C.H. Spurgeon's Morning Devotional
Friday August 15, 2025

"Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the eventide."-Genesis 24:63
    
    Very admirable was his occupation. If those who spend so many hours in idle company, light reading, and useless pastimes, could learn wisdom, they would find more profitable society and more interesting engagements in meditation than in the vanities which now have such charms for them. We should all know more, live nearer to God, and grow in grace, if we were more alone. Meditation chews the cud and extracts the real nutriment from the mental food gathered elsewhere. When Jesus is the theme, meditation is sweet indeed. Isaac found Rebecca while engaged in private musings; many others have found their best beloved there.
    
    Very admirable was the choice of place. In the field we have a study hung round with texts for thought. From the cedar to the hyssop, from the soaring eagle down to the chirping grasshopper, from the blue expanse of heaven to a drop of dew, all things are full of teaching, and when the eye is divinely opened, that teaching flashes upon the mind far more vividly than from written books. Our little rooms are neither so healthy, so suggestive, so agreeable, or so inspiring as the fields. Let us count nothing common or unclean, but feel that all created things point to their Maker, and the field will at once be hallowed.
    
    Very admirable was the season. The season of sunset as it draws a veil over the day, befits that repose of the soul when earthborn cares yield to the joys of heavenly communion. The glory of the setting sun excites our wonder, and the solemnity of approaching night awakens our awe. If the business of this day will permit it, it will be well, dear reader, if you can spare an hour to walk in the field at eventide, but if not, the Lord is in the town too, and will meet with thee in thy chamber or in the crowded street. Let thy heart go forth to meet Him.
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Saturday, May 7, 2016

Fly Away Free by Anna Turner Coppla



The story begins when Tessie Farrell, an older woman living in South Florida, is walking her dog and rescues a baby osprey whose parents are killed by three young boys raiding the osprey’s nest to steal the baby ospreys. Taking the rescued baby osprey home, Tessie contacts the police to report what happened. After caring and feeding the baby osprey and building a cage for the bird, Tessie finds herself exhausted. Lying down to rest, Tessie is transported back in time, when she was a ten-year-old girl living with her parents on a dairy farm in northern New York. Devastated to learn that she is adopted, Tessie is taunted by her classmates as she struggles to understand why she was unwanted by her biological parents. In her isolation from children her own age, she creates her own fantasy world with the help of Dolly, a horse that is boarded at the farm and whom Tessie adopts as her pet horse, and two pet geese, raised and nurtured by Tessie as hatchlings. While Tessie roams her fantasy world with Dolly, she meets and befriends an older woman, Maudie, who will play a very important role in helping Tessie find herself as she learns to accept who she is and to find acceptance by those around her. This is a story of courage, self-discovery, and love, and a young girl’s struggle to overcome the pain of being adopted.
A wonderful book to help older children, 7-9 year olds, that might be struggling with finding out that they are adopted.  A beautiful story of acceptance and courage.  The plot pace is just perfect, not too slow.  Very well written. 


Anne Turner Coppola was born in Redford, New York, one of seven children. She was ten years old when her father died. When she was twelve, after her mother was hospitalized, she was placed in a foster home in Plattsburgh, New York, where she attended D’Youville Academy, a Catholic school for girls. An academic honors student, she wrote a weekly article for the local newspaper and was valedictorian of her class. Graduating with honors, she received several scholarships toward her college training. While in college, she met and married her air force husband in 1958. She received her teaching degree from State University of New York at Albany, and her master’s degree from Rutgers University. She taught elementary, middle, and high school students at various schools, as she and her husband made their journey south to Staten Island, New York; Atlanta, Georgia; Miami, Florida; and finally, Sarasota, Florida. After her retirement from teaching, she served as president of her homeowner’s association and as ombudsman for the State of Florida, inspecting nursing homes to ensure quality care for patients. After battling breast cancer for eight years, she died in 2012.

An ecopy of this book was provided in exchange for my honest review by.....
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