still warm noon
The rivulets ripple forth a gladder tune
Than ever in the summer; from the trees
Dusk-green, and murmuring inward melodies,
No leaf drops yet; only our evenings swoon
In pallid skies more suddenly, and the moon
Finds motionless white mists out on the leas."
- Edward Dowden, In September

Harvest at Arles

c 1888

Vincent Van Gogh

"Smoke hangs like haze over harvested fields,
The gold of stubble, the brown of turned earth
And you walk under the red light of fall
The scent of fallen apples, the dust of threshed grain
The sharp, gentle chill of fall.
Here as we move into the shadows of autumn
The night that brings the morning of spring
Come to us, Lord of Harvest
Teach us to be thankful for the gifts you bring us ..."
- Autumn Equinox Ritual

The Harvest,1883

by

Camille Pissarro

"Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."
Matthew 9:38

Blessings~Sharon

Legacy of the Heart

Change of Seasons
by
David Marty

She's eager and poised for flight,our Hope Ann.
Cornflower blue eyes quickly scanned the
living room this morning for her backpack.
She cannot wait for her Bapa Steve to transport
her to the bus stop.There she will join
her many friends also eager to get to school.
A day of new things to be learned stretches out
before her.Her body is responding well to the
antibiotics removing the UTI from within her.
After a brief scan of the room she spies her backpack and
runs,on summer tanned legs,to retrieve
this carrier of childhood treasures untold.
I observe this frantic pace,this rush of activity
from my perch in the small kitchen that is
adjoining the living room.She does not
want to be late and that is good.But first,
we must stop,and we must pray.And we
must ask the Father of us all to bless and protect
her as she heads off into a world full of unknowns.
We join in a close,hugging circle,the three of us.
Bound by love for each other and by the love
of the Father,we form a prayer hug.Steve and I
draw her close,her almost 8 year old head nearly
reaches our chests.We are short and she is tall.
In this circle of love we join together as Grandparents
and Granddaughter.We thank the Father for His blessings.
My hand moves from Hope's shoulder to Hope's head,like
a blessing of old.We finish praying and I go off to brush my teeth.
A moment later,I am hugged from my left side by our Hope.
"I love you Grandma",she says sweetly as we hug.I tell her I
love her too.I then remind her of Jesus' love for her and that He is
always with her.She grins broadly,this Hope of ours,and says
"yes,He's right here" and points to her heart.We smile and
I wish her a good day.They take off.And I am left alone briefly.
Left to ponder the blessing that just happened.For it was a gift to me.I,
who never knew any of my grandparents.
I,who have no memories of a mother who prayed for and with me.
I was handed a gift to pass on,a legacy of sorts.Hope will have memories
of a praying Grandma.Memories of one who joined her in beseeching the Father
and Lord of all.She will know she is loved and prayed for.And she will have memories.
Good ones.And I thrill at that for children remember such things,I think.
And I want to leave that kind of legacy to this Hope girl of ours.This girl who
does not carry any of my DNA physically,is a granddaughter of my heart and spirit,
if not of my body.

Blessings~Sharon

One

A Garden in September
by
Bill Reid

Lord of all,
May the words that I speak
and the life that I live
be one.
Thank You.

Blessings all~Sharon

Prayer Needed Part 2

Please continue to hold us up in prayer here.Husband continues to cough from time to time.I awoke with a scratchy throat this morning.AND Granddaughter is here today,home from school, as she threw up less than an hour after arriving at school.She also continues to cough.And I am fed up.My spirit and my flesh are not happy with this.I know,I know,I can hear all moms out there thinking"boy,she ought to live in my home."But,please,please,remember,I never had children.I am used to good health when it comes to those ugly things kids bring home from school.But now that we babysit regularly,granddaughter constantly brings unwelcome guests home from school.I know this sounds like I am complaining.Guess I am.I also know I hate down time due to illness.My nature and personality is somewhat(I said somewhat)Type A.I don't like illness on any level to set me or my husband back.AND I absolutely despise sick kids. LOL Not the kids themselves but the fact that they seem to be little germ magnets and I cannot seem to keep ahead of the little"monsters."If you read my post from Sunday you will see the other factors involved in my intense dislike of down time from illness.So,we do covet your prayers here.Our granddaughter missed much school last year due to illness and this year is not starting off well.She has not even been back a full week yet and is already home due to illness.Thank you for your prayers dear readers.

Blessings~Sharon

His Presence

Autumn Morning near Dryman-Stirling,Scotland

Psalm 139

For the choir director: A psalm of David.

1 O Lord, you have examined my heart
and know everything about me.
2 You know when I sit down or stand up.
You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.
3 You see me when I travel
and when I rest at home.
You know everything I do.
4 You know what I am going to say
even before I say it, Lord.
5 You go before me and follow me.
You place your hand of blessing on my head.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too great for me to understand!

7 I can never escape from your Spirit!
I can never get away from your presence!
8 If I go up to heaven, you are there;
if I go down to the grave, you are there.
9 If I ride the wings of the morning,
if I dwell by the farthest oceans,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
and your strength will support me.
11 I could ask the darkness to hide me
and the light around me to become night—
12 but even in darkness I cannot hide from you.
To you the night shines as bright as day.
Darkness and light are the same to you.

13 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body
and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
15 You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,
as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
16 You saw me before I was born.
Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out
before a single day had passed.

Sometimes life can be like walking about in a dense fog.Nothing is clear to us.We grope about blindly for answers.Sometimes we look in the wrong places for those answers to our questions.Very often that is when we feel the most alone.Often we feel abandoned by God.We wonder if He has left us.Or out of fear of condemnation we try to run and hide from Him.This is particularly common,I think,if you did not grow up in a loving and grace filled environment.But,we have His word,which tells us that no matter we are,He is there.When we run He is right there with us.When we hide,He seeks.His love,His presence,will not let us go,child of God.If we fly to the farthest reaches of the universe,He is there.If we swim to the deepest abyss in the deepest ocean,He is there.His presence,always present.Longing to gather us and hold us and love us as His children.He saw us when we were formed within that dark place of our mothers womb.He created every detail that makes us unique.Even in the darkest nights in our lives;when we are filled with sorrow,He is there.His presence,His Holy Spirit,never leaves us.He is as close as the very air that we breathe.Loving,guiding,and correcting when necessary.That amazes me.Causes me to stop.And think.And rejoice that though we may be forsaken by others,He never leaves us.Even when life is confusing.And it seems as if He is hidden by a thick,foreboding fog of circumstances,His presence,His spirit is there watching over us.What joy!What comfort!What a gift!

Bless you all-Sharon

Prayer Needed

Little Girl with Pray Rock

Please keep us in your prayers.
Husband and Granddaughter have picked up a nasty bug of some kind and are coughing,sneezing and congested.Please pray that April and I continue to stay well and that Steve and Hope will be fully healthy soon.I have come to despise illness in all it's varied forms.Most likely due to the fact that I was raised by a chronically ill mother as well as all the hospital and doctor time Steve and I have had in the last 6 years.Can any of you relate?It just can make me cranky if I let it so I have been praying and cleaning with antibacterial stuff and disinfectant stuff A LOT this last few days!So I would surely appreciate prayers on our behalf.We are to babysit a lot in the days to come and I just hate down time due to illnesses.Thanks so very much dear readers.It is much appreciated.

Blessings~Sharon