“….He did good by giving you

rains from heaven and fruitful seasons,

satisfying your hearts

with food

and gladness.”  Acts 14:17

Earth day.  A day to thank God over and over for this amazing created world that He made from words….beginning with these….”and God said…let there be light, and there was light.” Genesis 1:3

LIGHT is my personal word to study and meditate on this year.  Every year in January I wait for the Lord to impress upon my mind and soul a particular word (it’s so much easier that way).  LIGHT came to mind and wouldn’t go away, so LIGHT it was.  And let me assure you, the study has been marvelous so far.  The Bible and Christian resources, books, hymns, are full of this wonderful word.

The Light of the World is Jesus

The whole world was lost
In the darkness of sin,
The Light of the world is Jesus!
Like sunshine at noonday,
His glory shone in.
The Light of the world is Jesus!

No darkness have we
Who in Jesus abide;
The Light of the world is Jesus!
We walk in the light
When we follow our Guide!
The Light of the world is Jesus!

Ye dwellers in darkness
With sin blinded eyes,
The Light of the world is Jesus!
Go, wash, at His bidding,
And light will arise.
The Light of the world is Jesus!

No need of the sunlight
In Heaven we’re told;
The Light of the world is Jesus!
The Lamb is the Light
In the city of gold,
The Light of the world is Jesus!

CHORUS:

Come to the light, ’tis shining for thee;
Sweetly the light has dawned upon me.
Once I was blind, but now I can see:
The Light of the world is Jesus!

It’s nice to sing “The light of the world is” and then point to your child and let them sing “JESUS!”

Before I remembered that it was in fact Earth day, Sarah and I meandered our way outdoors and found a pair of mallard ducks in the stream.  They come every year at this time so we are old friends, however they are always shy of us.  We sat by the edge of the stream in the sunshine and tried to be still and quiet.  Sarah had a very hard time with the quiet part.

“I want to be a duck.”
“Everybody should be ducks, right mom?”
“I’m the girl duck.”
“Mom look at this stick!  Can I pick it?”
“I don’t like dirt.”
“I hear a plane.”
“Where are my ponies??”  (she was carrying around My Little Ponies)
“Mom, there’s a spider on you.”
“Let’s sit here and wait until they swim in the pipe.  Can I go through the pipe sometime?  Seth went through the pipe.  I want to go through the pipe.”
“Can I throw this stick in the water?”

Sherlock our cat was watching them with us.

Look how funny they are with their bottoms up in the air at the same time.  Notice the pipes, we waited and waited and in fact they looked as if they really would take the tunnel through to the other side of the road.  But do you know what those silly ducks did?  They got out of the stream and waddled across up on the road, on dry land.  First the Male went, waiting and looking carefully for cars, and then walking softly and throwing himself in the stream on the other side.  The Female slowly went up the bank and stood there nervously until her mate started quacking in impatience.  Only then did she rouse herself and cross.  “Ker plop” we heard her join her husband.  Sarah and tiptoed over to see.

Man duck stood proudly on a rock, the lady duck was there, but hidden in the water.  She seemed to enjoy the faster water and would go completely under.  Soon our motions made them nervous and up they flew.

They flew all the way over to the pond, so we followed them again.  Parker the dog was barking at them, too.

I got comfortable on the dock in the sunshine while Sarah climbed pine trees.  I saw a pair of cardinals and some other little birds.

It was getting to be lunch time so Sarah and I went over to see if there were eggs before going in the house for lunch.

 

There were two lovely smooth eggs, I put one in each jacket pocket.  Billy came over to say hello.

And we saw the first of the violets.  For all the February babies like myself and friend Cynthia.

“He himself gives to all mankind life life and breath and everything.  And He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God,  in the hope that they might feel their way toward Him and find Him.  Yet He is actually not far from each one of us, for ‘In him we live and move and have our being.”  Acts 17:26