Beech Tree News Network

For all the sleepy heads out there in slumber land, including me I’m afraid; one guy describes the awful chore of arising: “There are mornings are mornings, especially Mondays, when I feel like the symptoms on a bottle of patent medicine and the world seems uphill in both directions.” 

There are five perfect little pumpkins sitting in a row on a bench on my front porch.  I’ve tried for years, with very little success, to raise pumpkins.  The five pumpkins on my porch are from a beautiful plant that came up in my compost pile.  There is only one problem with my five little pumpkins.  It’s July.  They will cease to be by October, when my granddaughter will need one to carve for Halloween.  There is one critical thing you have to realize about seeds, pumpkin or any other, once that seed germinates, there is a predetermined date, on which it will bear fruit.

We have 66 books in the Bible (39 Old Testament books, 27 New Testament books) to provide us with God’s guidance and establish and strengthen our faith (Rom. 10:17; Jude 3). Sadly, after 2000 years, some call the Bible “outdated,” “unrealistic,” and the like. Some folks wonder how we can make applications to our lives when using the Bible. Yet, as we study the Bible, it is clear that we can apply Scriptures to ourselves. We are in the Bible!

Another beauty from our drive to Nashville. Country drives are the best drives. You just never know what you’ll run up on. I’m so thankful for the freedom to just roam our country and find all the beauty that’s out there. Never take these little things (or anything) for granted because it could be gone tomorrow.

BLANK CANVAS- A while back now, two people whom I considered kindred spirits, left this world behind. One of them was a favorite author of mine whose words truly inspired, intrigued and challenged me. He was one of the first to let me know I was not alone with the questions I was wrestling with and he started me on a journey that lead to several others, whom have shaped my life in a transforming way. I never met him in person but have friends whom have and they say he was indeed ennobling and thoughtful in person.

I just read an article chronicling a concert where Peter Frampton briefly stormed off stage mid-concert because a cameraman put the camera on a fan in the audience holding a Frampton Comes Alive album while Frampton was playing a guitar solo.  He reportedly grabbed the camera and tried to take it away from the guy.  He came back and finished the show rather half-heartedly.

Good health is a blessing, but we tend to take it for granted – until something brings it to our attention. Writer Laurie Graham explained her thinking on health: “As one ages, eventually, no matter what regime you've followed, no matter how fiercely you've fought the fight, good health becomes harder to maintain. It may disappear overnight or simply dwindle, but with every year that passes, the odds shorten” (https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/good_health.html).

“Don’t believe everything you think.”  This is a concept introduced by Buddhist monks during the 14th century.  The concept is an acknowledgement that we all deal with automatic thoughts in the form of self-talk.

Psalm 119:20, 40, and 131 state very interesting thoughts. In Psalm 119:20 we read, “My soul is breaketh (is consumed) for the longing that it hath unto thy judgments at all times.” Verse 40 says, “Behold, I have longed after thy precepts: quicken me in thy righteousness.” Verse 131 states, “I opened my mouth, and panted; for I longed for thy commandments.”

My husband and I took the country route to Nashville last weekend, and man is there some beautiful country through there! I was in “barn” heaven. I’ll have several barn pictures to share the next few weeks.

I love this one so much. There is so much country tied up in the photo.  The windmill, the barn, the silo…I’m so thankful for the farmers that use these barns and work so hard to help provide, not only for their families, but for us as well. Without farmers, we wouldn’t eat.