Sheep in our Hay Field

Our adult Sunday School class has been studying Isaiah. Due to miscellaneous "stuff," Dear Heart and I have missed about every other class so God continues to find ways to drop His prophet right in my path! [see Gratitude Attitude post :-)]
     Yesterday afternoon I grabbed my camera to prove what I saw right in our own front yard:

     I had big plans for yesterday, the Sunday before Thanksgiving. Quiet, worshipful, and restful. None of them included chasing sheep; I just wanted to prepare my heart so I could tackle the Thanksgiving things in the kitchen that sometimes make me forget to be thankful. Mid-afternoon, our not-yet-adjusted two-year-old Lab, Ava, paced the floor but refused (!) to go outside by herself. (well, she's a rescue with an unknown history and I'm an easy mark). Since the November weather was unseasonably beautiful, sunny, and warm, I went to the back porch with Ava and my book. NICE !! I thought, Why don't I do this more often?
     Then Ava barked--a lot--at something going on in the hay field. I saw nothing but a neat row of round hay bales our nephew had stacked along the side fence. Uh, wait! Ava and I walked over the the fence for a closer look.
     Yes. It was SHEEP. Inside our pasture. A bunch. (s'cuse me: a FLOCK) Actually, about three rams, four ewes, and a few lambkins.
     I've never discovered sheep wandering any of the pastures around our farm neighborhood so I ran to the house, grabbed my camera, zoomed in real close, and began shooting digitals as the sheep ambled across our side yard toward the main road.

     They trotted along in a line, blindly following one another. The ewes seemed to lead the flock with their young lambs close by, and the rams brought up the rear. (please.. let's not go into a discussion about women leading guys down a hopeless path!!)

Nevertheless. When the flock got to our fence at the road...

 ....not one of the sheep attempted to search for a way out. As one, the flock turned and trotted back up the path from whence they had come and disappeared from sight.
     We made some phone calls with no results but on our way to a Community Thanksgiving Worship, we stopped at one farm someone had suggested might be the owners.
Nobody at home!
     Later, heading home from church, the Sheriff was on the road in a ginormous truck with a gazillion lights flashing. No sign of the sheep so we assumed the brave deputies had handled the lost flock. At home, our phone was ringing off the wall. The Sheriff's office asked if WE knew who owned the sheep wandering the road and being a menace. How and why did they call me? Nope, not a sheep-herder in the family.
     This morning, various neighbors  reported sheep sightings up and down our road. The Sheriff's guys returned with reinforcements and apparently herded the sheep into a nearby field leased by a local vet.
Wrong again.
     On my way to town after lunch, the by-this-time-FAMOUS flock of sheep was in another pasture. When I returned home an hour later on the same road and passed the same pastures, all fields were void of ANY sheep. EMPTY.
     But, as I pondered the wanderings, an ancient memory surfaced. I've walked with my Lord over sixty years, and suddenly today I saw the prophet Isaiah's message in chapter 53, verse 6 in a completely new light.
     Long, long, VERY long ago (before most of my readers were born), I memorized that passage from the King James Version of the Holy Bible. ("All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.") I assumed I understood the meaning of that passage but I went to Bible Gateway to compare different translations. After  closely observing those real-live sheep wander around, lost, thirsty, and hungry, in a strange countryside for more than thirty hours, I meditated a long while on Isaiah 53:6 from The Message. 
     The phone interrupted my meditation and as I scurried back to real life, a peace that passes all my understanding settled over me as I flitted from one crisis to another.
      We still don't know what happened to the flock of lost sheep but my kitchen is ready for Thanksgiving and my heart overflows with a fresh love for my Lord Jesus.
     Thank You, Holy Father, for sending lost sheep to show me a clear view.
~~Liz~~

"...we looked down on him, thought he was scum. But the fact is, it was our pains he carried...he took the punishment, and that made us whole. Through his bruises we get healed. We're all like sheep who've wandered off and gotten lost. We've all done our own thing, gone our own way. And God has piled all our sins, everything we've done wrong, on him... on HIM."

   Some of Isaiah 53-6 from "The Message."

 BTW...my friend Dennis in our chiropractor's office, gave me the website for accuracy in describing the lost animals. Check out www.enchantedlearning.com. Did you know that a bunch of Camels is also a FLOCK??  

  

P.S. As an six-year-old Sunbeam in Mrs. Pennington's class, I had no idea that I had no idea what "iniquity" meant.

Liz

Gratitude Attitude

     Here it is the season to give thanks and I've been disgustingly groucy and out of sorts. No serious reason, just additional aches, pains, sleep problems, demands on my energy and time, and too many things to do that I can't do as easily as I once did.
     My bad humor got totally out of control this morning. My to-do list looked like a mountain of bricks and I could not even find my want-to-do list.
     So I got in the shower and I cried. Literally. Loud and hard and I couldn't tell where the salty tears started and the hot, soapy shower water stopped.
     Since that felt ridiculous, I began to tell my High and Holy Father why I should NOT be crying or worried or upset. As if He didn't know. I counted off a few undeserved and over-the-top blessings, then, without thinking, as I blubbered, I listed--out loud faster than I could think or count, other good gifts and perfect gifts and awesome people and wonderful things that make my life easy and sweet. God is amazing, isn't He? Unaware when the tears stopped, I smiled because the only wet stuff was hot, clean, pure shower water washing away my exhaustion.
    I can't promise you that my study on Isaiah 12:1-6 over the last few days had anything to do with my baptism of reality in the shower this morning, but Isaiah's praises have sure bounced around my heart. Just think, as The Message puts it "...I thank you, God. You were angry but your anger wasn't forever. You withdrew your anger and moved in and comforted me."
     I am indeed comforted and on this wonderful day I give thanks to God and praise His Name.
     By the way, I am especially thankful for all of you who pass by this blog and leave your fingerprints on my heart.
    May you be abundantly blessed as we go into this beautiful season of THANKSGIVING.

A tray of my fresh Whole Wheat Pumpkin Applesauce Muffins from one of my young cyber friends' recipes: http://thischickcooks.blogspot.com

The muffins are sitting on a sun-flower kitchen towel from Kathy, who became one of my new daughters when her daddy married me. How good does it get???? 

~~Liz~~

  

Exchanging Blessings

Did you know about the elephant in the middle of blog-dom that we don't talk about?

VISITING EACH OTHER'S BLOGS.

My goodness, gracious, sakes alive [as my Grandmother Alice exclaimed on a daily basis :-)] it is a HUGE encouragement and blessing when people [I prefer to think of my readers as people :-), don't you??] take time out of their extraordinarily busy lives just to read the simple words I post from my obscure front porch in the Texas hill country.
      So, knocking that elephant down to size, it is even more amazing to ME how many people stop their whole world to use time they truly cannot spare simply to leave a little message for me.
     A lot of messages come straight to my e-mail or on Face Book, and others come as comments to the blog site. Tee-hee, I've even received more than a few telephone calls [you know... that ole-fashioned land-line thing-a-ma-jig] to tell me in person how my words touched them.

WOW.

     And, know what??????????? While my days are filled to the brim [YES, even at my age] I take time every day to 'surf the net' and read blogs of other writers. I learn new things, discover delicious new ways to cook for my family, and find blessings to jump-start my day at every click of my mouse!
     So, to all who write words that keep me going and to all who take time to drop by the front porch of my blog and visit awhile, THANK YOU.
     I'll leave you with the Scripture I used last night to open my talk to the Hill Country Women of Words. I think Paul's words apply to everything we do. The reading is a mixture between the New Living Translation and the New Revised Standard Version.
Romans 12: 6-11:

In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.

Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality.

Holy Father, may all the words we speak be soothing to each other’s souls and may the words we put to paper never discredit You. In Jesus’ name.

Because Jesus will never lose me,

~~Liz~~

Lost and not Found

Just so you'll know that you won't know....
There are three translations of Holy Scripture on my desk plus a 10th Edition of Merriam Webster. {Yeah, that really dates me; but it still helps}
My post on the first verst of Isaiah 12 was almost finished. Brilliant. Inspiring. And surely it would have given glory and praise to my Father.
Then in an instant, the whole thing absolutely, completely EVAPORATED.
I hit ????????????? something?????????????????? When I should have hit ??????????
Gone.
Blank page.
So, since I have an extra hour to sleep, I'll quietly post this for you and tiptoe off to bed.
And I'll give thanks that my High Holy Father finds me every time I wander off down strange paths.

Or lose my way looking down instead of up.


May your sleep be blessed with peace and rest. I'll pray about the words I lost and ask for direction for my fingers as they clink on the computer keys tomorrow afternoon then I'll sing myself to sleep with the great thanksgivings of Isaiah.
Because God wrote His Book and thought of me from the beginning, I'll keep praising Him.
~~Liz~~

Speaking of Time - - Again - - and Joyful Hearts

     Winterizing is well under way. Yes, even here in sometimes balmy Texas hill country. Very often and with little notice, a shivery cold norther blows in that kills beautiful summer and fall plants. Moving pots around these years isn't as fun as it used to be when teenage son lived at home before he became a marine or when teenage grandson lived at home before he went off to big city to get a college degree. *sigh*
     Point being.... it is NOVEMBER all ready!

A typical November dusk scene on our hill

     Our AVERAGE first freeze in these parts drops its temps around November 7, which is a couple of days from now on the first Sunday of the month. (That reminds me of another post about All-Saints Day. But that's for later.)
     If you read this often, you'll remember how I whine and carry on about changes that refuse to stay the same? *big, huge, double sigh* So now we have to change our clocks A G A I N  !! They tell me that I can count on an extra hour of sleep Saturday night, but what with Saturday being the first day of deer hunting (around these hills we call it making the roads safe for bikers and autos) our family tradition is to drive down the lane for the Neighborhood-Annual-Hunting-First-Day party. Starts 'bout dark-thirty, the hostess cooks up enough chili to feed an army, all the neighbors bring sides or desserts. We have a wide assortment of firemen in our neighborhood and unless there is an absolutel ban, we'll warm ourselves around a bonfire while guys and some die-hard gals wander between the house, the food barn, and the den --that's where the TV is-to check on the state of miscellaneous favorite football teams.
     Besides having to think of something interesting to take along as our offering, my grandson reminded me that Thanksgiving is around the corner and his girl friend's family will join us again this year. Our dining table is the longest one so we gather at our house; her daddy cooks the turkey; her step-mom makes a Russian dish; and I make the dressing. The girls do the other sides and we have desserts to spare. So everyone gets their favorite.
     In between all these things, I've got to dig out my molasses and snicker-doodle cookie recipes.
     AND. In between all the above happeningss, I PROMISE before next week is gone, I'll give you a run-down on all the fun blogs I've discovered. Today's young women are amazing and inspiring me. Mostly I sit here reading and thinking, "How did they get so smart so young???" Then I'm going to get back to enjoying blogs written by my own generations. Come to think of it, we might be able to show you youngsters a things or two, also!!!
      Today at communion, our Pastor said she has decided to post one thing she is thankful for on her Face Book every day between now and Thanksgiving. Danielle, I'll take you on! For starters, let's read a VERY short chapter in (of all places) Isaiah 12. There are only 6 verses and yes, I could post it here, but look it up. Savor it. If you're of the age, memorize it. I've meditated on it a lot this week, but I need some more grateful heart.
Because, after all, He gave me everything!!
~~Liz~~