Author: The WheatandTares

Move On

/ The WheatandTares / 2 Comments

When you keep walking, you can reach your destination. When you keep moving, you can avoid a mess or even a tragedy. When you keep going forward, you are able to step into a new chapter of life. It is when we stop, when we hesitate for too long that we become stagnant. 

Stagnation can lead to apathy, laziness and eventually death. 
It also leads to a stench that no one wants to encounter. Have you ever been by an area that is filled with stagnant water? Do you remember the smell? It will begin to have a putrid, stale odor that you don’t want to hang around to endure very long. 

That’s how it is in our lives when we stay fixated too long in things from which we should move on. When we stop at the time which we should move, we run the risk of becoming stagnant. We take the chance of getting lazy in our calling, in our purpose and even in our tenacity to finish. 

Now, I’m not talking about those moments before God when we should come before Him to be quiet and still to hear His voice. I’m not talking about those moments of refreshing solitude. Our sanity depends on those. No, I’m talking about those moments when God is urging us forward, and it’s a little uncomfortable. Those moments when He is drawing us beyond where we’ve been, and it’s even a little painful to walk away from the warmth and comfort of what we know into a whole new place of challenge and change. 

These are the moments with some of the most vital decision making of our lives. These are the moments when we choose to grow and become who God is calling us to be, or we choose to remain and become stagnant in our outlook and in our purpose of living. When we choose not to move forward, whether it be from the pain we feel, the shame we see or the fear we hear calling from the depths of our soul, we begin to die inside, and we may very well miss out on the opportunity God has for us just around the corner! So, keep moving to see what He has in store for you!

Wednesday’s Ode #49

/ The WheatandTares / 3 Comments

Welcome to my Wednesday’s Ode. This is where I tell of something I absolutely love and why. It has been fun doing these over the (almost) past year; however, these are coming to a close next week. I believe they have run their course, and I’d like to start something new with you. Thank you so much for being here with me, for reading, and for all your lovely comments and wonderful support. I am so thankful for you, and I hope you will continue with me on this journey of writing and discovering! 😉

So, today, I’d like to repost one of my favorite Wednesday’s Ode, and maybe, one of the longest, as well. (I hope you don’t mind!) It’s about one of my very favorite towns, and I do hope you enjoy it! 🙂


I absolutely love Highlands, NC! At over 4,000 feet in elevation, it is the second highest town on the East Coast, and it is simply a wonderful little town. If you’ve ever visited Gatlinburg, Tn, we always say Highlands is everything Gatlinburg should be…without all the Tshirt shops and commercializations. It is simply beautiful, and if you’ve never been, I encourage you to make a trip! It is a definite favorite for me and my husband, as we spent our first and second honeymoons here, and due to the cooler temperature year-round, we come here at least 4-6 times a year, if not a good many more.


It’s not a big city. It’s a quaint little mountain town with a little bit of “high society” living. They’ve got wonderful accommodations, restaurants and shops. One of my favorites is The Old Edwards Inn; the character of this place is incredible. They have a library, in which, you can actually find a book to sit and enjoy, high vaulted ceilings and even a hidden butler pantry where the staff may come to serve the guests. Their restaurant, Madison’s, has some of the best shrimp and grits I’ve ever put in my mouth…and being a Southern girl, that’s quite a bit! They have inside seating, a wine garden with outside seating, and even a rooftop terrace where you can choose to have your meal.   Now just imagine: a lovely rooftop terrace, with beautiful shutters, table settings and cushioned seating, overlooking the little town, and a gentle summer breeze blowing in the “heat” of summer with ceiling fans gently rolling. The temperature gauge rising no more than about 70-72 degrees, because you’re at such a high elevation! The waiter brings you a pleasant cheese and cracker tray for an appetizer, “just right” sweet Southern tea, mini biscuits and cornbread made fresh daily, and your meal consists of fish and chips and the best shrimp and grits you’ve ever tasted. They even serve the shrimp and grits in a mini iron crock; so, they stay warm throughout the duration of the meal. It is a fine Southern meal to remember! 😉


   Doesn’t that look just awesome?! …It tastes even better!!

For dessert, you’ll want to walk down the street to Kilwin’s, where you can choose homemade fudge and chocolates, or you can choose from a mass variety of Mayfield ice cream. The pralines and chocolate dipped Nutter Butters, PB cups and Oreos are some of my family’s faves; however, my personal favorite is the turtle caramel apple! They take a Granny Smith Apple, dip it in caramel, roll it in pecans and, then, drizzle it with chocolate, and they will slice it right there for you; so, you don’t have to try to bite into that monstrosity! It is divine!!  If you’d like a wonderful cup of coffee with your dessert, you can also find it there; however, I prefer a cup of Buck’s Coffee, preferably a cup of white chocolate mocha, just across the street. Outside Kilwin’s is a brick patio with lots of umbrella tables and chairs where you can enjoy your coffee and yummy desserts, and on Friday and Saturday evenings, often times, they will have a live bluegrass, country (or other Southern genre) band playing. It’s simply a delightful ending for a great day.

These things have just got to be in heaven!

Now, if you’d like to work off some of those delicious calories you’ve added to your waistline during your stay, they have a ton of shops for you to find any number of items, and they have a numerous amount of hikes for you to explore. You can stop by the Highland Hiker and pick up a local booklet of all the Day Hikes Of Highlands, and explore till your heart is content. You can check the local weather and head out for a delightful, cool climat-ed, adventure.

We, personally, love Dry Falls, Glenn Falls, Sunset Rock and Whiteside Mountain. Dry Falls had recently had a remodeling of the parking lot and walkway, and it’s an incredibly easy walk to a beautiful waterfall which you can walk behind. When it has had a lot of recent waterfall, the roar can be so loud that you can barely hear each other talk while standing behind it. Glenn Falls is a little bit longer of a hiker but definitely an easy one. Many people who go to this one say they’ve always ended up at the bottom of the falls, but haven’t ever been to the top. Upon starting out, there is a sign to the falls on the left, and to another location on the right. Choose the left; then, a little bit further down the trail, there is a fork in the road where you must choose the right side path in order to get to the top of the falls. The left path takes you to the bottom. We always choose the top of the falls, because we like to put out feet in the water, but please, please be careful here! There are no boundaries once you cross over the overlook area. You can get as close to the edge as you’d like, and if you have adventurous boys like mine, your mother’s heart can very easily suffer about three heart attacks during your enjoyment of the view and the cool waters!!

 …WAY too close, JGrizz!!

If you are visiting the area with your significant other, Sunset Rock is a must! You drive to it, and walk just a tiny path that opens up to an incredible sheer-faced rock that overlooks the town of Highlands. The view from here at sunset definitely earns its name! If you’d prefer to just drive to the many water falls, you can pick up a map, head out and literally drive under Bridal Falls and drive around to see many others. Just beware of the very curvy, and often, very narrow highway you must travel to see these. You might want to have a designated driver who doesn’t want to sightsee and drive! Haha.

If you’d prefer a bit longer hike, Whiteside  Mountain is a great choice. We hiked here during our honeymoon week and saw our first Peregrine Falcon face to face. The little snapshot camera I had (these were the days before iPhones and digitals!) didn’t really do it justice, but he was about 3-4 feet from us and just seemed to sit there and simile for the camera. The hike is pleasant, and the views are simply breathtaking!

If you are on the East Coast and have never been to Highlands, it is well worth the trip!! It is a beautiful town that is surrounded with breathtaking sights, and the weather, especially in the summertime, is a very welcome delight! If shopping, hiking and sightseeing is your kind of thing, this is definitely a must-see!

 

Give It Up!

/ The WheatandTares

Sometimes, we just have to give it up! Now, I’m not talking about your faith or your salvation. I’m not talking about your marriage or that commitment you made that has gotten difficult to continue, but you know you must. No, I’m speaking of matters of the heart here. Those emotions that we should have laid down a long time ago. I’m talking about those thoughts and feelings that keep bubbling up when you least expect it, and they keep wrecking your peace, your joy and your future. 
You’ve been holding onto the past, your pain, your anger, and even your fears for so long that the holding on has become a ritual. It has become a routine, a part of you, as if it’s your right arm or hand. We all do it from time to time. We hold that thing close and cater to it, pamper it and even excuse it, until it become a part of us. Then, when we are confronted with Truth, with the need of letting it go, we buck and baulk like we’re being asked to cut off a vital organ! The Word says, in John 8:32, “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Truth comes to set us free from the bondage and strongholds that keep us bound and held back from a better life. Truth brings healing and freedom. So, how can we do that when that pain, or that emotion, has become a part of us?? We simply obey. We have to obey Him when He urges us to let go. 

We need to be so in love with Jesus that it doesn’t matter WHAT He asks of us, we are ready and willing to obey. We can’t obey Him simply because of our own goodness. Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; Who can know it?” We don’t just have a “good heart” …even though that is definitely propagated here in South! (I hear moms and grandmothers say all the time, “I know they’re a rascal, and they cheat, lie and do drugs, but they’ve got a good heart!”…yeah, right!) 

We can’t obey simply because we work harder at it. It’s not a matter of works. If we only work to obey Christ out of our “dutifulness,” then, we’ve turned the cross into a bloodless stick. He didn’t die for us simply for us to do better. He died for us so we could love Him, to have a relationship with Him, and, ultimately, to restore us to our heavenly home. Hebrews 7:25 says it like this, “Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.” He died for us so that we might be reconciled to Him!

If we continue to hold onto these wounds, these pains, these sins of our past and refuse to let them go and allow Him to heal us, we will continually miss His best for our lives! We need to realize when He asks us to let go of something, it is not to harm us or to bring us pain and agony. It is to bring us healing and freedom in Him. It is to bring about HIS best for our lives! …and we need to realize it wouldn’t hurt so much to let go had we not let it grow attached in the first place!! (Ha!)

Jeremiah 29:11-14 says, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”

I don’t know about you, but I want to choose freedom today! I will choose Truth and Liberty this year! It’s time to give it up, to lay down our will and our way, and to seek God’s complete truth for our lives!! Let’s give it up! 🙂

Overcoming Fear

/ The WheatandTares / 2 Comments

Sometimes, you just have to face down your fears in order to have a dream realized. If you don’t face down the fear, you might miss out on the joy of the dream coming true.  

A few months ago, our little family was at some friends’ farm near South Georgia. A member of their family had been taking care of a wild hawk for about three months after saving it from drowning. When I say “wild,” I mean exactly that. They did not have this bird of prey in a cage nor on any type of contained area. They simply allowed him to come and go around the farm. They had trained him to land on their gloved arm and to eat from their hand, but they weren’t limiting his ability to learn to live, hunt and dwell on his own. 

While we were there, they asked if we wanted to be a part of the hawk’s feeding. Each one of us were intrigued and, at first, a little intimidated; however, we all faced down our fears and intimidation, put on the red glove and awaited the landing. 

It was an incredible experience!! 

    

 
  
The hawk was so beautiful!

 He even met us at the front door on one of our visits, and decided to alight on Joey’s shoulder. Joey said it was quite intimidating to have him squawk at you and then fly to land right beside your face! 
It’s always been my dream to do this. Hawks are one of my favorite animals and definitely my favorite birds of prey. They are so majestic. I am so glad I had the courage to experience this dream come true!

Answer to Friday’s Angle #47

/ The WheatandTares

How’d it go yesterday?

  
If you guessed a night light sensor, you got it! 🙂

  

Friday’s New Angle #47

/ The WheatandTares

Here’s another New Angle for you! 🙂

  

Fire Vision

/ The WheatandTares

What do you see when you see fire? 

Do you see this evil and all kinds of danger?


Do you see dancing and fun times?


Maybe you just see a whirlwind of emotion and thought…                          

Do you simply see a light to brighten your path along the way?

…or a spark to ignite your passion?

…or maybe a flash of hope in a darkened world?

 What do you see?

Wednesday’s Ode #48

/ The WheatandTares

I love new beginnings! Fresh Start…Makeover…Do over…Redo…Second Chances.

Each new year is kind of like this. We all live with regrets from days gone by when we should have done more, said less, acted quicker and influenced better. Each one of us have some things in the past that we wish we could just erase, forget about and start new.

Well, this is now 2016! THIS is a new year…a fresh start…a second chance! You can make better today what was yesterday. You can allow “by gones to be by-gones” and work toward a better tomorrow, a better future, a better life! All you have to do is try. All you have to do is choose. All you have to do is put one foot in front of the other and start walking in the right path now.

Does that mean all the past is simply washed away, never to be remembered again? Yes and No. Yes, if we’re talking about your salvation and walk with God. His mercies are new every morning. He washes your sins away and forgets they were ever there. So, yes, when referring to Christ and your walk with Him,  your life of sin is washed away, never to be remembered again! No, because if we’re talking about life in the general sense, in the sense of things you’ve done, words you’ve said, wrongs you’ve committed. No, sometimes, those things can’t simply be washed away as if nothing ever happened. When people get hurt or foolish things are said and done, those healings might take time. Some words can never be taken back. Some pains leave scars that don’t easily heal.

However, darkened pasts don’t simply mean the future is lost. Darkened pasts simply mean you might need to work a little harder to be a healing agent rather than a destruction maker. Darkened pasts simply mean you might have to ask for forgiveness; you might have to lay down some pride; you might have to change some routines or habits and choose a better way.

The New Year is for making things new, for making new beginnings. You can do this. You can start anew. Your future can have a second chance at greatness. All you have to do is start now. All you have to do is make a deliberate attempt. Move with purpose. Speak with passion. Act with reason. This CAN be a better year! Just step out and make it happen! 🙂

 

Wait Upon the Lord

/ The WheatandTares

We all get tired. We all get weary.
What do you do with it?

Do you get Grouchy? Do you get ill (physically or emotionally)? Maybe you just get downright mean and cantankerous? …Maybe unruly with your words or actions?

We’ve all been there. We’ve all had those moments. If you haven’t, keep on living, cuz we’re all human.

It happens.

The Bible says, “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength….”

What if we realized that whom we serve is not just our spouse, our child, our boss, or even our friends?

What if we realized whom we are serving is the Creator of the Universe, the One who spun the moon and stars into orbit?

What if we realized whom we serve breathed breath into our lungs and put a heartbeat in our chest?

How would we serve then? How would we speak in that moment? How would we react when things don’t go just as we planned?

He’s the King of Kings. He’s the Lord of Lords. He is God Almighty.

I venture to guess our eyes would be brighter…our smiles would be wider…our words would be kinder, and our actions would be much more gracious.

The Bible goes further to say, “…they shall mount up with wings of eagles. They shall run and not grow weary. They shall walk and not faint.”

That means we’ll make it, if we can just wait on (or serve) HIM!

The Bible also says, “Do everything as unto the Lord.” …it says EVERYTHING! That’s a hard demand at times…

Like when our husband didn’t notice the laundry folded for the umpteen time but only fussed about that one shirt that didn’t get washed…or the wife who only noticed the trash wasn’t taken out but failed to notice the lawn got mowed and driveway got swept and the car was washed after a long days work…

Or maybe it’s in the middle of the night when one baby is wailing from an earache and the other just got sick in his bed…

Wait on the Lord

Maybe it’s when the boss is being unfair about a deadline and your co-workers are gossiping and cutting you down…

Maybe it’s when your teacher doesn’t seem to like you and your best friend just doesn’t seem to care…

Wait on the Lord…

Maybe it’s when your body is wracked with pain and the Drs can’t seem to figure out what in the world is wrong with you…

Maybe it’s when you’ve had to stand beside a graveside and say goodbye. They weren’t supposed to die so soon. There’s so many things left unsaid…left undone…

Let me read that while Scripture again a little differently…
“(YOU) that wait upon the Lord SHALL renew (your) strength. (You) SHALL mount up with wings like an eagle. (You) SHALL Run and not grow weary. (You) SHALL walk and not faint.”

…as the old song goes, “…teach me Lord to wait.”

Thank You! 2015 in review

/ The WheatandTares

THANK YOU WordPress for this report, and THANK YOU to everyone who has read my blog this past year. Thank you for all of your encouraging notes, likes and comments. Your support means so much! 🙂

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2015 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 5,700 times in 2015. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 5 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.