Friday Photo - The Prince of Peace

This picture was taken during a backpacking trip in Virginia. I loved how Glen was positioned between those two mounds of rock, steadily, step by step, climbing up and over the mountain.

A surprising thing to many who begin backpacking is that it is almost always a series of ups and downs. Up one elevation, down into a valley, and up again, over and over and over.   This is such a representation of our lives.  Things are going great, but then something stirs things up.  Then things go great again.  Thankfully, for those of us who know the Lord Jesus, we can find peace not in our surroundings or our situations, but in our Savior, who is the Prince of Peace.

Not a Friday Photo

 Today is my birthday, and to celebrate, I am posting one of my favorite birthday photos.

This picture was taken the morning of my 60th birthday. Our family spent the week at the beach, including our two oldest grandchildren. 

The morning of my birthday, I sat on the deck with a cup of coffee and watched the sunrise.  My grandson, Jack, came out to share this special moment with me, and I reflected on how great the Lord has blessed me through the years.  This is one of my most precious memories, not because of the beautiful sunrise, but because it was shared just between Jack and me.  Jack is a young man now and I love being with him just as much, perhaps even more, than I did then.

   

My morning coffee

My birthday buddy.

             

        

Friday Photos - "And He shall direct thy paths."

This picture is from one of our backpacking trips.  We were hiking on the Appalachian Trail from Three Forks, in Georgia.  We went northbound as far as time would allow, and returned to camp along the creek at Three Forks.  The next day, we went southbound to the summit of Springer Mountain.  Along the way, we came to this spot where the sun was shining down on the trail.  I think we have all had moments in our lives when the Lord so "directed our path" that it seemed as if a bright heavenly light was shining on it. 

"In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths."

Proverbs 3:6 

 

A Smile on the Wind

 A Sweet Olive tree, or osmanthus fragrans (literally meaning "flower fragrant"), is a broadleaf, evergreen shrub.

I have had a Sweet Olive tree in my yard almost all my life.  

As a young girl, there was one outside my bedroom window, and I loved to open the windows wide so I could inhale the lovely fragrance.  

Five years after we moved into our house, someone gave me a Sweet Olive tree, and it has grown well.  It produces its sweet-smelling flowers multiple times a year, which always takes me to my childhood home in my mind.

There is an interesting thing about these tiny blossoms, though.  Sometimes you can smell them hundreds of feet away, but you may not smell them in your own backyard.  When Glen, Ellie, and I are out walking, the smell will stop me in my tracks.  I want to breathe in as much of the aroma as possible before taking another step.  The scent calms me, soothes me, and almost always makes me smile. It is a smile on the wind. I find it an excellent example of the Lord to send me a scent to bless my heart, from someone else's yard.

There are times in our lives when something we have done, perhaps without even realizing it, becomes a blessing to someone.  The simplest of these is probably the smile.  Smiling at someone, especially if they don't expect it, can have a profound impact on a person.  Sometimes it can change their whole outlook on the day.  Maybe it encourages them to smile at the next person they encounter.  A smile portrays kindness, cheerfulness, and friendship.  When coming in contact with a person, even briefly, what better thing can we impart to them than kindness, cheerfulness, and friendship?

As we go through our days, we can send the sweetness of our smiles to everyone. May our smiles, like the smell of the Sweet Olive tree, bring smiles to faces and joy to hearts.

For His merciful kindness is great toward us: 

And the truth of the LORD endureth for ever. 

Praise ye the LORD. 

Psalm 117:2

A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: 

Proverbs 15:13

A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: 

and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.

Proverbs 18:24

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