Crabapple Blossoms

Crabapple trees show off their finery at Applecreek Inn

in Isabella, Missouri

Battling the Window

Yesterday Don was showing houses to an engaging family, and I joined them for lunch at Cookies, a local restaurant. We always enjoy eating there. Besides having very good food, Cookies is like the local version of Cheers; it's a place where everybody knows your name.  

After lunch, Don went back to work and I returned home. When I opened the front door, Barley greeted me, and he seemed a little nervous. Then I heard some thumping sounds coming from downstairs, so I went down to investigate. Barley stayed behind me in case it was dangerous. I followed the sounds to the spare room, and was met by a strange sight. Just outside, a large turkey gobbler was banging away at the window. Apparently, he wanted to do battle with his reflection, and he must have been quite puzzled that his opponent wouldn't give him a fair fight.

Wild turkeys have sharp eyesight, and they frequently react to the slightest movement we make indoors, even from a distance, but this warrior was so focused on his fight that he didn't even seem to notice me. I suppose that's what emboldened me to go outside and try to sneak up on him for a better picture. When I rounded the corner of the house, he ran away. No surprise. Greed is never pretty.

Waiting

I've long been drawn to the idea that a creature praises the Creator by doing what it was created to do.  In the movie Chariots of Fire, Eric Liddell, the Olympic runner, was born to missionary parents in China.  In a scene early in the movie, Eric had a discussion with his sister, who thought he should give up his competitive running to become a missionary. Eric saw his running, rather, as a way to glorify God, before he returned to China to do mission work.  Eric responded to his sister in this way, "I believe God made me for a purpose, but He also made me fast.  And when I run I feel His pleasure."

  

There's a passage in the Psalms that speaks about all creation praising God:

"Praise the Lord... 

lightning and hail, snow and clouds,

 stormy winds that do His bidding...

you mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars,

wild animals and all cattle,

small creatures and flying birds,...

young men and maidens, old men and children.

Let them praise the name of the Lord, for His name alone is exalted:

His splendor is above the earth and the heavens."

Psalm 148:7-13

It's easy to think of an oriole lifting its melody in praise to God, or a lily, dispersing its fragrance, its beauty reflecting the glory of the One who made it, but what about that cold bare bulb under the ground,  waiting for a signal from the sun?

Could not its praise be in the waiting, too?

RSVP's

Wild plum trees are blooming on the pond bank for the first time in about 4 years, their delicate blossoms wafting their sweet fragrance on the air as an invitation to pollinators, but it's so cold and damp that the bugs aren't even returning their RSVP's.