Abundance, Need, and "When?"

 

I don't know if you're like me, but I have spent a great deal of my life looking forward to "when". When we'll have children, get a new home, a new appliance, a new piece of furniture, a new ...whatever. Life is short and I seem to have spent a great deal of my life looking forward to the next thing, whatever the next thing might be.

The picture above was taken at a lake in eastern Washington where my husband & I were fishing with our youngest son and his family. ( I caught a really big trout and it was delicious ! ) I thought to myself this is the perfect place to camp and maybe live. Who wouldn't love a classic Airstream travel trailer parked dock-side at a lake chock full of fish just waiting to be caught and pan fried ? A mountain behind the trailer to boot ! I could do this, really. Just looking at this picture makes me happy.

After browsing through all my pictures trapped in our computer files I realized I have the life my husband and I made together with love, with hard work, with planning ( often gone awry ) and also a life full of the hardships and agonies many others suffer , yet still a life of great abundance . Abundance that is NOT of the monetary. I have the desires of my heart and they are not any of my material possessions!

I truly know and understand the saying "life is wasted on the young" ,because if I and my husband had known when we were young what we know now, we would have made so many different choices. Yet we are not made to know in our youth what we know in our older age. And really, if someone had told us we should NOT do this, or we should do that, we would probably have done what we thought best anyway. Such is youth. ( Hey you young things out there, listen again carefully to your elders ! )

So, back to the picture and my dream of living somewhere else , a dream of a different life. Yes, I can dream, and my husband and I dream and plan together, but I truly know I am blessed by God no matter where I live , in the here and now. We have a home we built together with the help of family and friends after a few years of living in a repo single- wide mobile home while we built. Our dream home was crushed by 3 falling trees during a severe storm* a few years ago , and months later repaired. We have an abundance of food but for many years our budget was so slim that out of necessity I found ways to make 3 filling meals for a family of 5 plus company using one store-bought fryer chicken , not to mention ( but I will ) another frequent dinner ~ my husband's least favorite meal, tuna noodle casserole. We now have more material possessions than we need and plenty of food. Abundance and lack are temporal conditions and not necessary for happiness or contentment. We know that where we live does not determine our happiness , but Who we trust our lives to does.

Our true abundance and contentment lies in Him~ Jesus, and all He has given of Himself. Only His life, for us. The "When" ? Now and forever redeemed in spite of ourselves. John 3:16

"I know how to get along with humble means , and I also know how to live in prosperity, in any and every circumstance. I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. ( Jesus ) ." Philippians 4: 12, 13

Snippets

 Look at this flower blooming in an old bucket I hung over a chicken pen ! I planted bulbs in it 2 years ago and this is the first year it has bloomed. I can't remember the name of the vine but love the brilliant pink . There are even more blooms on it now and the blooms are lasting a long time.

 I also planted sedums and Kenilworth ivy in the bucket. Easy keepers and the bucket of green and blooms adds splashes of color that make me happy as I tend and watch my chickens.

 We have a pair of bullfrogs residing at pond's edge. They sun themselves in the same spots every day. When I go down to the pond the female ( shown here ) and the male leap into the pond , swim a few feet, then pop up to watch me. If I sit down and stay quiet both of them climb back to their original spots in the sun. This bullfrog is at least 12 inches from nose to back toes. I should give her a name, what do you think ?

 I have an African Violet that has been with me for years. I don't seem to be able to kill my African Violets and I attribute this to neglect. This AV is huge and doesn't look real because it is so huge. The picture doesn't do it justice for scale , but that is a large clay pot it is planted in. After many years the violet began moving itself out of the pot it came in and I relented and bought potting soil and a new pot just for this plant. Looks like I've been rewarded for my good deed.

 Our oldest granddaughter , daughter of our oldest son , was in Seattle singing with her high school choir at the Emerald City Choral Festival at St. Lukes Cathedral. Seattle is only about an hour or so away from Cedar Pond so we were able to see her there.What a treat to hear her sing with her high school choir and also hear amazing vocals from many other high school choirs , plus a few famous performers too. We only had minutes to visit with her as her choir hopped back in the bus and headed back home ( 5 hours away ) shortly after the performance. We loaded her down with chocolate chip cookies, flowers, hugs and kisses, before she got into the bus for home. I love this picture ( above ) of our granddaughter with my husband.

Mother's Day was so much fun for me. I got to go fishing , one of my favorite things to do , with our daughter. I only caught one fish but it was a big one. My husband caught his limit, but my fish was the biggest , so we all had a good time and I had freshly caught Rainbow trout cooked by my husband for dinner that night.

It's been a busy few weeks and any spare time is spent watering and tending our gardens. We also try to spend as much time as possible with our family and quickly growing up grandchildren. Seems lately when I sit down to read & write blogs I usually feel like my time would be better spent getting a good night's sleep ( really, when I find I have fallen asleep while blogging I know it is past bed time ! ). How about you ? Is this a busy time of the year for you ?

New Fishing Buddies For Father's Day

Father's Day we went fishing, my husband, myself, our daughter, her husband, their 4 children,and some friends.The weather was absolutely miserable, but it was one of the best Father's Day ever!

Our daughter & her husband's 4 children. When they posed for this picture the sun shone, for a few minutes anyway.

 Some of us took boats out in the lake to try to catch fish, here our daughter and her 2 oldest children are rowing out to the opposite shore.They would have had some success had they stayed on the humble dock...

 ..with us, my husband, myself, and the two youngest grandchildren.

 The FIRST fish of the day ( for our party) and the first fish he has ever caught. Look at that smile! The fish was a little bullhead and after taking it off the hook we threw it back, but Little J was so happy about his first fish.

 Then, he caught the second fish, a nice perch, and he is now hooked on fishing."If people concentrated on the really important things in life, there'd be a shortage of fishing poles." Doug Larson

 These two are the perfect fishing buddies.They sat with us as long as we fished, hours!No complaining, lots of excitement, and our granddaughter & I shared coffee and small talk while waiting for the big fish to bite."The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of what is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope." John Buchan

By the end of our time fishing, no one who went out on a boat caught any fish, but those of us on the dock had a wonderful time reeling them in. My husband & I caught 4 Rainbow trout each, and one of my fish was quite large. ( not the fish shown above) I have always loved to fish and I especially love fishing with my husband, and our new fishing buddies, our grandchildren.My husband said this was a great Father's Day,and I agree.We went home cold, wet, tired, and very happy. Plus, the fish were delicious!

"I love fishing. You put that line in the water and you don't know what is on the other end. Your imagination is under there."   Robert Altman