THE BIRDS AND THE BEES...AND CICADAS

It felt good to be up early with some free time to enjoy the peacefulness of my backyard. Sitting on the deck in silence, I prayed and meditated. As the time slowly passed, my attention was drawn to a sparrow hopping around in a clump of weeds. The sparrow was feeding on seeds of the plant, plucking each cluster clean before moving on to the next. Matthew 6:26 “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?”

Soon it was time to get cracking on the project for the day - picking up plants and placing them in just the right spot around our new retaining wall. My wife and I arrived at the garden center early enough to beat the Saturday rush. As we wandered around looking for just the right plants and flowers, it became apparent that bees and butterflies thought this was a great place to be as well. They were everywhere and they didn’t seem bothered at all by us being there. It was a beautiful site! We picked out the plants we wanted while the bees pollinated everything in sight. Romans 14:19 “Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.”

By the time we arrived back home, the sun was getting higher in the sky and the air was getting warmer. The warmer temperatures meant one thing…the cicadas would be buzzing at an ear-piercing volume, and this summer there have been an obnoxious amount of them. The buzzing is what attracts the opposite sex for mating. Who would think such an annoying sound would attack a mate? Exodus 10:14 “…Never had there been such a plague of locusts, nor will there ever be again.” I think it came close this year!

A cicada hitching a ride on our bumper

Trying our best to ignore the annoying mating call of the cicadas, the wife and I got to work. I dug the hole and she set the plant just right and back fill around it. The project went rather smoothly and after several hours we were finally done. We stood back and enjoyed the fruits of our labor. Genesis 2:18 “The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone, I will make a helper suitable for him”

Our dirty, sweaty, swollen hands

It was a great day enjoying many of Gods creations...except those cicadas.

SMELL THE FLOWERS

Earlier this summer my wife took it upon herself to fill our planters with flowers. Typically, this is something we do together, together in the sense that she picks out the flowers and I plant them.  However, this year I was busy with work and other home improvement projects.

So, on a Saturday morning while I was working on our retaining wall she went to the garden center and loaded up on flowers. When she arrived back home, she gathered the necessary tools and off she went. Later that day while

walking back up to the house I noticed she had all the planters filled with a variety of beautiful flowers. There was pink, red, yellow, and of course purple…her favorite color. I complimented her on a job well done, and her reply was, “I probably put too many in each planter.” As the summer went on, she gave them the necessary care they needed, and they were flourishing. On the 4^th of July, we had family over for a BBQ.  Her aunt commented how nice the flowers looked, and again her reply was, “I probably put too many in each planter.” “As long as they get plenty of water, they’ll be fine,” her aunt replied. Recently, my wife had a friend water the flowers while we were away on vacation. When my wife contacted her friend when we got home to thank her for the help, she also commented on how nice the flowers looked. It was finally sinking in that she did a good job with the flowers.

Sometimes we can be so critical of ourselves that we forget to stop and admire the beauty of our work and smell the flowers.

Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things.