Four seasons, how great they are – even though, at times, they are burdensome.

Winter snows, Spring flowers, Summer warmth and the richness of Fall with bright colors and harvesting of the fruit from the garden; how sad it must be to experience the same climate every day, without surprises.

Our valley, this morning, is surrounded by the low hanging clouds that are bringing a few flakes of snow.  Getting’ a blizzard right now, visibility is only a few yards.

I imagine that snow is falling at the higher elevations building up the snow base.  Crater Lake has over 200 inches this past few weeks with a settling down to 100 – a good thing. 

I was watching the news this morning, Portland has the first snow and ice storm in two years.  Accidents abound, as I watched the traffic cams I could see why – not so much the snow and icy roads as it is the carelessness of the drivers.

With few cars on the road, drivers are right on the bumper of the car in front of them instead of hanging back a bit – too many, obviously, have no concept of safe driving in in-climate weather.

Just came in from outside, feeding the birds.  There was a great chorus as they were up in the trees singing away.  Made me think of this song, it is a bright and catchy one and reminds us that even if we can’t sing well, we have a place in the choir.

All God's creatures have a place in the choir,
Some sing low, some sing higher,
Some sing out loud on the telephone wire,
Some just clap their hands, or paws, or anything they've got now! 

Listen to the bass it's the one on the bottom
Where the bullfrog croaks, the hippopotamus
Moans and groans with a big to-do,
The old cow just goes "Moo!'. 

The dogs and the cats they take up the middle
As the honey bee hums, the cricket fiddles
The donkey brays and the pony neighs
The old grey badger sighs. 

All God's creatures have a place in the choir,
some sing low, some sing higher,
Some sing out loud on the telephone wire,
Some just clap their hands, or paws, or anything they've got now! 

Listen to the top and the little birds singing
The melody with the high notes ringin'
The good owl sighs over everything,
The blackbird disagrees. 

Singin' in the night time, singin' in the day
Little duck quacks and he's on his way
And the otter hasn't got that much to say
The porqupine talks to himself. 

All God's creatures have a place in the choir,
some sing low, some sing higher,
Some sing out loud on the telephone wire,
Some just clap their hands, or paws, or anything they've got now! 

It's a simple song a living song everywhere
By the ox the fox and the grizzly bear
The grumpy alligator and the hawk above
The sly old weasel and turtle dove.

To listen to this snappy song go to:   http://bussongs.com/songs/gods-creatures-place-choir.php

Made broth out of the left over – very little – roast and the bones we had for Christmas dinner.  They stripped the bones and added vegetables – many from Carla’s garden and a few spices to make a great vegetable beef soup.  With this colder weather it really hits the spot.  And there is just something about that homemade soup that canned can never compete with.

Don’t know of how many parents receive cow pies and goat berries for Christmas, but our family is a bit different.  I asked Ken if this was for mom’s garden and he said use it anyway you wish.

Haven’t had any goat berries yet,(chocolate covered ‘something’) but I have started on the cow pie – chocolate graham cracker type crust with chocolate pudding mix – however, I had to put it together and I found he didn’t send the butter or cool whip!  Will eat it later today.

Psalm 90:12 So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.

Most of us will have somewhere in the neighborhood of 70-80 years, some will live much longer, others, due to illness or tragedy will have much less.  What do we do with our time?

We have – all of us – 8760 hours in each year.

If we figure a third of that is sleeping, we have 5840 waking hours.

Most of our life we are engaging in work or school – 5 days a week, average of 40 hours a week give us 2080 hours.  I realize that many of us have put in a lot more hours than that – and it doesn’t include holidays and vacation days off, but it at least gives us some point of reference.

If we choose the wrong work, those hours can be drudgery and make our lives miserable – and we all too often reflect that in our non-working hours.

However, even if we are not in the ideal work environment it still leaves about 3758 hours in a year for ‘us.’

So, what do we do with those hours?

Some bemoan their fate and dwell on their problems.

Some dream of becoming great, yet, do nothing to accomplish it.

Some study and train to become better at their job, or to improve their position.

Some fill the hours with a hobby or something else they enjoy to occupy many of those hours.

We have, of course, obligations to family and friends.  We must make sure meals are served, clothing is appropriate for the weather – even going to church.

There will be days that are much busier than others, days where we deal with pain, sorrow and happiness and enjoyment – we need to take that time to do what is necessary.

But when you look at the time we have left 3758, if we just take even one hour a day, a total of 365 hours, and spend that in earnest conversation and waiting upon the Lord – ALL the other hours will have greater meaning; and we still have 3393 of those hours to do other things.

We will see a change in our attitude, our focus will be on pleasing Him and in the process we learn how we can serve Him and help others.

But few spend even 5-10 minutes a day with God.  We get too busy, or we forget – I know, I have been there and I still, even though retired, have to remind myself to take time and just ‘be’ with Him.

As you can tell, I spend some of that extra time writing.  But, even though I am focused on the Word and applying it to my life and my needs to better my relationship with Him – I have to be careful not to just write – I have to focus.

It is like the Sunday School teacher who prepares the lesson for Sunday, he can either just go through the motions or have God search His heart so He can better present the lesson and truly teach his students.  And, of course, that holds true to almost anything we do, when we just ‘do,’ we often don’t enjoy or learn.

We all have the same amount of time in a day.  We don’t know how many days we will have, but if we live each day at a time focusing first on God, we will have God’s wisdom in our heart; learning how to live and work for Him; learning how much He loves us and, of course, of His great mercy towards us.

We will then have a purpose for our life, not just existence.

Later, Art :-)