Fall Flowers

How lovely are the flowers after the rain! What a fun excuse to blog after getting away from it for almost 3 months! All summer long I kept saying, "If you want to have flowers you've got to do the work!" Well, it's really a miracle how anything stays alive when the temp gets up to 100 degrees, but I'm glad to witness the miracle of God's beautiful handiwork and have the snapshots to prove it:

 

plumbago

 

 

yellow belle

 

 

begonia

 

 

lantana

 

 

lantana

 

 

lantana 

 

 

blackfoot daisy

 

 

geranium

 

feathery succulent?

 

 

 potted begonias

 

 

home

 

 



Living off the Land

Creating Space for Grace Devotion

Joel 2:21-27

You will have plenty to eat, until you are full, and you will praise the name of the LORD your God, who has worked wonders for you… (v. 26)

I spent my childhood on a farm. We grew lots of plants and animals. At different times we had fields of wheat or alfalfa or peaches; barns full of turkeys or pigs; and sheep or goats or cattle out in the pasture. My parents also had a garden full of vegetables. I guess you could say my mom and dad “lived off the land.” They depended on rain and weather patterns to nurture plants until it was time for harvest. Then they prayed the rain would stop so the hay could be cut and bailed or the peaches would not freeze. And there was always the threat of damaging hailstorms to worry about.

I honestly wonder sometimes how they did it and then I remember. My parent’s faith in God was strong. My dad read from his Holy Bible to his family every night before bedtime, and we all prayed the Lord’s Prayer together.  We attended church on Sundays. If you came to our house you went home with a bag full of vegetables or fruit. We always had enough to eat and enough to give away.

So many years ago when my dad and I were talking about church he asked me if we tithed. He said that giving a tithe was a good thing to do.  And he said he’d never been sorry because it always came back as a blessing.

Heavenly Father,

You give us so much. Some of us are blessed with time, some of us with talents, and some of us with money or produce. Help us to share our first fruits with our neighbors near and far away. We want to please you in all that we do! In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.