SURROUNDINGS

"We are never without beauty in this world—never without displays of splendor. We are never without beauty because God’s divine fingerprints are impressed on all he has made. We are never without beauty because we live in a world carefully crafted by the one who is himself beautiful, who is himself Beauty." ~Challies

Look at Your Surroundings

 I always get joy out of reading the Anne of Green Gable series and watching the made for TV series.

I have often thought of how she saw beauty in everything.  She often chattered endlessly about ordinary sights that most people skip.  Each moment in her life was a source of wonder and joy.

She constantly saw joy in the world around her.  I often now in my later years resonate with those very things that made her joyful and see them as gifts from our generous Father. (James 1:17)

The Rural Road

The mountains, the rainforest, an incredible beautiful place to live, yet in my immature world and myopic vision, I failed to notice.  I was unaware of it past my resolve to survive.  I was severely hampered   Even when I got my first pair of glasses at age three and beyond were the hidden gems I had ignored and the places of peaceful refuge, I now seek and notice.

Each year, the fog coincided  with times spent at home after spending a considerable time at boarding school while other times I looked across the valley below from our home on the mountain side pondering the distance to the village below with the prominent bell tower of the Catholic Church and bell ringing out the hour. (Just like Heidi)

The decisions I have made beyond those years have led in unexpected directions. (blog). As wonderful as Oregon was and the destain I had for Southern California, there were certain elements I left behind, the delicious berry pies and peach cobbler my grandmother used to make.

Those teen years, I lived with my grandparents were wonderful and rewarding, yet full of the early year struggles that would become the foundations, the beginnings of my life race in the US.

As a participant in this race called life, I am often reminded of the  ways God has sustained me as I continue forward in this journey.

It wasn't for me to seek the easy way but the more rural back road.

Many of Gods provisions came along at the points of life when I needed them.  (Not enumerating them here, however, they are interspersed in my many other blogs.)

Sharing life through writing has its vulnerabilities, delights of not only for me but my readers, however, with it come risks of rejection and criticism.  I have never thought my  writings in terms of a paycheck or even a book eventually. (to big of a job)

In college, I took journalism and was submitting articles to the school newspaper for a brief time.  The stress of deadlines eventually delegated any future writing to journals and blogs for the pleasure it derived.  (the AD support ministry newsletter for a time)

Blessings

One of the blessings of retirement and as an empty nester are the long stretches of uninterrupted/quiet time with random interruptions.  This status has allowed me to linger over Scripture  and continue to reflect on life.

Lately, I have been dazzled by some amazing beauties in Gods world around me, particularly in my immediate neighborhood.

The shifting clouds and gradient colors in the sky

Aug.14 

Look Until You See...

"Open my eyes, that I may behold

wondrous things out of your law." ~Psalm 119:18

"{The Lord} will NEVER LEAVE you nor FORSAKE you.  Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged"  ~Deut. 31:8. Gods presence is with me.

The words from a favorite poem/song came to mind this morning from one of my favorite poets, Annie Johnson Flint

1. God has not promised skies always blue,
   Flower-strewn pathways all our lives through;
   God has not promised sun without rain,
   Joy without sorrow, peace without pain.
   • Refrain:
     But God has promised strength for the day,
     Rest for the labor, light for the way,
     Grace for the trials, help from above,
     Unfailing kindness, undying love.
2. God has not promised we shall not know
   Toil and temptation, trouble and woe;
   He has not told us we shall not bear
   Many a burden, many a care.
3. God has not promised smooth roads and wide,
   Swift, easy travel, needing no guide;
   Never a mountain rocky and steep,
   Never a river turbid and deep.

GOD'S PRESENCE IS WITH ME!!!!

Aug. 15

I awoke early this morning with the expectation that today was a feeling good day.  After a night of wandering in my dreams, disoriented, and confused, always attempting to reach the perfect spot to take that perfect shot.  I laid there ready to greet another day in August.  "I wrap myself in still and quiet.", as my dreams appear to be in a state of flux or so it seems also for in real time of these days.

I observe the subtle changes of life around me, remarkable changes as memory takes me back to the brink of my adulthood and some of  those same feelings I had back then. August has always been a hot month and the month of my birth.  I wonder what remarkable changes will occur this month, not only in my body of which I would like to unmark but in the world around me and our nation as a whole.

"You are a God who sees me."  ~marveled Hagar

My other thoughts today:

• Have I reread books?  Of course I have and they are usually my favorite ones that have had in impact on me like Little Women, Anne of Green Gables, Heidi, Trusting God, etc. etc etc.
• However, the Scriptures have had the most impact for even the basic reason that they provide joy, comfort, encouragement, encourages faith, helps fight sin, and tells me more about God.

This mornings quote, because I love quotes on rereading:

"We build on the previous readings and have weathered different life experiences to preceive things I didn't before."  Notice different things each time.

II Peter 3:1. "I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder."

STRAY THOUGHTS

Am I a Mary or a Martha?

II Tim.3:14-17. Q: Continue in what?  A: The things I have learned since childhood.

What am I gleaning?  and from where?

When I began reading the Bible in early life and at the brink of adulthood, it was my life line.  It still is my life line, when I grab hold of it.

• "When I left Queen's my future seemed to stretch out before me like a straight road. I thought I could see along it for many a milestone. Now there is a bend in it. I don't know what lies around the bend, but I'm going to believe that the best does. It has a fascination of its own, that bend, Marilla."~Anne
• "Isn't it splendid to think of all the things there are to find out about? It just makes me feel glad to be alive--it's such an interesting world. It wouldn't be half so interesting if we know all about everything, would it? There'd be no scope for imagination then, would there?" ~Anne
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