Love, Joy and Peas: blessing

Showing posts with label blessing. Show all posts

Friday, March 17, 2017

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Green Orchid Photos and Haiku Poems

Happy St. Patrick's Day and floral Friday! The plaque in the photo above has this Irish blessing:

"May the road rise to meet you
May the wind be always at your back

May the sun shine warm upon your face

The rains fall gently upon your fields

And until we meet again

May God hold you in the palm of His hand"

This plaque hangs, year round, in our bedroom. I am a wee bit Irish, after all.

I thought green orchids would be perfect for this St. Patrick's day post. The photos were taken at the U.S. National Arboretum in their Bonsai Museum. It's a great place to visit, any time of the year.

Back to St. Patrick's day. While praying and walking today, God gave me these two haiku poems.

St. Patrick's Day Haiku Poem I:

Saint Patrick was real!

He spread the gospel message

and loved our Lord God!

St. Patrick's Day Haiku Poem II:
He used shamrock leaves

to explain the Trinity:

Father, Son, Spirit.

Saint Patrick was a devoted Christian and I'm glad to celebrate his life by wearing green but I think loving God and serving others honor him best.

The photo above is an overview of the green "cymbodium goeringii" orchids in their pretty pot. When I first saw the pot, I thought it was a pot of grass! But when I looked more closely I could see the orchid flowers.

Just in case you wondered what our kittens were doing on St. Patrick's day - they were relaxing. Every time I went to make the bed, a cat was on it. It's late afternoon and I still haven't made the bed, but the day isn't over. But their kittenhood almost is - they will be a year old a week from today!

May God bless you and all you love!

How do you celebrate Saint Patrick's Day?

Related posts:
My Favorite Funny Cat St. Patrick's Post: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/03/hilarious-happy-st-patricks-day-cat.html
More funny Irish cat photos: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/03/funny-st-patricks-day-photos-of-moose.html
Cute cats wearing the green: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/03/funny-st-patricks-day-cat-photos.html

Note:
This is not a sponsored or paid post. All opinions are my own.

Friday, April 3, 2015

Lilies for Good Friday

A blessed Good Friday to you! I wanted to do something special for floral Friday since it falls on Good Friday this year. My husband kindly consented to let me use his excellent lily photo (second in today's post). We don't have any recent pure white lily photos but I thought these were beautiful and hope you enjoy them.

These pink and white flowers are my favorite of this type of lily.

On a recent trip to Longwood Gardens, PA, these lilies appeared to be nested in ferns and there were also a few tulips that were such a deep purple they almost appeared black.

Here is a different angle of some of the lilies from the same display.

And here's a whole flower of the same type in the first photo of this post. I love flowers, but I love Jesus more! If you want to know Him too, PeacewithGod.net is a great place to start and they have volunteers on hand to chat 24/7. May God bless you this Good Friday, Easter weekend and always!

Related posts:
Resurrection chapel: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/04/happy-easter-resurrection-chapel-photos.html
Good Friday haiku poem: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/04/national-cathedral-photos-and-good.html
Funny Easter cat photos: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/04/funny-easter-cat-photos-featuring.html
Easter Good News: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/04/easter-good-news-how-to-become-born.html

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Happy St. Patrick's Day Crafts and Cat

Happy St. Patrick's Day! May God bless you and yours today and always! I doodled the above inspirational art with the words lucky, blessed and fortunate in honor of the holiday and have it in a little black frame by our computer.

I did a bit of freehand quasi-calligraphy for the cards we mailed to our closest family members (leaving space at the top for a salutation and below for a handwritten note and our signatures) and decorated them with festive St. Patrick's day themed stickers.

Moose is getting on in age and is currently suffering quite a bit from arthritis so I didn't put a costume on her this year (I'll post links to previous years below though) but did manage to sneak in this green "crown" for a St. Patrick's Day photo. It's really a pedicure toe separator but I thought it was cute.

I'm wearing four-leaf clover earrings and thanking God for all the blessings He's allowed in my life. How are you celebrating St. Patrick's Day?

Thank you for visiting! I wish this Irish blessing for you:

May joy and peace surround you,
contentment latch your door,
and happiness be with you now
and bless you evermore!

Source for Irish blessing: http://www.beliefnet.com/Inspiration/2009/02/Irish-Blessings-for-Luck.aspx?p=2

Related Posts:
My all time favorite funny cat photos: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/03/hilarious-happy-st-patricks-day-cat.html
Moose with St. Patty's braids: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/03/funny-st-patricks-day-photos-of-moose.html
Funny cat in leprechaun braids: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/03/funny-st-patricks-day-cat-photos.html

Sunday, June 22, 2014

"With God's Help I Shall Succeed"

Image source: Focus on the Family's Facebook page

I love the Lord, sunflowers and great art so Focus on the Family's sunflower photo with the quote by Vincent Van Gogh (above) caught my attention. With God's help we can all succeed! Of course, God's definition of success is quite different from most people's. But I do believe we're happiest when living in line with His will for our lives.

For anyone who can't read the quote in the photo above, it is "I am still far from being what I want to be but with God's help I shall succeed." May our all-powerful God bless, keep and prosper you!

Related posts:
2014 blessings: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/01/happy-new-year-blessings-butterflies.html
Veteran's blessing: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/11/veterans-day-blessing.html
Seasonal blessing: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/09/happy-autumn-blessing.html
Holiday blessing: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/12/christmas-blessings.html

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Happy New Year Blessings & Butterflies

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!"

2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV

Happy New Year, dear friends! May God bless you, keep you, prosper you, heal you and increase your love, joy and peace throughout this New Year and always!

Like a caterpillar turning into a butterfly we become a new creature when born again in Christ. If you're not quite the creature God intends for you to be yet (and as long as we're breathing, none of us are), every day, not just New Year's day, is a new chance to start again. Really, every moment brings the opportunity to do better and live more fully! As long as we're alive we can make choices about how we spend our time and other resources.

My husband and I took these butterfly pictures at the live butterfly exhibit at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History (you can see in the captions which one of us took which photo). It was a really fun time and at least three butterflies landed on me (please let me know if you'd like to see those pictures too and I'll do another post if there's enough interest).

Butterflies remind me that amazing change is possible. No matter what our situation is, we can change it for the better and, even in those few situations where we are powerless, our God is greater than anything we can imagine. We can faithfully turn those situations over to Him and wait on His leading. We can always pray. And there's almost always someone else we can help and helping others can work a beautiful change in our hearts.

May God's peace dwell in your hearts! If you make New Year's resolutions, goals and action plans, may you have the strength, perseverence and resources to bring them to fruition!

I'd love to hear your plans for the New Year if you want to share. May God bless you and those you love!

Related posts:
2013 New Year blessing: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/01/happy-new-year-haiku-and-blessing.html
Butterfly Art by Denise A: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/10/butterfly-art-by-denise-arvaneh.html
Butterflies and dragonfly: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/08/dragonfly-and-butterflies-on-flowers-at.html
Butterfly, bee and flowers: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/07/a-butterfly-bee-and-bunch-of-beautiful.html

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Happy Spring Poem & Crocus and Pansy Flower Photos

Happy first day of spring! It's a beautiful spring day here in Maryland. I celebrated by going for a nice walk. I also took some flower photos and wrote a little haiku poem to share with you. I hope they bring a smile to your face.

Welcome Spring Haiku

Blue skies; birds singing;

tulips bursting through the soil;

Praise God for springtime!

May the joys of spring warm your heart and comfort your soul and may God bless you!

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Home: Day 29 of 30 days of Thanksgiving

Image source: http://www.nantsprimitives.com/shop/images/uploads/home_sign.JPG

"And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." Joshua 24:15 (NKJV)

Today I'm thankful for our home. It's nice to have a comfortable, warm and relatively safe place to live. I'm especially thankful to share my home with my dear husband and two cat friends. Please join me in prayer for those who don't have a home, who are in need of shelter and who are in harm's way. May God bless them and may He bless you, too!

Sources:
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=josh%2024:15&version=NKJV
http://www.nantsprimitives.com/shop/signs/in-this-home-sign/prod_139.html

Disclaimer:
I have no material connection to any of the sources or products mentioned or pictured in this post. However, the owner of Nant's primatives is a family member.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Happy March Haiku

Photograph by Phyllis Wheeler

Happy March Haiku

March brings spring blessings

Green starts to fill the landscape

Happy March dear friend!

Hadn't written any haikus in a while and then was suddenly inspired to write nine last night and one this morning. God is good!

I love spring. I know it's not technically spring yet but it feels like it is and I'm thankful. I took this photo this past weekend on a walk with my beloved husband and am looking forward to some walks that include cherry blossoms later this month. May God bless you during the lovely month of March and always!

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Bless Your Day With A Walk

I love going for walks outside and think that going for a walk is a blessing at any time of day. It can be a quiet time of prayer and moving meditation or an opportunity to catch up with a friend or loved one. Walks tend to lift my spirit and clear my head. May you have the blessing of a great walk today!