This is the day the Lord has made; I will rejoice and be glad in it

and not just because it is a gorgeous rain -free day. It IS the day God has made for each of us to live to its fullest, seeking what He would have us do with this day!
We got an earlier than usual start, the chores were definitely easier without having to don raincoats or other hooded clothing, without having to dodge slimy deep mud puddles and landslides.........all the goats behaved themselves: no kicking at the milk stand, the milkers or the milk pails, the babies all bottled well, and we all enjoyed being in the beautiful sunny WARM morning!! It must have been warm because the Mamma of Calico Acres Farm did NOT have a jacket of any kind on her person!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The peonies are in full big -headed bloom and no longer bent over kissing the ground from the weight of raindrops upon them, the pink Tea rose given us by our former pastor's wife when we brought Naomi ThiRose home from Vietnam 7 years ago is in full bloom, competing for admiration with yellow and peach roses. Tall "Mr Lincoln's" deep red blooms are a few days out from adding to the splashes of blessed color. The geraniums and lamb's ear beneath the rose bushes keep the ground awash in color as well. The purple clematis trimphantly climbing its trellis seems to shout "Notice ME first!" while the new yellow rose bush from Esther has quietly taken to its new spot in the garden opposite the clematis.It is so beautiful! As the tulips and daffodils gave way to geraniums, irises, roses, peonies and the returning perennials the "attitude" of the flower beds seemed to have changed from tentative spring pastels to a boldness of deeper colors and the intention of a longer life span. The vegetables are almost all planted; I got rained out before I could get the squash and zuchinni in but TODAY is their day and the garden will be full. In the world of food, what can compare to fresh picked cucumber, 3 varieties of tomato, 8 varieties of peppers, egg plant, yellow and white kerneled corn, water melon, radishes, beans, green and yellow squashes, and later pumpkins?
We are no closer to sending that package via DHL to Liberia this morning, Gideon hit a glitch with the new job...which is most certainly a bureaucratic typo, but a disturbance in his becoming employed nonetheless, several friends are facing serious decisions concerning cancer treatments, Jon is still not employed, but THIS IS THE DAY THE LORD HAS MADE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Look around you and see what you can find to remind you of God's awesome creativity and His love for you. Yes you may have speed bumps in your road, you may bridges which seem washed out...to mix my metaphors a bit. I was reading Job with the children the other day and made a really cool "discovery"!! That song I love so much by Nicole C. Mullins..."My Redeemer Lives" whose verse asks...."who told the ocean "you can only come 'this far'"?" is from JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! God and Job have an incredible conversation after Elihu speaks for several chapters. God we are told answered Job out of a whirlwind, starting with "I will question YOU and you will answer ME."
"Tell me if you have understanding...who laid the cornerstone when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?"..."when I said,'This far you may come, but no farhter, and here your proud waves must STOP"
Chapters 38 and 39 are magnificient as God takes the (unnecessary) time to talk to Job about His ceation and how it works. God sums up by asking, 'Shall the one who contends with the Almighty correct Him? He who rebukes God, let him answer (all those "Do you know" questions in the two chapters) and Job;s response is "Behold I am vile. What shall I answer You? I lay my hand over my mouth."
What a mighty God we serve!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If that same God who can tell the "proud waves" that they can come this far and no farther is mindful of ME, surely I am not going to tell that God that "my waves" should go anywhere other than where He has directed them. I don't "like" some of the "waves" in the sea of my life, but IF I KNOW I AM TRUSTING GOD then I know those waves are serving a purpose in my life. They may be to stengthen me, or to show me how God will deliver me, to show how I can share weathering a storm with someone else down the way, but regardless..........God said those waves can only come THIS FAR. None of us will be over come by the waves. Job's words to the Lord in 42:2 are "I know that You can do everything and that no purpose of Yours can be with held from You." What a mighty God we serve!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!