Wednesday, May 5, 2010

The Pruning 5/5/10

This morning I pruned about 4 of my 8 lilac bushes.  I LOVE lilacs and try hard to take good care of my bushes.

My mother recently bought me another one for my collection for my birthday and they gave us a paper on how to take care of your lilacs.  I've already been practicing some of their suggestions, but was glad for the detailed information.

"Deadhead (remove spent flowers) each year immediately after the bloom period.  If spent blossoms are not removed, flowering will be severely stunted the following year, for the lilac will expend energy into seed production at the expense of next season's flower buds."  Courtesy of Ashcombe's instructions.

As I was trimming off the dead blossoms, I was struck with wonder to think that I am doing something that will affect next year's growth when we've only begun to enter Spring for this year.

I sat down at the piano just a little bit ago and decided to play what I felt a lilac bush must experience during this process.  It starts with clip, clip, clip - but slowly, new growth will return in even more beautiful array than this year.

Do you feel as if you're just getting into the blossom stage of life and then you get clipped back?  Take courage my fragrant-minded friend!  God is always thinking ahead - in fact, the Lamb was slain before the foundation of the world.  Guess He was already thinking about next year's growth.

Listen to "The Pruning" here

Monday, May 3, 2010

Bird Song 5/3/10

I was away for 3 days leading worship at a camp with about 70 women.  It was an awesome weekend!  The women were easy to lead in worship and that always makes it a great experience for me.

We were located on a beautiful campground and so Sunday morning I got up early and went for a walk in the woods.  I heard one loud squirrel who seemed quite upset by my presence there and saw two beautiful deer jumping gracefully through the forest.  Funny how they didn't make a sound.  I only saw them because I noticed their bright white tails ahead of me.  I watched them move majestically away from me.

I had to chuckle to myself at the stark difference between the loud scolding squirrel and the serenely quiet deer.

I took my walk this morning. I walk faster when I listen to upbeat music, but since I walk by a stream on part of my walk, I just had to shut off the music and listen to the birds.  They fill my soul!

Today I tried something different for my devotional notes.  Decided to just sit at the piano, hit record and see what would come - though I definitely wanted to give the feel of the birds singing to each other.

Enjoy! Listen here.