Beauty and bounty

Wilson's Apple Orchard is one of my favorite places to go this time of year. If you haven't been there yet, it's time to go! The Cornally's and I went yesterday and just soaked up the beauty all around, walking up and down the hills, in between the rows of apple trees, looking for those flags letting us know which ones are ready to pick. Burgundy and Ginger Golds are ready now; Song of September should be perfect next weekend. Anyone want to come join me next weekend? Shawn said this is not something we should do once a year for the fun of it, but we should be here every weekend getting the freshest bounty of the latest ripe variety. Let's stock up for the winter with apples, applesauce, apple cider, apple butter, apple turnovers, apple pie - would you ever get tired of apples? Not me! When are you coming, family? Remember, it isn't just apples, either. It's pumpkin time; they are turning orange now. How about next weekend?

Prayer for a change

I usually like to read My Utmost for His Highest. Today was no exception, but believe me, there are exceptions. Sometimes, it is either over my head, I don't agree, or it's application is just too hard. But today's post really hit home. I hope you will read it, but in case you don't, I included a few quotes from it. When my kids were little, I prayed all the time, which is probably because I was at my wit's end a lot and did not know what to do. "Be yourself before God and present Him with your problems— the very things that have brought you to your wits’ end." Although becoming a mom was the best thing that ever happened to me, it was hard sometimes, and even scary, so I prayed often: most of the time for protection for my children and for them to grow up loving Jesus. I prayed with them at meals, at bedtime, on walks, when they hurt, when they were proud or thankful or scared. Somewhere along the way, we stopped doing that together. I am not sure if it was so gradual I didn't notice or if I made a decision to stop doing the "mother says it is time to pray" role. But I did notice that when we get together now, we usually don't pray. I pray by myself, but we don't pray as a family. So today's message hit me hard. "God has established things so that prayer, on the basis of redemption, changes the way a person looks at things. Prayer is not a matter of changing things externally, but one of working miracles in a person’s inner nature." I still pray for my kids (and now my grandkids) all the time. I still pray for their protection and that they will grow in their love of Jesus. But I don't pray with them and I don't know why. "When a person is born again from above, the life of the Son of God is born in him, and he can either starve or nourish that life. Prayer is the way that the life of God in us is nourished." I want to return to the "mom says it is time to pray" role, at least when I am serving the meal. If I am going to nourish someone with physical food, shouldn't I also offer to nourish them with the life of God is us?