#notesfromthevicarage

A WEEKEND WITH APPLES

/ joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

It is not often that I get both Friday and Saturday free from ministry events or visitations. This week happened to be one of those rare occasions.

I ended up spending Friday night and Saturday at The Red Apple Farm in Phillipston MA.

On Friday Joe, Kristine and Sevy invited me to a dinner of wood fired pizza. I started with blueberry honey soda by the bon fire.

We played a game of Jenga.

and cornhole.

Saturday morning started out with work in the gardens at The Vicarage.

Please note I am working hard at not growing grass. I am specializing in moss and clover this year. It is keeping the rabbits out of the garden.

After about two hours playing in the forest garden, I met the rest of the family at The Red Apple Farm for lunch.

It was not age festival weekend, but there was free face and body painting and a stand that was helping kids make pet rocks.

I have to say the farm does a wonderful job with their musical entertainment. Friday night they invited a Caribbean kettle band to come out and play and Saturday they had zydeco. If you are going to be in the area of Phillipston MA, YOU CAN FIND OUT MORE ABOUT WHAT’S COMING IN THE DAYS AHEAD HERE.

While Amanda and I ordered BBQ from the Brewhouse Abigail, Mimi and great aunt Andrea got coordinating body paint.

Then Lela and Abigail played a game pf checkers with their great Aunt while several of us chowed down on BBQ Ribs and chicken while listening to the band.

THE NEXT BIG EVENT COMING UP AT THE RED APPLE FARM IS THE SUNFLOWER FESTIVAL.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

INDOOR FOREST GARDENING

/ joseph elon lillie / 4 Comments

My daughter-in-law has taken to growing house plants as one of her hobbies. She was given the spider plant about four months ago and she has been diligently replanting the babies. We now have nine spider plants. We also have three peace lilies., A lemon tree, coleus, and a Christmas cactus.

My intention is that as we move towards the winter, I am going to try some indoor herb and lettuce gardening to add to our indoor forest. So I bought some stands from Amazon to organize our collection.

Sevy and I opened the box this morning.

Sevy would help me out by taking little breaks from the Mickey Mouse Club to come and use the little rubber mallet on the stakes.

When Joe got home from his Gideons prayer meeting, he helped me to finish up and get the plants positioned. I think it looks pretty good.

PREPARE YOUR LOVE PT. 3

/ joseph elon lillie / 3 Comments

For some reason I have forgotten to post this last devotional thought own preparation. I thought about just skipping it all together but God keeps bringing it back to mind. By way of explanation… our church has been given a direction that we are to fast and pray that we would be prepared. We have also been given a congregational sentence that comes through the many prophetic words which have been spoken to us over the last year or so. That sentence says: “Prepare! Prepare! Prepare! Prepare you Spirit (come out of the decay of your strongholds). Prepare your Souls(Prepare to practice and feel compassion). Prepare your facility (your structures, infrastructures and plans). Prepare for the storm (Pray for action plan, Pray for a spirit of perseverance). Prepare your witness (know your gifts, earn the right to speak, build your relationships with those outside the church, build your example). Prepare your hope and faith (think hope, speak hope, act in hope). Prepare your love (love each other, love the people in your towns, love those who disagree with you, love through the doors that open).“

Here is the 21st devotional thought in the series on preparation.

DAY 21- Prepare your love (love each other, love the people in your towns, love those who disagree with you, love through the doors that open).

Photo by Harrison Haines on Pexels.com

WELL THIS IS IT! 21 devotionals have now come and gone and we are at the end of our talking about preparing. But we are at the very beginning of the actual acts of preparation God will require of us. I hope you gleaned something from these brief comments over the last 21 days.

As we launch out into what comes next here are some thoughts from our study in the Book of Revelation.

8 I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name Rev. 3:8

Remember we don’t need to create doors. We don’t need to kick down locked doors, either. God is going to open the doors for us. We just need to prepare our hearts to walk through them when He does.

LORD PREPARE US FOR WHAT LIES AHEAD!