THE ROSE

GOD'S Rosebud 

A new minister 

was walking with an older, 

More seasoned minister 

In the garden one day.

Feeling a bit insecure 

About what God 

Had for him to do, 

He was asking the older preacher 

For some advice.

The older preacher 

Walked up to a rosebush 

And handed the young preacher 

A rosebud and told him

To open it 

without tearing off any petals.

The young preacher 

Looked in disbelief 

At the older preacher

And was trying to figure out
What a rosebud
Could possibly have to do
With his wanting to know
The will of God

For his life and ministry.

 But because of his great respect

For the older preacher,
He proceeded to try to unfold the rose,

While keeping every petal intact.

It wasn't long

Before he realized
How impossible

this was to do. 

Noticing the younger preacher's inability

to unfold the rosebud

Without tearing it,

The older preacher

Began to recite

The following poem.

"It is only a tiny rosebud,

A flower of God's design;

But I cannot unfold the petals

With these clumsy hands of mine."

The secret of unfolding flowers

Is not known to such as I.

GOD opens this flower so easily,

But in my hands they die." 

"If I cannot unfold a rosebud,

This flower of God's design,

Then how can I have the wisdom

To unfold this life of mine?" 

"So I'll trust in God for leading

Each moment of my day.

I will look to God for guidance

In each step of the way." 

 "The path that lies before me,

Only my Lord knows.

I'll trust God to unfold the moments,

Just as He unfolds the rose." 

As I was pondering what to share today for Spiritual Sundays I got an email from an old friend. This beautiful story was in that email. At the end of the post was an admonition to pass it on to others. I chose to use this venue of passing it on instead of e-mailing it. I hope it has blessed your life as it has mine.

- Charlotte

Please visit our Spiritual Sundays blog if you did not come here from there. Here is the link: http://bloggerspirit.blogspot.com/

INCREDIBLY BEAUTIFUL

Allen and Patty Eckman make beautiful sculptures of Native American scenes out of paper. Here are a few of their masterpieces.

Here is the link to their website if you are interested to know more about these interesting works of art.

 http://www.eckmanfineart.com/

USING PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS

In my last post I recommended a program I have on my computer called Lineform. I mentioned that I have Photoshop but hardly ever use it because it is so complicated. Well, I got to thinking that it was kind of silly to have a good program like Photoshop and not know how to use it so I started experimenting a little with it and came up with this header. There is soooo much to learn about Photoshop, but I am determined to at least be able to use it some.

I had some sheet music photos that I downloaded from the internet and it just occurred to me that I have some sheet music in my piano bench, so I found the one I used in the background today and scanned it. I did use my Lineform program to make it pink. Also used the Lineform program to add the title to the header. Just can't get away from that little Lineform program. LOL

Hope you are having a great week.

P.S. In case you're interested, I took the photo in the header right after we moved in AZ about 20 years ago.

LINEFORM

If you have a Mac computer, I have a recommendation. I have a program on my computer that I couldn't do without. It's called Lineform. It is so easy to use and I use it almost every day for something. I just created this header using the program and also the background. There is so much neat stuff available on the internet that it is fun to pull it all together and create something. It also gives me a chance to use some of my old photos. I used to do scrapbooking, and then I discovered how much easier and more fun it is to do that kind of thing on the computer. I also use Photoshop some, but it is pretty complicated. Lineform, on the other hand, is so simple. I wonder why they don't make this program for the PC? I think they used to but don't anymore.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DISNEYLAND

Disneyland opened in July of 1955 almost exactly 55 years ago. I was 18 years old and had just moved back to southern California. We lived about 20 minutes from Disneyland so I spent quite a bit of time there that first summer. It was such a fantastic place. The ride I liked best was the Jungle Cruise. A couple of years later they added the Matterhorn. I really liked that ride at that time. Now 55 years later, I wouldn't get on it for anything. Well maybe for something but not for nothing. Does that make sense? The Carousel of Progress was one of my favorite things there so I was disappointed when they moved it to Disney World.

Here's a picture of hubby and our two kids at Disneyland in about 1966.

And here they are almost 40 years later in 2005.

Here's our daughter with Mickey Mouse.

She still likes having her picture taken with Mickey.

I like Mickey too.

This was my last visit to Disneyland. I think it's time we went back again. After all, it IS the "Happiest Place on Earth".

Around the Block

Okay, two silly ones in a row. I received this suggestion in an email today. Couldn't resist sharing it.

EXERCISE FOR SENIORS

I'm getting serious tomorrow for Spiritual Sundays. That post will be on Charlotte's Weblog this week.

OH NO!!!

Looks like I'm setting a pattern here of alternating serious and not so serious posts on my blog. You will have no trouble deciding which one this is. Tweety thinks it's serious. He's having trouble getting off the ground. Oh no. Did I remember to pass on that email???

OUR WEDDING - JULY 11, 1958

How could 52 years pass by so quickly? Thank you, Clif, for all those beautiful years.

All my love,

A SUNSHINE AWARD

THANK YOU, VIRGINIA, FOR PASSING THIS AWARD ON TO ME. This is the first blogger award I've gotten in several months and I like the reason it is given.

You can visit Virginia's lovely blog by clicking HERE. Her blog is called  Lands Family Led by the Lord. I like that.

Now, on receiving this award I'm supposed to pass it on to twelve people who brighten my day. There are many more than twelve who brighten my day, but I decided to choose twelve people that I have not given previous awards to. These people visit my blogs often and make lovely comments. So here are the twelve in no particular order.

Beth @  http://bethinnc.blogspot.com/
Jamie @  http://queenmimicorner.blogspot.com/
Lynn @  http://lynnslovelies.blogspot.com/    
Mountain Mama @ http://mountainmama-new.blogspot.com/
Anne @ http://annesphamily.blogspot.com/
Myrna @ http://daylily777-myenchantedhome.blogspot.com/
Andrea @ http://arise2write.blogspot.com/
Diana @ http://www.mylifesongblog.com/
Mildred @ http://yellanmildred.blogspot.com/
Teresa @ http://teresa-grammygirlfriend.blogspot.com/
Rose @ http://somewondersoflife.blogspot.com/
Renee @ http://reneescoffeebreak.blogspot.com/

SOMETHING FUN

Looks like I'm alternating fun and serious. Today it's fun. These were sent to me by a facebook friend. Gives you something to think about.

Do you see both the good and evil in the above graphic? If not, keep looking. They're there.

Can you figure out why they call the above graphic "Optical Illusion"?

Do you see both you and me in the above?

It's getting close to the weekend again. Start thinking about Spiritual Sundays. If you've never joined in, you may want to consider doing it this week.

SOMETHING MORE SERIOUS

Yesterday's post was a fun thing. This video is serious. It is very serious. I was so impressed with the testimony of this former muslim who became a Christian that I wanted to share it.

The Day After

What to do the day after the 4th of July. Maybe catch lightening bugs in a jar. Here they are. I caught them on the internet. No real ones around our neighborhood. I hope everyone had a nice weekend and those who work don't dread going back on the job tomorrow. At least not too much. Ah, it's nice to be retired. LOL