~~SUMMER SHADOWS~~

...the flowers appear on the earth... ~~Song of Solomon 2:12

   In the last two weeks or so, I have heard it multiple times: "...summer is over..."  I beg to differ. It is ninety-five degrees today, and the forecast has published digits hovering in the nineties for the next week. Flowers are blooming flamboyantly, and the birds are singing until their little throats seem like they will burst. It is summer at its best! I was outside this afternoon watering and gathering some flowers, and I could hear the turtledove's mourning cry as I worked.

...the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land...

      We have been gathering crops as they begin to ripen and bear their fruits, and I can see the promise of more fruit in the days to come.

 

...The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell...

~~Song of Solomon 2:12, 13~~

   On a little more personal note, the following verse is appropriate in Ray's and my life, also, as we just celebrated another anniversary of our lives together.  

 ...My Beloved is mine, and I am his...



   In spite of my denial of summer's passing, I notice that the sun sets a little sooner, the shadows are a little longer, the sunsets are a little more golden; and I know that fall is approaching. Life goes on--we do our normal routines in the days, Esther flies back to Florida to enter another year of college, Ray hurries a little to finish projects on the house, I begin to teach some adult night classes. Summer will be over, though it is not yet. :)

 ...until the day break, and the shadows flee away...be thou like a roe or a young hart upon the mountain...

~~Song of Solomon 2:17~~
May God bless you this week, my Friend!! Please pray for us as we pray for you. 



 

  

 

' ...LIKE A TREE...'

"And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringing forth his fruit in his season..."

                                                                                                                                

 ~Psalm 1: 3~

     I have a fascination for trees-matter of fact, I love trees. I was raised in the northern part of Michigan, which is known as the 'northwoods,' and trees were very much a part of my life when I was growing up. Fifty miles of forest stretched behind our house to Lake Michigan, and my parents' property had been carved out of that woods many years before we arrived. When we first moved to South Dakota, I wondered how I could ever be happy in this 'barren' land. I began to plant trees-apple trees and a peach tree, a cherry tree and six green ash trees. I watered them and talked to them and coaxed them, and they thrived.

I enjoy a walk down a shady path

  When we moved into our home here in Mitchell, I was so happy to see the many trees planted around the house. I am sure that most people feel that our little piece of property is a serious piece of 'overkill' when it come to trees, but they make me very happy.

Dead, but still bringing nurture to the hummingbirds and butterflies

One of my friends saw a 'piece of Chinese silk' in the graceful curves of these limbs

    Our goal in our lives is to be 'fruitful' and to become as trees that will shelter and nurture others, both in Lower Brule and in Mitchell. I sometimes take a step back and assess our current activities, and I measure our depth of perspective in relation to others. We are here on earth to protect, to comfort, to encourage, and to bear the fruits of righteousness in our daily lives.

Fruit

 I love the passage in Revelation which describes the Tree of Life:

"In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations."

                                                                                                                       

   ~Revelation 22:2~