Crafters of Faith - February Blog Hop "Colossians 3:23"

Hello, dear blogging friends! 

 I'm so thrilled to post again for the Carriers of Faith, 
a blogging group sharing our faith through inspiration, photography,
christian fellowship and more WITHOUT posting a card or paper creation :)
The ideal is to communicate our 'vision' and minister through a single photograph!

If you are hoping along with all the COF girls, 
you will have arrived from April's amazing blog.
  I'm the last stop on the hop but the fun starts at Barb's beautiful
blog if you wanted to visit the hop from the starting place.
Here is Barb's theme for this month:

February Challenge Colossians 3:23 --Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.
The Living Bible version-- --Work hard and cheerfully at all you do, just as though you were working for the Lord and not merely for your masters

I think we all work hard at many things in life--so I want to challenge you to think of what you might work hard at, but cheerfully. You can take this a few ways:

~Perhaps--you can take a picture of what you would do as a career, if you could "be anything you want to be" when "you grow up". The sky is the limit--no restrictions at all. What is a job you would love to have?

~Or--look around and see what you love to do in life. It could be cooking, or crafting, or gardening, or reading, or whatever....... What do you do that always puts a smile on your face or gets you in a good mood?
  
Ohhh this is a hard one ~  I have many loves :)
 From the Jesus, my Savior most High,
to my beautiful husband and family,
a wonderful church, friends, crazy doggies ...
to fun hobbies, reading, biking, the beach ...
so many things!

 As I was scrolling through the pictures I've taken recently,
I came across this one and knew it was 'the one'.
  God said in Genesis 1:20, "Let the water swarm with living creatures, 
and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky."

We recently spent the day in Key Largo, Florida,
one of my favorite places on the planet!
We are truly blessed, despite the heat and traffic problems,
to live in a gorgeous state filled not only with sandy beaches
and year-round wonderful weather, but a plethora of nature preserves,
trails and lovely animal habitats right there outside our doors.
From the Everglades to the mangroves, it is simply an awesome
reminder of God's beautiful creatures.
So, thinking back to this recent trip, and the love of the ocean I have,
the sound of the gentle lap of the waves against the shore,
taking off my flip-flops 
(I live in them year round and have a pair in every corner!) and walking in the warm sand, I remembered how much I love sharing this time with my family.
I love being out in the water as often as I can.
The kids and I take out the canoes and zip around the water ways,
spotting manatees that are common in our areas so close to shore
and have even seen a shark as it swam under the canoe
in a small inlet, bumping our boat from underneath and heading back out to 
the ocean.  They come inland to have their babies then leave
(and hopefully in the future we won't have it happen under our boat again!)

This gorgeous bird was looking for shrimp on the shoreline :]

 I chose the last of the three segments to represent
my post this month - I hope I was close to your request, Barb!
Thank you for a beautiful theme to reflect on this month!
It's a wonderful opportunity to be grateful where we are,
with what we have, and enjoy the true treasures right where we are!

Please be sure to stop by the other Carriers of Faith
and see what one picture they've posted this month!

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly