Blessings...

Today is one of those Fall days that you want to wrap around your body and save for a cold winter's night when you feel as if you will never be warm again. The sky is blue, the breeze is just enough to cool my warm cheeks while I try to find a comfortable position on a deck chair. My eyes begin to close, my heartbeat relaxes, my mind begins to take a journey down some long forgotten paths. My college granddaughter just left...a brief hello, I love you visit, but a visit that tugged at my heart. What a blessing. And speaking of blessings.... There is no sound out here, even though my deck faces a wildlife preserve. No bird singing, no rustling of drying weeds, not even a plane going overhead...just pure silence. A time to listen to the whispers of God. A time to remember and embrace the blessings that He has so generously given, even when I was blindly unaware of them. That happens so often in life,..I moan and complain when things don't go my way, when I feel He is withholding something I think is so very, very important, yet my prayers seemingly go unanswered. How foolish of me! I drift back to some clouded memories, times when I questioned but somehow He took those problems and molded them into blessings that changed my life for good and not for the bad that could have come out of a selfish desire. My faith was so shallow then, yet He took my hand, walked with me even through some strong willed actions, loved and protected me while letting me choose some paths that He knew were not of His choosing. The beauty of free will, the blessing of God's protection as we grow in Him. Count your blessings, name them one by one, count your blessings see what God has done! How many times have I sung that old hymn and never really absorbed the words! Yes, life's 'billows' have tossed me some heavy burdens. Some days the shadows were so deep, the sorrow so heavy, yet He lifted me up, He made me to stand and amid those conflicts He brought about blessings. Blessings of love, family, friendship, hope, strength, and victory over discouragement. Yes, sometimes our fleshly desires must be denied by the One who loves us so much, that even though His blessings may be veiled to my eyes I know nonetheless, He blesses at just the right moment. I'm glad I took the time to rest in His arms on this warm, beautiful fall day. If I just take the time to be still and listen, He will whisper blessings, and He has.

PATHS.....

I took a walk this morning. Nothing earth shattering about that I guess, except this one took me on a different path, which got me to thinking about my life during this season of time. Fall is in the air. I love fall. It surprises me, it excites me, it hints of expectation. It begins to sneak in its colors as if not to offend the beauty of summer. Soon it will be unable to hold back and it will explode with breathtaking colors, shouting proudly, before softly drifting to the ground in lackluster tans, giving in to its former beauty and embracing the boldness of the season it just had but must now give way to winter. Does that not apply to me as well? I'm not sad,..I've had a wonderful 'fall' season. I held on to my youthfulness as strongly as those leaves clung to the branches, but now hopefully, gracefully giving way to another season. Those dried up leaves still have a purpose....they don't just curl up and die, they nurture the earth, they settle in and give hope for the newness of life as their dry pieces cuddle down beneath the soft earth enriching the soil for the new seedlings of spring. I pray my life has brought that kind of enrichment to others. I've walked many different paths in my life....childhood, young adult, wife, mother, friend, confidant, believer. All had called me in different directions, not unlike the forks in the paths I walk on each morning. I made some good choices, some not so good, some difficult ones and some I just choose to forget, but with each choice I grew. I grew because of the nurturing I received from others, their wisdom and love teaching me lessons they had themselves accumulated from their forebears and their experiences. They nurtured me, I hope I have nurtured even a few. I pray my life has a bit more ahead of it, but for now I am content to know that each path has a purpose, each season has reason and, as a believer, if I embrace His Word, if I walk in His ways...and if I acknowledge Him, He will and has directed my paths. Proverbs 3:6