Wednesday, September 26, 2018

IN A BLAZE OF GLORY


Golden yellow . . . burnt orange . . . flaming red . . . the fall of the year is literally a feast for the eyes as trees turn from various shades of green to all those bright hues that beckon us to the mountains, the woods, or even our own backyards.

My family lived in Virginia near the Blue Ridge Parkway for eleven years. Every October, we made our annual trek to the Parkway to view the glorious foliage, and we were never disappointed. Along with the stunning colors, we were delighted with the nip in the air, apple harvests, picnics beside mountain streams, and walks along wooded trails. We often collected those bright leaves to make collages, tangible reminders throughout the year of God’s color palette and His striking creativity in nature’s shapes, sizes, and hues. 


When we were children, I remember all of us joyfully jumping into piles of raked leaves; now, I don't recall why that was so much fun! As adults, I suppose we often think only of the work it takes to get those leaves into piles and removed from our yards. Back then, the fall season was exhilarating—it represented the start of school, frosty mornings, clear sunshine, the anticipation of wonderful holidays to come, and especially the anticipation of snow.



Still my favorite time of the year, fall always evokes fond memories, but also creates new ones. My husband of nearly forty-one years, then my fiancé, returned home safely in the fall of 1970 from a tour in Vietnam. We were married in December of that year. Every fall generates a happy recollection of that memory as we look forward to celebrating another wedding anniversary together. Today, with our children and grandchildren, our family enjoys celebrating birthdays and other anniversaries together in the fall as well. And, even after all these years, I still see young children today having a great deal of fun jumping into piles of leaves!

To me, those gorgeous colors of fall represent nature’s cycle of life—before the leaves wither and fall to the ground, they go out in a “blaze of glory,” painted brilliantly by God’s own hand. We can take our cue from those leaves, realizing that our lives are like tapestries woven by God’s hand as well, but He often allows us to choose our own colors as we make our choices and decisions that ultimately affect the final design.


There are times that dark, somber threads, representing difficulties we face, are woven into our tapestries beyond our control, but the Master Weaver knows what He is doing and wants to create something beautiful with our lives. We can rail against circumstances by attempting to rip out those dark threads which, from our limited view, are mistakes. But we can only see the underside of the tapestry, whereas God looks
down on the finished side of the weaving. Those somber threads are actually there to refine, and thus illuminate by contrast, all the colorful elements of these tapestries to make them even more beautiful. God wants to refine our lives, sometimes through trial and difficulty, to make us more like Him, all the while weaving in beauty and texture that we might not totally understand or see at the time.

Let us trust Him with our tapestries—not only with the wonderfully vibrant colors we get to choose, but also with those seemingly improbable dark tones He sometimes weaves into them. Our lives will then manifest a ”blaze of glory” like those beautiful fall leaves—for others to enjoy.

Tuesday, September 25, 2018

FALL AND DACHSHUNDS

Two things that I absolutely love are the fall season and dachshunds. Oh, I love chocolate, my family, rain, and lots of other things, but today I'm focusing on these two things. A few years ago, I wrote a fall piece entitled In A Blaze of Glory about the fall season. I posted it on this blog, and I will repost it here tomorrow--it explains why I love fall so much.

Here are some pictures I hope you will  enjoy like I have:


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The Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina

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"Wheeeeeeeeeeee!"

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Self explanatory!








Have a wonderful Tuesday, doxie lovers!

Monday, September 24, 2018

MONDAY AGAIN??

Doxies, much like us humans, have different feelings about Mondays. Take a look:




After all, one seventh of our lives is spent on Mondays, so we might as well come to terms with it, right? 

Dachshunds . . . you gotta love 'em, even on Mondays! Have a great week, doxie lovers!

Friday, September 21, 2018

TRUE LOVE??


I don't think the doxie on the right of this meme is all that impressed with this declaration of love, do you??

Dachshunds . . . you gotta love 'em!

Tuesday, September 11, 2018

Monday, September 10, 2018

HAPPY MONDAY (IF THERE IS SUCH A THING!!)

Ah, Mondays. Why does our culture dread Mondays so much?? We adore Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays (until Sunday nights). It's all rooted in the work week, I'm sure of it. Now that I'm retired, I still love weekends and dread Mondays out of habit, although my Mondays aren't very much different from Tuesdays, Wednesdays, or Thursdays. 

I love getting up at a civilized time each morning. I still wake up early, and I usually roll out of bed before seven, but that's so much better that getting up at 5:00 a.m. like I did when I was teaching! I've never been a morning person myself, because I sleep deeply and it's hard for me to wake up, even with a good night's sleep. Now that I'm older, it's even harder to get up than it was when I was spry (if I ever was). 

These doxie memes mirror our own feelings about Mondays. Some are ready, some are not, some are in between love and hate for Mondays. In any case, have a great day, doxie lovers! Remember your doxie loves you:






Thursday, September 6, 2018

TO CHEW, OR NOT TO CHEW . . .

Does your doxie like to chew and/or tear up things (other than his/her toys)? Our doxie Duke was always very good about not chewing up anything important, except his toys, of course. He had to kill them, you know--especially if they squeaked! I think doing that is baked into the dachshund's DNA.

Some doxies make more of a mess than others, and it always seems to occur when Mom and Dad aren't home. That leads me to believe that they KNOW what they are doing and that it will upset us, so they spare us and do it when we don't have to see it happening, lol!


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Dachshunds . . . you gotta love 'em, no matter what.


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Just look at that innocent little face!!

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