~My Peaceful Valley~

  The one thing I enjoy most about this time of the year is taking long evening walks. Just my little dog and me… We stroll along enjoying the warm sunshine and listening to the sounds of rustling leaves on the trees. Sometimes a friendly grasshopper will decide to follow us for a while. He will hop along beside us until he grows either tired or bored with us, then he parts company… Occasionally, we hear the sound of a cow mooing in the back pastures of our neighbor’s farm and from somewhere comes the friendly bark of a dog...  Way off in the distance I can hear the warning sound of  a train whistle as it nears the crossings.  Only the road traffic is a reminder that there are others close by and that Rexie and me are not alone. Everything else is peacefully quiet.

 A short distance from my home is a meadow where we walk. I think of it as "My peaceful valley." A small branch runs through the property and there are trees growing on the banks of the branch. A bed of weeds and dried grasses blend with the blossoms in hues of red, yellow, and white wildflowers. It is a beautiful sight. There is an old tree trunk standing among a thicket of small trees and even that old dead tree has its own style of beauty. Talking to my little dog, I told him to be sure and view the sights God had given us today. “It would be a sad situation if God had taken the time to make everything beautiful for us to enjoy and we paid no attention to them,” I told him. He looked up at me and whimpered his little I-understand -you whine. I sat down in the grass for a while and he lay down beside me. We had a good conversation and soon he looked at me with eyes telling me to come along now. “I know boy,” I said. “We must go back, but I sure do hate to leave all this beauty.” I honestly believe he sensed my reluctance at leaving that place of peace; he reached over and licked my hand as if he was trying to console me.

I am thankful that nature in all its wisdom has taken the time to paint a picture that will stay in my mind for the long winter months ahead. It will feed my soul when I remember the beauty surrounding that small branch in the valley. I wonder why God would take the time to place such beauty in a spot where nobody would see it… However, I believe He does the same thing to millions of spots on this earth and He knows who will see them. He does it especially for the eyes of only ONE of His children in certain places and it is our own special gift of love from our heavenly Father. That is the way I see it...

              Walk with God,

            Mary Frances King

But God, who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loves us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: 

That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Jesus Christ...Ephesians 2:4-7