THE NOSEY NEIGHBOR~Bougainvillea trumps all.

YEP! IT'S ANOTHER BOUGAINVILLEA BLOG~June 13,2020

I can’t go one block into the neighborhood without a bougainvillea sighting.

I am often distracted by one of my favorite parts of spring, the flowering bougainvillea that pops up all over the place. It’s always an adventure.

I just love the cheery and bright colored appearance. If I could think of anything praiseworthy and thank worthy, today, it would be for the joy and blessings of the beauty of the bougainvillea, a reflection of God’s artistry. God’s love is more breathtaking than the bougainvillea. It’s so beautifully, overgrown, dramatic and all around stunning. The vibrant colors are stunning. They yell out “extravagance!”

The symbolic meaning of bougainvillea changes from one area of the globe to another but the majority claims it stands for a sign of welcoming visitors.

In other cultures, the plant is considered a symbol of peace. Others believe that gifting a stem to a loved one will ignite passion within the relationship.

The hidden gems of my photo walks are the discovery of intriguing entrances with bougainvillea as guardians of secrets. I am captured by wild imaginations of what might be hidden on the other side. Perhaps there is a beautiful enchanting garden on the other side.

What is not to enjoy about spring?

THE NOSEY NEIGHBOR~Looking back

April 19, 2020

THE FABRIC OF MY EXPERIENCES

Did some porch watching this evening. Early evening is when many neighbors take a stroll.

" But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever,

the purposes of his heart through all generations."~Ps.33:11

"God sovereignly decrees and designs circumstances so that we end up where he wants us to be even if we don’t have any conscious part in getting there. For example, Paul and Silas found themselves in jail, and the result was the salvation of the jailer and his household (Acts 16:24-34). This was God’s plan, but not Paul’s. God does this often—putting us in places that we did not plan or decide to be." ~John Piper

“no purposes of [God’s] can be thwarted,” Job 42:2.

And that is what makes tracing ones genealogy so exciting. The fabric of my mortal experiences are God's sovereign orchestration of my spiritual life and my spiritual ancestors.

My spiritual life has functioned by suggestions in the patterns of those dimensions. It has left me with a clearer vision and sense of purpose. God always knows what he is doing.

Some of those Russian/German Mennonite emigrants who arrived in the late 1874s by ship were placed in my story.

They in turn were influenced by the spiritual revivals of their day on the heels of great preachers such as Spurgeon, Moody, G.Campbell Morgan, and other great men of influence in their lives.

Looking back over the generations, I've seen just how God's story has woven my history and those before me to get me to where I am now.

My story is intertwined with my past to make God's story, part of my story. I am living in the shadow of some great spiritual leaders of my time making up the fabric of my spiritual journey.

They were influenced by their spiritual journeys. Just as all human DNA is unique to each person, so is each personal spiritual profile.

"Many are the plans in the mind of a man,

but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand."~Prov.19:21

"Even from eternity I am He, And there is none who can deliver out of My hand; I act and who can reverse it?"~Isa.43:13

" But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever,

the purposes of his heart through all generations."~Ps.33:11

"For the Lord Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him?

His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?"~Isa.14:27

Believe it or not, 50+ years after the fact, I still find myself “catching up” and being out of sync with my peers. Over time I have found out what I “missed” during those years. The thing I found strange was how obsessive my peers were about movies, music, dress and looks. My first visit to a movie theater was shortly after moving to liberal California, my first date with my husband to watch The Sound Of Music. I was raised in a strict culture that "you didn't smoke", "you didn't drink", and "you didn't fraternize with those who do."

I have always lived with an inner sense of being different and painful sense of not belonging because those things were not important to me.

Perhaps grief was one of the lasting legacies of being sent to boarding school. Crying was viewed as a weakness. Adaptability and adventuresome spirit have been my strengths, out of necessity. Losses went unacknowledged.

The layers of loss run deep: Friends, a failed relationship, community, pets. Family (son), toys, language. Weather, food, culture. Loss of identity. Loss of a place of comfort, stability, a safe and predictable world. Home.

Perhaps those loses have conditioned me to survive and thrive during present losses. Life is marching on so rapidly, we do not have time to mourn them. My life has been that of a sojourner, a foreigner in this life.

I was born for another world. My identity encompasses all the abundance of being a beloved child of God. My identity is a gift from God. It is belonging to Him and a future guarantee.

Colossians 1:11-13 "being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light..."

I’M BLESSED!

I’M SAVED!

I’M RECONCILED!

I’M AFFLICTED!

I’M HEARD!

I’M NEW!

I’M FORGIVEN!

I’M ADOPTED!

I’M LOVED!

I’M REWARDED!

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THE NOSEY NEIGHBOR~Not mine, for now

I think this was May 22, 2020. Yes it was.

Has anyone got to the point of “I don’t feel like doing it anymore?”

Just plugging on, contemplating on the components that make up my day.

I wonder, I wait, I want answers but presently they are not mine to have at present.

The present is indefinite, unpredictable, filled with uncertainty and new ever changing protocols. The ever mutating, invisible enemy presents us with many difficulties. The respiratory droplets don’t obey.

The shut downs have taken a toll. Lock downs don’t prevent death. They just change the timing.

This morning, I lay in bed enjoying a few minutes of pleasant drowsiness announcing the end to a restless night sleep as strains of “I Need You More Today” march through my mind.

Seasons, days are subtle.

I reluctantly end the reverie as I drag my aching body out to face another day that looks like it will be like the previous one.

I fight with myself and try to talk myself out of a walk. Myself tells me if I skip, then it will be easier to skip next time.

But, it’s still Jacaranda season!

The Jacaranda jackpot of the other morning spurs me on. The vivid clouds of purple are entrancing. The messiness on the sidewalk is testament to a love-hate relationship.

Half the beauty of the world is in the way it changes.

My morning walk was brightened by the Mimosa tree. I was delighted by its clusters of showy pink flowers and fern like leaves.

My response to the COVID-19 is to walk. So I keep walking.

I Need You More Today

Jeff & Sheri Easter

There are decisions I can't make on my own

And there are trials I can't face all alone

But you said you'd walk with me

Down life's troubled road

And you said, "Come unto Me,

I'll bear your heavy load."

I need you more today

Than I did yesterday

Mountains are higher

Rivers are wider

I need you more today

Than I did yesterday

Help me remember

I need you more today

When I wake up in the morning

And I fear to face the day

Let me feel your gentle hand

Leading the way

Yesterday has come and gone

With those trials far behind

But I'm ever…

THE NOSEY NEIGHBOR~Piglet, Pooh & Dr. Seuss

HAPPY, I THINK IT IS MONDAY DAY, June 8, 2020

“Remember, that thought is speech before God.”— Charles H. Spurgeon

Last night I fell asleep and woke up to the sound of wind chimes.

Why is wind so magnetizing?

The soundscape of my morning: Gods musical instruments in the wind, a scraping branch here and the, early bird songsters.

I am still entertained.

TODAY IS…

"'What day is it?' asked Pooh. 'It's today,' squeaked Piglet. 'My favorite day,' said Pooh."

Winnie the Pooh : Happy "Winds-day", Piglet.

Piglet : [being blown away] Well... it isn't... very happy... f-for me.

Winnie the Pooh : Where are you going, Piglet?

Piglet : That's what I'm asking myself, where?

[he is lifted into the air by a gust of wind]

Piglet : W-Whoops! P-P-P-Pooh!

Winnie the Pooh : [grabbing Piglet's scarf] And what do you think you will answer yourself?

Pooh remains in my heart. When ever I take a trip through the neighborhood, I feel like a curious kid, going on adventures and learning about things. That is when my neighborhood becomes The Hundred Acre Woods.

Whenever I take a trip through my Hundred Acre Woods, I'm guaranteed to be a little relaxed and remind myself to take it slow and not worry too much about life.

This morning as I wandered in my photo walk, I also asked myself where was I going? I was caught up in a blusterous windy morning. The commotion stirred up everything in its path including me. I found this excitation particularly sensitive to what was going on around me. Not quite a thinking walk. I was driven to explore just one more block or to investigate something intriguing just up ahead.

Blustery days are good days for finding and feeling extra things.

I hear the forgotten voice of the wind through the pine trees interspersed with other kinds of trees. I have learned to listen.

The soft sighing of the trees evokes peacefulness, and a little sadness.

Memories of some of my romps in Mexico through the forest on the mountain side and hearing the wind whisper and the muffled sound of leaves interspersed with whooshing sounds and the singing of pine needles.

The wind in the pines is touching, a kind of murmuring.

I heard a squeaky wind turbine turning.

I happened upon a bird nest that the wind tossed out of a tree onto the sidewalk.

I looked up overhead and saw two doves balancing on a swinging high wire.

The American Sweet Gum Trees, resembling Maples were dropping their spiky,

burr-like gum balls had fallen onto the sidewalk. I have found these trees lining some streets I walk. Their star-shaped leaves and sturdy trunk are impressive and can be easily overlooked.

Aah, Like Pooh, when you are happy, you can’t help spreading joy to others.

This mornings walk tended to be a little imaginative and my insides gave way to dispel some of the stress and turmoil.

IN DR. SEUSS whimsical world:

Congratulations!

Today is your day.

You're off to Great Places!

You're off and away

Oh, the stuff you will learn.

You’ll be on your way up!

You’ll be seeing great sights!

You'll look up and down streets.

Look 'em over with care.

About some you will say, "I don't choose to go there."

With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet,

you're too smart to go down any not-so-good street.

And you may not find any

you'll want to go down.

In that case, of course,

you'll head straight out of town.

I'm sorry to say so

but, sadly, it's true

that Bang-ups

and Hang-ups

can happen to you.

So much God wants to reveal to us.

So much He has prepared for us.

Isn’t it interesting that when we read Bible stories of people that we think they all somehow looked like us, a rather naive perspective.

The sight of the Jacaranda trees and the carpet of litter continue to energize my inner weariness. Only God could have designed such beauty.

They defy sheltering in place.

They bring some serenity to life. The colorful canopy continues to mesmerize me, purple, lavender, lilac or blue.

They still burst forth in their fancy best, a dazzling display of unimpeded purple haze. The trumpet-shaped flowers are leaving messy lawns and sidewalks in their wake a sign signaling a season soon to be done. Soon those blooms will be gone but I have the Silk Floss and Chinese Flame to look forward to.

The fastest way to get out of feeling crazy is listening to music and reading Scriptures. Sweet treasures keep me sane.

I walk on, trusting, worshiping.

I feel sustained.

I rest in the fact that the Holy Spirit is my helper. My sanctification rides on the rough times.

God's love remains.

My assurance of salvation rests in, GOD DOES NOT CHANGE.