Come unto me ...

"Come unto me,

all you who are weary and burdened,

and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,

for I am gentle and humble in heart,

and you will find rest for your souls.

For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

Jesus (Matthew 11:28-30)

A Girl Scout Was Here

To read this wonderful, little heart-warming story click on this link

The story is by Billy Coffey.

Something to ponder for all of us,

to be loving in deed, not just words.

Annie Got Her Gun

This is a wonderful story which I hope all of you will gain inspiration from.

To read the full article go to the link below.

Annie Got Her Gun

"Aim high at a high mark and you will hit it.

No, not the first time, nor the second, and maybe not the third.

But keep on aiming and keep on shooting.

For only practice will make you perfect.

Finally you'll hit the bull's-eye of success."
From the article

He Is With You

I found this through Chronicles of Yaya Orchid's blog this morning and thought I would share it here.

The Secret ...

The secret of beginning a life of deep awareness and sensitivity
lies in our willingness to pay attention.

Our growth as conscious, awake human beings is marked not so much by grand gestures and visible renunciations as by extending loving attention to the minutest particulars of our lives.

Every relationship, every thought, every gesture is blessed with meaning through the wholehearted attention we bring to it.

In the complexities of our minds and lives we easily forget the power of attention, yet without attention we live only on the surface of existence.

It is just simple attention that allows us truly to listen to the song of a bird, to see deeply the glory of an autumn leaf, to touch the heart of another and be touched.

We need to be fully present in order to love a single thing wholeheartedly.

We need to be fully awake in this moment if we are to receive and respond to the learning inherent in it.

Christina Feldman and Jack Kornfield, Stories of the Spirit, Stories of the Heart

As you simplify ...

As you simplify your life,

the laws of the universe will be simpler;

solitude will not be solitude,

poverty will not be poverty,

nor weakness weakness.
Henry David Thoreau

Knowledge, wisdom

Knowledge is learning something every day.

Wisdom is letting go of something every day.
A Zen proverb

Reduce

Reduce the complexity of life

by eliminating the needless wants of life,

and the labors of life reduce themselves.
Edwin Teale

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Have a lovely day today whatever you do.

Life

Life is not lost by dying;

life is lost minute by minute,

day by dragging day,

in all the thousand small uncaring ways.

Stephen Vincent Benet


Lord make us mindful of the little things

that grow and blossom in these days

to make the world beautiful for us.

W. E. DuBois

Noble art

Besides the noble art of getting things done,

there is the noble art of leaving things undone.

The wisdom of life consists

in the elimination of non-essentials.

Lin Yu Tang

Creative Life

Have a great weekend.

Just As We Are

Good morning.
Here is a little something from the book,
"The Spiritual Maxims of Brother Lawrence".

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In the way of God, thoughts count for little,
love is everything.

Nor is it needful that we should have great things to do.
We can do little things for God;
I turn the cake that is frying on the pan for love of Him.

We search for stated ways and methods of learning
how to love God,
and to come at that love
we disquiet our minds
by I know not how many devices;
we give ourselves a world of trouble
and pursue a multitude of practices to attain to a sense
of the Presence of God.
And yet it is so simple.

How very much shorter it is and easier to do
our common business purely
for the love of God,
to set His consecrating mark on all we lay hands to,
and thereby to foster the sense of
His abiding Presence
by communion of our heart with His!

There is no need either of art or science;
just as we are,
we can go to Him,
simply and with single heart."

The little troubles and worries of life,
so many of which we meet,
may be as stumbling blocks in our way,
or we may make them steppingstones to a noble character and to Heaven.

Troubles are often the tools by which God fashions us for better things.

Henry Ward Beecher

The rainbow

“The bow shall be seen in the cloud.”

- Gen_9:14

The rainbow, the symbol of the covenant with Noah,
is typical of our Lord Jesus, who is the Lord’s witness to the people.

God’s rainbow is hung over the cloud of our sins,
our sorrows, and our woes,
to prophesy deliverance.

It is said that when we see the rainbow the shower is over.

Certain it is, that when Christ comes, our troubles remove;
when we behold Jesus, our sins vanish,
and our doubts and fears subside.
When Jesus walks the waters of the sea,
how profound the calm!

C.H. Spurgeon

Utopian Society

There is a joke operating behind the scene-flats of history. It has as its running gag the ambition to perfect mankind and create a utopian society. In 4,000 years of such hucksterage it has not dawned on the particular activists that every attempt to perfect humanity brings only calamity.

Michael A. Hoffman II ~ Secret Societies and Psychological Warfare
Preface to the 1995 Edition

What is Grace?

Wikipedia defines grace as ~ "unmerited favour"

God's grace is a wonderful gift to humankind. Grace is God's love freely offered to us. We do not do anything to "earn" it.

The grace or love of God, whence cometh our salvation, is FREE IN ALL, and FREE FOR ALL.... It is free in all to whom it is given.

It does not depend on any power or merit in man; no, not in any degree, neither in whole, nor in part.

It does not in anywise depend either on the good works or righteousness of the receiver; not on anything he has done, or anything he is.

It does not depend on his endeavors.

It does not depend on his good tempers, or good desires, or good purposes and intentions;
for all these flow from the free grace of God;
they are the streams only, not the fountain.
They are the fruits of free grace, and not the root.
They are not the cause, but the effects of it.

The above was taken from: John Wesley

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
John 1:14 & 17 ~ KJV Bible

May we all be blessed by God's grace as go about our daily lives.

The Story of the Song Amazing Grace

Life can be ...

... overwhelming at times.

The news these days is nothing but negative. There are things that we need to think about to survive each day.

Sometimes it is hard to put one foot in front of the other, or to stay in a positive mindset.

But, there is help and hope.

Walking out into my gardens, I see things that make me gasp in delight, or say ooohhh, aaahhh. I am reminded of God and thank Him for His wonderful creation, for the Love and Light He sheds on us each and every day. We don't know what each day will bring us, good or bad, or in between, but we can know that He is with us every step of the way. He is our strength when we are weak, He lifts us up when we fall, and with Him we can fly like the eagles.

May we all feel God's loving presence surrounding us as we go about our daily lives.

Have a great weekend

Musings from FL zone 10

The Good Life

"The Good Life" is not defined by possessions, but by pure and utter enjoyment of simplicity.

John Burroughs (18371921) put it like this: "To find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter...to be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a bird's nest or a wildflower in spring these are some of the rewards of the simple life."

Those who take time to find pleasure in the ordinary DO live differently. The simple difference is this: because they have learned to live simply, they have learned to live.

Steve Goodier

Every sunrise

Every sunrise is a present, a gift from God above,
Gift-wrapped with scarlet ribbons and tied with bows of love.

Each day's a new beginning, a time to start anew,
While all the stars are sleeping, and the rose is fresh with dew.

Every day's a new creation, too lovely to ignore,
And we may find a blessing, just outside our door.

We cannot keep the past, like fireflies in a jar;
Nor journey to the future by wishing on a star.

Every sunrise is a blessing, a gift for just today.
Rejoice, my friend, embrace it before it fades away!

~ Author Unknown ~

May we enjoy our gift of today.

A house

A house is made of walls and beams;

a home is built with love and dreams."

Author Unknown

Musings from FL zone 10

Roses and orchids

Good afternoon. Hope you all have had a lovely day today. I went out early to weedwack and do some weeding and trimming. Boy, once that sun reaches a certain point in the sky it starts being miserable. It was a hot, humid time in the gardens. I checked the weather and it was 89 but felt like it was 102, no wonder I was feeling dragged out. I just left some trimmings to be raked up tomorrow morning as I had had enough.

I did get out and took some pictures. I will have a couple of posts of them. This one is of Prosperity roses and Vanda orchids with hamelia patens or firebush in everyday humble garden language. :-)

Have a nice evening and a great day tomorrow.

Click on pictures for larger views.

Musings from FL zone 10

Trust

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart;
and lean not unto thine own understanding.
Proverbs 3:5

Blessed be

Blessed be the Lord,

who daily loadeth us with benefits,

even the God of our salvation.

Psalms 68:19

Noble Art

Besides the noble art of getting things done,
there is the noble art of leaving things undone.
The wisdom of life consists in the
elimination of non-essentials.
Lin Yutang

Precious Privilege

"When you arise in the morning,
think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive -
to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love."

Marcus Aurelius

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