What is Neccessary

Isaiah 18: 4-5

For thus the Lord said to me: “I will quietly look from my dwelling like clear heat in sunshine, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.” For before the harvest, when the blossom is over, and the flower becomes a ripening grape, he cuts off the shoots with pruning hooks, and the spreading branches he lops off and clears away.

A collection of blossoms

As I was talking darling dog for a walk today we chanced upon some late blooms on the side of the road...a Washingtonian incarnation of the Texas wildflower planned phenomena. There were various clusters of flowers, but these bright pink bursts of life liked my amateur camera-woman skills more than the rest. They nearly look like orchids, don't they?

First Fruits

Exodus 34:26

The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring unto the house of the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk.

Proverbs 3:9

Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase:

In the grand scheme of priorities, if we put God first, everything else will fall into its rightful place. I remember in junior high school, teachers began to instruct students with their life goals in mind. We were constantly questioned about what we wanted for ourselves in terms of a career and finding our bliss. As Christians, pleasing our creator should be paramount in our hearts and minds and that being said, our actions should fall in line accordingly. Giving the Lord the first fruits of our labora is an act of dedication often overlooked in our modern "me, me, me" society. Giving to God first, others second, and ourselves last brings our focus back to where it should be. In denying ourselves, we can find much pleasure.

Always a Good Reminder

The Ten Commandments

Thou shalt have none other gods before me.

Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.

Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain: for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee. Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou.

And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the LORD thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day.

Honour thy father and thy mother, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

Thou shalt not kill.

Neither shalt thou commit adultery.

Neither shalt thou steal.

Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour. Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbour's wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbour's house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or any thing that is thy neighbour's.

Tinted Summer Walks

"It was really such a charming spot. that smooth grey stone between the two dear young firs all greened over with their new spring tips..."