Sunday, our Sabbath Day

Proverbs 3:6

In everything you do, put God first, and he will direct you and crown your efforts with success.

Revelation 2:4

”Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.”

•• Thus says the Lord our God ••

 

Thoughtful Study

In everything you do put me first and I will direct you and crown your efforts with success.

Putting God first sounds so simple. But our world, the flesh, and the devil are at war in our attempts at being true to God. Of course we all have things in our daily life that keep us from setting aside time to be with Jesus. If this is only an occasional event then it’s simply being human. It’s our “natural” way forward. But you yourself know when this pattern of setting  priorities straight, if it’s shifting, you know it’s time to watch out! When this happens Jesus is no longer your first priority.

When we are in touch with Jesus we are on our way to live joyfully and we stay close to Him. This closeness with him gives us a purpose driven life. When we make Jesus our top priority all things always fall into their proper place.
As we walk with and delight ourselves in Jesus and make him first, we walk in the Light of His Presence.

This is when he opens up the way and the path before us. He is bringing success to our efforts.

 

••••••••••

Psalm 37:4

Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.

1 John 1:7

If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His son cleanses us from our sin.

 

A m e n 

My Prayer

Good Evening……

I am wrapping up my week. I’m flat on my back on the floor. Doing a little stretching, a little thinking, and breathing deep in my thoughts. My gardening week was helping me to keep my engine going. When I garden I’m in my essence. It’s my joyful place. I am thinking about nothing but the task I’m involved in. I’m probably scooting inside or along  the outside of a garden bed on my gardening rump cushion. About as close as one can get to the soil. It’s where I loose myself in the task at hard. Then a 🐜 bites me and my reality comes into focus. But the point is, nothing in the world can harm me or distract me when I’m gardening. Time is of no matter. I’m immersed in creating and tending and digging and making everything look all new again. It’s a journey I treasure each time I’ve a new assignment. Then… there are the people whose gardens I tend. What are they doing when I’m gardening for them. My connections with them are generally brief, but we each are on our given missions.

At the end of my week I think about the tasks, the people, the gardens I cared for, and since it is now evening time, I bring my tiny efforts to my creator and I pray for those whose gardens and lives I may have touched during this week.

•••• my evening prayer ••••

Dear Lord, tonight I pray for everyone who might be needing hope, your strength and your encouragement.
Please come to each one of them now. I offer this prayer now that you would work in their hearts. Dry any tears. Take away their fears. Be their healer, their comforter and provide for each one. You know who is struggling and you even know their names. Please bring them your compassion and your mercy. May they all feel your presence like never before. In your holy name Jesus, I pray. Thank you for my full and wonderfully powerful week.

A M E N 

Sabbath Sunday, Mother’s Day

Proverbs 22:6

Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he shall not depart from it.

As a Mother, I reflect on the many ways  in which I trained up my own children.

Spending quality time with them, reading stories to them, teaching them about responsibility, leading them by my hand, setting a good example and keeping a quiet but strong motherly spirit with them. I always taught them about Jesus, took them to children’s church, drove them to many church youth activities, volunteered to go on church field trips, ate dinner with them every Wed night at the church supper and we always said our prayers at night… on our knees before bedtime. They memorized scripture and always attended Vacation Bible School. We had tasks and chores and tons of fun times at the beach. I picked them up from school every day. Taught them how to be kind and loving to others. Sang to them and played the piano with them. Baked tons and tons of cookies for and with them and when they were little they each learned how to cook their favorite dinner. They learned how to set the table for dinner, how to clear the table and load the dishwasher and prepare their own lunches for school. We had rules and chores and they were respectful of working together with me for our little family. They knew that if we took care of our rooms and our chores that on weekends we could then spend time doing fun things together.

Their upbringing was my first priority. I spent tons of time with them and never once went anywhere without them with me. We were always together.

These days they now have grown children of their own and they share with me the things they are doing with their own children. Very much the same as when they themselves were little.

And so the torch is passed, so to speak. The life cycle of parents and children doesn’t much change with time. And we all do the best job we can. Nothing perfect, no regrets but always celebrating great love between parents and children. And thanking our great and faithful God for leading us in the great parental adventure. Always praying for the best for each of our children. Our God knows all the details and never leaves our side in the parenting journey. How grateful we are to know that Jesus was always with us and with them and He still is. So many blessings. So much love and caring. Our God is so good to all of us. We are so grateful.

Thank you Jesus for your precious gift of parenting. 

A M E N

Sunday sabbath musings …….

Butterflies…..birds…….flowers…puffy blue clouds and branches with buds. If we think individually on each single one for a few moments, we can see that they are all living things. Each carefully created to enhance each other, to bring beauty to our world, each dancing in a breeze or the wind and each arriving in the “spring.” They are seasonally  predictable, yet wondrous, colorful, magical and they each bring us contentment.

Contemplative thoughts for this holy Sabbath Day, bringing us to gratitude and praise. Heaven on earth in our day. Praises and glorious alleluias we sing, to our Father in Heaven. Thanks be to our God.

* a m e n *

AMEN

BIRDS AND BLOOMS

April, 2024….Bloom Time

May, 2024….Spring Magic

These colorful magazines with 55 plus pages of colorful and and great photos of birds and blooms are available for you to enjoy, if you would like to participate in our “reader lend” activity. We are happy to drop them by your location today, and then retrieve them in one week to pass along to the next in line person. Just send us an email and we will bring them by as a lend. First come,  first served. It’s a great day to be indoors reading, and maybe listening to quiet and peaceful music while reading these prolific “pubs.”

HAPPY SUNDAY!

HOPE – Sunday the Sabbath, April 28, 2024

Proverbs 23:17-18

Do not let your heart envy sinners, but always be zealous for the fear of the LORD.

There is surely a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off. 

••••••••••••••••

Of course you’ll encounter trouble. But behold a God of power who can take any evil and turn it into a door of hope.

Jesus in my Day – April 27, 2024

2 Thessalonians 3:16

Now May the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you.

•••••••••••

Jesus, you are my Lord. You Lord are my peace. You give me peace at all times. I know that the deep hole in my heart can only be filled by your peaceful presence in me. Often I try to fill my life with ways that will relieve my emptiness. Or I even pretend I have no empty feelings. Sometimes I am not even sure why I feel empty. If I can admit my neediness, this is only a small part of my battle. I must believe that you will supply all my need. 

Jesus I know that as your follower, you have promised me peace. Peace is your gift to me and it’s a free gift that you lovingly bestow. I receive this gift and admit my needs and confess my hearts desire to you. All I must do is tell you ….Jesus…..I receive your peace. 

Philippians 4:19

My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

John 14:27

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

Northern Alexandria- Native Plant Sale

TODAY ONLY….! 

Jesus In my Day – April 25, 2024

Psalm 22:11

Teach me your way, O LORD; lead me in a straight path because of my oppressors.

James 1:2

Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various  trials.

 

••••••••••

When you have trials and trouble you are being given the opportunity to come closer to me. If you stay to feel distressed, turn those times around and talk with me. It you have pain or problems, this is your indication that you have a constant need for me. Create some brief prayers. Phrases that help you center your discontent and share these phrases with me; for example, Help me, Jesus, Give me your peace, Show me your way. Use these small phrases as your vitamins and minerals. Your happiness and your health can help you when you recall and speak these phrases to Jesus. These phrases can help draw you near to me and you can actually rejoice in your trials. You must train yourself to use prayer. If you’ve got a collection of phrases and prayers  at the ready, ask the Holy Spirit to guide you. Practice saying them. Create familiar prayers so that your defense arsenal is at the ready. You will I claim your prayers then and the enemy will retreat. I, Jesus will then draw near to you.

James 4:7-8

Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, you double-minded. 

Psalm 143:8

Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul. 

“In the Dirt” Gardening

Hello Gardening Friends, 

We have recently updated our business card so that we could display it in our community newsletter, rather than the lengthy text Classified Ad that we ran every month for the last few years. Frankly, it was not only a lengthy Ad, it was also necessary to continually update it. And so we have teamed up with a graphic artist and created a 1/8 page color Ad that will appear beginning in April , in the Parkfairfax Forum Newsletter and the Fairlington Community Newsletter. We are hoping this will be easier for everyone to find our business contact info. 

On the back of our card we identified four (4) key service items, if you will, that we offer….. which will give you a better sense of our hands-on gardening approach.

First on this list is “in the dirt” gardening. We wanted to give you a snipet about our style, and for us “in the dirt” is simple and suggests hands on gardening. We are definitely in your dirt when we book an appointment to come and work in your garden. We are a staff of one, namely moi,”“Contessa.” We do employ a couple helpers, but the key to our true gardening work and style is to dig dirt, remove weeds from your dirt, till and work your soil with our hands and add fertilizer, compost and rich organic matter into you beds. We garden with our own hands and a large dose of TLC (tender loving care.) We often remove plantings, divide them, reposition/transplant them and work them back into the soil where they can grow successfully and produce for you. The point being, that sometimes plant life has grown to the point that it needs a new home. Or it’s become way overgrown for the space it’s in, or it’s looking sickly because it has a bug or a blight. It could be because it’s planted in too much sun or too little sun. And sometimes it has grown so large it is crowding another plant right beside it…..that wants more room.

The real point is that when we evaluate our preparation of your beds, we will definitely get down “in the dirt” with our hands, our garden tools, and our “gardening soul.” You see, for us, it’s a manual and a spiritual endeavor. We have found our soul in all your gardens. Digging in the soil is definitely our “call” and our happy place. It’s where we can be close to nature, the earth (dirt) and our great and all loving God. He is with us and we are with Him. Rest assured that we will give your garden, the plants, and the soil, our very best effort. And we will give our best effort to you also. We also give our best, to our Lord and our God. He is our constant and ever loving companion. This is our blessing, and we take it very seriously. We are called to help you and glorify our God. So “in the dirt” gardening is our gift to you.

We provide the following service items to everyone, upon request.

• In the Dirt” Gardening
• Four Seasons Bed Preparation
• Monthly Maintenance Contracts
• Nursery Visits By Appointment

In our next blog post we will address:

“Four Season’s Bed Preparation”

”Contessa” says…..it’s a very good thing!