Nature

The Dahlia- More Blessings From God

/ Bill Jones / 6 Comments

Giant Dahlia

It’s hard to tell from the picture just how big the dahlia flower is, but it’s almost a foot across. This is the first year we’ve tried dahlias and they have been a great success. Sharon made it official today and told me to put them on the list to plant next year.

I took the picture last week. Since then, the flower has faded and been clipped off. But it was a beautiful blessing while it lasted! Several places in Scripture describe our lives like flowers or grass that come and fade away. But, during that time we are given countless blessings by our Heavenly Father. And, we should have an eternal view – thinking of being with  our merciful and gracious God forever.

“He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust. As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more. But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children’s children, to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments. The LORD has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all. Bless the LORD, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, obeying the voice of his word!” Psalms 103:10-20 ESV

If you would like more blessings, read all of Psalm 103, and consider all that God has done for us.

It’s Been Showers of Blessing From God

/ Bill Jones / 6 Comments

The beginnings of the garden

Each spring, when I finally get around to it, I do get a garden started. Sometimes it may be a few tomato plants and some peppers. This year I decided to fill up all the raised beds I have.

Garden shot in June

And the Lord has blessed us with an abundance of rain – and zucchini & yellow squash, peppers, beans and blueberries. The tomatoes and cucumbers are coming along too.

“And I (the LORD) will make them and the places all around my hill a blessing, and I will send down the showers in their season; they shall be showers of blessing. And the trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield its increase…” Ezekiel 34:26-27

Volunteer Sunflowers From the Birds

/ Bill Jones / 4 Comments
Sunflower and Butterfly Bush

Volunteer Sunflower in Butterfly Bush

We have several bird feeders in the backyard. One of the seeds we provide them is sunflowers.

Volunteer Sunflower by the Birdbath

Then they give the blessing back by dropping seeds all around the flower beds where the volunteer sunflowers bloom.

Sunflower in the Window

Like blessings from God.

“Cast your bread upon the waters, For you will find it after many days.” Ecclesiastes 11:1

Pondering My Garden (and King Nebuchadnezzar)

/ Bill Jones / 4 Comments

The Guara – bobs up and down with the weight of bumblebees

Since gardening season is well underway, I thought I would post an article I had published in “Keys for Living Magazine” last summer. Hope you enjoy it:

I marveled at our backyard’s beauty. The phlox beamed beside the weathered picket fence. The hibiscus was nearly eight feet tall and was smothered in pink blooms. Long tendrils of the guara held out their flowers and danced as the bumblebees did touch and go landings. Cardinals and bluebirds were bright spots of color at the feeders.

Several years earlier the yard was just an expanse of pasture. Over time I built the garden’s structure and established the flower beds. The fence came first and defined the back of the yard. I think I actually applauded in satisfaction when the gate’s latch clicked in place and fit perfectly.

A working gate deserved more than a dirt path, so a walkway of red concrete pavers came next. The addition of a pump house with a barn style roof and weathervane on top added a rustic touch to the scene.

The bahia grass in the old pasture was so thick that my tiller just dragged me along as it bounced over the top. I’m sure it was comical to watch, but to me it was frustrating. With that obstacle, it became a struggle to transform sections into flower beds. Many exhausting sessions of hand work were required but the transformation did occur.

The histories of many of the plants also came to mind. The oak leaf hydrangea was 12 inches tall when planted. Now it covered an area twenty five feet across.

I bought the pagoda plant sight-unseen. What a surprise we had when it produced spectacular orange blooms over a foot tall that did look like a Chinese pagoda – with multiple stems and flowers in layers that decreased in circumference from the bottom to the top. And they were like butterfly magnets.

Pagoda Plant with Butterflies

Pagoda Plant with Butterflies

Standing there, remembering the years of work that had been involved, I could have shouted “Look at this great garden I have built!” Thankfully, I thought better of it and didn’t.

I thought of King Nebuchadnezzar who gazed at his city and said: “Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty? (Daniel 4:30 KJV) At that moment God showed him who had the power and majesty. The King spent the next seven years eating grass like an ox.

I didn’t mimic his words. Not from fear of having to eat grass, but from the realization that without God I could have done nothing. I praised Him for the beautiful flowers and birds He created. I thanked Him for the strength to build the fence. I thanked Him for the time, resources and opportunities He had provided.

That day I knew what the Apostle Paul meant when he wrote that he had planted and Apollos had watered but God gave the increase (1 Corinthians 3:6). Paul was writing of spiritual growth, but in my physical garden I understood that while I may have built and planted and watered, it was God alone Who, in His power and majesty, had completed it and made it beautiful!