"Return to your rest, O my soul,

For the Lord has dealt bountifully with you."

Random Thoughts from my Nest
by Celia Jolley

Eight year old Addie told her mother this past week at bedtime, "Mom, when I grow up, you can live in my pool house."  I'm glad I am a good example!

Ezra was writing his Christmas list diligently at the dinner table recently: an iPhone 11, daredevil triplet brothers, a time machine, a gang in the garage (?), and a kitten.  Which one do you think he'll get?  None of the above according to his parents.

Life in the country is Ezra running around in his skivvies with his dogs Phineas and Belle while Addie comes over in her nightgown to chase my dog Maggie in the open field, tail wagging happily.  One neighbor hosts a live rock concert featuring songs from the seventies and eighties while the neighbor on the other side blasts music from his Mexican radio station.  As for me, I crank out bluegrass and contemporary Christian music.  Fortunately, we do not all play at the same time.  But my favorite music is birdsong which has me putting out bird seed and reaching for my bird books.  It means watching the grass grow in our tiny fenced yard in a race with the gophers.  It means I can be found sitting on my porch soaking up the Indian Summer sun while reading ebooks.  It means simmering thoughts until they turn into a poem...

Not all fruits were made to be eaten;

Gardens were not made for weeds;

Leaves were not made for hiding behind;

Paths were not made for walking alone.

Eyes were not made for tears;

Hearts, not made for sorrow;

Bodies, not made for sickness;

Days, not made to be drear.

But faith is sure of the unseen;

Hope is anchored in heaven;

Patience waits through the storm for the rainbow;

Love is on tiptoe with joy for what will be.