The gift of friendship...

My life is richly blessed by friends.  Some I haven't seen in years.  Some I see nearly every day.  Some are 'church friends'.  Some are friends from different jobs I've had. 

But one friend has seen me at my very worst.  He and his wife have loved me through numerous illnesses, through the deaths of both of my parents, through the days when I should be where other people are not.  He held me up when I was weak and hugged me when I was lonely.  He guided me in grace when I wanted to judge. 

These last few days have been spent saying goodbye to this treasured friend.  It has been a great gift and a true joy to be with him and his family during these days. 

Dennis, you are loved and you will be missed. 
Drink long and deep the living waters, my friend...

Dennis Stanberry

Thankful for serving hands...

These last few days have been filled with generosity and service... an outpouring of love from our community of faith.  On April 21, our church family went out into the community to share the love of Christ and the work of their hands.  On April 28, the women of our church home invited women from the community to come in and be refreshed with 'new' outfits, health information, good books, and tasty treats.

I am awed by the timing, by the power, by the sufficiency of our mighty God for these works.

Thanking God today for...

- good friends sharing the work

- volunteers of all ages, working with good humor and lots of smiles

- strong arms helping those in need

- spots of beauty for ones in need of joy

- tools for the hands

- boundless generosity from our church members and from the community

- willing nurturers, caring for the health of our invited ones

- a husband of great faith and love, giving up a Saturday to help our women reach out to those in need

- my Lord and Savior, calling me always to follow Him

Mattawoman Creek Farms

This morning dawned sunny and beautiful!  Feeling just 'not quite right' after church today, husband and I decided that I probably needed a farm visit.  Sounded like the perfect prescription!

Mattawoman Creek Farms on the Eastern Shore of Virginia was having an Open Farm Event with a Plant and Vegetable Sale today.  We've been buying from Mattawoman Creek Farms for a couple of years at our local markets.  Their plants and produce are always great quality and lovely to look at... and all certified organic.  Why not visit the farm?

We got Scarlett in the Jeep and headed out. 

The farm is about an hour from our house and the trip involved a bridge/tunnel, a toll, and a stretch of dirt road.  Just as we arrived, folks were gathering for a farm tour.  We were treated to a very informative and thorough tour of the fields, greenhouses, and kitchen garden. 

Tidbits of wisdom were offered on:  practices for organic pest control, controlling weeds in just a few minutes each week for the average home gardener, cover crops, stages of plant development, timing of planting, and more.

We ended our tour with a stop at the plant and vegetable table, which had been selling all afternoon.  I purchased a happy-looking chamomile plant, an herb I've never grown.  Again, a little nugget of information was offered about the sweet flowers that would appear if the plant were allowed to blossom and about making tea. 

*sigh of contentment*

More information about Mattawoman Creek Farms can be found on their website and on their Facebook page.

Then God said, 

“I now give to you all the plants on the earth that yield seeds 

and all the trees whose fruit produces its seeds within it. 

These will be your food."

Genesis 1:29

doors closing... doors opening

After the dark sadness of Friday, after the waiting of Saturday, Sunday broke open bright and fresh and new... alive!  This our hope, our joy:  He IS alive!

Recently I had been searching for the living among the dead, looking into tombs of old things for new life.  And it left me empty and sad and angry.  Doors closing on the life I knew.  Doors I wanted to remain open.   I wanted to be the person I was, healthier, more vibrant, stronger.

But other doors were opened to me, to the me I now am.  Perhaps weaker, but relying more on power beyond my own.  Perhaps dimmer, but quieted to His presence.  Doors flinging open into the new life He has for me.  To the bright light of who He is and what I can be if I but follow.

I am ever thankful for the gifts He brings, the joy of His presence and power in all my moments...  for doors closing and for doors opening and for stones rolled away and for empty tombs and for life, precious life...

- light dawning

- Easter people gathering to praise in the early moments

- joyful song

- an unexpected visitor that dropped into the Courtyard for sunrise service

- the Word

- eggs painted with such care and such love by hands made gentle with wisdom and age (these eggs are hand-painted each year for servants in our church music program by the father of our choir director... a man of many years and of great faith, a shepherd of the flock, Grandpa Bill)

- doors closing

- doors opening

- Jesus... prophet, priest, king... risen and alive

Come back...

Come back to the things you did at first...  

Revelation 2:4-5

I served the women of a sweet church recently at their retreat.  We talked about the cure for spiritual apathy: repenting and returning to your first love, to the things you did at first.

I have wandered far in the last three years.  I've travelled long, with a promise to visit my heart's 'home' every few days.  But time slips through my fingers like so much dry sand, each day ending before I have shared enough moments with my Lord.

It is time to come home.  Time to come back to the things I did at first.  Long moments in silent joy and expectation.  Afternoons of weed-pulling in the garden, the outward example of the simultaneous sin-pulling whispered low.  Days of retreated bliss from the cares of this world.  Sabbath restoration filled with prayer and journaling and art and singing (badly but deeply!) to my King.

Lists of gifts, hard and soft, colorful and muted, joyful and tearful...
Thanking Him today...

- that surgery is not the answer for the pain

- that tomatoes are planted every year on April 1st

- that my children are creative and fill their lives with art

- that Spring brings blossoms every year, no matter the troubles around them

- that husband is so sure, so loving, so grounded

- that Jesus gave

- that children laugh over eggs of so many colors

- that Jesus is alive

- that fountains flow and water soothes

- that Jesus is Lord

 

Happy Valentine's Day!

Today I slipped a sweet little Valentine into my husband's place at the table, just a little something from my hands and heart...

When he unwinds the string at the top and folds down the cover, he'll find a little message from me...

And, of course, I made some little bites of sweetness for him to enjoy at work today...

Oatmeal Craisin Walnut Cookies

These are tiny things, really.  Little remembrances.  But these small tokens let him know that I treasure his love and care for me.

We are called, each of us, to love.

My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other 

since love comes from God.                

Everyone who loves is born of God 

and experiences a relationship with God. 

The person who refuses to love doesn't know the first thing about God, 

because God is love—so you can't know him if you don't love. 

This is how God showed his love for us: 

God sent his only Son into the world 

so we might live through him. 

This is the kind of love we are talking about—

not that we once upon a time loved God, 

but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice 

to clear away our sins and the damage they've done 

to our relationship with God.

My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, 

we certainly ought to love each other. 

No one has seen God, ever. 

But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, 

and his love becomes complete in us—perfect love! 

1 John 4: 7 - 12 (The Message)

I confess to you that I am not always loving.  I am not always lovely.  I am not always loveable.  If I were a loved one of mine, I probably wouldn't send me a Valentine!  

But God IS love.  I thank my God today that He IS always loving, always lovely, always worthy of my love and praise.  I thank Him for the love He has showered upon me.  I thank Him for the loving mate He chose for me.  I thank Him for this life and the life eternal... I thank Him for Jesus. 

Share God's love today... what little ways will you tell someone they are loved?

Finding Rest and Garden Joy

It's January. 

And my body is sick.  Worn thin.  Depleted.  I've been abed for the last couple of days with headache and stuffiness and coughing and aches and pains and elevated blood sugars.  Called again into rest.  "Come away.  Rest.  Drink in the Word.  Pray.  Listen."  Yes, my Lord, yes.

I gingerly stepped out into the garden this morning with Scarlett (she more interested in chasing squirrels than getting fresh air!).  Sunshine sparkled on the raindrops left by last night's rain.  Breezes pregnant with green and crisp and clean tickled my nose.  Tiny birds scattered from their gathering of seeds, singing sweet songs as they went. 

And there, in our garden, was life.  Life fresh and life vibrant.  Life reaching heavenward in praise.

In amazement, I found lush growth in January.  Abundance out of season.  New life in winter.  Wondrous sights for eyes sore and weary.  Gifts from the Maker's hand.  Refreshment for my tired soul.

Broccoli

 

 

Beets

 

Pansies and Onions

Joi Choi and Onions and Pansies

Slow down, dear ones.  Rest often in the Word.  Come away to a quiet place to pray (Luke 5:16).  Cultivate relationship with the Lord of Lords.  In those moments, He will open the the treasures of His universe to your eyes and understanding.  He will restore your soul. (Psalm 23:2-3)