From One Topic to Another

 

water color American flag

His Eye Is On The Sparrow

During my walk earlier this week, an Eagle was sitting at the highest point of a neighbor's roof, overlooking the lake. Almost as quickly as I saw him, he took off but flew only two houses over, again perching at the highest point, facing the lake.

We see birds of all kinds here in Florida, year around, taking their station on top of the houses where they can see far and wide. Although the Eagle is quite a sight to see, what amazes me the most is when a long-legged Sand Hill Crane will stand atop a roof point, looking somewhat like a TV antennae.

a Sand Hill Crane,
Internet photo

A thought from the Old Testament often comes to mind when I see birds up there: 

For the eyes of the LORD

run to and fro throughout the whole earth,

to shew himself strong in the behalf

of them whose heart is perfect toward him.

II Chronicles 16:9 (KJV)

That verse makes me want to jump up and down waving my hands in the air, "See me! See me!" But that's not necessary. God is looking and He sees me. I am so glad.

9/11 Remembrance

our flag on 9/11 this week

The week began with somber memories of 9/11. On that day I had just turned off my TV when the phone rang. One of my daughters in law didn't even say "hello" but went straight to the matter at hand:

"Is your TV turned on?"

I reached over to switch it on in time to see a replay of what had apparently just happened, an airliner flying smack into the side of a sky scraper in New York City.

When the second plane hit the next tower, it was looking like this was more of an attack than the error of a misguided pilot. The words to an old hymn came to mind:

O God, our help in ages past

Our hope for years to come,

Our shelter from the stormy blast,

And our eternal home.

(words by Isaac Watts)

I really thought 9/11 was the beginning of the end, with a rapid decline in the quality and safety of life here in America and the Rapture and the advent of the seven years of tribulation to quickly follow. 

While we've had innumerable changes imposed on all of us since that day in an effort to protect us all and to preserve and rebuild what is left, I now marvel that here we are, 22 years later, still very much alive and functioning much the same as before that terrible day. It is a testament of God's mercies on those of us who remain. 

An Example of Personal Mercy

Tough stuff happens to everybody. I am amazed at how the Lord has taken care of me and mine in the nearing 3 years since Beloved died. A striking example of God's goodness to me took place recently.

Literally weeks before Beloved's unexpected passing, I got my first pair of hearing aids. They are top-of-the-line and have wonderful benefits, few of which I cared about except to just hear better. A follow-up appointment was scheduled to see if I had any problems or questions.

Then the bottom fell out of my life with COVID, Beloved's passing, et al. I cancelled the follow-up appointment for obvious reasons. Later I re-scheduled and although things went well, the stresses of this huge loss in my life overpowered my ability to handle anything new, and I stopped wearing the hearing aids. They were safely tucked away.

Marcie from Charles Schultz's Peanuts cartoons
-- she and I share some similarities

Those who know me are well aware that after the initial year without Beloved, my life took a marvelous turn for the better when Gary came into my life. 

The hearing aids were still packed away but I knew I really should be using them, and especially because they are of really good quality. I tried to charge them up, but they were dead. I was afraid to take them into the dealer where they were issued, assuming it would be at great cost to me, even with my insurance. This summer I've had a lot of snail mail and automated phone calls regarding hearing aids -- all of which fueled my worries about what I should do.

Even with the grief and huge life changes I had experienced, it was irresponsible of me to ignore this wonderful benefit of the hearing aids.

But then the Lord's mercies came into play. I saw somewhere that the hearing aids I have are under warranty and it would expire in late October. I mustered up my courage and made an appointment to humbly address the issue with the people in the office where I had got  them.

Hearing Aids and Cookies

Apricot Hammantschen

The visit to the hearing aid place went very well. Because they were under warranty (and because the staff are really, really great people), my hearing aids were replaced with brand new ones, a new warranty, and a review of how it all works.

In all this talk about ears, I was reminded of a Bible study years ago of Queen Esther. If you are familiar with the story, then you know Haman was the "bad guy." Jewish people recount the story when they celebrate Purim and often the celebration includes these Apricot Hammantschen, a special cookie. 

This Sephardic pastry looks like a three-cornered hat but the goodies are also reminiscent of the human ear, Haman's ears, in particular. As the story is told to the children, these cookies are served. 

my effort at Haman's ears
cooling on the kitchen table

To add to the appeal of these cookies for the sake of the children, the recipe calls for Apricot jam as the filling. Do you know why? (smile)

Over our morning coffee I was telling Gary of my plans to bake these cookies. He wanted me to use the blackberry jam we had in the pantry but I insisted on apricot preserves. Since he pressed me on this, I told him the reason apricot is required: it represents the wax in Haman's ears.

"YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO SHARE THAT!!!" 

That's what Gary said, but it's true. Look it up. But to appease my man, I made half the recipe with my apricot preserves and half with Gary's blackberry jam.  As you can see, my cookies are decidedly not pretty, but the taste is the same. 

Gary proofreads all my blog posts

In Closing

This sums up our last few days. I'm hoping my Editor approves of today's content. He not only checks my writing for typos and grammar, but he is a ready source of "blog fodder," with today being no exception. My dear man has to be on his guard at all times -- he never knows when his picture is being taken or his activities will be reported in an exaggerated form. 

a selfie

I thank you all for your comments, observations, and encouragement. Journaling via a blog has been incredibly helpful as I navigate through all that "hits the fan" in my life, so to speak. 

It was good for me to be afflicted

so that I might learn Your decrees.

The law from Your mouth is more precious to me

than thousands of pieces of gold.

Psalm 119:71-72

Until next time, grace and peace.

P.S. Returning to the subject of Sand Hill Cranes, this snapshot was taken of me on Christmas Day 2017 when I had a "following" of 2 of these birds in my daughter's neighborhood. These birds are very tame.