Believe it or not! – Page 23

Weekly Photo Challenge: Between – 3

Posted on December 28, 2011December 28, 2011 by Katharine

Between Frost and a Hard Place

I am not sure what this phenomenon is called, but it is winter weather and it is beautiful.

The nearest I can describe it is that a heavy frost was forming on a breezy morning and the results were that the frost formed only on the sides of slender things, such as twigs and wires.

frosted bush — Frosted Bush, sorry the file is huge. I took this long ago when I knew not what I was doing.

Except that actually, it was a sort of foggy morning, so perhaps the fog was freezing on the sides of things, in gorgeous crystals that extended like pennants from twigs. I don’t know.

Some of you northerners help me out, here.

Anyway, I have a photo; it happened.

Then when the breeze picked up enough to sway branches, the frost began falling off, tinkling like the tiniest bells, falling over the ground in glittery shards in the sunlight.

It was a most awesome morning.

I’ll never forget it.

Believe it or not!, Blessings of Habit, Inspiring, Photos, Scripture, Wisdom

Strength Rising

Posted on December 28, 2011December 30, 2011 by Katharine

We once knew a man so strong, he could lift a FULL 50-gallon hot water tank and carry it out of our house. What must it have weighed?

He also lifted one corner of our barn when we needed to put a new pole under the roof.

On each occasion, we had only asked him if we could borrow a dolly or a housejack.

He shrugged.

He did not have those tools. Wonder why not?

He had strenth. He was accustomed to lifting motors from cars and rebuilding them, so his muscles were trained for heavy work.

What kind of heavy character-work would it take to develop that type of strength in character?

How do we achieve strength in character? Where does it come from?

As does physical strength, strength of character develops from use. Each undertaking begins with small steps toward small goals. Our friend could not lift a barn when he was 18, but he worked at developing that strength because he wanted to lift heavy things.

In the same way, the heavy points of character become easier to carry out when we have worked hard to develop the strength.

Think about it. What are you good at? I know a man who excels at arriving late. Likely it began with hitting the snooze button when he was a teen. I know a lady who organizes huge catering events, regularly. Likely that began with learning to cook as a teen. Be it good or bad, your most prevalent strengths, abilities, or skills began with a single step.

And your future most-prevalent-strength can come from a single step you take today.

Your new strength could be in forging forward, no matter the pain. Or you could specialize in giving up at the first twinge.

Your new strength could be in creating. Or it could be in destroying.

There is one strength that I wish we all could develop: the ability to give and accept help. So many refuse to give; so many refuse to accept.

There is One Giver of a bottomless well of all-conquering help, Who ever lives to help us. I am learning to accept His help, His strength, more each day, and to extend it to others–baby steps that could lead to a real strength, someday.

Will you join me?

The weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength. 1 Corintians 1:25

_______________

image via wikipedia

Believe it or not!, Inspiring, Photos, Scripture, Wisdom

The Gift of Joy

Posted on December 27, 2011December 23, 2013 by Katharine

What in the world is “joy to the world”?

MEGA JOY!! (Photo credit: Jeanette’s Ozpix)

People can be confused about life if they ignore the Owner’s manual. That’s okay as long as in our mistakes, we seek the Bible, where we find every necessary explanation.

Regarding joy, we find it is a gift from the Spirit of the Living God. (Galatians 5:22)

This gift, the angels tell us, seems to have come simultaneously with the birth of His Son. (Luke 2:10) Amazing, going far beyond the usual joy at a successful birth of a son, this joy seems to know no bounds, and is the soul’s antidote to the worst of evil. (Matthew 5:11-12)

Limitless, unrestrainable joy can be ours. Like a deep current under the surface waters of the streams of our lives, we can have this hidden, mysterious constant: joy.

But only if we have the Spirit that is Holy. Our having joy depends on nothing less.

For this reason, we find all sorts of encouragement to contentment in God’s Word.

Paul showed us that he had arrived at being able to possess himself with contentment, no matter what the circumstances. (Philippians 4:11-12) Lots of incredibly hard things happened to Paul, (2 Corinthians 4:8-9) so we should consider him a reliable instructor in contentment, and he encouraged us to be content, no matter what.

Contentment is a choice, and depends on our obedience, and nothing less.

Ah, but happiness—where does it fit? Jesus was not always happy, (Luke 13:34) and neither was Paul. (Acts 23:1-3) Happiness is a normal, natural response to our happenings. It is a feeling, an honest reaction, to life, and nothing more.

When we lose something, be it possessions, reputation, or loved ones, we are not happy. No.

We can draw, though, upon that miraculous joy, ever residing in the core of our beings (if we actually have it, have that gift of Jehovah God’s Spirit.) We can rise above happiness to contentment, on the strength of that joy.

Not all things bring happiness, but we can learn to walk in contentment, if only we receive the gift He stands ready to give us—true joy.

_________________

Image by Fergal of Claddagh via Flickr

Believe it or not!, Good ol' days, Inspiring, Scripture, Wisdom

The Best Gift I Ever Received

Posted on December 12, 2011December 11, 2011 by Katharine

Receive

You can build
On sand and be filled
With hopes that just wash away.

But there’s a Rock
That will unlock
All the fears you have of dying.

He wants to give life to you
And all He’s asking of you
Is to receive.

All the time
That you’ve been blind
He’s opened His love to you.

And now He’s here;
He’s calling in your ear,
Asking you to love Him, too.

He’s breathing life in you
And all He’s asking of you
Is to receive–

Receive.

Your life.

I never thought it could happen,
What happened to me:
That I could see Jesus
And be set free.

Oh, but I saw Him.
I loved Him.
And I saw me.
I saw the real me.

And so I got down on my knees
And I asked Him to help me believe
And I received.

I received.

My life.

—Annie the Poet

Christian singer/songwriter, Annie Herring sin... — Annie

Believe it or not!, Photos

Weekly Photo Challenge: Celebration

Posted on December 11, 2011 by Katharine

We recently went to the Garvin Gardens light display in Hot Springs, AR. It was beautiful, but outside of a brief nod to the Santa stuff, it was mostly not even about Christmas, let alone about the Nativity.

Shown here is a water feature that includes a tree transformed by night in to a blue “willow” with only light strings. Beautiful, but no cigar.

There also was a pagoda that was terribly fun to stand inside and gaze upward. It looked like being inside an explosion, I suppose, but what actual significance did it have?

Lastly, I captured a peacock made of lights. A peacock.

Oh well.

We celebrate what we do not know, I suppose.

Believe it or not!, Inspiring, Photos, Wisdom

An Incredible Gift

Posted on December 8, 2011June 3, 2016 by Katharine

fern She was incredibly poor.

A girl I’ll call Sharon lived down the country road from our house, in a piece of rental property meant to be a hunters’ cabin. Drafty, leaky, and termite-infested, it at least provided some privacy for Sharon’s family: her unemployed parents and her 10-year-old baby sister.

When the church brought us meals after one of my children was born, and it was too much food for us, we shared it with Sharon and her family. I worried that they might not enjoy all those types of foods, but they assured us they loved all foods. Then they returned all those empty Cool-Whip cartons, carefully washed and dried. Only once did her mother ask for $25 for food, and when she had finished shopping, she brought me the change she had not needed.

Sharon was trying to finish high school and keep out of trouble, bless her. I enjoyed her calm and sure personality a lot. Although she was a teenager and I was near 30, she seemed bonded to me and would call me to chat, sometimes. Towards the end of each conversation she would mention some trouble she or a family member was having and we would discuss it for a few minutes. Only if I promised I would pray for her, would she end the conversation. That always touched me so.

Before long, she married and the young couple had their first child. She called me and asked me to come visit and see the house her teen husband had built for her. I was amazed at this building made of plywood, inside and outside, floors and ceilings, with the interior walls painted a pale blue. Sharon had actually used a feather duster dipped in paint to make fancy designs on the paint in the front room. A cast-iron wood stove in the center of the house cranked out more heat than I needed, but it was to keep the baby warm.

One day Sharon rang my doorbell and said she had a gift for me. She and her husband and baby were moving far away and it was her way of saying good-bye. There, on my porch stood a small table her husband had made. It was primitive, about on the order of a house made only of plywood, but it was sturdy and painted pale blue with feathery designs on it.

I could hardly believe that Sharon, in her poverty, would think to give anyone anything. It was so touching to me. I have cherished that little table for a long time, using it for a fern stand on the porch in summer and indoors in winter. It didn’t match a thing I had, but I wouldn’t think of parting with that incredible gift.

Believe it or not!, Inspiring, Photos, Wisdom

The Gift of Peace

Posted on December 7, 2011December 3, 2015 by Katharine

Serenity

Tranquility, calmness, peacefulness, quietude, stillness, composure, coolness, poise, contentment, repose, mellowness . . .

WHAT on earth is peace on earth?

We write poems about it, take classes to learn it, build our houses to achieve it, take vacations to find it elsewhere, and even try screaming to see if we can’t get a little of it . . .

. . . “and QUIET!”

Peace in the sky and on earth... It’s more than the opposite of war. It cannot be bought for any price. In fact, some of the poorest people possess it. Some of the richest also possess it, along with some of the saddest and the happiest. It also knows no color, no rank, no age, and no gender.

It sounds indefinable, but it is not. It just passes all understanding.

The definition? Peace is a fruit of intimate communion with Jesus Christ.

Anything else that masquerades as peace is false, will fall, will fail, will fly away.

Facts are, constantly working hard to capture all the runaway part of your own self-manufactured peace and keep them somehow glued together is not a very peaceful existence.

Getting the Prince of Peace to do it for you is—umm—peaceful. He just gives us peace, His peace.

Of course, such a great gift would be wrapped and need to be unwrapped before we could use it, right?

The wrapping is Jesus, Himself, and the unwrapping is as easy as letting go—and as difficult.

Actually, this gift is a trade.

We give up our own peace and trade it to Him for His peace, as when we trade in a bent, sweaty token for a train ride–trade it for the ride, itself. And He paid for the ticket.

And our hands were what bent and soiled it.

So simple, some people let it insult them. Some people are so accustomed to a difficult peace that they disdain something so simple.

How sad.