February 25, 2024 a thought for today, He who lives by the church shall serve the church. German Proverb

Yesterday’s first upload was “3:00pm”. I didn’t a photo of a time piece with the three o’clock time showing. So I gave it some thought. I came up with the idea of tea time, I think it is typically between 3:00 and 5:00. 

The next upload for yesterday was “song birds”. I use to have pet birds. Over time I had finches and parakeets. One time I had a mynah bird, not so much a song bird, he was a character. So I had to take what I could get for a song bird. Most of them in our area of the world have a song of some sort I think.

The third upload for yesterday was “starts with the letter Y”. I picked an easy one to find....yellow. I took several shots of yellow things, street lights, words on signs in yellow. In the end I picked this bag from McDonalds with all the yellow Ms. 

Life today. We had another snow about two inches deep last night. Brian came to clear the cars and my driveway so I could get to the store and to church this morning. I think it would have melted enough by this morning to get to church. The sun was bright yesterday and helped clear it a bit. Lowell and Rebecca invited us to dinner at York for the evening.....always a comfort and smile. 

Church was good. We had a few more people this morning which is always nice. I have had a struggle with some personal ideas that needed some adjustments. I think maybe the message as well as one of the hymns may have started my thinking in a more promising direction.

The first upload for today is “starts with the letter U”. In this case I use the word unlock. As a prop I used the master lock and key.  

I have had a minor problem of a different nature the past many Sundays. I pay to get the local Sunday paper delivered. It has become a sporadic delivery. Many time completely missed, other times in my neighbors, who don’t subscribe to the paper. I have had a virtual contact to complain several times. One of those being again today. It use to be we would get the paper on our porch under a roof. In the past years or so it has been delivered in the driveway, front yard somewhere, or the street gutter. That means going out to pick it up in rain, snow, sleet and heat....Christmas tip time? Hardly.  

Sunday means refreshing the soul and reflection on life’s journeys. So I will be on the slow and easy side the rest of the day. I already found my photos for today too.

The second photo a day upload for today is “pets”. At present I don’t had pets, I have pet. Those of you know me know about Sweet Pet, my pet an best furry friend.  

The word today is anyone.  There is but one Church in which men find salvation, just as outside the ark of Noah it was not possible for anyone to be saved. Thomas Aquinas.  You can learn from anyone even your enemy. Ovid.  The only freedom I care about is the freedom to do right; the freedom to do wrong I am ready to part with on the cheapest terms to anyone who will take it of me. Thomas Huxley.  Anyone who truly loves God travels securely. Saint Teresa of Avila.  No one is useless in this world who lightens the burden of it to anyone else. Charles Dickens.  Time stays long enough for anyone who will use it. Leonardo da Vinci.  Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm. Publilius Syrus.  Is there anyone so wise as to learn by the experience of others? Voltaire.  If God can work through me, he can work through anyone. Francis of Assisi.  My sore throats are always worse than anyone's. Jane Austen.  How sad it is that these great gentlemen should believe what anyone tells them and do not choose to judge for themselves! But it is always so. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.  God is not external to anyone, but is present with all things, though they are ignorant that he is so. Plotinus.

The last upload I have today is “garden” . I have my indoor plant “garden” but chose to shoot and chose the image of what my  winter garden looks like now.

I picked the article because of the title. I hadn’t really delved into it until  now. “Growth in plants – and people – takes time”. The author started by mentioning how became interested in delving in to house plants. She started with a small fern and a small jade plant purchased at a home improvement store.  A friend gave her a money tree plant. Her garden grew. She gradually came into possession of “more orchids than I care to count, a pothos that’s now six pothos-es, some sort of palm tree, two additional jades and probably others”. Later a fiddle leaf fig joined the family. She mentioned that as the fig grew it went through “transformations” like losing leaves and endured some pruning for shaping. Further in the article she talks about how she has taken cuttings of the fig plant and given them to friends.  She get messages from the friend about how the plants are doing. At one point she offered instruction on how to take the cuttings by cutting off a small branch and putting it in water until it grows roots of its own. She says it takes patience. It can take some time for the roots to show. She waited and waited with the last cutting and was about to give up when she noticed some tiny little sprouts at the base of the plant that was sitting in water. She learned that every day and every week the plant was storing energy and “preparing itself so ....... when the roots emerged, they’d be healthy”. She mentioned that she feels that little babies prepare themselves in the same way.....storing energy and preparing themselves to join the “towering specimens (happy families, successful businesspeople, Insta-perfect lives) around us.” She sees it as “without healthy roots ...... we will never produce fruit and never become that towering tree”. In the growth of the plant roots she learned that “it’s good to be patient with myself and others, because every bit of growth is a process”. It means growth need to be given more time. 

Maybe hamburgers and cheesy potatoes for dinner. 

Joy 

                               Thru the ages