Uninvited Guests

"The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance."  (2 Peter 3:9)


So...I love me some birds.  I think it's so neat that even after I have not filled my feeders for a few days and they pretty much disappear, I can refill the feeders and within minutes the birds are back...ALL of them.  I love the beautiful birds...of course the cardinal, the chickadee (Kinsey's favorite), the gold finch, the tufted titmouse, and the blue bird.  Sidenote: I currently have no blue birds because the sparrows have taken over their house :(  I get very excited when my yard is filled with beautiful birds, but I have found that I get annoyed when the "ugly" birds, the scavengers, the food hogs come and eat all the bird's food.  So what do I do?  I bang on the window to scare them off!  Even though I like doves (primarily because they are monogamous birds) I tend to bang on the window at them because they are feeder hogs!!  I especially dislike the starlings and the black birds because the starlings are ugly to me, and the black birds remind me of satan. 

God's truth to me about the starlings is this:  "They are my creation; they have a purpose; I love them; and they need fed too."  As I stare out the window at the birds I could care less about, my heart steered toward His people creation.  How many times have I judged someone because of how they looked, or what I felt that they had to offer, by the lifestyle that they choose or by the simple fact that they didn't look or act like me?  (I know!  UGHHH!)  God is sweetly but firmly showing me that ALL of His creation has a purpose and meaning to Him.  Just as the pretty birds need fed, so do the ones we perceive as "ugly".  He wants ALL of His creation to come to Him for the feeding of their souls. 

Who or what is a starling to you?

Magnificent Glory!

Our trip to St. John celebrating 20 years of marriage was absolutely the most magnificent display of God's Glory that I have ever beheld. The sweet and vastly different mix of translucent aqua blue waters against the backdrop of rocky mountains with a splash of green from the rain forest took my breath away every single day that we were there. While visiting, I got the awesome opportunity to take my first stab at snorkeling. I have been a water lover all of my life, but have never had the chance. I could not help screaming through my snorkel with absolute delight as I saw fish that I had only seen behind glass at the aquarium. The Nemos and Doris and so many others that I had never seen were right below my face nibbling at the coral below. Just another awesome display of God's creativity that He blew me away with. I told Mike as I came out of the water, "There's a whole other world under there that God wanted ME to see"!!!This starfish is alive and about the size of both of my hands with fingers spread apart big! He was right near the shore, but I was trying to keep my composure and not jump up and down with excitement at seeing something that I had never seen before! I was a bit scared snorkeling at first, because being the Gladys Cravitz that I am, I was listening to others say that they had seen huge turtle, octopus, and barracuda under there! I didn't know if I was ready to be immersed in that! I just wanted to see the pretty fish that wouldn't hurt me.

The end of each day always left my heart clapping for the Lord at His beautiful creation. From sunrise to sunset, He is in it all...all you have to do is just look for Him.

This view is from atop the mountain near where we stayed. The small dots in the bay are huge sailboats. From each direction there are views just like these. Mike and I took books and magazines to read, but didn't read any of them because we went to a different beach each day and there was a different view. We didn't want to miss a thing, and we didn't!! Yay God!!

These were the views from our back porch. In the evening picture, the mountain in the distance is St. Thomas. Isn't God marvelous!! His Name be Praised!!

God knows my soft heart towards His feathery creations. I love the yellow finch and the cardinal of course which are not in St. John, so He showed me a bird that I had never seen before...the Bananakeet! We filled a bowl full of water and a little sugar to attract them. They are so used to looking for you to feed them, that the first day they landed on Mike's coffee cup. Precious God birds...

Every facet of God's creation is so amazing...