coffee
In the morning and afternoon I love to sit in our sunroom, watching the birds at our feeders and have coffee with God.
My sunroom: red geranium, green plant & red flowered cactus
Red flowered cactus
bird feeder and hummingbird feeder
This quiet time of solitude with God and nature gives me peace and makes me happy.
What are ways you use to draw closer to God and to refill? Leave your comments below.
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When Ray and I recently traveled to Texas (and went through what seemed like the storm from hell), we stayed with his mom Judy and his stepdad Leonard Smyth. They live in a close-knit home association’s community by a beautiful, peaceful lake near Quitman, TX. They had hung a bird feeder and a hummingbird feeder on a shepherd’s hook by their back deck. Ray went fishing while he was there, which he loves.Â
bird and hummingbird feeders on back deck
lake by Ray’s parents’ house near Quitman, TX
Ray fishing at his parents’ house on the lake, Texas
I decided when we came home that I’d buy a bird feeder and a hummingbird feeder to hang near our sunroom outside. My favorites are the bright red cardinal, the mourning dove, and the little sparrows.Â
On our trip to Texas, that was the first time I saw a hummingbird in person. It’s been a little cold still for the hummingbirds here in the Kansas City, MO, area. I haven’t seen one yet, but Ray says we should soon and to watch for them.
bird feeder and hummingbird feeder
My sunroom: red geranium, green plant & red flowered cactus
Red flowered cactus
Each morning I have a cup of coffee or chai with Natural Bliss cream, my little indulgence since I’ve given up Coke (a miracle, because I’ve been addicted to it for years!). I pray and watch the birds.
Recently I bought a chair for Ray to join me out there when he’s not working or busy. I asked our daughter Heather if this makes us seem like “old people” to watch birds, lol. She said no, just whatever makes us happy.
me and my husband Ray
The birds are funny to me. (I am easily amused.) They chirp, sing praise to God, and sometimes fuss at each other, like an old married couple.Â
Image courtesy of Ambro at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
The birds give me a picture of God’s care for us as His children. As I watch them, I’m amazed that God knows every bird by name, sees it wherever it flies, and feeds it.Â
“What is the price of two sparrows–one copper coin? But not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it.” – Matthew 10:29
God is even more concerned for you and me. He loves you with an everlasting love and cares about every detail of your life. Rest in that love.
Want to learn more about growing closer to God and about His love for you? Click here for my eBook, Walking With God, at Amazon.
I’m purging and packing, getting ready to move into our new rental home. This morning I ran out of boxes and sent Ray out in the rain to get some more. He came home sans boxes and when I came into the bedroom, he had on his Captain America pajama pants and was about to climb back into bed.
“What are you doing?” I asked, instantly up in arms.
“Nobody had any boxes. There’s nothing to do.”
“There’s PLENTY to do, like the garage! I’m going to find some more boxes for us!”
Don’t you love my sweet, gentle spirit? But I figure like the Proverbs 31 woman, if I can set about my work vigorously, my arms being strong for the task and holding the distaff (what IS a distaff?), it’s my job, too, to make sure my family isn’t being lazy and are getting rid of things they don’t need.
You need the right tools
Instantly I raced off in the car to make one of the stores in town give me their boxes, lol. The Family Center staff was generous with their broken-down boxes. An elderly man named Bill, walking with a slight limp and reminding me of Jacob who had wrestled with God, helped me. (Then the man said, “Let me go; it’s almost dawn.” But Jacob answered, “I won’t let you go until you bless me.” – Genesis 32:26)
“You got something to put these boxes together?” Bill asked, sorting through the pile on the floor to find me the best ones.
“Yes, good ol’ duck tape,” I said. He smiled approvingly. Everyone knows that duck tape is a miracle worker. You need the right tools for the job.
Duck tape
I’m moving in style
Bill loaded the boxes for me on a platform cart and told me to come back for some more boxes Friday around 11 a.m. after their delivery truck arrives. I thanked him and went back home to spur on Ray to work.
Of course, I ran out of duck tape and had to go back to the dollar store for more. I was delighted to find fashionably colored duck tape, instead of the normal, boring, silver tape – colored hearts, paint splotches, bright pink, and purple tiger stripes. Now I can move in style. 🙂 If I run out of tape again, I’ll get the purple tiger stripes. Yes, I am easily amused.
Colored heart duck tape
I noticed one of the boxes had the words on it Wild Delight. Did you know this is how God feels about you? He loves you so much!
God has wild delight for you!
God even cares about the little things you love, like the colored heart duck tape I found today and the sunroom at our new rental home. I’ve been praying for years for a home with a sunroom!
This sunroom has black screen on the windows, much like the screened-in porches of southern homes, but I could envision removing the screen and replacing it with beautiful glass windows to look outside at the birds.
I can’t wait to move and have a cup of coffee with God in my sunroom, watching the birds, that first morning. 🙂
“He persists in loving us with unending, outrageous love.”  – Francis Chan, Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God
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Want to know more about prayer and God’s love for you? Just click here for my ebook Walking With God.