Scripture and a Snapshot - You Crown The Year With Your Bounty

For the director of music. A psalm of David. A song.

Praise awaits you, our God, in Zion;

to you our vows will be fulfilled.

You who answer prayer,

to you all people will come.

When we were overwhelmed by sins,

you forgave our transgressions.

Blessed are those you choose

and bring near to live in your courts!

We are filled with the good things of your house,

of your holy temple.

You answer us with awesome and righteous deeds,

God our Savior,

the hope of all the ends of the earth

and of the farthest seas,

who formed the mountains by your power,

having armed yourself with strength,

who stilled the roaring of the seas,

the roaring of their waves,

and the turmoil of the nations.

The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders

where morning dawns, where evening fades,

you call forth songs of joy.

You care for the land and water it;

you enrich it abundantly.

The streams of God are filled with water

to provide the people with grain,

for so you have ordained it.

You drench its furrows and level its ridges;

you soften it with showers and bless its crops.

You crown the year with your bounty,

and your carts overflow with abundance.

The grasslands of the wilderness overflow;

the hills are clothed with gladness.

The meadows are covered with flocks

and the valleys are manteld with grains;

they shout for joy and sing.

~Psalm 65~

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Five Minute Friday - Fight

One word. Five minutes to write about it. This is the idea behind Five Minute Friday and this is today's free-writing post.

don't fight!

fight for what's right

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 I remember getting in trouble for fighting with my siblings when I was a kid, and I remember how much it bothered me when my kids fought. Just get along! Seems like we're always reminding kids to stop fighting, and we know it's a bad thing when couples fight. We don't want fights and violence in our neighborhoods or we certainly don't want larger scale conflicts and wars.

But we do think it's important and good to fight for our rights, for our freedoms, for justice. 

It's over-simplifying, of course, but whether we're fighting the good fight or fighting a losing battle is determined largely by who or what we are fighting against. Squabbling amongst ourselves is counter-productive and causes division. Standing united to defend each other against a common enemy is usually more succssful in the long run.

It's sad to hear of churches and Christians fighting with each other over silly things. Should we be arguing about personal preferences and differences of opinion, or should we be looking out for each other and being gracious to each other? I think the Bible is clear that we should be preaching the good news and making disciples of Jesus, not bickering amongst ourselves. 

The real enemy is not the person we disagree with. We know that the real adversary is the enemy of our souls, the father of lies. who sows division and doubt between us. Let's not be a circular firing squad, but let's help each other get equipped and properly armed with God's word and the power of the Holy Spirit, and let's have each other's backs as we "fight the good fight of the faith".

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

~II Corinthians 10:3-5~

But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

~I Timothy 6:11-12~

Life is a hard battle anyway. If we laugh and sing a little as we fight the good fight of freedom, it makes it all go easier. I will not allow my life's light to be determined by the darkness around me. ~ Sojourner Truth

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It's been a minute since I did a Five Minute Friday, but I had a little time late Friday and some quick thoughts this week. 

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This post is linked at Five Minute Friday for the word prompt "Fight".

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Wednesday Hodgepodge - A Brown Study

 

A hodgepodge is a jumble or assortment of things that might not appear to belong together. Joyce at From This Side of the Pond hosts a weekly link-up called Wednesday Hodgepodge that is a little collection of questions for bloggers to answer just for fun and to get to know each other. I always look forward to chatting with friends over coffee, so pour a cup of your favorite and let's visit for a few minutes!

Here are this week's questions - and my answers - for this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge.

1.  What was your favorite part about growing up in your hometown?

 

I wonder if my favorite thing when I was a kid was different from what I can think of now with a sense of nostalgia. I'm glad I grew up in a neighborhood where we knew most of our neighbors at least a little bit so we kids were pretty free to roam around. I know that's more a feature of my generation rather than something specific to my hometown too. Hmm, I was always a fan of the Calgary Stampede (my hometown is Calgary, Alberta) and all the festivities that went along with that. Oh! I know! My favorite thing was a southern Alberta thing - the chinooks! It was great when the chinook would give us a break from frigid winter temperatures and we might even get to go outside in winter with just a light jacket on. Even if it did melt the ice rink my dad made in our backyard!

not a photo of a chinook arch, but a favorite
photo of the Calgary skyline

Here's a chinook arch over Calgary - thanks to wikimedia commons

2. Do you prefer 'material' gifts or 'experience' gifts? If you answered experience, tell us about one you've received and truly enjoyed.

 

Although I like both, I guess maybe I tend a little more towards 'experience' gifts. Especially for my birthday, since it's right after Christmas. I like going out for dinner or doing something fun with family to celebrate my birthday. One 'experience' gift that really stands out was a few years ago when my husband surprised me with an overnight trip to Lancaster and a day at Longwood Gardens for my birthday.

 

 3. Is brown a color featured prominently in your home decor? Your wardrobe? What's a favorite brown thing you own? Of the brown foods listed here which one is your favorite and/or most often consumed . . . brown sugar, brown rice, pretzels, coffee, dates, cloves, German chocolate cake, whole wheat bread?

 Brown isn't really a feature color in my home. I had more brown in my living room at our previous house, but not so much here. I have very little brown in my wardrobe these days - I can only think of a couple of dresses that I've had for a long time and still like. I used to wear lots of warm browns and earth tones back when I had reddish hair, but with my silver hair? Nope, it didn't suit me any more and made me feel drab and washed out so the brown tones disappeared in favor of blues! Coffee is obviously the favorite and most consumed from that list, though I like all the other foods too.

4. Which 'Charlie Brown' character do you relate to most? If you're not sure, you can take a fun quick quiz by clicking here - Which Charlie Brown Character Are You? or the one found here - Charlie Brown Quiz.

 I took the quizzes and both of them told me I was Charlie Brown, and I guess I can see that. I was always entertained by Peppermint Patty and my husband used to say I looked like her way back when we were first dating. I did have a similar haircut, and I used to have reddish brown hair. But I wouldn't necessarily say I'm similar to her. I'm probably more like Lucy, if I'm honest! 

 

5.  What's a favorite item you've purchased this year?

I had such a hard time with this question! A couple of favorite acquisitions weren't purchased, but acquired for free. I bought some clothing and a pair of shoes and I like them all but are they favorite things? I recently bought a little end table for the spare room, but I haven't had it long enough to know whether it's just functional or a favorite thing. Related to the question about 'material' vs 'experience' gifts, I think my favorite item purchased is our share of season tickets to the Columbus Blue Jackets. 

 

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Had to share a few more Longwood Gardens photos. The Christmas-y ones are from that first visit that was my birthday gift, and the more summery ones are from a visit with our daughter that was part of her graduation gift from us.

How would you answer these hodgepodge questions? Leave a comment and let me know!

I'm sharing in this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge at From This Side of the Pond.

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 ©2006-2024 HS Coffee Break/Just A Second/A Fresh Cup of Coffee. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. https://morecoffeebreaks.blogspot.com/ 

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Everyday Images #49

Welcome to another installment of my challenge and reminder to myself to take photos somewhat regularly. I'm not a photographer, but I enjoy taking everyday photos of things I find interesting or want to remember later, and I find that I notice interesting things when I'm intentionally watching for them. Having some prompts that are open to interpretation has helped me pay a little more attention to what's around me. Every two weeks I have a few words and phrases that I'm focusing on, and I try to find opportunities to take pictures of these things each week. These were the prompts I assigned myself for the past couple weeks:

November Prompts - Everyday Images #49

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at home (monthly)

cozy

numbers

prepare

heat and/or cold

everyday

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at home (monthly)

cozy - there's something so cozy about a contented cat curled up on the end of the bed. I love her.

numbers 

prepare - getting stuff together before heading to work

heat and/or cold - it's never too hot for hot coffee, and never too cold for iced coffee!

everyday - this really is pretty much an everyday occurrence . . . a gorgeous sunset or sunrise but I'm driving so there's no opportunity to take a photo. Even when I'm lucky enough to snap a picture while I'm in a parking lot or something, it really doesn't begin to do justice to the real thing.

A few more bonus photos:

Almost all of these are from our trip to Yellow Springs last Saturday. We went to Young's Jersey Dairy first.

Then we hiked in the nature preserve area for awhile.

I kept imagining how awesomely spooky this would be if it was darker and there was a mist or fog. 

This past weekend we stuck closer to home, and even went to watch hubby play hockey.

What's so special about this photo? The street lamp is working!! This one is right by the sidewalk leading to our place, and right where we park, and has almost never worked in the two years we've lived here.

I am sharing my photos every other Tuesday, along with my prompts for the next two weeks. You can use all or some of the prompts for your own photo posts, or none of the prompts and just link up a post featuring your photos. Simple rules: Your posts must be family-friendly; the photos must be your own; and the post must be mostly photos. If you do share I'd appreciate a mention and link to A Fresh Cup of Coffee on your post.

Everyday Images continues in 2024, every other Tuesday. And on the alternate Tuesdays, I'm hosting the Twenty-Six Lists link-up. I'd love to have you join me for that too!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

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November Prompts - Everyday Images #50

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doorway (quarterly)

selfie (quarterly)

red

traditional

lights

on top

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Don't miss a coffee break! Subscribe to A Fresh Cup of Coffee by email. 

©2006-2024 HS Coffee Break/Just A Second/A Fresh Cup of Coffee. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. https://morecoffeebreaks.blogspot.com/ 

This post may contain affiliate links - using affiliate links from A Fresh Cup of Coffee helps continue the coffee breaks and conversation.

 We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.