point of view

turn off turn onto the gravel roads to wander to reach for a spray of the wildflowers, not as a taking of the fruit of another's possessions but as a recognizing welcoming the delight of sun, wind, sky mountain and plain to gather the glories in highlight their riotous worship. Yes, we see we join with the ringing, repeating song of praise! image source

"Hormones." Kind of an ugly word to explain the flood of emotions, don't you think? So many different things to hold in my heart this twenty-eighth birthday. So many things have changed so quickly in the space between my twenty-sixth and twenty-eighth birthday - I hadn't even met the man who woke me singing "Happy Birthday" so I would hurry to open the gift he would use to make my morning coffee for me, while our child kicked his or her greeting inside me. My twenty-seventh birthday was just after our honeymoon. The newlywed stage is beautiful, but for all its thrills and despairs, treasured new things and bumbling adjustments, I don't wish to be back in that stage. How thankful I am for all we've learned, the trust we've built, the skills acquired for cheering each other on. How much more we have to learn. Each of us hold our everyday sorrows, together with the immense and humbling realizations of how much good we've been given. ...

it's a strange state we're in that's for sure you can't be strong unless you know you're weak won't feel held til you've tasted the lonely ache must be broken down if you want to be made whole can't be blinded by brightness without being encompassed by the dark you can't love without hurting, fearing, bleeding, weeping oh friend, push on for the prize

A few more highlights from my gift list: #3303 "Freedom", my word for 2014 #3314 Seeing my sweet cousin's face, even if it's over Skype #3317  Wind-chime chorus on my street #3321 Unexpectedly discovering a kindred spirit #3323 Facebook messages all full of wedding plans #3327 Breadsticks from the Olive Garden  #3330 How you know, when you walk in the door at CCEF, you will be kindly treated no matter what you're there for #3332 Thabiti Anyabwile and new crochet stitches at unearthly hours of the night #3334  A classmate who cleans the snow off my car for me #3340 "Speak Oh Lord" in church #3344 The mechanic telling me I'm "quite a lady" just because I drive stick and change my own tires...  lol #3347 The sweet lady in the grocery store who finds and returns the shopping list I dropped #3352 Being trusted with a dear friend's struggle ...

" Oh, fear the Lord , you His saints! There is no want to those who fear Him. The young lions lack and suffer hunger; But those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing." Psalm 34:9-10 What does it mean that I, a God-seeker by grace, shall not lack any good thing? It does not merely mean that once I reach heaven I will be given every good thing,  though I do believe this is true. It does not mean that I will accumulate a large collection of good things  spaced out over the span of my life, with gaps of want and need in-between. I take this to mean that the Author of my story and the Designer of my heart  knows what is good for me and what I am ready for  and gives it to me in the right quantity and at the right time.   Today I have every good thing.   Some of the things I wish for today may be good for another day  but they can not be good for right now or I would already have them. And, some things ...