Cultivating beauty: seasonal bounty edition

When God created, He made all things gorgeous and perfect. When sin entered the timeline, death and ugliness came along.

 We know all that, but sometimes we forget. Sometimes we are so surrounded by the current news headlines that the ugliness and brokenness overwhelms and brings us down. 

But then there are the beautiful moments. 

On a walk last night we noticed a neighbor's overflowing apricot tree. He said to pick to our heart's content and so this morning the girls were up early and we rode over in the early windy cloudiness and got us a basket full. 

Fact: it does not take a whole day or a perfectly planned out event to cultivate beauty in our lives. 

In our case, it was a mere 30 minutes of riding bikes, looking at the scenery of a small neighborhood, laughter from squishy apricots in our toes, challenging tree climbing, tasting the sweetness of orange fleshed fruit,  and catching a few perfectly tree-ripened apricots tossed down from mama to child.  It was a few moments of enjoying God's creation and it does a soul some good! 

When we got home the kids went off to continue on with the story they have been playing out since last night, and I went about taking some pictures of our free fruit; for beauty's sake.

God saw the importance in making things beautiful. I am woman created in His image, so therefore I too am a creator -not THE Creator- but an imitator of what He is, a maker of beauty. 

It doesn't take long, but it speaks volumes to our children and the people in our lives, when we cultivate beauty. 

What are you doing to create a space of beauty? Are you taking the time to notice all the small things in life that we usually take for granted? 

Our daily lives are the sphere for glorifying Christ in all that we do and say. It's a challenge to find the beauty in the mundane daily life sometimes, but a worthy challenge to embark on in my opinion! 

In every season there is something beautiful and pleasant to be found; a gift from the Father of lights. 

Go about finding those gifts and living in thankfulness for them. 

Change the world, one beautiful thing at time. 

I heard a hushed voice

...... "that God was waiting in the depths of my being to speak to me if I would only be still enough to hear His voice."  - Streams in the Desert, pg. 255, A.B. Simpson

Do you hear Him?

Close your eyes and try to concentrate.

Drown out the sounds of dogs barking and machines whizzing.

Do you hear Him?

Tell yourself to shush. Don't worry about the bill needing to be paid, the laundry crumpled in the corner.

Spill your heart out to Him if it helps to calm you. Then be still. Know God. He is there and wants to whisper sweet words of life to you. 

Let Him overwhelm you. Let Him share His heart with you. Let Him reveal the answer to your problem or encourage your heart to just wait a wee bit longer, the answer will be coming shortly. 

Open up the dialogue with God and He will keep the conversation going quite wonderfully.  

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It was a hectic night of a cranky baby. An early morning of challenging myself with a new photography shoot. A nice visit with a couple of my girl friends. Coming home to extra kids and making lunch. All blessed things, just busy. Late this afternoon I was washing fruit and staring at my wilting roses and decided to take a few pictures. Then I laid down, rested and talked to God. The down time wasn't long but I found myself thinking over what God and I had talked about the rest of the evening. I was comforted and sent out again to finish the day. 

And so the story continues........ what will He say next? How will I respond? It's a conversation that will never end and never be boring or irrelevant. It's a conversation I long for more and more. 

Share the washi tape

My older sister seems to know everything. I don't know how she does it. Maybe it's a first born thing. Maybe after you are born, God pulls you aside for just a sec and says, "Now, looky here. You are the first born of this little family and soon enough you will have sisters and brothers and they will all look up to you so you're going to need a little extra something. A bit of knowledge to pass on. So here you go," at which He supernaturally, because we are talking about God, puts some great stuff there into that firstborn's mind. 

You see, awhile ago, my sister was on the phone with a friend and her friend is telling her all about this awesome stuff called washi tape. "You can use it for just about anything", she says. And at that, my sister says, who don't forget is the first born, "Oh yeah. I've been using it for years! It's great!" Her friend at hearing this, is a little disappointed. She says, "Why didn't you ever tell me about it?" Hmmm. You see, my sister, Michelle is her name, never thought to tell others because she thought others knew about it already. I find myself in conversation sometimes, feeling a bit shy when I talk of something because I think surely they have heard this all before. But that is just not the case all the time. 

So I am here to share something new (to me) in hopes that if you have never heard of, in this case an author (did I lose ya?), then you can join the party!! 

Does the name G.K Chesterton ring a bell? 

If you are like me, you may have heard the name or seen a quote at some point and that is about as far as it went. Can I encourage you to grab one of his books? I have only read this one and it's free! This guy is a great story teller! I bet you can't read it without smiling. I hope you do read it and smile. 

Next on the list, will be Orthodoxy and then The Complete Father Brown Series. 

Chesterton has a bunch of books and rightly so. He is an interesting cat. 

And that my friends is all I wanted to share with you today. 

Share your knowledge! The world needs to know about washi tape and Chesterton. 

What have you recently found out about that you want to share? 

Monday morning musing

The two oldest children are watching a show. Middle boy sleeps. Baby is nursing. Micheal has been gone for hours already. 

I read from 1 Peter and think about the joy of Jesus. Wanting my life to be spent rejoicing over who He is and what He has chosen to do for me and for you. I rejoice in salvation and the hope He gives. The Bible tells me too, so I obey, but realize that the closeness of my Lord is what really makes me rejoice. Anything I do is futile without Christ. His voice leads me and in obedience I live fully and rejoice that He actually speaks. He really does! 

This past week I have been resting my brain a bit. Not reading as much and listening more. He speaks. 

Watching the garden and my children grow. He speaks. 

Listening to my husband's dreams. He speaks. 

Worshiping. He speaks. 

Lying in bed so ready for sleep. He speaks. 

And I listen and listen and think through what has been shared and sometimes remember to write things down and hope that I can really get what God says to me. Because what is life without Christ speaking? 

Nothing. And I sure don't want nothing. I want it all! 

God please quiet my mind and continue to speak. I am all yours! 

Not to be put in a box

Years ago, I told myself I was not creative. Art wasn't my thing, not in my mind nor in my gifted abilities. 

But since those days of high school, I have changed. True, I still can't paint a masterpiece and I haven't tried, but I find the idea of me not being creative to be untrue. And that goes for everyone, in my opinion. 

 I have never been the best basketball player or photographer, cook or writer, and the list could go on and on. But I still try and that is the sweetness of life. We get to try and then try again. We get to fail and either decide we didn't like it anyhow, or be determined that we would master it. 

Random thought. I was worshipping at church on Sunday and a girl was playing the hand drum. I'm not sure why, maybe because she was so confident (not cocky) in the way she quietly walked up there and joined in the celebration and act of worship to God, but her playing really moved me.  I have never claimed music as something I was good at or wanted to pursue, really pursue. There are times that I have learned a song or fiddled with strings or keys, but not really ever taken the time to master it, or even become skilled in any way. 

The way she played though, made me think upon the freedom of being.  We are all created and in turn get to create. We are not bound by what so and so said about us when we were eleven. Or maybe more accurately what we said about ourselves. We are free to open the box and do a new thing! It doesn't have to be his or her thing anymore, but can become something that makes up our own life. My thing. Our thing. 

So we try new things. 

I started a garden this year, and some plants have survived my lack of care and knowledge and some have not. The fun thing about it is that I tried and have found a new thing in my box. If the kids don't end up getting to eat broccoli picked straight off the plant this year, then maybe next Summer will be our moment of triumph! If I don't accomplish the photography goal I set this year, then it could happen next year or the year or years after. Stay positive and keep moving forward! 

Don't put yourself or anyone in a box. It isn't good for anyone. Our boxes enlarge and shape shift as we get older and all of a sudden you may find yourself a different person. Let others grow with their box too. How about this? How about we throw those boxes away? 

My God has asked me to dance with Him, and this is part of learning the steps; freedom in Christ. Is there a twirl coming up or a tight embrace? Whatever the move is, I stay close to Jesus and let Him lead and step by step, from slow dance to the jitterbug, this life will be lived and enjoyed and held in gratitude. I will praise God for the wonderful and personal dance He shared with me and exalt Him for His ability to dance with us all. 


You can't stop these dancing feet! 

Mondays are the best

I woke up early this morning and laid in bed perusing the interwebs. I started to hear the baby cry and got up to make some tea. Then there was nothing. A gift of more quiet time! 

So I grabbed my Bible and turned to where I left off; 1 Kings 18. 

Elijah challenges the prophets of Baal. He asks, "How long will you falter between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him." (v21)

God shows up and shows them all whose Boss. 

Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, "The LORD, He is God! The LORD, He is God!" (v.39)

 

The vibrant colors of sun up are gone.  Another day is here. This time is a gift, but not to be taken lightly. Join me in my mantra today, and for always;


The LORD, He is God! The LORD, He is God! 


Now, let's live like we believe this!