Tis The Season

Posted byGary FultzPosted inabundant life, accomplishment, animals in winter, Build Faith, christmas, cold, deception, devotional, devotional thoughts, eternal, Faith, Food, Gary Fultz, Gary Fultz Blog, goals, God in Nature, Inner Peace, Jesus Christ, Know God, most imortant relationship, Nature, Nature and Inner Peace, nature pictures, outdoor scenery, Peace, perspective, purpose of life, quality of life, relationship with God, spiritual concepts, spiritual food, Spiritual Perspective, walk with GodTags:, , , , , , , , ,

What’s in the air? aside from the crazy chickadee (below). This time of year really does test us in so many ways. When I think of these pictures, I see captions of people I know. Maybe you do as well.

Enjoy a few winter shots from my back yard. We as readers and writers are alike in so many ways and yet so different. People from every season and area of the world will see our pictures and read our words. We are as different as the wildlife below.

Something Moved!!!

These buds are mine

No, I’m not in the pear tree!! I stepped into the apple tree….Ha!

You like my beard eh? Yes, Canadian Jay

Two trees dancing by moonlight

uh, Tom….we are going in circles

OK deer, you can stand up now, I got the deep snow shot.

It’s Frosting

It's Christmas and you put out fake food.

Have a Merry Christmas.

All creatures, no matter how diverse, need to eat. As we sit down for a meal near the end of this year, I wonder how many have considered knowing a God who became human just to make a way for everyone of us to have a relationship with him. As a teenager I remember thinking “this isn’t religion, it’s a relationship with my creator”. He put a peace inside me, in that place that only God can fill. That’s Christmas, oh ya!

Whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. (Jesus) John 4:14.

Gary

Published by Gary Fultz

Outdoors Man, Hunter, Fisherman, Guide, Writer / Author, Photographer, Public Speaker, Musician, Song Writer, Story Teller, Follower Of Jesus. Love God and family and total strangers

90 thoughts on “Tis The Season”

    1. Thanks Mark, Some of our birds and animals are weird, and fun to watch. Jesus must shake his head at us once in awhile though. I think the closer we get to know him the less “religious” we become functionally…especially our daily walk.

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  3. You’re a lucky guy, Gary, to have nature so close at hand. These images are both fascinating and fun, and one can easily discern the love you have for the natural world. Thanks for sharing these photos with us, and I hope to enjoy many more. Take care, my friend! 🙂

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    1. I am very fortunate Mike. I missed a picture of a gray squirrel hanging on the side of an oak tree trying to reach out with both front paws to something invisible?? That would have been a weird fun photo.

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    1. I had kind of checked out on being religious, at last in my head. Mostly silent as an obedient teen but becoming a rebel inside. Long story. In my mind, a form of being religious had nothing to do with functioning in the world every day in most people. Today, I can and do worship in church…and in a canoe, in a blind with a camera, in ER when we have to bring our handicapped daughter in for the teenth time again, on the piano writing a new song or just waking up before daylight ” good morning Jesus”. God is very real and present in my life.

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      1. Oh gosh Gary, more tears. You’re helping me see my journey with religion more clearly. That rebellious teenager, the lost 20 year old. Life hit hard early. The struggling 30 year old. Was I always rebelling or trying to fit my faith into something it wouldn’t fit in to…?

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    2. Thanks Deb. Faith has to be functional. It might be mysterious, possibly mystical to others but moment by moment pray without ceasing the bilge pump is working functional. Then the Holy Spirit can tap us on the shoulder, whisper and we hear, work with our sense of prayer and guide us through the deep stuff of life. We also get to know a peace meant for another world as if we are already there. It’s possible we are already there at some point before we have really left here which makes it ok wherever we are (if that makes any sense at all).

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    1. Merry Christmas to you and your wife as well Wayne. I have sure asked the Lord lately for some miracles, I will admit. I did finally get fishing on the ice. Being cars are driving out there it’s finely safe ice for my little ATV. Had a fish fry last night…almost boneless pike (wife found a bone).

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    1. Thanks Teresa. We are a people who love distractions and making what is simple-complicated…Sigh, speaking for my own bent here. I do better with relationships on the simple, especially with the Lord.

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  10. Religiosity can truly rob us of our relationship with the Lord. How blessed you are to have known that at a young age. God is in every one of your photos – and in each of us. Merry Christmas to you, Gary.

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    1. Thank you for your encouragement Erika. That God would be in every photo has been a prayer of mine. I’m not sure how that works but pictures sure open up conversations. Merry Christmas to you and your household.

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  11. Hey Gary,
    What beautiful & special & picturesque “Christmas Cards” you sent out to us this year – love it!!! – they are so unique and in your own style contain and spread the love of GOD.
    May you and your family have a very blessed winter season and may 2023 be your best and most miraculous year ever!!!

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    1. Ah Eva, we are blessed here in so many ways, I pray you will be as well. Blessings are like snow in the north country in winter, they just pile up and don’t go away for a long season. Merry Christmas to you.

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    1. Thankyou very much Cindy. You would really enjoy the winter wonderland here. In a couple days we have been promised another snow storm to recoat the landscape. Each one recreates every busk, rock and tree (as well as the roads). The snow can be so white we have to drive carefully to stay on the road whoever is first to make tracks. Snow blindness is a real thing.
      Have a great Christmas!

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    1. Knowing that what the eye looks for Erroll, I hope to point many eyes to the most creative person in the universe. The Christmas story…We seriously couldn’t make that up. The light of the world sure threw the prince of this world a curve ball. Have a peace filled Christmas this season.

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  16. The face of that Jay,…oh wow. Gary, you wrapped so much in this gift of pictures and words of truth! I remember well when it hit me too, it’s about a relationship, not religion! As different as we all are, we know the truth that remains! Tis the season! As always, I keep you all in my prayers. God bless you, Gary!

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    1. The stories alone of that dawning would be an amazing collection. Probably to be told in eternity. That would be quite a “reveal”. Have an amazing Christmas Karla. Lifting you up from here this Christmas.

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    1. It sure does Sandra. I was in a high blind off the ground taking new snow pictures. Those turkeys were funny (about 8 of them) following one another around and around me, mostly following trails and rabbit paths. I was hoping for larger animals that had left tracks….Deer, coyote and bobcat.

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    1. Thank You Alicia. I know that captions make the picture different to the viewer, but the chickadee with no wings or lending gear showing got me going. It’s just a good thing we don’t copy birds in how they fly and land with our air planes.
      I hope you have a very merry meaningful Christmas with family.

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    1. You are welcome Beth. I have been trying to feed the chickadees out of my hand but they only come about two feet from landing in my hand. Skittish things! I collected pine cones for the grand kids to smear peanut butter into and then roll in bird seed for 3 outside Christmas trees. The birds will be our ornaments.
      Have a Merry and meaningful Christmas in your home!!

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      1. One of my girls favorite Christmas picture books was titled “Chickadee Winter.” The chickadees would flock to the grandfather when he worked outside. The Christmas his grandchildren came to stay, he walked into the house with the chickadees aboard his hat and they flew to sit on the branches of the undecorated pine tree. His grandchildren were delighted by the birds that brought the tree to life with song and movement. That’s going to be you Gary:) Your grandkids are going to have so much fun making decorations for your outdoor Christmas trees and watching the birds (and squirrels) come to feast. Sounds like you will have some good photo ops.

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    2. That sounds like a fun book. Chickadees are attracted to me, but then I feed them. I had one land on my hat and look over the brim at my face…funny upside down little bird. try taking that picture. They have no fear, probably because they are really quick and fast.

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  25. Thank you for sharing the photos and the captions. 😄
    “We are as different as the wildlife below.” Indeed, we are! But look how universal your photos are, and how everyone can connect with them. Beautiful.

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  27. “That’s Christmas, oh ya!” Most certainly-God with us.
    I enjoyed your pictures and had to laugh at the turkeys because my husband’s name is Tom and he is directionally challenged 🙂 But he isn’t a turkey-just get him away from home and he doesn’t know which way is north.

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    1. Yes Jim. There sure is a lot to love about them. We may get a foot of snow here by the weekend. Then high temps will be in the teens below zero. It’s sad when the most accurate people on TV are the weather people.

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    1. Thanks Laurette. I have been watching that tree just for that reason. The grouse (We call them partridge) stepped out of the pear tree and into the apple tree before I could get in focus with camera. The pear tree is all those branches hiding the partridge in the picture.
      You have a meaningful Christmas as well in your household

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  33. Beautiful photos. I’m glad you stopped by our blog so I could find yours. Merry Christmas! I, too, am grateful that Christmas filled the Jesus-sized hole in my heart at a young age. The best relationship with eternal benefits.
    Merry Christmas!
    Debi

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    1. Thanks Debi. It is quite a mystery, but one that makes sense, that hole in our heart, that it is only filled by our creator. when the hole is filled by Jesus there is no room to cram other things into it that don’t work anyway.

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  36. What beautiful photos, especially the bird ones. You have some very interesting birds over there that we don’t have in Ireland. I’m slightly embarrassed to say that I didn’t know that a chickadee was a bird 🫢I thought it was just a made-up term of endearment! 😂

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    1. Thanks Jill. That’s funny. We do have some delightful and strange birds here as I suppose you do as well that are different than ours. The little chickadee winters here. they are fearless, funny and attention deficit I think. They cannot sit still, always moving. Yesterday I was in awe as those little birds with bare legs didn’t seem to mind -28 degrees (f) -33 (c) with a brutal wind chill on top of that. My hands would be frozen in a few seconds without heavy mitts. The Lord made some head scratching birds and animals. Once I had a chickadee land on the bill of my hat and peek down over the edge (so it was upside down) at my face. Fun.

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