Oh, The Sun...

Look! In the sky--it's the sun!

Oh my. For six long days only grey skies, like fingernails, touched our windows, but one day earlier than predicted, the sun has returned and I am ecstatic.

And have you noticed morning's earlier light? And later evening light?

I notice it all, every longer, brighter moment as we step nearer springtime.

I'm learning to see all tiny good things as huge and speak about those way, way more often than the bad stuff in our world. It makes all the difference.


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Have you ever read The Endless Steppe? Twenty years ago it gave me a fascination I've never lost for Siberia. I've probably read it at least 10 times. Highly recommended.

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And remember this?

Shhh... don't tell anyone, but even though it no longer belongs to me, I still stroll around that yard a few times each week. Always, it's sunny there and the lawn is perfectly mowed by someone who is not me. Birds fill the trees and spring peepers sing amongst the reeds while I rest at the bistro table in the otherwise-stillness of weekday afternoons. 

Jesus and I feel the sun upon our faces on that warm patio or ramble back into the woods as long as we wish. The new owners never, ever see us--or if they do--they never shoo us away.

I am so grateful for the gift of that farm-- that I will carry the wonder of it, the scents and sounds and feeling of it for the rest of my life, visiting whenever I wish and staying for as long as I like. I'm responsible for none of the work, no upkeep, no labor, only for keeping fresh within my mind the wonder of such an amazing gift from God.

What an incredible thing is an imagination, often even better than what reality would give you. Especially in wintertime.

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Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.   ... Philippians 4:8

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