What a beautiful morning once again! A beautiful blue cloudless sky, the sun shining brightly, and lots of my feathered friends out here to greet me. I watered everything last evening, filled the birdbaths, and filled the feeders. So, I have great expectations this morning for a yard full of blessings, --- and I haven't been disappointed at all.

The yard is slowly changing over once again. The lilies are all but done. Their bloom stalks will soon be dried and we'll need to go pull them off and rake out the dried leaves. The phlox has less flowers on it now and will slowly lose all of the blooms. Then it will drop its seeds on the ground to re-seed itself. (Another great engineering job by God.) The black-eyed susans are now bloomimg as are the four o clocks, which provides a heavenly fragrance each evening. Both of those flowers are sure indications that summer is in full swing. The roses are all kind of in between blooming spurts too. So, the yard continues to look nice but like all of us, maybe not as great as when we were in our prime.

The bird baths are in full use this morning and there are several squabbles going on as to who is drinking and who is bathing, expecially among the Grackles. The Robins simply move to a different bird bath. I have four out there full of water for them. But, there has been a lot of splashing going on. The Grackles, Robins and Starlings are the ones that seem to bathe most frequently. I very occasionly will see a Cardinal in there taking a bath and if the water gets low enough the Sparrows might get in there. Everything else uses them only as a watering hole.

Today I'm doing the worship service at the Good Samaritan Home. It is a nursing home that was established by the United Church of Christ butt is totally nondenominational in acceptance of residents. Once a year they ask me to do the service. I like doing them. There are generally about forty people attending. Some of them probably don't hear what is being said, or sleep through it; but most seem to enjoy the services and they are always appreciative that there is a worship service.

With this beautiful day that the Lord has laid out before me, and an opportunity to spread the Gospel of God's Word, --- how can I do anything but give God thanks this morning? So, that is where I must begin my morning thoughts and prayers. I also lift up my son in law Jim. Jim is heading off to northern Indiana this week to begin training to be a truck driver. He has several weeks of training to go through and then will work for the company that is training him. This has been his dream for some time and I pray he will be successful and that it will be what he thinks it will be.

Each and every day, I also thank God for Ms. Kate and our girls and their families. I simply can not begin to imagine my life without them in it. I also lift up Sheila and Byron as they deal with the daily challenges of their lives. I'm convinced that true peace in our lives can only come when we allow God to be the driving force behind our decisions. I have found that peace in my life and I pray for each of yoou that you will too. Have a peaceful day.