Breathless expectation...

Though there would seem little hope that I'll discover something new and exciting pushing through the bone-dry ground on my daily walks around Pollywog Creek, I haven't stopped looking. I've learned to expect surprises and lessons from nature in my walking times in conversation with God. He never ceases to amaze me with treasures big and small. It might be in the glorious display of sunlight as it streaks through the pine trees or in a tiny insect that I could not see without my camera as it savors the sweet nectar of a common wildflower. Yesterday I was sad to discover that the loggerhead shrike family was no longer living in one of the tall pine trees in our pasture, but as I continued to walk across the clearing, I thought I heard them in a neighbor's overgrown pasture across the road. The baby birds chirped continuously, but all I could see of them was the rustling of the leaves on a small scrub oak near the fence line. It would take me a while to get to them, but I left our pasture in hopes of getting a closer look. The baby birds were startled by my approach, and all four of them scattered out of the scrub oak and onto the limbs of a small pine tree nearby. Sensing danger, they immediately began calling for help. I had seen the adult shrikes flying about and knew they were nearby, but unlike their previous attempts to scare me away, they ignored the cries of their little ones and let me get as close as the fence allowed. For these babies to have flown from the top of the tall pine tree in our pasture to where they were, I knew that the time for leaving the safety and security of the nest was probably very near. Like all good parents, these shrikes were likely giving their babies the opportunity to fend for themselves in the way baby shrikes need to if they are going to mature and thrive in the future. These are the last of the shrike photos - for a while anyway. I promise. It's just that babies are so darn cute - except maybe rattlesnake babies - and the lesson here was just too good to pass up. I, too, have a baby perched out on the very edge of a limb - spreading her wings to fly. This quote from yesterday's My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers pierced my heart when I read it and has resonated with me since...

"To be certain of God means that we are uncertain in all our ways, not knowing what tomorrow may bring. This is generally expressed with a sigh of sadness, but it should be an expression of breathless expectation."

Emily was offered the congressional internship in DC for the fall. First she flies to Rwanda, then DC. And then? So many uncertainties that in the natural I'd foolishly and vainly want to make certain for my "baby bird" and me, but trusting instead in the certainty of God, I can look not only at today, but at all the days ahead, with "breathless expectation."

Loggerhead Shrikes...

Despite gusty winds and my lack of an adequate zoom, I was able to capture better photos of the four loggerhead shrike fledglings, as well as one of the adults gathering insects for the nest in the pasture yesterday afternoon.

Winter is our normal dry season, but we are experiencing a severe to extreme drought here on Pollywog Creek. The dry ground crunches under our feet as we walk through the pasture and the open field toward the road, and the fire danger is very high all around us.

Only drought resistent vegetation and a few wildflowers and native plants along the banks of the pond and creek are surviving. This lack of normal spring flora is made even more depressing by our reluctance to replace the landscaping we lost in this winter's back to back freezes until the forecast for a wet season comes into view.

In other words, there's not much to look at right now on Pollywog Creek, and we're praying for rain.

Books::free books and a critique...

Our lifegroup finished reading and discussing Unpacking Forgiveness last week, and what an excellent study it was. Most of us came to realize that even as mature Christians we have held onto beliefs about forgiveness that are not Biblical, and that realization challenged and motivated us to dig deeper into the Scriptures for the proper understanding. Unpacking Forgiveness is a book for everyone, especially those of us who don't think we need it. The author of Unpacking Forgiveness, Chris Brauns, is hosting a fantastic Summer Book Blast, with an opportunity to win one of 10 books including a calf-skin ESV Study Bible that retails for $239.99, or 1 of the following:

2 signed copies of Unpacking Forgiveness 2 copies of, What He Must Be if He Wants to Marry My Daughter, by Voddie Baucham, 2 copies of Don’t Waste You Life, by John Piper, 2 copies of What is a Healthy Church?, by Mark Dever, and 2 copies of Worldliness, by C.J. Mahaney.

Don't tell Louis because he just bought one for me at Christmas, but World Magazine is offering a free hardcover ESV Study Bible to new subscribers. (HT - Justin Taylor at Between Two Worlds) While I am on the subject of books, Mary DeMuth critiqued a pitch to my work in progress last week. If you are a writer "wannabe", I hope you subscribe to Mary's blogs. Not only is she an excellent writer of fiction and non-fiction, her encouragement and inspiration for other writers is the best.

By the way, did I mention that God willing I am going to Texas in less than two weeks, and that Emily is going to Rwanda this summer and maybe DC in the fall?

Photos - Pollywog Creek the last weekend in April. The second photo is a collage of Loggerhead Shrike (or Butcher Birds). They have a nest with what I think are 4 fledglings atop one of the very tall long-leaf pine trees in the pasture and without a good zoom on my camera, those were the best photos of the babies that I could get. Whenever I ventured close to the tree, one of the adult loggerhead shrikes would swoop down and try to avert my attention from the babies.

It was a day for the birds...

With apologies to my northern friends, yesterday was a fabulous day on Pollywog Creek. Though it will take time for our tropical flora to recover from recent frosts and freezes, harbingers of spring filled the air and the fauna on display was more than delightful.

  Green Painted Bunting - Green PB's can be either a female or a young male.

The warm fresh air and sunshine was the perfect remedy for my back -- which has kept me off my feet and nearly immobile since Sunday. I spent hours outside on the swing -- with books, and coffee, and music, and a nap. And my camera - which was a very good thing. I'm sure that I must have stopped breathing when I caught a glimpse of a green painted bunting (my first ever) - then two of them together - on one of the feeders. Even with contacts, my distance vision is awful, so you can imagine my thrill when I downloaded photos and discovered that the male painted bunting was also at a feeder with one of the two green ones. Before the afternoon was over, the painted buntings made several visits to the feeders. At one moment in time, both the male and female cardinals, a mockingbird, a loggerhead shrike, dozens of goldfinches and the painted buntings were all in my backyard -- and at least three different fox squirrels climbed the fence to feast on the leftover seed on the ground under the feeders.

What good gifts God brings to me every day. I'm still moving slowly -- nursing this sore back of mine -- so I've given myself permission to spend yet another day leisurely basking in the gifts of today.