Thoughtful Spot

Held

It's a season of the heart and mind and soul.

Held.

Not much else can be done

but to allow oneself to be held.

Captured this rainbow by my juice glass

the other morning.

Such are the graces of being held.

I Will Not Keep Silent. . .

  . . .I will not remain quiet !

till her righteousness shines out like the dawn,

   her salvation like a blazing torch.

. . . you will be called by a new name
   that the mouth of the LORD will bestow.

You will be a crown of splendor in the LORD’s hand,
   a royal diadem in the hand of your God.

 No longer will they call you Deserted,
   or name your land Desolate.

But you will be called Hephzibah, my delight is in her
   and your land Beulah married;
for the LORD will take delight in you. . .

as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride,

so shall thy God rejoice over thee.

~Isaiah 62:1 - 5

 

Whatever is going on

take a minute to meditate on this.

Pondering Wineskins

“No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment,

for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse.

Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins.

If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined.

No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”

~Matthew 9:16

Where, Father, am I trying to pour new wine into old wineskins?

And you, Dear Heart?

 

Curiously Strong

crazy, I know

I'm bringing all of the Christmas boxes back down from the attic

(I suspect I should be embarrassed by how many there are. . .but not)

and I am reorganizing.

I suppose a Cleverly Analytical Person would say that

when one's life is crazy emotional

we grab control by organizing our spaces.

Take that any way you want.

I have a Master Plan. . .

the boxes are numbered

inventoried

repacked

(need more bubble wrap)

and returned according to a nifty little Attic Storage Map I have devised.

You would be surprised how small my attic is.

In the meantime,

I hope to add a little whimsical joy to your day

with these Altoid tins

which has absolutely nothing to do with my attic.

Unless some Cleverly Analytical Person understands otherwise.

Prayer

sometimes

you simply need to respect yourself more

more than to allow people

to use you

to dismiss you

to act as if nothing has happened, nothing has changed

to throw things at you that are old

to make you feel small and ashamed

sometimes you need to respect yourself more

because by letting others treat you this way

you are not showing your Creator respect.

You were created in His image

You have dignity and worth because He says so.

You are deeply and profoundly loved.

No one can take that from you.

 

 

 

Practicing the Habit of Love with the community at . . .

 

Gentle Inspiration

At the bottom of my sewing box I did find :
One silk knitting tread
Some lonely shirts’ buttons
Three meters of silk ribbon
Two meters of organza ribbon
One pinch of seed and mother of pearl beads
Some moiré lace
One fairy gold thread

And for you I did embroider

One heart for love
A little bit of gold and beads for good fortune
One hand’s full of sage leaves for good health

~Augusta, La Bastidane

I have a deep and profound respect for the gentle hands that create such delicacies. . .to all of you who grace the world in such a way. . .thank you. . .I count you as Joy.

Prayer for a Little Home

God send us a little home; To come back to when we roam.

Wooden floors and fluted tiles; wide windows, a view for miles.

Red firelight and deep chairs; small white beds upstairs.

Great talk in little nooks; soft colors, rows of books.

One picture on each wall; not many things at all.

God send us a little ground; Tall trees stand 'round.

Homely flowers in fertile sod; Overhead, Thy stars, O God.

God bless thee when winds blow; Our home and all we know.

~Florence Bone

 

~Photos gathered on Pinterest.

The Leaves Unhook Themselves

The wind begun to rock the grass

With  threatening tunes and low, --

He flung a menace at the earth,

A menace at the sky.

 

The leaves unhooked themselves from trees

And started all abroad;

The dust did scoop itself like hands

And throw away the road. . .

~Miss Dickinson

Blustery at Round Rock all through the night and into this morning.

What was loosed by Irene in August is banging against the house now.

Strange weather - in fact, all of nature -

draws my thoughts along Scripture. . .

In Acts 2, the effect of the Holy Spirit is pictured as a great wind

. . .I see me now (my silly way of saying "now I understand")

outside my window a work begun by fierce storm

is picked up again to shake loose what still needs to be pruned.

Mmm. . .selah.

How does the Wind fair with you, Dear Hearts?

Tiggy-winkle Days

January is the perfect time. . .

to clean out a stubborn cupboard and rearrange a little, frazzled attic space,

re-fold the linen into tidy stacks,

and empty clothes drawers to begin again,

to paint a desk and maybe a room. . .on a January whim of begin anew again.

 

And so Round Rock is topsy-turvy

for once we begin to organize a thing

the mess is worse before it is gone.

 

And the Mrs. Tiggy-winkle in me is content.

Near Misses All Around Me, Accidents Unknown

Quite a little scare today.

Driving up an old four lane highway,

passing a black SUV

must have been in his blind spot. . .

Happened so quickly,

a horn honked (was it mine?)

a cry

and two wheels off the road and on the gravel

and a crazy high speed wobbly-how-will-this-end, trying to hold onto a dancing steering wheel

and then it was over

except for Sam the Westie

who barked a bit more.

Carry on. Disaster averted.

Funny little shot of adrenaline when I reached my destination and a tiny bit of shaking.

 

On the way back,

telling Daughter about my near-miss,

I searched for the spot where I went off the road.

There were narrow shoulders bordered closely by thick trees,

a narrow cement passage under a train trestle,

and multiple lines of  banged up guard rails.

"There. That is where it happened."

And I pointed to the only stretch of road

where a wide, graveled shoulder

provided safe passage for me today.

 

But here, in the quiet of the library as I write this,

I face the truth of the matter.

Even under a different outcome,

Safe Passage has already been provided for me.

Beloved, do you know Jesus?

Are you ready?

Would you please consider clicking here if you are not sure?