Spring time

I can’t believe it has been so long since I’ve posted. Life has been busy. I’ve been hiking with my husband on the weekends. Working during the week. 

I’ve been in the middle of writing 3 children’s book with my co-writer. Our first book comes out on April 7th. It has been over a year of work. I've learned so much. 
I’ve dabbled in genealogy and found a book that I’ve been looking for, for the last five years. It has been at the Denver Public Library for the longest time. I just never thought to look there. 
I guess in truth life  has kept me busy. I’ve been up to the mountains and down to the prairies. 
We’ve had beautiful spring weather with daffodils blooming and 8 inches of snow.  I love Springtime.

O Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done marvelous things, things planned long ago. Isaiah 25:1

A Quick Summer

I had great intentions to post throughout the summer but somehow I ran out of time. Every day. 

Writing with a deadline forces me to write every day. 

Which is wonderful. 

But hitting deadlines means no writing for fun. Not to say getting a check for writing isn’t fun. Just a different kind of fun.

So instead of posting all the things we did over summer, here’s what we did last weekend.

Hiked at Cheesman Reservoir. Camped in the mountains. Watched the sunset. Watched the sunrise. Played a lot of Yahtzee. Talked around the campfire.

The sky was so beautiful, the lake so clear that it reflected the sky as well as the mountains

In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:6

Strange thoughts

What a strange spring we have had. Rain, hail and multiple snow storms. The last day of school we wore winter coats. I went to two graduation parties. One I froze at and the other I melted. And life moves forward.

June brings Father’s Day. June brings a longing for my dad. I think to myself, I wish I would have hugged him one more time. But I did at every opportunity.

I wish I could see him again. But I saw him as much as I could when he was here.

So it just hurts. It hurts that we live in a world that embraced sin and turned from God. It hurts that sin brings death. Only God brings life. Each of us every day, we are slowly dying. We live in a sin filled world –always turning away from God and pursuing things of this world that are fleeting.  

A friend of mine told me the doctors have given her one year to live. The nastiest of words, cancer will take her life. She does not want to leave this world. I don’t blame her.

This world even as it is -- is a beautiful place. Our families are so dear and so amazing. The ties that bind - bind magically. And life even in a sin filled world has its beauty.

“If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him?”    Luke ll:13

Class of l955

This weekend I went with my Mom to her Alumni Banquet. Class of ’55. There were over fifty people there. We met in the cafeteria of the new high school. Each table had flowers on it and tablecloths in the school colors – either orange or black. 

The featured classes were those years that ended with a 9. There was a man from the Class of 1949. Maybe 8 people from the class of 1959, my uncle being one of them. And then anyone who graduated from the high school filled the rest of the tables. 

It was a homecoming of sorts.

Before the banquet, Mom and I went to the old high school which has been made into a museum. They have done an amazing job. I was so glad to share this afternoon with  my Mom – such a privilege to go back in time with her.  

Watching the interactions of old classmates was like watching these people become school kids again. Remembering teachers, places, sleep-overs, bus rides. Some still remembered basketball games and baseball games, classmates who could not make it or have gone ahead to heaven.

Something about being there lingers with me. 

I can’t really put my finger on it. Maybe since I was included in their revelry, I became a 

part of a time long ago and a place since past.

Misunderstood

Have you ever been misunderstood? 

I know we all have. But there’s something about being misunderstood that makes you want to shout out the truth to help that person who has misunderstood you know what they are thinking isn’t right. However the more you run the scenario over in your mind, the worse you look.

This happened to me this weekend. And if I told the reason behind why I said what I said, I would have been looked down upon even more than I already was. And so I took the wrong judgment and then went home upset. 

But this morning I realized, I could forgive. I could forgive the woman that judged me wrongly. I could join in forgiving just as God forgives me when I judge him wrongly. Now with a new perspective, I am not weighed down by a wrong perception, I am free.  

So If the Son has set you free, you are free indeed. John 8:36

Sunrise

Watching a sunrise on a spring morning is similar to writing a story. In a matter of minutes the brilliantly painted sky has changed. Second by second it becomes a completely different creation.

In writing, you start with a blank page. Once you put a word down, the story begins. It continues to change. Every time you work on it, it changes. Sometimes the first words you wrote are hidden beneath or within the story.

I will never create something as brilliant as the beauty of the sunrise. However, in creating a story, I join in the creation of something that never was.

You answer us with awesome and righteous deeds, God our Savior, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas, who formed the mountains by your power, having armed yourself with strength.  Psalm 65:5-6      

SPRING 2019

In Colorado in spring daffodils bloom. Snow falls. Daffodils heads are plunged into the cold white blanket. Rarely do they ever return their gaze to the sun. More times than not, their blooms remain down for the duration of their short lives.

It always makes me sad. I want to see them return to their former glory. As usual, this year twenty daffodils bloomed. The next day 3 inches of snow fell on them. Not one has lifted their head.  I don’t want to be like the beautiful daffodil although I wait all year to see their beauty.

I want to be more like the tree. It waits. Its gnarly branches endure winter. It weathers the wind and cold. It sees spring is here. It does not change. It waits. The factory is open on the inside beginning production of coming out of hibernation. But on the outside it waits. Its branches rise above the trunk. It is prepared for leaves. It waits. It waits until the right moment. Then it is glorious. Leaves drink in the sunshine. It lasts throughout the end of spring, all summer, and into fall.  

Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath; to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?”