October remembered

Quercus (Oak)

Colchicum (Autumn Crocus)

"Red sky at night sailor's delight"

Proud as a Peacock

"Proud as a Peacock" showed up at our door and stayed for three months.

The Lord has been talking to me about pride lately. I am a slow learner.
In trying to organize pictures for the book that I’m working on, I discovered this peacock picture, taken about 9 years ago. I remember that he strutted and fanned out of his feathers in front of the cottage door. I thought then that pride was all about blowing your own horn, giving credit to yourself and not to God, not so..
(As an aside, pride is not the reason for the peacock behavior, but a territorial defense and mating ritual, seeing its reflection in our window thinking it was another bird).

Two months ago, August 20, I read a passage about pride from The Best of Andrew Murray on Prayer*, that has stayed with me.

" God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble." James 4:6 NIV

Andrew Murray asked us to offer one prayer to God continuously for a month which I have continued.

“…show me and take from my heart every form of pride...Awaken in me
the depths of humility so that I might be open to Your light and Your Holy
Spirit...O God....(I pray... from the bottom of my heart)...Pain and darkness
results, but meets with Divine Love."
This week a sample of where pride was in the way, the Holy Spirit quenched, and pain resulting:

• What I say: trying to interrupt people with my thoughts and not letting them finish, thinking I will forget what I wanted to say if I don’t. If it is important I won’t forget. Pride keeps me focused on myself and not what others are saying.
• What I like: My husband wanted to throw away an old milk pail bucket filled with what I use to clean the bathroom, kept under the sink and get a plastic bucket instead. I love the old bucket and have intended to make curtains to hide it better so I bristled, besides, he doesn’t clean the bathroom. Pride puts my desires and wishes above other people who may be just testing to see if I love them more than a bucket.
• Defending myself: Arguments in the morning, he criticizing, I arguing back. My pride in the way. Why do I need to defend myself? God knows my circumstances.
• What I look like: A young couple showed up at my door at noon. I was up at six, but with the rainy day, I still had pajamas on. At first I ignored the knock, thinking my husband who was outside would see them, but then I noticed them still there. I had no robe handy so just as I am, I opened the door. I thanked them later for coming and helping me deal with pride in another way.

“But as this prayer of humility is met by divine love, the mercy of God embraces
it. Then your song is changed into songs and thanksgiving.”*

I just realized that the creatures at my door in blog post Focus September 20 was exactly one month from the time I prayed the prayer above. Praise God for his divine love and mercy, blessing and encouragement.

I pray you also might experience His love and mercy and encouragement in a special way this month and hope you might be a faster learner than I.


* Andrew Murray, compiled by Edward A. Elliott, (Uhrichsville, Ohio: Barbour Publishing, Inc., 1997)

Ask

McCoon apple tree bearing much fruit

John 15:16 "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit and - fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name." NIV

Because I was thinking of writing a book and interested in social media marketing, I found the site:

6 Reasons Why You Should NOT Write a Book
By Laura Christianson
Reprinted with permission. Here are partial clips of 2 out of the 6. ( my words in italics)

Check out the link if you want to read the whole article.

"Over 80 percent of the U.S. population believes they have a book brewing inside them. I’ll bet you do! But should you write that book? Probably not. Here are six good reasons why you shouldn’t. "

"5. You just want to write."

" Marketing your book takes 10 times more energy than writing it does. "

....."But it’s a reality of the highly-competitive publishing industry. No one but you is going to market your book. So, in addition to being a superb writer, you must become a savvy marketer. You have to be willing to put everything you’ve got into marketing your project. " (This is where I got discouraged)

"6. God told you to write a book."

"If you’re a Christian author, you have an obligation to honor God with your words. If your manuscript is riddled with typos, misplaced modifiers, passive voice, and run-ons, how does that honor God?

If you’re unwilling to hire a professional editor who will help make your book shine, how does that honor God?"
"... I strongly urge you to equip yourself for writing. God isn’t going to just call you to writing and then leave you hanging. He’s going to send you critique partners, teachers, editors, and proofreaders to help you become the best writer you can be.

Take advantage of these resources, and thank God for sending them your way."

I thank God for directing me to Laura. Here is the letter I sent to her:

"After reading your blog, I must admit I was
discouraged so prayed 'God, if you really want me to write a book, I need to
know once again.' Then I got in my car and drove the four miles to get the mail.
Outside the post office sat a friend, the former editor of Seattle Times, who
immediately asked me, 'Why aren't you in your loft writing?'"

Father God at every turn shows his loving kindness to his child who continues to doubt.

"I don't think I have what it takes," I responded to my friend.

He admitted it was a lot of work, like anything else, which I agreed. He then suggested I read Ann Lamott's book Bird by Bird, which I have read several times. Once home, I got it out and found underlined "persistence, faith, and hard work", much of what you were saying. Another encouragement came from the book back cover where Ann talked about her brother who was trying to write an assignment about birds and was "immobilized...by the task" Her father, arm around his shoulder, encouraged by saying, "Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.

It happens to be a bird lover's devotional I am writing. All this just to let you know I am ready for the "persistence, faith and hard work."

Dear reader, I hope God encourages you as well. Don't let go of what He is calling you to do.

The glorious days of autumn

Quick tour of the kitchen garden borders to gather pictures for the seasonal book.

Scarlet Runner beans

Dahlia guarding the greenhouse door


Echeveria agavoides mother plant

Echeveria agavoides progeny spilling over steps

Some kitchen garden produce ready for pesto and pizza

"Holy, holy, holy, the whole earth is full of His glory." Isaiah 6:3

"You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory, and honor, and power: for you created all things, and by your will they were created, and have their being." Revelation 4:11 NIV

Guidance

Here's the bleating fawn in the daytime

Every morning, for three days, a different creature woke me up. First a fawn bleating outside our open bedroom window, the next day the familiar tree frog, and the third day a spotted towee. God's alarm clock through His creatures to wake me up at my usual time to pray, read His word and seek His face. Otherwise I would have slept in since I was on pain meds due to the hip injury from falling on the stone floor a few weeks ago.

I start the day by climbing the loft ladder, stepping the good leg first, the left injured one moved by grasping the railing in order to drag the injured leg where the first settled, hoping it is sturdy and so on to the top. I start every day there praying to our Lord, interceding for others, asking for guidance for the day and strength and wisdom to do His work. "The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;

My God, my strength, in whom I will trust..." Psalm 18:2 NKJV

This week's guidance:

The writing loft needed an overhaul, getting everything irrelevant to the book out and bringing in supplies and relevant reference books. Instead of writing, this week, hard to do with a fuzzy head from pain meds, I researched new marketing methods to replace the marketing section in the 15 year old proposal.

• 
  
  It looks like this blog could be my best platform if I get more of you involved. Not sure how.
• 
  
  Megatrends 2000 shows a rise in "The Power of Spirituality" http://www.yourlifework.com/List-of-Megatrends.html "The surest route to self-mastery is spiritual practice. Time spent in peaceful reflection or mindful meditation clarifies thought, sharpens intuition and curbs unhealthy instincts. Spirituality, it turns out, is a lot more practical than most of us ever thought." This is how I write.
• 
  
  Social media the new way of marketing http://www.tribalauthor.com/ I joined facebook awhile ago.
• 
  
  Pondering twitter for weeks, I didn't want it to run my life. Today I ran into an island friend that I haven't seen and talked to for years yet he told me he has used it for three years and has thousands of followers. He had his IPhone with him and demonstrated to me how he uses Twitter on it. He mentioned I can download a program so I can see all categories, twitterfriends, twitter othercategories, facebook on one site. He will tweet me around to his contacts if I let him know when I get on. I'll let you know as well.

Sometimes I feel like I am stepping out into thin air and will again crash onto stone. One note that I stuck above my desk quite awhile ago, states, "There is nothing indeed which God will not do for a man who dares to step out upon what seems to be the mist; although as he puts down his foot he finds a rock beneath him." F.B Meyer

Better my foot on a rock than my hip on a rock.

Lord, You are my rock. Help me get everything personally irrelevant to your calling out of my life so I can focus fully and stand firm on what you have created me to do.

I get it

For the second week God has been speaking to me everyday through His creatures, encouraging me to write in spite of obstacles.

Monday noon God sent a mink to our front door and birdbath.

I have created a folder for the mink stories. Mink signify the obstacles to me, they steal the ground nesting bird’s eggs and are quite vicious, attacking neighbor’s chickens. They even eat my planted peas and crocus every year just as they sprout. I hardly ever see them in broad daylight except today.
Later that day I tripped and hurt my hip on our hard stone floor and my head on a chair. I am still limping around and can only get to my writing loft by holding onto the banister and stepping lightly on my left leg. Obstacles encourage me that I am on the right track. (scripture coming soon)

Tuesday 11:30 a.m. a buck came to the front door. This is not a usual occurrance

Later in the day he pushed his way through the closed but unlocked gate. We managed to get him out after he stripped the lower branches of the apple trees and then we found him back in again in the orchard after ramming his way through another gate. I have created a folder for the deer stories. They also keep me focused on overcoming the obstacles.

Canned pears on our Monarch wood stove

Wednesday, God brought a friend, Cherie, a published author and gardener, to encourage me while helping peel pears. She suggested I organize my files, writing area, and contacts, and to set aside time each day for writing. She also suggested that I start rug hooking with her again so I can finish the “Raven” hooked rug that I started well over ten years ago, when I first knew I was going to write this book. She thought a picture of it would work well in my book.


Thursday night several friends came to our door. They come every week for prayer meeting. I had the opportunity to ask them to pray for me: to keep focused on what God is calling me to do, for wisdom and persistence to do it and for protection.
Friday: Another friend stopped by and sat outside my door in the wonderful sunshine and I was able to encourage her through my experiences while we sipped lemonade.
Saturday: The bleating of a fawn outside our bedroom window woke me up early to pray and write. I am grateful for God’s continued incredible encouragement and even the bumps that show me the importance of pressing on. I am determined, by God’s grace, to get this book proposal off as soon as possible.

Encouragement

A tree frog arrived at our door

There are always obstacles and annoyances, especially when on this mission of writing a book proposal. Yet, the more interruptions, the more encouragement I have. If it were not important to do this, the path would be smooth. Yet, on this rocky winding garden path, God, rich in kindness, meets me at every turn. Psalm 59:10

The last few weeks we picked pears and berries from our garden and set them on the counter. The annoying fruit flies came with them. A cousin of mine suggested the microwave to trap them and zap them, but we don't have one. I put the fruit in the refrigerator and off handed asked God to help me get rid of the annoying pests. The next day a tree frog, specializing in fruit flies, showed up at the sliding glass front door, spending half the day looking in, God's sense of humor. Now I see encouragement, as the frog pointed out, to write the devotional not just about birds but about the rest of the creatures in the garden. Perhaps the new title under consideration,"I Come to the Garden"

The next day in rushing to catch an early ferry for a dentist appointment,errands, and spend a few days sitting grandson Dylan, my packed computer was left behind. I let go of spending any free time working on the book, so we went to a movie instead, since they didn't expect us in Seattle until evening. We went to see "Julie and Julia" since 9 months ago I bought Julia Child's volume on Mastering the Art of French Cooking for our chef son, and was bringing it to him for his birthday. In the movie, much to my surprise, Julie started blogging about working her way through a year of trying all Julia's recipes from this very book. I was taken back that she blogged partly because she wanted to see if she could finish something... one of the very reasons I started blogging.

By the way, in God's rich kindness, we also had a wonderful free time with our grandson.

"And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need,you will abound in every good work." 2 Corinthians 9:8