September Scenes has me joining Share Four Somethings in 2022. Share Four Somethings has four categories for reflection: something loved, something gleaned, something braved (or saved), and something achieved.

September Scenes – Something Loved

September Scenes has me adding new shrub roses to our side garden. Here’s a little background on the small garden on our house’s west side.

Spring found me re-vamping the side yard into an actual garden area. Before our spring re-vamp, we had three archways with climbing roses: Red Cascade, Graham Thomas, and Zephirine Drouhin. We placed pea gravel with steppingstones to make this a low-maintenance area because of the outside AC unit, the outside electrical box, and our dove aviary.

In March, we added pots of annuals and consolidated all the little garden statuary pieces scattered around the backyard to the west side. We added a few bench seats, which became an inviting area to visit, especially in the early morning hours when the house blocked the sun’s powerful rays.

In April, we added four plants of Belinda’s Dream rose, a beautiful light pink shrub rose. We replaced the rose on our middle arch, which was covered with Graham Thomas, as it was severely damaged in the ice storm of February 2021, from which it couldn’t recover. We replaced Graham Thomas with Climbing Pinkie. And we added New Dawn on the outside fence near the dove aviary.

Summer had us enjoying our roses, plants, and flowers each morning and sometimes in the evening.

“And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day.” ~Genesis 3:8a AMPC

September brought the desire to reduce the number of annuals in the garden to make it less time-consuming to water. As a result, we planted three more roses: Mrs. B.R. Cant, Souvenir De La Malmaison, and Hermosa. These three roses are different shades of pink and will fill in the area where we previously had the bird bath, bird feeder, bird house, and various pots of annuals.

You can see pictures of my flower garden on Instagram

LisaB (@lisab7376) • Instagram photos and videos

Fall is a great time to plant roses as they can spend the winter months growing their root system, then after putting down strong roots, they are ready to flower in the spring.

If you are interested in finding healthy antique roses, you can find them at The Antique Rose Emporium. They have an incredible online catalog and ARE ships directly to your house. For your convenience, I will list their website:

Roses – Gardens at Antique Rose Emporium (aregardens.com)

September Scenes – Something Gleaned

September scenes brought me the opportunity to sow into my writing. I’m thankful for the opportunity I had to attend the online Kingdom Writer’s Conference. This year’s conference was about writer collaboration. Here are ten quotes from this year’s Christian writer’s conference.

“Lord, please clarify the specific group of people you’ve entrusted me to serve.” ~Kim Stewart

“Be flexible and go with the flow of the Holy Spirit in a collaboration, remembering that each person has something to offer and something to learn. We come together with a common purpose to benefit the Kingdom. Walk in the freedom of the Spirit. Collaboration can be life-giving.” ~Shae Bynes

“Seek to serve people and love them well.” ~Joel McKerrow

“Called to rally around our King, and as we do so with God empowering us, we are a mighty kingdom writer army driven by a common goal of using our written words to lift up Jesus and inflict irreversible damage upon our common spiritual enemy, the devil, and his forces.” ~CJ Hitz

“Be authentic and have a unique voice.” ~Misty Phillip

“Cultivate dreaming and joy at the beginning, middle, and end of writing as we behold Him and look for the outcome or fruit.” ~Dr. Tony Robinson

“Have a powerful opening, great content, and a powerful close.” ~Marnie Swedberg

“I encourage you to have a business meeting with God to get clarity on your next steps. The key is to hear God’s voice and to get His strategy for your writing and marketing.” ~Shelley Hitz

“From His Presence (the Creator) flows creativity. Create with Him.” ~David Lee Martin

“Pursue God for His presence, not His presents. Seek God for who He is, not what He can do for you.” ~Tarah-Lynn St. Elien

I’m thankful for each of the speakers who encouraged me to continue my journey of writing with God or who imparted practical knowledge from their own writing journey.

September Scenes – Something Braved

My husband and I decided to host an online Life Group for our church’s 8-week series, The Restful Life. This series reflects on Leif Hetland’s book, Called to Reign: Living and Loving from a Place of Rest.  Being introverts, hosting this group has us stepping outside our comfort zone, but we felt like the Lord wanted us to make ourselves available to those who needed an online group. So far, the meetings have gone well. We are grateful!

September Scenes – Something Achieved

Something achieved would be cultivating ‘Peaceful Pauses’ each day. The morning finds me pausing in the garden. After watering all the plants, I sit in my chair and enjoy the Lord’s Presence, the beauty of the flowers, and the breeze.

During the day, when walking through the house to take care of the laundry or attend to something in the kitchen, I will cultivate a moment of peace by pausing and enjoying the view outside our window. The window view could be our garden, the blue sky with white fluffy clouds or the sun painting the sky in different colors. It’s not so much the scene outside my window, but the cultivation of pausing in His Presence – to enjoy Him, to thank Him, and to breathe in peace.

I have spent years cultivating peace throughout my day. When my blogging friend, Donna Bucher from Serenity in Suffering, called this, ‘Peaceful Pauses,’ I knew I had a new way to articulate with people what I have found to be such a life-giving practice over the past several decades.

I encourage you to cultivate peaceful pauses throughout your day – stop for a moment to enjoy His Presence; stop to thank Him for something you see or are experiencing internally; stop for a moment to sow seeds of peace into your spirit, soul, and body. You’ll be so glad you did!

The Lord Bless You

Thank you for joining me in Share Four Somethings for September Scenes. I look forward to hearing all you have loved, gleaned, braved (or saved), and achieved this month.

My prayer is for the Lord to bless you in your journey through life.

“May God be merciful to us, bless us, and cause His face to shine on us.” ~Psalm 67:1 WEB

Recommendation:

5 Ways to Overcome Our Fears – Strength with Dignity

Intentional Pursuit of God’s Heart – Strength with Dignity

How to Find God – Strength with Dignity

 References:

Amplified Bible, Classis Edition (AMPC) Copyright 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation.

World English Bible (WEB) by Public Domain. The name “World English Bible” is trademarked.

Bible Gateway Blogger Grid Member #bgbg2 #BibleGateway

I’m linking up September Scenes with the Share Four Somethings community through the linkup found here: HeatherGerwing.com #sharefoursomethings