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I was given a rose in church yesterday. A deep red, curled up bud just starting to unfurl.

I'm not much of a rose person. I prefer wildflowers - a bright mish-mosh of colors - or lilacs or daisies. But roses are culturally appropriate for Valentine's Day. And I'm not ungrateful. The bud vase of roses on our table is a sight more attractive than the no-decoration-whatsoever we usually look at.

I fingered the petals; brushing them out; opening the bud. Not really interested. Not really inspired.

And a whisper came unexpectedly to my soul.

 I made that with my finger.

And my touch was suddenly reverent.

I was touching something made by the finger of God.

Sisters, that's how close He is to our everyday lives.

Like Michelangelo's painting of The Creation of Adam, we come every moment of our lives into contact with the finger of God. We touch what He touched. We experience what He designs. We live in the word of His power.

How easily we lose that wonder of living in our Father's world!

When the snowflakes fall and catch, stop and remember from where they came. Each one designed by the all-knowing God who decided that it would snow at that very moment before time began.

When you brush your hair, so briskly and unthinking, stop and remember that every strand is numbered by your ultimate Father who knit them together when He placed you gently in your mother's womb.

And when you interact with those in your daily life, remember that, Christians or no, they are deeply loved by the Creator of all, who is completely aware of everything about them that we cannot see and also not willing that any should perish.

It's easy to look at the ocean, the Grand Canyon, the mountain ranges, and be awed by the majesty of God. But those things don't permeate our lives on a daily basis (at least, not most of us!). The majesty of God is bursting into our everyday lives at every turn. His hand meets ours in everything we touch. And He alone has opened our eyes to see and understand that He is the source. Our hearts know who to worship because He Himself has placed that knowledge in them.

How utterly dependent and yet how utterly safe we are!

"And He is not served by human hands, as if He needed anything. Rather, He Himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else." 
{Acts 17:25}

Love,

Mini Book Review: The Egg and I

Finished!!

The fact that it took me roughly 3-1/2 months to accomplish this has no bearing whatsoever on the content.

Quickies
4 out of 5
Recommended: with reservations
Categories: memoirs, humor, exceptional word use

Betty MacDonald is a genius with a pen {cil? Typewriter? Not sure what she used to put this on paper...}. Looking after thousands of hens in a remote ranch on the coast of Washington sounds about as much like a picnic as bread and water in a 15th century dungeon. In such situations, one must have a sense of humor or I think one would probably up and die. Betty MacDonald does - and her battles with pressure cookers, certified redneck neighbors, woodstoves, zero modern conveniences and the ranch itself are all cast in a comically cynical, laugh-or-cry style.

411
The reservations in recommending this book are as follows: there is quite a bit of language in this book and some characters who don't have the most genteel topics when it comes to conversation. Also, Betty doesn't always beat around the bush, so there are some rather blunt observations.

Till next time!

While I Was Out...

Taking a break from blogging sure gives one a lot more unanticipated free time and {I'm discovering} fresh energy to get back to it once one's blog has been updated and all the links are working again.

Thanks, Rachel!

As I posted last time, my life underwent some rather substantial changes over the past few months. However, it also underwent some minor and significantly less important changes that were a lot less stressful and infinitely more fun!


1
I got my hair chopped off

Before

6 inches and a plethora of layers later...

Ponytails required a lot of clips for a while, but otherwise I was incredibly happy with the results :)

2
I finished a novel

It's in two chunks there, but when I printed it off, double-spaced, it was almost a full ream of paper and that's not actually all of it. After rewriting it 3 times, it's a little surreal to know that this is the last time I'll be going over it before...what? Sending out query letters? Taking the next step to my dream of publication? I confess I'm dragging my feet a bit here because the fact that it's almost done is somehow more daunting than facing the blank pages at the beginning and filling them.

3
 I turned 21 and was legally allowed to paint my toenails

I chose OPI's Live, Love, Carnaval for this much-anticipated moment

...and got frozen yogurt with plenty of s'mores crunch.

4
I ditched my eucharisteo box {read about that here} and started a journal

It sits on my desk at work and I use different colored pens each day. The box had its time and when I emptied it it was pretty full, but now that I have a more stationary life the journal is more sensible. I've also ditched the idea that my 'gifts' {read Ann Voskamp's One Thousand Gifts if you have no idea what I'm talking about} have to sound like poetry. If I'm thankful for the way my chair rolls over the plastic sheet on the floor that's as poetic as it's going to be on the page.

5
I finally made the journal-calendar-box-memory-catcher thingamajig that I found on the internet forever ago and have always intended to construct.

Here is the link that explains what this is and how to make your very own. I will add my personal warning though: you will need more than one package of the index cards because it takes a LOT. I still have to get some more before sometime in the middle of May. I also have to find something I want to use for a month divider and decorate the box. For now, that's still in the decision stage.

Anything else? Probably - but those are all the pictures I have to share.

Till next time!