Cactus Wren
When morning gilds the skies
my heart awakening cries:
May Jesus Christ be praised!
Alike at work and prayer,
to Jesus I repair:
May Jesus Christ be praised!
I think of singing that song in the Baptist Church where I was raised. I sometimes wish to travel back to those simpler times, where after church we would go to “Helwigs Cafe” with my Grandma and have chicken on a bun. That was her favorite thing to do on a Sunday. I don’t know that she ever really heard a sermon, I remember her rattling papers out loud and looking at her watch a lot. Bless her heart, I do miss her. I guess it is easy to be nostalgic about the past because we aren’t in it anymore.

As dawn colored the sky this morning I went out to pray…..the first few minutes was spent just listening to the bird chorus. There were the high trills, the repetitive calls, some sounding almost comical, in the background the low coo of the mourning dove, and the quails cry on the roof next door. It really did sound like a chorus, in fact that is what it is called!

“The dawn chorus occurs when songbirds sing at the start of a new day. This is most noticeable in spring, when the birds are either defending a breeding territory or trying to attract a mate. In a given location, it is common for different species to do their dawn singing at different times.” From Wikipedia

There is even an international dawn chorus day…….I had no idea!

Help me Lord, do all I need to do today with an attitude of love, letting go of what “should be” and accepting “what is”; knowing that you will be there every step of the way.

“Do everything without complaining or arguing,” Philippians 2:14

God has blessed us with 3 days of unbelievable sunshine, being able to watch the sun come over the lip of the ridge across the bay each morning is like standing beside God’s giant prism. I took this shot with cell phone right before dinner last evening.

This morning the otters were frolicking in the surf….I will take these memories and clasp them in my heart and remember how good God is to make all this beauty for us to enjoy.

This guy was begging for food on the patio railing….just as I clicked he took flight!

“He wraps himself in light as with a garment; he stretches out the heavens like a tent, and lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters. He makes the clouds his chariot and rides on the wings of the wind.” Psalm 104:2,3

in Just-
spring when the world is mud-
luscious the little
lame balloonman

whistles far and wee

and eddieandbill come
running from marbles and
piracies and it’s
spring

when the world is puddle-wonderful

the queer
old balloonman whistles
far and wee
and bettyandisbel come dancing

from hop-scotch and jump-rope and

it’s
spring
and
the

goat-footed

balloonMan whistles
far
and
wee

eecummings

I have always loved this poem, I can absolutely see every image he painted with his words. I can see the park, the balloon man with his ungainly walk, the kids running and leaping in the puddles, exulting in the pure unbridled joy that only kids seem to have.

You know the kind of spring days that are so vibrant, so vivid that the whole world seems alive with the breath and glory of God. Days that are so beautiful you feel you could slice them up and serve them later. I guess that is what I am doing now.

I remember…..a special lavendar and yellow Easter dress, and yellow patent leather shoes….Finding my Easter basket one year in the washing machine, a day not so long ago, one of those mornings full of golden light, driving to church taking a guest, a young man and seeing a mother duck leading her babies in a line by the side of the road. He thought it was cool and I thought it was cool that he appreciated that.

I don’t know where he is now having moved away, but I hope he is well. He was missing his family and moved back home.

And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the third day. Genesis 1:11-13

Yes, it was and is very good!

Here in Arizona, we have what we call “monsoons.” People in other countries laugh at us for giving them that name; they are unlike the hurricane causing, flood producing, storms in the tropics that destroy whole villages, but for us here in the oppressive heat of the desert, the summer rain is something we desperately need. We welcome the flashing lightning and the rain that spills onto the parched ground. We all breathe a sigh of relief that at least we can skip a day of watering.

Sometimes it seems like our life is like phase after phase of waiting. Waiting for one phase in life to be over and another to begin. Waiting for a wayward child to come back, waiting for the weekend, waiting for a new job, waiting to get well. Maybe you are caring for an elderly parent and it is taking it’s toll, maybe you thought you were done raising children and now you find yourself raising a grandchild. But take heart and take hope! As believers we can take comfort even in the times of waiting. For God is right in the middle of the waiting. He is a God of here and now, and He is here for you. Jesus said, “Now is the accepted time of salvation.” I am so glad that God is a God of action!

Psalm 46:1 (KJV) ” God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble “.

God is here, right in the middle of your circumstance. He never slumbers nor sleeps!