A Florida Winter Wonderland

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: Ecclesiates 3:1 ESV

While I do enjoy seeing the amazing photography of Gary Fultz displaying the beauty of the frozen Winter wonderland where he lives, You should check out his latest post: Winter Wonder Wander However; I with my back against the wall and tired of hanging my head in shame over our own special brand of winter here in Florida, I thought I would share a few snap shots of my own.

God has made everything as well as every place with its own special personality. Those that move to the Sunshine State, thinking Disney, Spring Break and fishing aren’t completely wrong, but the unique features of living here are only appreciated after a few years. Here are just a few of my January favorites. A couple of Sand Hill Cranes hanging out in my friend’s yard, and a juvenile Blue Heron watching the Ibis’s chowing down on my left over chips. Then on on day trip to walk the causeway out to Howard Beach there is a look back over the Inter Coastal Waterway to the mainland, some afternoon clouds kissing the tops of palm trees and the newly painted life guard station. The last two are a wind surfer, just hoping for a bit more wind and a Black Bellied Plover, just hanging out with his buddies. Oh yes, the featured image is the unlikely duo of a Snowy Egret with a Small Blue Heron, tip-toeing across the top of a hedge, and the one at the bottom of the page is a sunset at a local beach. Each of these shots, tells a story and carries with it just a trace of the glory of the Great Creator. So, I tip my hat to you who love shushing through snow drifts, or hiking mountain trails in mid- January. Just don’t forget that God has also created beauty in warmer climes. The wonder of His creation, needs an entire universe to tell just the first chapter of the story of His glory!

A Sabbath Day’s Flight

I have always been delighted to watch birds in flight. The effortless way they spread their wings reminds me of the way God intends for us to rest in His grace. Just as birds are made for flight (Minus the Ostrich and his cousins) God intends for us to rise up by faith into the air and show off the inner beauty of Christ who lies hidden as long as we walk on the ground with our faith wings folded. And what speaks more clearly of grace than God’s Holy Sabbath? The Sabbath is a weekly reminder that on the morning when Adam and Eve rose from their first night’s sleep, God gave to them a day, and He blessed it, and called it Holy!

So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. - Genesis 2:3 ESV  
And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.
Mark 2:27 ESV
For whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.
Hebrews 4:10 ESV

The Pigeons Were Just Hanging Out

The pigeons were just hanging out
While the hawk snoozed on his perch
The cardinals were singing
When woodpecker went to work!

And his tapping was reminding me
We still have a job to do
So just sitting ‘round and wishing
Is not what God wants us to do 

For even though He gives us fun
And resting is just fine
He has much more for us in store
For us in Summertime

He has a garden we must plant
With rows to weed and tend
And water with our tears and prayers
Till He brings His harvest in!


Today’s Verse
Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,. 
Colossians 3:23 ESV

The Pigeons Were Just Hanging Out 
Copyright by Peter Caligiuri © 2023
All rights reserved

Photo by Frantisek Duris on Pexels.com