From Necklace to Pin

Good morning Y'all.   I hope and pray that this message finds each and every one of y'all enjoying TGIF day.   ggg   It has been a good, but busy week for me.   I still have a lot to do, but, I don't have as much to do as I did, WooHoo!!    Praises to God for that.   I have my Sunday School lesson to finish tackling in a while, but before I do that, I have something to share with y'all today.   I also want to pick up where I left off with Psalm 23.   I think that is what I will do first.

Psalm 23:2  "He makes me to lie down in green pastures: He leads me beside still waters."

Oh, I love this.   How the sheep and "us" are so much alike in so many ways.   Sheep, by nature, are a very jittery, nervous animal.   Any kind of disturbance or intrusion scare the sheep.   Can you relate, even just a little bit, to this description of the behavior of sheep?   Oh, I sure can.   It is hard to sleep with a disturbance going on out in the neighborhood.   It was hard for us, to lay down after someone tried to break in to our house, twice, about 2 years ago.   So, I can relate very well to the nervousness of the sheep.

But.....when the sheep feel safe and secure, they will lay down and sleep in the green pastures.   God is our shepherd, He is ever watching over us.   There are things of this world that is always trying to rob us of our security.   There are things that happen to shake us and stir us to the core.   But, God has got us eternally secure, if you have placed your faith and trust in Jesus Christ.

The second phrase, "He leads me beside the still waters" is interesting also, in keeping with the sheep and their behavior.   Sheep are afraid of rapidly running waters.   They just don't like it.   Think about it, rapidly running water has a tendency to increase the heart rate.   Go and set beside an over the bank, rapidly running river and see what it does to you.   Then come back to it when the waters are calm and peaceful.   It is exciting to set by the rapidly running river for a little while, but it is really more peaceful to sit by that same stream of water when it is calm.   You can hear the trickle of water over the rocks in the stream.   This, in itself has a calming effect on the soul.   As opposed to the loud roar of the rapidly running river in your ears.

God's provision of the calm flowing stream has a soothing and calming effect on the sheep.   We all have troubled waters in our lives from time to time, but God is the one that can make those troubled waters into a calm flowing stream.   One that you can find rest and peace and solace beside.   I pray that if you are going through turbulent waters, that you will ask God to still the waters for you.   God is waiting to be your shepherd, through His Son, Jesus Christ.   The Lord wants to be your Shepherd, let Him.

Now, to the "necklace to pin" that I mentioned in my title.   I was recently at one of my fav shopping haunts, Cato, and I was checking out the clearance rack of jewelry.   I found a lovely necklace.   Actually there was a lot of them, but one jumped right in my hand, (hehehe) and I knew it wanted me to take it home.    So, I rescued it form just hanging there and not being enjoyed.   What else was I to do, really?

I got home with my new treasure and I really didn't like the way it hung around my neck.   It was a little wonky.   I said it was bashful, because it stayed turned around and all you could see was the backside of it.   In all actuality, when I seen it on the rack, I thought to myself, that would be a lovely pin!   So, after it wouldn't hang straight, I said, ok I can make a pin out of you.   So, yesterday I got out my jewelry tools and E6000 and low temp hot glue gun and the operation started.   After a few minor surgical procedures and a little gluing up, it was better than new.

This is what it started out looking like.   Nice, isn't it?    And to think it just jumped in my hand!   hehehe

I didn't want to show all the dirty surgical procedures, I think some of you may be squeamish.   But, I removed the chain and and the bail on the back of the necklace.  I put a coating of E6000 on the inside to seal the stones on the front that you could see from the back.   I then used my low temp glue gun and filled the back with it and set my pin back down in it a bit.  When that had set pretty good, I took more of the E6000 glue and put just a bit on top of the pin back to secure it to the hot glue and this morning, I will call it a success.

 This is my parrot minus the chain.  I am over the top about my new pin.   I told y'all I got it off the clearance rack.   I purposely did not tell you what I gave for it.  Make a wild guess.   Go ahead.   Pick a number, any number.   Nope, too high.   Ha, still too high.   Ok, drum roll please.......$1.99!   Yup, that's right folks.   They almost paid me to take it off their hands.   I will definitely be looking at necklaces in a new light now.   I have seen many in the past, but did not get them, but now, that's a different thing.   Knowing I can make a pin out of those big and beautiful baubles, watch out!!!!

By the way, no parrot was harmed in the making of this blog post!   Hahahaha

Hello ladybug, sweet pea hopes you are doing good and staying cool.  Love you bunches and hope to see you soon.

Have a great rest of the day Y'all!   Come back soon, as I will be sharing pics of my Fair entries.  (I can probably call most of them clinkers, already.  I know some of you know what a clinker is, if you've ever burned coal for heating purposes.)

Tell someone you know that God wants to be their Shepherd, today.   God loves y'all and so do I.   Till next time....hugs, Patty