The changing of the seasons always brings a special sense of anticipation, especially as we approach the Autumn months. I am so excited to share something I have been working on close to my heart: the Fall Feast Planning Guides are officially ready for you!
My hope is that these guides bring clarity, peace, and joy to your home as you prepare to celebrate the Appointed Times.
A Quick Heart-to-Heart Before You Begin
Before you dive in, I want to share a quick, transparent note from my heart to yours. I am not perfect in my knowledge of these feasts. Like many of you, I am on a lifelong journey of learning and growing. The information, schedules, and ideas in these guides are simply drawn from the best sources and understandings I currently have available to me.
Because of this, I want to encourage you to do your own research. Let these guides be a helpful jumping-off point, but dive into the scriptures and history for yourself! Additionally, please use your own discretion when choosing which activities to participate in throughout the guide. Every family is unique, and you should always choose what aligns best with your home and your conviction.
Pip: Welcome back to Pollywog’s Place, where the wisdom arrives quietly and tends to hit harder than expected.
Mara: Susie at Pollywog’s Place Blog shared a parable this week about prayer, control, and what it actually means to trust — and there’s more to it than asking for the right weather. Let’s start with two monks and an olive tree.
Two Monks and an Olive Tree
Pip: The setup here is deceptively simple — two monks, two trees, same starting conditions. The real question the story is asking is whether we trust God to know what we need, or whether we’re quietly just asking God to execute our own plan.
Mara: The post draws the contrast plainly. The second monk’s approach was this: “he prayed for God to send what the little tree needed in order to flourish. God created the tree and He alone knows what was best for that little tree.”
Pip: And the first monk’s tree dies. Not from neglect — from over-specification. He prayed for rain, then sun, then frost, each one reasonable on its own, but the sequence was his sequence, not the tree’s.
Mara: That’s the tension the post keeps returning to. It’s not about whether you pray. It’s about what you’re actually asking for when you do. The post puts it directly: “We ask God to send what we think we need when we feel that we need it.”
Pip: Which is, if we’re honest, most prayer most of the time. The first monk wasn’t faithless — he was attentive and devoted. He just couldn’t see the whole tree.
Mara: The post frames this as something genuinely hard to practice. The line is: “I know how hard it is to turn over control but trust me you must surrender every part of your life to Him so that He can have His way and He will bless you more abundantly than you could ever imagine.”
Pip: Surrender every part — that’s not a small ask. But the parable earns it, because the monk who let go ended up with the living tree.
Mara: The post is honest that this is ongoing work, not a lesson already learned. There’s real humility in admitting you’re still learning to pray like the second monk.
Pip: Sometimes the most useful thing a story can do is name the habit you didn’t know you had.
Mara: The parable lands because it isn’t really about trees. It’s about the difference between faith and management.
Pip: Next time — more from Pollywog’s Place, where the quiet ones tend to stay with you.
Hey friends! Grab a warm drink, pull up a chair, and let’s chat for a minute. As the summer heat starts to break and that first bit of autumn wind rolls in, my mind automatically goes to the shifting seasons—not just outside, but on God’s calendar.
If you’ve been following along with us lately, you know our family has been deep in the trenches of organizing our home, making monthly devotionals, and streamlining our everyday routines. Today, I am so excited to finally open up our folders and share something close to my heart: our brand-new Christian Fall Feast Unit Studies!
This open-and-go packet covers Yom Teruah (Feast of Trumpets), Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), and Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles). It traces the amazing Old Testament history straight through to how it all beautifully points to Jesus.
First, I want to apologize as I normally try to have the new devotional finished at least a couple of days before the next month begins… we’ve had a lot on our plates here lately, but I finally finished it! I have not completed the other devotional videos that I have been working on though… but GOD is working in that situation and we have witnessed HIS hand in so many areas this past month that it has been AMAZING!
Every morning, our families make a conscious choice about what to wear. We check the weather, look at our schedules, and pull garments from the closet to get ready for the day. But as Christian parents and teachers, how often do we pause with our children to intentionally choose our spiritual wardrobe before the schoolbooks open or the busy day begins?
In a loud, fast-paced world that tells us to look out for number one, scripture invites us to bring our families into a beautifully different rhythm. In Colossians 3:12, we are given a divine dress code: “Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering.” Godly character isn’t something that just happens; it is an identity we actively choose to put on every single day.
True meekness and godly character are not signs of weakness—they are strength under control. It is the wisdom to give a soft answer when sibling bickering starts, the quiet confidence of knowing who we are in Christ, and the patience to bear with one another’s mistakes.
Over the next 31 days, our families are going to lay down our sharp defenses, our arguments, and our frantic pacing. Through short daily scriptures, family-friendly discussion questions, and simple prayers, we will explore what it looks like to intentionally build a culture of grace right at home. Gather the kids around the table, open your hearts, and let’s begin clothing ourselves in the enduring beauty of Godly character.
We have a FREE activities planner that goes with all of our devotionals, but this one has a few extra activities included in the devotional as well. I have linked some resources below to go along with these optional activities.
Here is the FREE printable, if you’d like to join us:
