58 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 6-6-17”

  1. That is one ferocious looking critter.
    I’m glad I’m not a mouse or bird.

    Good morning Aj.
    Good evening Jo.
    Everyone else. Up an at it.

    Like

  2. Comon folks! Let’s get with it.
    My internet is much faster than last night. Seriously, it took minutes to respond. Now, a couple of seconds, not like it should, but much better.

    Liked by 1 person

  3. Don’t they call those tuxedo cats?
    There is supposed to be another phone call today. I hope we can wrap this up and start moving forward. Yesterday I was in the depths of despair. Perhaps today will be better.

    Liked by 4 people

  4. Today went well and I am finished with report cards. Praise as God gives me creative ideas to keep the class busy and learning. We did a sink or float activity today with tubs of water. It was pretty funny that one group threw everything in the water before I was through giving instructions. Like, you know, try one thing at a time and take turns.

    Liked by 2 people

  5. Jo, I don’t know how you would bring this down to a Kinder level but there has to be a lesson in this for everyone and reading what you have done so far, it seems this may fit. Perhaps you have several jars and put things in in different orders. Obviously the sand would absorb the water but would the water absorb all the sand? The rocks would only go in one way, etc.

    The Big Rocks of Life
    Dr. Stephen R. Covey,
    First Things First

    One day this expert was speaking to a group of business students and, to drive home a point, used an illustration I’m sure those students will never forget. After I share it with you, you’ll never forget it either.

    As this man stood in front of the group of high-powered over-achievers he said, “Okay, time for a quiz.” Then he pulled out a one-gallon, wide-mouthed mason jar and set it on a table in front of him. Then he produced about a dozen fist-sized rocks and carefully placed them, one at a time, into the jar.

    When the jar was filled to the top and no more rocks would fit inside, he asked, “Is this jar full?” Everyone in the class said, “Yes.” Then he said, “Really?” He reached under the table and pulled out a bucket of gravel. Then he dumped some gravel in and shook the jar causing pieces of gravel to work themselves down into the spaces between the big rocks.

    Then he smiled and asked the group once more, “Is the jar full?” By this time the class was onto him. “Probably not,” one of them answered. “Good!” he replied. And he reached under the table and brought out a bucket of sand. He started dumping the sand in and it went into all the spaces left between the rocks and the gravel. Once more he asked the question, “Is this jar full?”

    “No!” the class shouted. Once again he said, “Good!” Then he grabbed a pitcher of water and began to pour it in until the jar was filled to the brim. Then he looked up at the class and asked, “What is the point of this illustration?”

    One eager beaver raised his hand and said, “The point is, no matter how full your schedule is, if you try really hard, you can always fit some more things into it!”

    “No,” the speaker replied, “that’s not the point. The truth this illustration teaches us is: If you don’t put the big rocks in first, you’ll never get them in at all.”

    What are the big rocks in your life? A project that you want to accomplish? Time with your loved ones? Your faith, your education, your finances? A cause? Teaching or mentoring others? Remember to put these Big Rocks in first or you’ll never get them in at all.

    Liked by 1 person

  7. Seems to me, Marilla gave Ann (with an “e”) quite the talking to when Anne said she was in the depths of despair. I think of that and laugh at myself every time I say I am there.

    Liked by 2 people

  9. God illustration Kim. I had heard that before with the first conclusion.
    You can always add more.
    But I like the conclusion. Do the big things first.

    But people have different definitions of what’s BIG in their lives.

    Sometimes people look back and notice that some things weren’t as big as they thought.
    Something small gets big as you get closer.

    Liked by 2 people

  10. Beautiful cat, Kare. It could be in the black and white club with Miss Bosley and Annie.

    Love that thoughtful illustration, Kim. I think Jo will think of a way to use that. Perfect!

    I got a surprise this morning. My coffee maker that I was about to toss out worked! I bought a new one I have not set up yet. It can be used at church or at the office. I had been carting the old one around during tax season.

    Like

  12. Of course, since some of them were nearly two feet tall, I suspect they have been there a while, perhaps growing and thriving while I was weed eating.

    Liked by 2 people

  14. My new Charlie-Brown-replacement tree is doing well. I water it (almost) daily and it looks big and green, it seems to be thriving (or at least surviving).

    It feels good to know that traffic school is taken care of and the fence is built (though I can see it’s still not coyote proof, but I don’t think a truly coyote-proof fence exists) and the garage and closets are cleaned (though the latter will still need re-populating & organizing). I’ll schedule another Salvation Army pickup soon so I can get more of those bags moved out of here. It’s a process …

    Last night’s dream was that I got married — to a Catholic. I was in a quandary over whether we’d just have to spend Sunday mornings apart or I’d have to convert (as he seemed staunchly not inclined to do so!).

    Other dreams, too, but they’ve escaped my recollection now that I’ve been up a while.

    Liked by 4 people

  15. Last night MY dream–finally accomplished at 1:30 am after praying for many of you–was the young man whose graduation party we attended on Sunday shot me in Antarctica. A man claiming to be his father but wasn’t (the real dad is a police officer) then shot him. No blood. It was cold in Antarctica and we all survived.

    I don’t have that mysterious weed problem, Mumsee. I have nothing but clay soil in my backyard except in unusual flower bed and it is a dead zone. I dug several holes recently to try to plant the day lilies I purchased three weeks ago and could scarcely get the garden fork to make a dent. The one spot I got down five inches promptly filled with water yesterday morning.

    “I think you’ve found the water table,” my husband said.

    I turned away in despair.

    I want to put in raised bed all over the yard. He suggests pots. We’re at an impasse.

    Marilla’s response, btw, went somewhere along the lines of ‘To despair is to deny God and is blasphemy.’

    I wince every time I, too, fall into what feels like those depths of despair. My husband is too much like Marilla in some attitudes . . . but he’s Matthew where it counts. 🙂

    Liked by 4 people

  17. We, also, are clay. When the guys built the deer fence, they would dig several holes which would fill up with water and the next morning, they would find several drowned mice in each hole. We have lots of raised beds but they too, become weed beds. I did very little the past two years as the focus was on getting husband mobile again. The weeds took advantage. Son would just say, spray them. I guess we dig.

    Liked by 2 people

  18. QOD:
    At what point did we decide that our loved ones became angels when they died?
    “I regret to report that heaven gained another angel this morning. My grandmother passed away. I am heartbroken, but know she is my guardian angel”. It makes me cringe.
    When did this start?
    Why did this start?
    Does it bother you?

    Liked by 2 people

  19. Kent came to us with that name, and yes, my husband calls him Clark Kent 🙂 He’s one of our Barn Buddies cats, a program with the local SPCA where they re-home male, neutered cats to people with insulated, heated barns or garages. They get to live and we get cheap mousers. I’d say it’s a win-win.

    Liked by 6 people

  22. You all have such a busy dream life. I rarely can remember that I even dreamed, and even more rarely is the memory coherent enough that I can tell you what happened.

    Like

  23. Anne of Green Gables, the adoptive mom who wanted a son to help Matthew but learned to love her daughter. A must read for all young girls.

    Liked by 5 people

  25. My dreams tend to be extremely bizarre and I cannot put them together to tell others. Like the time I dreamed about Hillary Clinton and her neoprene skis.

    Liked by 3 people

  26. Of course, being a social outcast, I did not know about them or read them until I was grown up and had a daughter of my own. Now I enjoy them and reading them with young folk.

    Like

  27. I was stuck in a dream when Miss Bosley rudely awakened me. I could have written it down just as I awakened, but after I was fully awake I forgot what it was.

    Like

  28. Like Kevin on dreams Psychologists say everyone dreams every night, but I seldom recall one.e.

    Thanx Peter. I had forgotten that this is D-Day. Very few of us who remember now.
    I kept a map of France and marked where the lines were. I remember there was fighting in the hedgerows of Normandy. Then there was a blackout and a couple of weeks later they were in Paris. Not as simple as I told it, but close.

    Kim @ 11:09. Heavy stuff. I can’t deal with it right now. Later.

    I had a room mate at Carolina who was named Charlie Brown.
    And a pastor in Rhode Island named bill Graham.

    Liked by 2 people

  29. Yes, the “people who die become angels” bothers me. I suspect it came from Jesus explaining that we won’t be married in heaven, but will be “like the angels” meaning that in that respect we will be like angels, not that we ourselves will become angels.

    Liked by 2 people

  31. I just saw a headline that there has been an attack in Paris at Notre Dame Cathedral. Lord, help us all in this scary world full of terrorism.

    Like

  33. Good Morning…well this is like deja vu….I wrote a greeting this morning but it would appear it is lost in cyber space…
    Day off getting things done around here…even pulled a weed or two 🙂
    Kim I believe some say such things as a comfort to themselves…their loved one has made it to heaven and is watching over them as an angel…it does not make it correct but it makes them feel good. Some would rather go with the “feel good” than go with the truth found in His Word..sad but true….

    Liked by 1 person

  34. I can understand why people would want to think that, wrong as it is. Just think about it for a moment. Your loved one has died, and without Jesus as their Savior. We know what that means for that poor lost soul.

    But if you don’t know Jesus, and don’t believe in God, you can go with either. Which would you rather believe? The Truth of the matter is heartbreaking, the other is a placebo to soothe the hurting heart. Most will take the second, because false as it is, it’s easier to accept.

    Liked by 3 people

  35. Kim, before I knew the truth, I found that kind of thinking to be comforting. Now I recognize the falseness in it. But to those who don’t know the true word of God, it is an ear tickler. Angels are in heaven, and it seems like a double guarantee to say a person is an angel in heaven. But that is not God’s ordering. If I now hear someone say something like that, I would feel badly for them in their lack of knowledge of people’s standing with God. If given the opportunity, I would try to help them see the truth by providing verses to correct their misconception.

    Like

  36. I know that my sister says such things about loved ones in her life who have passed away….it makes her feel good…..but she would believe everyone goes to heaven as long as they are a “good person”. What is sad to me is that she would rather believe in angels than Jesus…the Saviour who sacrificed His life for us.

    Liked by 1 person

  37. That ax murderer from NC — turns out he was staying right around the corner from me, he’d met a woman online and came to stay with her and her mom. Sweet. FBI and LAPD converged on the corner the next day, just got the full story from my other neighbor who lives next door. At least no one else got hurt.

    He’ll be headed back to NC soon, but not soon enough I suppose.

    Meanwhile, latest coyote report — woman spotted 3 coyotes on her roof. If they can get on your roof, they can get over just about any fence, I figure.

    Liked by 1 person

  38. I suspect the fence was either low or had climbable stuff near it. A tree, a shrub, a ladder, a fence.

    Like

  40. Kim, 11:09 it’s a heavy subject and many will disagree, but this is what I surmise from scripture.
    We do have angels sent to protect us. Ps. Ps 34:7, “The angel of the LORD encamps around those that fear him and delivers them.” I have encountered mine. I think I told you about that.
    But when my parents died, they did not become angels. They were no longer married, but I’m almost certain that they knew each other. “I Corinthians 13:12 “”now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face…. I shall know, even as I am known.”

    When this happens is not a s clear. Jesus said, John 11:26 . And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. But we will be resurrected when Christ returns. I infer that we have an existing spirit that is not part of this flesh. It has the capability of spirits, but not the flesh. This is somewhat confusing because Moses and Elijah appeared with Christ on the mountain. Elijah didn’t die, but Moses did. Both were there.
    (An aside : I believe the two prophets of Rev.11;3f are Enoch and Elijah. They never died and I believe everyone has to shed this mortal body to receive the glorified body.)

    As for: “They are up there now looking down as you walk the aisle” is not likely. I believe we have lift this world for better things. Not likely concerned about the goings on of this age.

    As for as the dead who are without Christ? Lots of things I don’t know. Jesus told of the rich man in Hell looking at the poor man. But I don’t much think the unsaved are cast into hell until after the resurrection and judgment. You can’t make theological doctrine on parables.
    And I don’t know about the American Indians in 1491, for example. Another subject I can’t deal with.

    Liked by 4 people

  41. I was pretty proud of myself a little while ago. Someone kept asking me questions about my friend M and some things that are going on. My reply was,” I don’t know. She started to tell me and I told her I didn’t need to know the details, they weren’t any of my business, I just needed to know that she (M) would be OK”. The person asked a second time, rephrasing the question. “I don’t know. It isn’t my story to tell.”

    Liked by 5 people

  43. Washer dryer install surveyors just called, I gave the guys I was so short with kudos and high marks for putting up with me on my very contrary morning. She said she’d be sure to pass it on to their supervisor.

    Liked by 4 people

  44. Love the view of the world that very clearly hasn’t been stuck in a drought for close to a decade before last seasons rains. Nice photo 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  45. Kim, I read the facebook article on Beth Moore. I am not willing to like it. I avoid any studies by Beth Moore as they are too much about Beth Moore and too little about the scriptures. I learn more about her and not enough about Him.

    Liked by 3 people

  46. From Chas: “As for: ‘They are up there now looking down as you walk the aisle’ is not likely. I believe we have [left] this world for better things. Not likely concerned about the goings on of this age.”

    Scripture doesn’t really tell us either way. But my take on this is that people are our most important life issue, and I can’t imagine that when we are perfected we suddenly lose our love and concern for people still on earth. It can be at most speculation, and I’d say we on earth have no permission to talk to the dead, and no idea what they do or do not know (or whether, for instance, they intercede for us, or how much they know about our daily lives).

    Scripture doesn’t say either way, but I can’t imagine that my parents don’t know that, for example, I have had the blessing of marrying and having children. When my brother-in-law went to heaven suddenly four years ago, leaving behind a widow and five children, I can’t imagine that he suddenly lost all concern for them. He wouldn’t “worry” about them, but he would love them and care. And my parents didn’t need to quiz him, “So, how many children did you end up having?” Nor would my brother-in-law nor my parents not care about such mundane things.

    I don’t know the details of how much they know, how attention they pay, but I can’t imagine that it is NONE, that they suddenly have all sorts of things that matter more to them, and they won’t care about us any more until we ourselves join us. I imagine that in fact they now love us more than we love them–more perfectly.

    That’s all speculation, of course.

    Liked by 3 people

  48. Cheryl, I don’t know if your version is biblical or not, but I like it. I sometimes imagine my father and my father in law in heaven nudging each other and saying, “Can you believe she did that?”
    I can especially imagine them saying, “She wouldn’t have us a grandson but she named the dog after us”
    I do think my father appeared to me in a dream. It was a few weeks after he died. He was sitting at a table, laughing and talking to some people. He looked at me and went back to the conversation. When I awoke I felt like he was OK and happy. I am very clear on that I was asleep and it was a dream.
    Right now, I tend to think that perhaps when my friend died last Friday, my dad might have told him, “Thank you for taking care of her after I couldn’t”. B and his wife M were my emotional north. Today, I asked M what else I could do for her. She said the very fact that I was having lunch with her was enough for today. I am glad that for this time I get to be her anchor. I also feel like everything I get to do for her now is my thank you to her husband.

    Liked by 3 people

  49. I don’t know about PCA, but I think Seventh Day adherents believe that way. That is, everyone sleeps until the resurrection. Some believe that we are in heaven and return at the resurrection to fight the battle of Armageddon. I don’t believe that.
    Armageddon is not a real battle..

    Like

  50. Chas, the idea that we arrive at the same time isn’t about soul sleep, but rather, because eternity is outside of time, there is no waiting place or time for those who have gone before. Rather, we will all find ourselves at the end of time. I think the idea has merit, and would fit with statements in the Bible such as “it is appointed unto man to die once, and after that the judgement”, which would seem to indicate that those who unsaved find themselves before the throne of judgement when they die, and that throne is said in Revelation to appear at the end.

    Liked by 1 person

  51. On Beth Moore, that is one reason why I say the church I attend is too trendy. The women’s Bible Study is using a Beth Moore book. I do not attend. Using the material of any celebrity teacher in lieu of actually studying the Bible makes me want to scream and run, no matter how Biblical they are said to be. I was really disappointed when the Sunday School class I attend decided to use a Tim Keller book. Before, they had been systematically going through a book of the Bible and discussing it in depth, which was like cold water to my thirsty soul. To go from Scripture to using the book of a currently popular but probably forgettable celebrity seemed like exchanging gold for tinsel.

    Liked by 2 people

  52. Ohhh, I didn’t realize how shaggy the grass was looking in that picture – I was just focusing on the cat. It looks better now that husband was able to jury-rig the mower and I could mow the lawn. The apple tree is pretty though 🙂

    Like

  54. DJ, that’s how I feel after a long winter with lots of white and pale brown. The new spring green is so restful for the eyes.

    Liked by 1 person

  56. _______________________________

    So there is growing concern that, in our anxiety to banish bacteria from our indoor world, we have become too clean for our own good. We run the risk of scrubbing, disinfecting, vacuuming and filtering out the fortifying mix of microscopic creatures that our immune system needs to develop properly.

    Enter the dog.

    Dogs roll in the mud. They sniff feces and other questionable substances. Then they track countless germs into our homes on their paws, snouts and fur.

    And if the latest research on pets and human health is correct, that cloud of dog-borne microbes may be working to keep us healthy. …
    __________________________________

    Liked by 1 person

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.