Three Months -- Three Seasons

Mid-August rains watered flowers...

...while tree-frogs were drawn to the light in our windows.

Mid-September sunshine dried the crops for harvest.

Mid-October snows put the harvest on hold for a couple weeks.

The last roses saved from the snow still glowed indoors...

...while cats were drawn to our windows looking for warmth.

The Merry, Multiplicity of Stars

"The end of the joyous day had come. The two children were both lying in their beds.

'Oh, Heidi!' Clara exclaimed, "I can see so many glittering stars, and I feel as if we were driving in a high carriage straight into the sky.'

'Yes, and do you know why the stars twinkle so merrily?' inquired Heidi.

'No, but tell me.'

'Because they know that God in heaven looks after us mortals and we never need to fear. See, they twinkle and show us how to be merry, too. But Clara, we must not forget to pray to God and ask Him to think of us and keep us safe.'"

Heidi by Johanna Spyri, Chapter 20

One thing I love about winter is the stars. (I know it's not technically winter yet, but we have had lots of snow already and daytime temps are below freezing.)

The stars seem clearer and brighter in the cold - partly, no doubt, because the trees are bare, so we see more from our bedroom windows. While their merry twinkling may be the main delight for a child, their immensity, distance, and multiplicity put me in greater awe of their (and my) Creator.

Cultivating a Hobby

I've just started sharing quotes from a book I enjoyed reading a year ago: God and Churchill written by Churchill's great-grandson, Jonathan Sandys. Here's another excerpt that caught my eye - even though I then had no idea I would be picking up painting just months later.

Did you know that Winston Churchill "lived to the ripe old age of ninety"?

"One of his secrets was understanding the importance of rest. ...Mary Soames describes her father resting during a 1942 visit to President Franklin Roosevelt's home at Hyde Park, New York.

"'Papa presented a charming sight... flat on his back in a patch of sun. ... I lay near him and we gazed up at the very blue sky & the green leaves dancing against it - flecked with sun.'

Begonias

"Such relaxation eased Churchill's much-burdened mind, and he began to muse about the colors he would use if he were painting the scene: '[He] commented on the wisdom of God in having made the sky blue and the trees green. "It wouldn't have been nearly so good the other way round."'

Pansies

"Churchill believed that cultivating 'a hobby and new forms of interest is ... a policy of first importance to a public man.' He discovered such a hobby at the age of forty in his love for painting. 'Painting came to my rescue in a most trying time.' he said."

Trying wax-resist for hydrangeas

"Who will show us some good?"

I love it when God directs me to the right verses at the right time!

Last week it was Psalm 4.

Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness!
You have given me relief when I was in distress.
Be gracious to me and hear my prayer!

O men, how long shall my honor be turned into shame?
How long will you love vain words and seek after lies?

But know that the LORD has set apart the godly for himself;
the LORD hears when I call to him.

Be angry, and do not sin;
ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent.

Offer right sacrifices, 
and put your trust in the LORD.

There are many who say, "Who will show us some good?
Lift up the light of your face upon us, O LORD!"

You have put more joy in my heart
than they have when their grain and wine abound.

In peace I will both lie down and sleep;
for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.

Psalm 4 (ESV)

Forgetting Who We Are

"We, in our time, are raising a new generation of Americans who, to an alarming degree, are historically illiterate. The situation is serious and sad. And it is quite real, let there be no mistake. It has been coming on for a long time, like a creeping disease, eating away at the national memory."



"While the clamorous popular culture races on, the American past is slipping away, out of sight and out of mind. We are losing our story, forgetting who we are and what it's taken to come this far."

  - Historian David McCullough, at a 1995 National Book Awards ceremony

"Just as nature abhors a vacuum, so too does the human soul. As we forget who we are and where we've come from, a great void is being carved out in the soul of the West -- and many other belief systems are seeking to fill the vacuum."

- God and Churchill by Jonathan Sandys

Remember an earlier post (click here to read it again) where I shared some of what God's word warns about "forgetting"?

Choosing Gratitude

It's time to choose gratitude again.

Today I thank God for:

The freedom to vote

That You can direct the hearts of our leaders (Proverbs 21:1)

Sunshine

Strength enough to wash my hair

That You will be the stability of our times (Isaiah 33:6) 

Three students to teach

Music

The call to do everything as unto You

Orchids preparing to bloom

Cats on the deck

...and so much more!

Autumn Leaves

 Our autumn leaves have been buried under snow for about two weeks now, but back in September when they were just beginning to fall, my nephew came for a visit!

After the cat ran away from such enthusiam, we played with leaves in an attempt to forget that mommy was out of sight picking the last tomatoes.

When our tired little guy was on his way back home in the evening, I pulled out my nature notebook and took a closer look at that twig full of leaves. (The cover of my journal now sports a sticker from Grace of Across Fields Studio, who struggles with even more daily disabilities than Elsa and me. She is inspiring as she focuses on the truth amid the pain!)

The leaves and twig were beautiful little subjects to focus on for an evening.

When October arrived with that "graduation day" punctuated by park explorations, I picked up a few more leaves to study.

Have you learned anything new about your everyday surroundings lately?!