TheWritePath

                              I continued to work in the garden for what seemed to be a very long time before the drawing of the flowers interrupted my thoughts again. My heart met with a large full-bloomed red rose called Chrysler Imperial. The red was so deep you could lose yourself in its beauty, and the fragrance brought a smile to my face with memories of my mother-in-law. This was one of her favorite roses. Mom felt the beauty of a rose was in the giving, so I decided to cut this one and give it away. My mind filled with wonderful memories of her, and I felt like she was there with me, if only for a moment, reminding me that I would see her again someday. As I continued to work, I could imagine her rending God's roses and sharing their beauty with the one who had created them.                          The next bush, the Peace Rose, my thoughts turned to my grandfather. Maybe because it wasn't until his later years that he found the peace in life that only the Lord could b

                                  The next to capture my attention was a lavender rose, just partially opened, called Royal Amethyst. In its early development, the color gives just a hint of being blue, which looks striking against the deep green leaves. As I leaned over to smell it, I could not help but notice it had a fragrance stronger than most of my other roses. As I looked at all the other's blooms on the bush, I thought of how wonderful each stage of a person's life could be seen in them. There were some buds just beginning to form, still wrapped so tightly that no color was visible; that reminded me of a baby yet in its mother's womb. Another, still in bud stage but just barely opened, brought to mind my young grandchildren just beginning life with all their potential yet to be seen. There were others in full bloom that brought a smile to my face as I thought of my husband and myself. We had thought our lives were complete raising our boys, yet now in the fullness o

          IN THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS, the pink rose is a symbol of innocence, while the red stands for love and the white for purity, but one day, in the quietness of my rose garden, the Lord showed me it was a symbol of life.      I had always loved roses, but it wasn't until my mother-in-law got me started growing my own that I fully understood their silent beauty. While I was pruning the bushes, I became increasingly aware of the different buds and flowers that appeared on each one. Some were just beginning to form, while others were partially opened. There were also roses in full bloom, yet others were beginning to lose their petals. I also noticed that, strangely enough, some had died in each stage of development, and as I continued with my work the Lord began to speak to my heart.    I was pruning one of my favorites, a soft pink rose called PeggyLee, which had been a Mother's Day gift from my oldest son. I remembered when the first bloom appeared I was so amazed as its c

                 I had to protect myself, so I began to build a wall to keep everyone out using bricks of distrust and laid them with a mortar made from fear. Over the years when I faced painful difficulties I laid another layer of bricks.  Year after year I built that wall, but no matter how high it became it didn’t stop the pain from getting in, what I had failed to realize, was it had stopped me from getting out. I didn’t belong in an adult world. As I’m writing this I am seventy-three years old and still have difficulty at times. I had lost all those years growing up that would have prepared me. The wall I had built around me is gone but the little girl is still within. I have a hard time being in large groups or showing my emotions, and I like to lose myself in the things I enjoy such as gardening or in books. Even when I get lonely I would still rather be by myself than with most people. My husband gave me a plaque once that said, “Blessed are those who expect nothing for they wi

  The Little Girl Within               The Lord has been whispering in my ear that there is a story that needs to be told, but more importantly, there is someone that needs to hear it. This morning I ran across a dear friends’ post on Facebook that said, “Sometimes God wraps His glory in hard circumstances, ugly obstacles, or painful difficulties, and it just never occurs to us that within those life-shaking events is a fresh revelation of Him. AG” We all go through hard, ugly and painful times and if we have been traumatized at some point in our lives our heart can begin to shut off His voice that lies within all of us,                 My mother told me that when I was a little girl I would stand at the door with my face pressed against the glass for hours waiting on my daddy to come home, but he never did; my mother didn’t know how to tell me that he never would. She just said one day I stopped waiting; I was too young, at three years old, to understand what was happening.  I don’t r

                 In order to have a complete answer to “Will we see our pets in heaven,” we need to answer the question if animals can be saved. When you read the temptation and fall in Genesis 3 that caused God to drive a man from the Garden of Eden.  The only animal that is mentioned in the temptation account is the serpent, “Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made . . .” (verse 1. NKJV)   And, in verses 14-15 God punished him for his transgression, “So the Lord God said to the serpent: ‘Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; on your belly you shall go and you shall eat of the dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.’” The serpent was the only animal that broke the Lord Gods command in the Garden of Eden, he used his cunning nature to dec

                 The will is where we determine our desires and make our choices, it is the intentions of our heart and if we don’t have strong willpower it can lead us to destruction, it is where we determine if we are going to be obedient or disobedient. Again I ask you have you seen any of these traits in your pets. I was at a Field Trial where my husband was testing one of his dogs, he had been working with for months and today was Daxs’ big day. All through the test, he had done great work, accomplishing everything asked of him.  It was the last test of the day, and Dax was sent out to search and retrieve a bird.   His time was fantastic as he broke through the brush carrying the bird in his mouth, then suddenly he stopped, stood there for a minute, and then dropped the bird and walked the rest of the way to heal at my husbands’ side. The dog, knowing better, determined he was done, choosing disobedience over obedience. THE WILL             For every good emotion, there is a bad o

                                Without realizing it I found myself once again contemplating the unanswered question, “Will we see our pet’s in heaven?”             The Word of God mentions in several scriptures about animals being in heaven but there is one, in particular, I would like to share with you from the book of Isaiah 11:6-9, it speaks of the Messiah’s reign in which complete harmony will exist between animals and man and all of creation will be restored under His rule. Now I grant you this is speaking of the New Jerusalem, “But are their animals in heaven now?” The answer is, yes, Revelation 19:14 states that the armies of heaven will follow Christ on white horses when He returns. Now mind you I don’t think for a minute that God will send His angels to round up all the white horses on earth and bring them to heaven only to send them back again with His army on their backs, so they must already be there, wouldn’t you agree. But as for animals going to heaven after they die

My Constant Companion             One day when I was working at the store a woman came in with a young girl at her side, I couldn’t help but notice that she had such a long face and her eyes remained looking down, her overwhelming sadness was very apparent, When she looked up her eyes were so sad and I noticed she had been crying, whatever was wrong it was obvious her heart was broken. As her mother continued with her shopping she stayed up front where I was working, and it wasn’t long before she told me her dog had died and her mommy said he wouldn’t go to heaven. Being an animal lover myself I was filled with compassion for this little girl, a pet is a child’s first experience with unconditional love. A parent loves their child, but the Meir fact that they are a parent does come with conditions and responsibilities, it’s not wrong, it’s just being a good parent. I thought about her off and on all day, and truthfully I just didn’t understand why her mother couldn’t have found another

                 I then moved to a corner in the front yard where I had planted a few sunflowers, it was the only place I could find with the amount of sun they needed that was protected from the high winds we often get. There is a phenomenon in the world of flowers that only happens with the immature sunflower and its ability to track the movement of the sun. Within the stem is an internal clock that runs on a 24-hour cycle as the plant matures. The growth rate is higher during the day and lower at night allowing the stem to move very slowly d uring the night  so the flower is facing east at sunrise, and faces the west as the sunsets, the cycle repeats until the plant matures, at that time the flower will remain facing east.  This process can be summed up in one-word pollination, studies showed that the flowers heat up faster when facing east and attracted five times as many pollinators.                    You are probably asking yourself what does all this have to do with praise, ho

                                The word tells us that by day God directs his love towards us but during the night his song is with us as a prayer given back to him for the life he has given us (Psalm 42:8 ).   I must admit that when I found this scripture my heart jumped for joy because many times in the night I would wake up with a song on my heart; maybe that’s why I enjoy listening to the sounds of the night here at the lake. I like to take a cold drink or hot cup of tea and sit on the back deck and listen to the frogs. I never knew just how pleasing their crocking could be.   Each species has a distinct range from bass to tenor and when they begin singing it is a beautiful sounding quartet echoing from all around our bay.   Some nights when the crickets join in, their singing ranging between sopranos to a contralto, is like you’re sitting in the middle of an opera; what I find amusing is the role I can play as the conductor. Where they use a baton or their hands and facial expr

  The earth is the lord's and all its fulness Psalm 24:1 NKJV BECAUSE THERE IS A speed limit of 15mph on the lake and most of its residents are of retirement age, life here is very quiet and peaceful. We enjoy the beauty of the lake, fishing, and seeing the wildlife that we share the lake with. One of my favorite times is to sit on the swing down by the waterfront or on the back deck and just listen to the beauty of nature. From the flight calls of the Canada Geese to the night crocking of the various types of frogs, it is like going to the symphony. As I sit silently listing to the sounds of nature I am reminded of scriptures that reveal Gods creation praising him, “The birds of the sky nest by the waters; they sing among the branches.” (Psalm 104:12 NIV); the morning fills with a beautiful choir of songbirds and the occasional drumroll of the woodpeckers.   Off in the distance, you can hear the flight calls of the Sand Hill Cranes which remind me of a chorus of sopranos raising