God's creations and prayer.

Coming home from church tonight I had the privilege of seeing a couple of God's beautiful creatures that are typically very elusive to humans, whitetail deer. I saw two in a regular spot in the back of a hay field  They stood and just stared at me as I sat in my truck, in the middle of the road, staring back at them. Then it dawned on me that I had my camera with me! So I grabbed it and snapped a couple of pictures. They were pretty far off but I finally managed to zoom in and get my hands still enough to get a couple close up pictures. I didn't see any babies and I don't know if these were does, or bucks since right now the bucks may not have any antlers yet. It is about time for them to start growing them back though!Well, this made me excited to go check my game cameras that I have set up at my deer stand. I am hoping to catch some mommy's with their fawns on camera! So, sometime today, I will load up and head to the stand and go check my cameras. I really hope to have some nice pictures of some moms with their fawns!   This also made me stop to think about the creativity it took for God to create such beautiful animals. Well, one thing led to another and I began thinking about all of God's beautiful creatures, some of them not as beautiful as others, like the armadillo that keeps getting in my garden, but it still took a great deal of creativity to come up with an animal with a hard shell, not quite as hard as a turtles, but close, a pointed nose for digging holes and finding bugs, and just a short, stiff, stubby tail! Of course, I had to think of some of the other creatures God created for us. Cows, pigs, dogs, cats, goats, ALL of the various birds!! All I could come up with to say was, "WOW!!!" I am very blessed to be allowed to sit in the mornings and watch my chickens as they explore their pen, hoping to find a bug that may have fallen in there during the night. I get to watch as blue jays, cardinals, wrens, finches, squirrels, and other critters wake up and get about their daily business. I think some of my favorites are the hummingbirds. I have several feeders set up and numerous hummers that come to the feeders. Every time I have one fly up to a feeder, I feel so blessed that they chose my feeder to come to! I love it when they are comfortable enough to actually land on the edge of the feeder to get the nectar. Just getting to see them up close like that is such a privilege!!!I am also blessed to have been able to plant me a flower garden this spring. I have a large variety of flowers planted in there with still more to plant, I just have to figure out where! I have daisies, petunias, dahlias, hydrangeas, brides wreaths (these were in my now deceased mother in  law's yard so they are very special), a couple of dogwood trees as well as a couple of redbud trees that also came from her yard. The trees had fallen and broken after a severe storm we had, so I am praying that God allows them to survive and thrive. I also have some jasmine and honeysuckle planted, as well as some seedlings of some sunflowers, and daisies that my granddaughter and I planted in some very small 'mini greenhouses'. These are just about ready for transplant in our garden.I have wild petunias planted as well as some native Texas bluebonnetsl.  Then we come to my favorite flowers, my hibiscus and roses. The rose, any rose, has always been my very favorite flower. I have about 5-6 various roses as well as a white rose tree! Practically all of these roses had beautiful blooms or many buds on them. The rose tree itself was quite a show!!Notice I said had and was, past tense. That's because we had a goat escape his pen, and pig out on my flowers! He also ate about half of one of my cherry tomato plants and the tops of several of my husbands jalapeno plants! Needless to say, I was ready to butcher a goat! When we rounded him up to put him back in his pen, I prepared myself because he has been somewhat ornery lately. I  picked up a nice sized piece of bamboo to use if I needed to, to knock him away from me. You see, he tends to want to butt me any time I am around and this day was no different. As my husband was leading him to the gate of his pen, he spotted me and decided to 'play'. He started to come at me with his head down, ready to give me a significant head-butt! But, instead as he got within my reach, I swung the bamboo pole I had in my hand and promptly gave him a migraine headache. He stumbled back a step or two, shook his head a few times, and then just looked at me with this look that seemed to say, "wha-what was that for?" I promptly explained to him that if he decided to come at me again like that, I would put him on the ground, possibly 6 feet under! (I don't think we would actually bury a goat that deep, but it sounded good at the time!) So, he decided to leave me alone and go into his pen with no further problems! Then came a better inspection of my garden.This goat had eaten all but one of my rose blooms, as well as the buds!! He dined on my hibiscus blooms and buds, leaving me one, snacked on some daisies and petunias, and for dessert, he decided to have his vegetables. He devoured half a large cherry tomato plant, complete with small tomatoes, as well as several jalapeno plants and their blooms!We 'grounded' him to his pen for a couple of days.My rest and relaxation come from my flower garden, whether I am working in it, weeding, planting new plants, watering, or just talking to my plants, or just sitting in the shade and watching my beloved plants grow. Of course, on the times I am watching my plants grow, I am also enjoying many birds coming to my feeders, the hummingbirds coming to their feeders, squirrels playing and eating nuts or other morsels  they find on the ground, and my chickens.My chickens can calm me down when it seems nothing else will. I have 5 bantams, 2 of which are roosters who are learning to crow! I also have 23 regular sized chickens, including some yellow (buff orpingtons), black (black australorp), and Americanas (Auracaunas, that lay colored eggs), none of which appear to be roosters at this point. I was hoping for at least two roosters, but it is looking more and more like those I lost as baby chicks may have been my roosters that I ordered. Oh well!For me to kick back in my very comfortable lawn chair and listen to the various sounds my chickens make, including the crows of my two banty roosters may sound crazy, but it relaxes me. I could sit and listen to them for hours. I am so thankful to our wonderful Lord and savior for the many beautiful creatures He created for our pleasure and enjoyment. Many He created for food sources for us, others He created for us to watch and enjoy their beauty, and I believe to learn lessons from them from time to time. Do you think the birds and squirrels worry about tomorrow? Do they worry if Johnny or Suzy like them? Do they worry that their house is not as nice as the squirrel family in the next tree, or the wren's nest in the shed?Simple answer to all of these questions is no! So why do we worry about things like that? As the scripture says, to paraphrase, 'God takes care of the smallest of the birds so why do you think He would not take care of you?'  He promises to take care of us, in good weather and bad, in sunshine or darkness, in feast or famine, so why do we doubt Him? Yes, we doubt Him. We seem to think that God doesn't have what it takes to figure out our problems and help us through them. We seem to think that we know the best way to handle situations without God's help. We must think that way because we certainly don't seek His input or help! It is so easy to ask for His advice or help too, and that is what is so sad!! All we have to do is stop for a few moments and PRAY to Him, speak to Him!! ASK AND YOU SHALL RECEIVE!! YOU RECEIVE NOT BECAUSE YOU ASK NOT!! Do either of those sound familiar? They should because they are in God's word! They are words that Jesus spoke! We don't have what we need or want because we do not ask for it, or we may ask in passing, such as while you are walking to your garden you speak under your breath, "Lord we sure could use some rain." That is not a prayer!! I don't think you have to get down on your knees every time you pray, though it sure is a good idea from time to time!! But I do believe that God would like for you to spend more time, more sincere time with Him in prayer. He is not a sharpie that we can use to check off things from our to-do list! He, God, is what is going to help us get through our day!Does he promise that if we pray sincerely to Him, we will always have only good days? NO! But He does promise that if we turn to Him, pray to Him, He will be right beside us in times of distress, as well as times of happiness and celebration, though we usually don't have anything to say to Him when we are happy or celebrating!Think seriously about your prayer life. I know mine definitely needs significant improvement! What about yours? Could you benefit from spending more time in SINCERE prayer? Don't take your grocery list of wants to God and just tick through it item by item until you complete the list and then close your prayer! That's not what He tells us to do!! If you are unsure of how to pray, reread the Lord's Prayer!          Matthew 6: 9-13              9 Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. 10 Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

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