Gardens along the way...14...surprises...

Gardens along way...14...surprises...

When I started “gardens along the way” in April, three months ago, I didn’t realize that it was to be a continuing saga...a surprise...

I guess in reality, when I started blogging several years ago, that in itself was a surprise...I never imagined in my wildest dreams that it was so healing, so scary, that it would be read around the world, that people would respond so encouragingly, that I would publish a book from it, that people would actually read it, that it was a way to speak for a very quiet and private person....but, oh, how vulnerable you become...

This year has become a year of surprises...gardens along the way, just a a minute one of them...no traveling,  worldwide pandemic, “social distancing”, using cyberspace more, self quarantining, buying groceries online, shopping and business closures, record unemployment, more rules and regulations, care for needy and most vulnerable more acute, cancellations of events, creative celebrations, loss of loved ones, more time for introspection, more awareness of social injustices, cultural changes, one unexpected surprise after another...flexibility, openness, love, encouragement, gratefulness, appreciation key words...

My walks to keep moving, to keep sane, to explore, to exercise have taken in repeated routes, new routes, saying “hi” to others, maybe even stopping and talking to strangers about their lives, their gardens, life...surprises...

God has given me glimpses of new things, new lessons...surprises...

Pictures of ground chucks/marmots feasting on free “gardens” in nearby  pastures.....a group of chukars walking across a subdivision street, sitting on small trailer....baby ducks or quail walking across my 

path....beautiful flowers, vegetable gardens...sunrises and sunsets...all surprises...all gifts, granted by a creative Creator...large and small things, intricately, magnificently made...

New friendships, continued friendships, new skills or practice of old...new goals accomplished, another year quickly receding...surprises...

Surprises to me along the way...gardens along the way...thank YOU...

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. 

I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways.

Psalm 118:29,119:15 

Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.

Psalm 62:8

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:

a time to be born and a time to die, 

a time to plant and a time to uproot, 

a time to kill and a time to heal, 

a time to tear down and a time to build, 

a time to weep and a time to laugh, 

a time to mourn and a time to dance, 

a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, 

a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, 

a time to search and a time to give up, 

a time to keep and a time to throw away, 

a time to tear and a time to mend, 

a time to be silent and a time to speak, 

a time to love and a time to hate, 

a time for war and a time for peace. 

What do workers gain from their toil? 

I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. 

He has made everything beautiful in its time. 

He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. 

I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. 

That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. 

I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. 

God does it so that people will fear him.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-14