Most of us do not want to blend in with the woodwork. True, many of us don't want to be on center stage, but we usually don't want total anonymity, complete oversight, now do we?
We want to be known and acknowledged as an entity meriting value.
People will go to all extremes just to be noticed and recognized simply as a person.

"The essence of being different does not lie in externals, but in a different internal reality that cannot but manifest itself." ~ C. Ringma

I want what's on the inside to be what makes 'em stop and look again.

"You are seen as bright lights - stars or beacons shining out clearly in the dark world."
Phil 2:15

Yes, God. May it be so.

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Busy days - school, the yard, sewing costumes, chauffeuring the girls, having folks over for dinner, having out-of-town visitors. The days seem too short.
Good stuff.

Been busy, busy: there's always school, of course, and the yard, and chauffeuring my girls, and I'm sewing 5 costumes for an upcoming drama....and various meetings and dinners with folks, and well, you know - life. Busy is good.
It helps with the ongoing transition since our move back in August.
No time to feel lonely when you are busy!

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"If you want My goodness to stay with you, then serve your neighbor, for in him
God comes to you Himself." ~ D. Bonhoeffer

So true. It is challenging, though, in this day and age to serve one's neighbor. Not because the giving is so hard. But, folks like to stay to themselves more than they did in years gone by. However, Rob and I continue to do what we can do to get to know our neighbors and find ways to love them. It's what we most want to do with our days.
Especially with those who do not yet know the love of Jesus.

"Whoever in My name accepts and receives and welcomes one such child, also accepts and receives and welcomes Me." Mk 9:37

"In so far as you did for one of the least of these....you did it for Me." Mt 25:40

"Through love, you should serve...." Gal 5:13

Yes, Lord....give us more opportunity, I pray.

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It's getting to be about time for us to venture west again...

We need our ocean "fix".

Sometimes, it's so easy and so tempting to live in the future. Maybe we're anticipating a coming event, dreading something that feels inevitable, or maybe it's the uncertainty of the days ahead that rivet our souls.

"Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers today;
And give us not to think so far away
As the uncertain harvest; keep us here
All simply in the springing of the year."

Contentment lives in the peace of the moment. I want to be very content.

"[Have] the incorruptible and unfading charm of a gentle and peaceful spirit,
which is not anxious or wrought up." 1 Pet 3:4

Yes, may my heart be as quiet as the blooms unfolding in the warming air.

I'm off to read what may be our last lit book of this year:
Irving Stone's The Agony and Ecstasy - the story of Michelangelo.

What are you reading these days?

Busy days here. Nothing terribly exotic or exciting...just life, you know. We had 11 around our table last night. That was nice, almost like old times before the diaspora scattered our family far and wide.  I'm running the girls here and there today, but in between I hope to work in my yard, most of which remains a mystery to me. I have shoots here and there, but no blooms yet. And lots of space left for playing in the dirt.

"Gratitude...takes nothing for granted, is never unresponsive, is constantly awakening to new wonder, and to praise the goodness of God." ~ T. Merton

I so want to grow in gratitude,
especially for the small, ordinary,
little things
tucked into each day.

"They recognized and praised and thanked God...filled with and controlled by reverential fear...'We have seen wonderful and strange and incredible and unthinkable things today...' " Lk 5:26

The first step is recognition. Yes, Lord, open my eyes.....so much can be hidden by minor discontent. Open the eyes of my heart to see Your goodness. Even today.

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May my contentment and gratitude flow
as the waters move perpetually toward the sea.
No matter what.

I don't know about you, but I regularly need spring to enter my soul....



"Arise, from the depression and prostration in which circumstances have kept you - rise to a new life! Shine - be radiant with the glory of the Lord, for your Light has come...." Is 60:1

"See! I make all things new." Rev 21:5

May it be so. May His refreshing, sweet waters flow.

"Of course, not everything that happens is the will of God, yet in the last resort
nothing happens without His will." ~ D. Bonhoeffer

I'm not sure how that works. It's rather beyond me.
But, I'm so grateful that He knows the path I am on, far better than I.



"Are not two little sparrows sold for a penny? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father's consent and notice." Matt 10:29

He designed and pays attention to all the details.


Even the odd ones. Be they BIG or small.


I'm enjoying the spring sunshine today as we are having a break in the rain. March was very wet here. Even that, too, does not escape His control. Given world events, it's reassuring to know that one day all will make sense. Meanwhile we have the little details outside our windows that reassure us. Such as the sparrows. He sees it all.
We can be at peace in a very uncertain world.

Yesterday I was able to go out and begin to weed in my relatively new-to-me yard.
I still have no idea what is growing out there, but it was nice to attack what I know should not be growing there, all the while basking in the spring warmth.
Out here, you have to squeeze in those moments between the rain showers.

Sometimes I feel like that yard out there - all new-to-me terrain and with no idea of what is growing there....I can just see the many weeds I need to pluck out.

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"I pray for you, my child, to develop authenticity, to keep an unveiled face toward God."
~ W. Carmichael

I'm working on that - being honest with God, even when I'm struggling, entrusting to Him my unrequited desires. You'd think it'd be easy, but I don't find it so.
I'm not often self-revealing. But, it's what He asks of me.

"Not a creature exists that is concealed from His sight, but all things are open and exposed, naked and defenseless to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do."  Heb 4:13

" The Lord sees....the Lord looks on the heart." 1 Sam 16:7

I know He'll never reject me, and He already knows all that's bottled up inside -
so certainly, I can share every moment of every day with Him.
He's a safe place.

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One of the things I most like about the Redwoods, is that they raise your vision - up, up, up.

Looking ever upward.....

Sunday afternoon. Rob's napping on the sofa....I'd like to nap, but if I do, I won't sleep tonight, so I am resisting. The girls were gone overnight, and now I'm waiting for the call
to go pick them up.

My calendar tells me that spring arrives today....I'm still not sure what's going to pop up in my yard. But, maybe I'll start puttering out there sometime soon.

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"Difficulty is not outside of God's design for our lives, but God is never outside the difficulty unless we put Him there....Prayer is difficult, because we find it easier to do than to ask, to act than to be still, and to talk than to listen. But prayer....never fails to catch God's ear....Prayer invites God into the very fabric of our lives." ~ C. Ringma

Boy, all we have to do these days is look at the news and we'll be motivated to pray.

"They cried to the Lord in their trouble..." Ps 107:6

"I say, 'Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest.Yes, I would wander far away, I would lodge in the wilderness. I would hasten to escape and to find a shelter from the stormy wind and tempest'.....
[Instead,] cast your burden on the Lord, releasing the weight of it, and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be moved." Ps 55: 6-8, 22

Yes, much fodder for prayer....it's always time to ask, be still and listen.

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The California Redwoods are just covered in furry growth.



And the water is incredibly tinted thanks to a mineral called serpentine.



And I miss my kids, along with their friends.....



We had treasured time together at the beginning of the year. For that I am grateful.

Maybe I'll take just a wee snooze......

The house is relatively quiet, except for Josh Groban's crooning. Rob is up in Tacoma, WA at a conference, Heidie is doing her second to last performance of the current play and Jenny is out for the night at a youth group activity. So, it's just me, and the animals, holding down the homefront. When I am alone like this I often wonder what I would do if I really was alone - long term, I mean. I really don't know. Given that we moved literally across the continent, and it's yet to feel like home...and given that more than half my kids are scattered about, I wonder what I'd do if nights like tonight were the norm, not the exception. I'm not trying to sound morbid or anything....but my current lack of rootedness and close extended family, along with the lack of a traditional career, lead me to speculate.

What would you do?

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"God will not allow us to go on anyway which He Himself has not preceded us."
~ D. Bonhoeffer

"It is the Lord Who goes before you." Deut 31:8

Isn't that reassuring?

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More shots from the Redwoods:

Who wouldn't love the wonder of these woody behemoths?

Further in...

And up - yes, this is the inside of this gentle giant.

They pull your eyes heavenward - which is always a good idea.

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Back in January when we drove down to California, we stayed in this cute little cottage:



From there we explored the Redwoods. Oh, my. Truly awesome.






It was like a primeval forest.

So, so tall....




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