Tag Archives: Scripture

The fig tree may not blossom

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Nor fruit be on the vines…Yet I will rejoice in the Lord… Hababkkuk 3:17-18 NKJV

plumcrop

 

Last year I planted several fruit trees: two peach, an apple and a plum.  Two plums were produced. This year the tree branched into a perfect Y with good foliage and the promise of abundant blossoms.

 

Alas that was until Holly, my pet bovine, walked through a “natural barrier” of underbrush during the night and feasted.

May2Hollyrearcabintreetrailer

 

Taking the puppies out before daylight I found Holly contentedly lying beside her handiwork a few feet from the cabin. It doesn’t look like we will have a crop of plums this season.

Turning to the Lord to keep me calm, I went about creating a place to lure her to safety and still be in Memphis by 8:30 a.m. for a writers’ workshop.

Once I brought the puppies their food she stood up and followed me to a corral where water, shade and hay awaited her. May2Hollylongview_pups

Behold I will do a new thing

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now it shall spring forth…  Isaiah 43:19 KJV

In retirement and after a lifetime of fulfilling commitments I am living my joy, creating art.  Whippoorwill Calls, A Collection of Poems & Art, a thin read, features 22 figure and gesture drawings with seven poems. Paperback and hardcover editions will be available soon.4Ffinal7_31APrintcopyright

I spent two months preparing the photographed art for publication. Several are black charcoal figure drawings and others are in red Conte’ crayon. Two are faces. In the book the leg in black and white in this post is in golden tones in Whippoorwill Calls.

 

You have made known to me the ways of life

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You will make me full of joy in Your presence.  Acts 2:28 NKJV

 

Full bloom tree top

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Crab-apple tree blooms. Winds come. Petals float and drop covering the earth—a short life.1 crabapple w sky

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Balance You are teaching me is preeminent. Walk the beam of life hands outstretched.

 

but whoever drinks from the water

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that I will give will never be thirsty again. The water that I give will become in those who drink it a spring of water that bubbles up in eternal life.  John 4:14 CEB

Water with branches

This wet weather pond is not nearly as full as in previous years. With spring approaching perhaps the water level will rise before the dry, hot summer months.

Each season brings a new look, a new adventure. Frogs croaking in alternating rhythms greeted me late this morning. A few days ago wings flapped overhead.

Winters past the scene was totally different. Snow draped the tree branches and covered the ground. I wait with delight for each slide in the show to advance revealing yet another beauty.

snow on the pond

Pond long view

Ask, and it will be given

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to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.  Matt. 7:7-8 NKJV

Sonny L of trees

Abba, Father, I am asking, not for myself but for the animals: abundant green pastures, winter and summer shelter, no piles of limbs and broken trees brought down by storms, no ankle-deep mud, no barbwire.  Instead please provide pipe fencing which safely allows the horses and cattle to commune again, and bless me the pleasure of telling their story, Your story. I delight in all that You are and You have promised to give me the desires of my heart (Ps. 37:4). You said nothing is impossible (Luke 1:37). I believe.

Sonny finishes grain with down trees behind

The Lord is near

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The Lord is near.  Phil. 4:5b CEBBebe Jack wait for breakfast long view

Three minutes before midnight the electricity flickered, then shut down–heat and lights. Having called in the outage to the power cooperative, at 4:00 a.m. when the alarm went off, we were still in the dark.

Taking Sam by flashlight out for his constitutional I checked on the horses. Jack came up to me, got his nose kissed and I could see Bebe was OK too. The night’s deluge of rain, thunder and soft snow drifts had stopped, but the wind was high. Outside it was 20 degrees. It could have been so much worse.

Sonny in snow 2

Inside the cabin the temperature was 64 degrees. Crawling back under the covers was the best of all options. Later I heard the whir of the refrigerator. What a terrific sound. I rose, turned on heat, lights and brewed coffee before sitting down for my devotional time.

Holly Bebe & Jack in distance

Thank you, Lord, for Your protection for me and mine.

There are persons for companionship

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but then there are friends who are more loyal than family.  Prov. 18:24 CEB

Bebe and Sonny

Bebe licks Sonny (2)

Living in adjacent spaces the horses and bovines became grooming partners. It all began when Buff, the copper-colored Charolais-Angus bull, started licking Bebe’s mane.  Soon Jack, the Palomino paint, began grooming Buff and then both horses included Sonny, the Brahma bull.

Jack licks Buff Mon 5_24_10Bebe hugs Buff

Those who make peace

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sow the seeds of justice by their peaceful acts.  James 3:18 CEB

Closer Jackie straddling Sonny w_his face

Not only did the Great Dane Jackie pal with the baby bovine Holly, she also became friends with the Brahma Sonny. In addition to straddling the bull who was OK with her presence, she also climbed on top of him. A few years later all the critters took up residence in Tennessee.

Sid w_Jack eating 5_10Siddhartha, the wanderer, just showed up one day and made fast friends with Jack, the Palomino paint. Sid stayed on the Tennessee farm with the other canine rescues, two horses and three pet cattle.

God is love

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and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. 1 John 4:16b NKJV

Holly L w_Jackie R full views

Jackie, (R) a Great Dane and runt of a litter of 17, was all energy, play and love. She became pals with the bovines with ease. Here she and Holly, a  less than three-month old heifer, are searching the gravel for some nuggets that only they could find.

Below: When Sonny, the Holstein-Brahma, was adopted at 11 days old he was the only bovine in the company of 30 rescued canines. He was eight months old when Holly, who was 45 days old, came to live with us. For Sonny, it was love-at-first-sight. The amour remains today.

Pet cattle

When Holly joined the farm at 45 days old she turned Sonny’s head

This God—his way is perfect

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the promise of the Lord proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.  Ps 18:30 (NOAB)

For three days I cut grass with a push mower and delivered the cuttings to my farm pals: Sonny, Holly, Buff, Jack and Bebe.

Hay is scarce. Following droughts in neighboring states farmers and ranchers learning of available supplies in West Tennessee traveled with their trailers and hauled full loads back to their animals.

Following breakfast grain Bebe diness on hay

The local farm supply held out serving locals until there was no more.  Last weekend I found someone who had older rolls of mixed grass. Two rolls were delivered the next day. While it lacks that fresh, sweet scent my group is accustomed to at least the cattle will eat it with a sprinkling of green. Except for the edges it is too rough to feed the horses.

Jack eats Bermuda with breakfast

Buff washes up while standing in the morning sun

Yesterday I connected with the person who delivered nine square bales of Bermuda a week ago, and he brought us 15 squares.

We have hay. We have fuel. We have grain and chow for all of us. Everyone is in relatively good health.  And we have a safe place to sleep and good tenants for neighbors.

Life is good on the farm thanks to God’s grace.