Devotions by Bonnie & Music by Bev
November 2024
Grateful
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God’s Fall Creations
I just got back from an afternoon walk. The sky was turning dark and gray clouds were overcoming the brilliant blue and puffy white clouds. I can’t remember a fall quite this beautiful in many years. I am humbled by God’s ever present creation.
As I look out our sunroom windows, it is the magnolia tree that reaches out, seemingly wanting to hold safely, the buds that. have replaced the leaves now on the ground. Here it is in November, yet the tree holds tight, the light green buds that will bloom many months from now. Through the cold snow, storms, strong winds, they hold firm, knowing they will miraculously break open in spring. They’re white flowers, embarrassing the tree and covering it in a canopy of shade and beauty.
Until then the birds will be jumping from branch to branch to the kitchen window ledge. So many of us feed the birds. It is a joy for us in seeing them daily at our kitchen windows.
Oh, that we all might daily slow down so we might see the gifts. God has put before us and give thanks.
June 2024
I Can Only Imagine
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The Smallest Gifts
Sometimes it is the smallest gift of God's creations that touch our soul and bring us amazing joy. Rick and I spend hours on the side porch watching the flights of the hummingbirds. I suspect many of you do as well.
I thought I would share some amazing facts this month of God's amazing hummers. Things like how tiny are hummingbirds? How fast can their wings beat? How can they migrate all the way across the Gulf of Mexico? How much do they weigh?
The smallest hummingbird weighs 3 grams, or one tenth the weight of a first class letter. The smallest hummingbird in the world, the Bee hummingbird of Cuba, is only 2 1/4 inches long.
Hummingbirds have the largest known relative heart size of all birds. Their heart represents 2.4 percent of their baby weight. A hummingbird's egg is less than half an inch long,half the size of a jelly bean.
A male Ruby-Throated hummingbird's wings can beat 78 times per second during regular flight and up to 200 times per second during a display dive.
A hummingbird's heart beats 1,260 times per minute. A resting hummingbird takes 250 breaths per minute.
A male Allen hummingbird can fly 45 miles an hour during a display dive.
Hummingbirds can fly forward, backward and even upside down briefly, which they accomplish by spreading their tail and doing a backward somersault.
So, as we sit on the side porch suddenly, a flash of iridescence catches our eyes and "poof" a Ruby-Throated hummingbird hovers right before us.
Whenever we watch them our minds leave our human concerns, and we experience a renewed sense of wonder and appreciation for God's living things around us.
Blessings
bonnie
January 2024
All things bright and Beautiful
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January Devotional
by Bonnie Bates
It certainly looks like winter this morning. Just checked the thermostat on the back porch, nine degrees. As we look out our kitchen windows on this crisp January day a pure white carpet of snow covers our yard and limbs on the trees. The evergreen trees stand still, in their branches adorned in white beauty.
We have been spending time in the kitchen, unable to move from the counter tops a few feet away from the windows over the sink and by the rocking chair. The birds wait patiently on the limbs of the magnolia tree, taking turns landing on the wooden ledge Rick put outside the kitchen window. Four or five can land on the round feeder outside the window by the rocker.
They’re all here, bright Red Cardinals, female cardinals in brown, Blue Jays, Titmice, Red Bellied Woodpeckers and more.
I know I’ve shared birds before, yet as we watch them, we are humbled as they wait patiently for their turn for seeds. I pray that as you look out the windows of your homes you will see the hand of God’s creation all around you, quietly blessing you with his grace and mercy to all His creatures! Amen bonnie