July was often our month to schedule a family vacation in Branson . Mother, Dad, Angie, Ben and I set aside that time to be together. The picture below reminded me of Dad finding a way to relax much like he did on the farm in the Bend in Oklahoma but he was on vacation!
 |
| Dad on the back balcony while on vacation. |
Even on vacation, I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised when enjoying fresh air on the second-story balcony outside he and Mother’s sleeping quarters, he spotted a purple martin house. Dad would get ready for whatever Branson show or activity we were attending and slip out the sliding door onto their back balcony and as he would say, “I let my mind roll back” to the early 1940s when Nazi-occupied Europe was filled with fighter planes and bombers.
 |
| The purple martin house as seen from our condo in Branson. |
He relaxed by watching purple martins.
One of the favorite antics of the purple martins was their diving maneuvers. He
said the speed of the dives reminded him of the fighter planes that accompanied
their combat missions over Europe in World War II. He had watched P-51s and the P-47s during the last half of
his missions “keep” the enemy fighters off their B-17 flying fortress as Dad
manned his twin-50s. Maybe “martin watching” served as therapy for him.
Dad erected at least three purple martin houses, two near the large garden plot he cultivated and planted every spring. Purple martins who are characterized as gregarious by field guides intrigued Dad. He worked diligently to attract the social birds to the pink farmhouse season after season. He faithfully cleaned the houses after they migrated in the fall and then in late winter lowered each of the houses equipped with a pulley and double-checked that the houses were ready for the returning martins to set up housekeeping.
 |
| Dad's first purple martin house at the farm in the Bend. |
Dad’s place was an old rusty folding chair on the south edge of the once-used garden plot on the farm.
The chair was used almost exclusively for watching the purple martins. Whether it
was relaxing, therapeutic, or just enjoyable, in his later years, he spent
around an hour a day watching the purple martins.
Jesus recommended bird watching. He spoke these words in Matthew 6:26: Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Jesus commanded his followers to gaze at the birds and study them. As a result, his disciples observed and recognized all the birds needed was provided for them by our heavenly Father.
Later in the chapter, Jesus continued in verses 32-33 with these powerful verses for living life. …For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added to you. Jesus affirmed His heavenly Father knew everything needed by His learners. Then Jesus commanded them and us to seek (go after, pursue) the kingdom of God and His righteousness.
The Apostle Paul addressed how to acquire the righteousness that Jesus required in his letter to the Philippian believers in chapter 3, verses 8-9. …I count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith.
No comments :
Post a Comment