Birdfeed

I have several bird-feeders in my backyard. They're all different to accommodate different feeding styles and each with a different kind of food to attract different birds. I hadn't been filling them up regularly, and because of that, the birds seem to forget that the feeders are there. So sometimes it's a few days before I begin to see a lot of birds again. When I do keep it filled regularly, and they know it's going to be there, I swear I hear them all start chirping when I'm filling the feeders. And sometimes a few brave birds will swoop in as I'm walking away.

I don't know who has actually trained whom, but I do make it a point to have the feeders filled when I know a snow storm is coming. When it's snowing, there are even more birds than usual at the feeder, even if it's only a dusting of snow. I guess the obvious food is easiest for them when it's cold and things are being covered up. I don't go out of my way to fill the feeders if there's going to be a rain storm, because if the seed gets too wet, it just mildews. Funny thing though, the birds flock to the feeders during rain storms too.

I was pondering all of this yesterday afternoon while I was looking out at the feeders and I started to think of some similarities between the birds, the feeders, God and us.

Fortunately for us, God never forgets to fill our "feeders." I believe that God has designed his "feed" and the way he feeds it in a very specific way, especially on a corporate basis. But I also believe that he has the ability to feed each of us what we need, when and how we need it, in our personal relationship with him in a way that is just as unique as he has created each of us to be.

Whether we come to the feeder or not, God makes sure it's always full and ready for us. And once we begin to trust that it's always full, I think we are more likely to come to the feeder for what we need instead of hunting around for feed ourselves. Also like the birds, we seem to show up at the feeder more quickly when there is a storm.

I'm trying to spend more time at God's feeder in both fair and stormy weather.

"Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?" Matthew 5:26

"Even a sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young- a place near your alter, O LORD Almighty, my King and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you." Psalm 84:3-4

Dusting Off The Blog

Wow, it's been so long since I've visited my own blog that I couldn't remember at first how to use it!

So here's the story: My blog is "Choose Joy Today" and I said that I would write about joy...get the picture why I haven't been around the blogosphere lately! 2009 was about the most chaotic year of my life. Just when I thought I had re-grouped, I had a dance with depression at the end of the summer. And then my father-in-law had a life or death medical crisis that ended with a last ditch effort to fix his heart with a very dangerous surgery. Fortunately, he made it, and he is doing great, praise God! But I just haven't been able to bubble up the joy.

I have been itching to write again. I can't promise how frequently it will be, or how joyful it will be. So you can read it, or pass on it, your choice. I'm on a journey to reclaim my spiritual joy, so I'll be writing about that along with all of the yuck that will probably go along with it.

2010 also promises to be a year of lasts and firsts for us...a year of lots of changes. Mallory is graduating, so we are in the "lasts" right now. So far we've had our last "first day of school," I've had my last "back to school night," I've probably chaperoned my last "class trip." We've done the last fall play and we are now on the last spring musical. Pretty soon we'll be shopping for the last prom dress.

The "firsts" haven't really begun yet, I'm just focusing on the "lasts" for now. But looming on the horizon is the fact that I will be out of the job I've held for 21 years...full time mommy. Like I said, lots of changes.

Consider this the introduction to the next phase of "Choose Joy Today." I know there will be some tears, and hopefully there will be laughs along the way too! "A cheerful heart is good medicine..." Proverbs 17:22

It's been a long time.....

It's been a LONG time since I've written anything on this blog. I really haven't had the urge to write anything.

It's been a different kind of summer, then again it's been a different kind of year.

Some in my family would say it's been a terrible year, and that they can't wait for 2010 to begin. I don't feel that way, there have been a lot of very bad times this year, but there have also been some very good times. And there are no guarantees that 2010 will be any better, so personally, I just try to find whatever joy I can no matter what.

I recently read "Relentless" by Dean Koontz, which is another one of his thriller type novels. I never cared for his books years ago, they struck me as being full of downright horror and evil. He rediscovered his faith in God in more recent years, and his books reflect that, even when they are about evil in the world, so I find them much more entertaining and redeeming than his earlier works. I saved a few "quotes" from "Relentless" because I really appreciated Koontz's view on God, faith, and truth as expressed in the story. Koontz writes, in the voice of his main character, "...God has a sense of humor, and because the world is wondrous, He expects us to find reasons to smile even on the darkest of days." He summed up in one sentence the way I try to live my life.

I'm hoping in the next few days I can take the time to share some of the wonder, humor, and smiles I have enjoyed in the past few months. I also hope to update the photos and music. So check in once in a while and see what's new.