Author: geriraedean
More later.
The Lord is my Shepherds Pie
I like a good solid utensil when I dig in to that very first bite of creamy mashed potatoes, peas and ground beef seasoned with love and salt. I can’t decide which layer is my favorite. The meat filled with chopped onions, celery and carrots or the gravy creme sauce keeping the peas on my fork or the decadent mashed potatoes covering the top like a fresh layer of snow.
I love making shepherds pie because I love the way its going to make my eaters feel. I happened upon a great recipe when I was participating in the Whole 30 program and it was delicious. Even the guys ate it up, so to speak. When I am not on the Whole 30 (which is the rest of my life) I add a cream sauce to the layer of peas just for a bit of moisture but seriously, even the Whole 30 version was not dry even without the sauce. I like to modify recipes to suit my tastes and availability of ingredients. This will probably never be made the same way twice but its always wonderful. Its simple food. Its meat and potatoes food (literally). Its farm boy food. I’m not a farm boy but I could eat a lot more than I should. I must eat it slow and savor every bit so as not to over consume.
As far as I’m concerned Shepherds pie is the ultimate in comfort food. There is nothing in it not to like. No foreign flavors or smells. Just down home cooking with no preservatives or chemicals. The last time I made it I used an ice cream scoop for the potatoes. Lined up nice straight lines of mashed potatoe balls, making it look like a picture on the cover of Bon Appetite. Great for company or for blessing someone in need. If you want to take food to a grieving friend or family, shepherds pie brings sustenance, nourishment and comfort like no other.
The last time I made Shepherds pie my mind wondered off to Psalm 23. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want….The fact that Psalm 23 brings great comfort to many was not lost on me and I imagined that Shepherds pie was Psalm 23’s namesake. He makes me to lay down in green pastures, He leads me beside still waters, He restoreth my soul….such comforting words that bring peace and rest. I find myself breathing a sigh of relief each time I hear these words. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me…..(Clearly I have this memorized in the King James Version) Thou preparest a table for me in the presence or mine enemies, and on that table is, none other than, Shepherds pie. I am sure of it. I can feel the stress leave my body as I recite Psalm 23 just as I can when I savour that first bite of Shepherds pie. The aroma lingers in the kitchen long after the pie is consumed and the leftovers are just as good as the first day, if not better. Yes I believe this is the Shepherds very own recipe.
I’m going to try to write down the concept for you below:
Its not exact, which might drive some of you recipe followers crazy, but here it is:
Make mashed potatoes – however many you want. You’ll be able to estimate based on the size of casserole dish you will use. Once my potatoes are boiled, I drain them and mash them and add milk and butter (lots). Salt and pepper. Set these aside.
Make a cream sauce. The way I make creme sauce is by melting a couple of tablespoons of butter in a sauce pan then adding enough flour to make a pasty roux. Next I add milk approximately 1/2 a cup at a time. Each time it thickens I add some more milk until its the consistency I want it. I don’t want it to too thick. If you so desire you can add gravy mix to it or if you have gravy, combine the two sauces and then I add this to approximately a half a bag (or whatever) of steamed peas. You can use any steamed small veggie that you want or have on hand. Peas are my favorite.
Next I fry ground beef in my favorite non stick frying pan (again however much you have or want to use). I’d say the amount I use would look like two pounds of butter. I add finely chopped onions, celery and carrots to this. Again to taste. I try to grow my casserole by putting lots of chopped veggies in the meat.
Once these three elements are ready, I just layer them with the meat at the bottom. Next the layer of peas and topped off with the mashed potatoes. I add a sprinkling of paprika over the potatoes and some more pats of butter. As many as you desire. (The Whole 30 used clarified butter or ghee). To make this Whole 30 friendly just leave out the creme sauce.
Then I cook it at 350 for about 30 – 45 minutes. Just until its hot all the way through (because everything has been precooked). This also give the flavors a chance to meld.
ENJOY!
The Meaning of Life
Right now, I’d have to say that nothing about my life is glamorous, in any way. I’m going through the tough slog. Paul, in his letter to the Thessalonians, said to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody. Well Paul, those are lovely words but sometimes just a tad difficult to execute. I mean no one suggested that the Christ followers life would be easy. I realize this. But seriously? Lead a quiet life (AKA boring?) – check. Nothing exciting happening here. Mind your business. Does this mean ‘don’t be a busy body? a gossip? and nuisance? OR does it mean to mind your ‘Business’. Business being livelihood, vocation, career…business. Probably both. Work with your hands. Yes I do know what that means. I do that a lot but maybe not enough. Win the respect of outsiders – I don’t seem to be winning much respect lately. Don’t be dependent on anybody. That’s a tough one when you are unemployed. Even if I do start my business (which I am endeavoring to do) and this will definitely involve working with my hands, I will be dependent on people wanting to buy what I am building, baking, painting, creating. So in the end we are always dependent on others. “People who need people are the luckiest people in the world” – Barbara Striesand (what does she know?).
So I am in a season of life that is very quiet. Eerily quiet. All I have to listen to all day is the inner voice and workings of my heart, mind and soul. Very often they are not that kind to me. So I thought I would read Ecclesiastes. Why? Because I am a glutton for punishment. That’s why. When you spend as much time alone as I do these days, you start to rake yourself over the coals for becoming such a loser. Then you read Ecclesiastes. Because it so encouraging???
Smoke, nothing but smoke, There’s nothing to anything – its all smoke. What’s there to show for a lifetime of work, a lifetime of working your fingers to the bone? ….The sun comes up and the sun goes down, then does it again, and again – the same old round…Everything’s boring, utterly boring – no one can find any meaning in it. Boring to the eye, boring to ear, what was will be again, what happened will happen again. ….year after year, its the same old thing…Nobody remembers what happened yesterday ….Don’t count on being remembered. ….Oh I did great things… (Had babies, raised kids, made sacrifices, ran a home, provided sustenance and nourishment for my family, worked with my hands at various jobs to pay for that sustenance, gained weight, lost weight, worked out, couch potatoed it, worked on my marriage, served on committees for the betterment of families and marriages and kids, traveled, chauffeured, took adult piano lessons, cooking classes, painting workshops, painted for others, sewed for others, decorated for others, baked for others, planned events for others)...Oh how I prospered. I left all my predecessors in Jerusalem (Calgary, Toronto, Vancouver) far behind, left them behind in the dust. What’s more, I kept a clear head through it all. Everything I wanted I took – I never said no to myself. I gave in to every impulse, held back nothing. I sucked the marrow of pleasure out of every task – my reward to myself for a hard day’s work. Then I took a good look at everything I’d done, looked at all the sweat and hard work. But when I looked, I saw nothing but smoke. Smoke and spitting into the wind. There was nothing to any of it. Nothing.
And that seems to be where I am right now. Everything I’ve done in this life and everything I have worked so hard to attain and create has come to a dead end. Or so it feels. What now? Well the thought has crossed my mind to go to bed and sleep until the rapture but then I read the story of the Master and talents and know that this doesn’t make sense. Don’t worry, I am not at the place of doing myself in with a red scarf. I know I have too much to live for and I know that this is a difficult passage of time that I am navigating and that it won’t last forever. I know that what will last forever will be whatever I do for the Kingdom. SO… FOCUS!
Some nuggets of truth and encouragement that I DID get from Solomon were these:
We work to feed our appetites meanwhile our souls go hungry. (Been there, done that. Beware.)
On a good day, enjoy yourself, on a bad day, examine your conscience. God arranges for both kinds of days so that we won’t take anything for granted. ( My experience for sure.)
There’s nothing better than being wise, Knowing how to interpret the meaning of life. Wisdom puts light in the eyes, and gives gentleness to words and manners. (I want! )
Seize life! Eat bread with gusto, Drink wine with a robust heart. Oh yes – God takes pleasure in your pleasure: Dress festively every morning. Don’t skimp on colors and scarves. (this has always been my philosophy). Relish life with the spouse you love each and every day of your precarious life. A joy and blessing. (Solomon also says that two are better than one and I agree). Each day is God’s gift. It’s all you get in exchange for the hard work of staying alive. (Staying alive is hard work as we are all starting to realize in this era). Make the most of each one! Whatever turns up (I’m waiting Lord), grab it and do it. And heartily!
The race is not always to the swift, not the battle to the strong, nor satisfaction to the wise, nor riches to the smart, nor grace to the learned. Sooner or later bad luck hits us all. No one can predict misfortune. Like fish caught in a cruel net or birds in a trap, so men and women are caught by accidents evil and sudden. (Unfortunately this is all too true. We have each experienced this heartache in our lives or sphere of influence).
God said “I beg your pardon? I never promised you a rose garden”. Ok God didn’t say that , Lynn Anderson did, but He did say “that in this life you will have trouble…but be of good cheer I have overcome the world”.
Dead flies in perfume make it stink – (OK that has nothing to do with anything, I just thought I’d throw that line in because it was there …what?)
Here’s a piece of bad news I’ve seen on earth…Immaturity is given a place of prominence, while maturity is made to take a back seat. (I’ll let you interpret that however you want but I know whats going through my mind).
Be generous: invest in acts of charity, Charity yields high returns. Don’t hoard your goods; spread them around. Be a blessing to others. This could be your last night. …Don’t sit there watching the wind. Do your own work. Don’t stare at the clouds. Get on with your life….you’ll never understand the mystery at work in all that God does. Go to work in the morning and stick to it until evening without watching the clock. You never know from moment to moment to moment how your work will turn out in the end. (This kind of resonates with what Paul said in Thessalonians.)
The words of the wise prod us to live well. They’re like nails hammered home, holding life together. They are given by God, the one Shepherd.
Fear God, Do what He tells you. And that’s it. Eventually God will bring everything that we do out into the open and judge it according to its hidden intent, whether its good or evil.
OK, and that’s life in a nutshell folks. I digress….
I was talking about my boring, unglamorous life. Leading a quiet life and minding my own business. Maybe this is something I should try for a change. TeeHee. I want to do something meaningful and productive and lucrative but my hands seems to be tied right now. Nothing I put my mind to seems to be producing. Maybe that’s the problem, God said He would bless the work of my hands…. I am a doer. I am a rescuer. AND I have been heard saying “I can do that myself” millions of times regarding thousands of tasks and initiatives. And so, when I can’t DO or FIX, I start to go a little nutzo. And maybe the master Creator is trying to tell me to lead a quiet life and mind my own business and just trust in what He can do for me for a change. I know I have been told to go into my house and start pouring two tablespoons of oil into oodles of large vessels (2 Kings 4) but that’s another post for another day. And Im sure this is what I am supposed to be doing but I keep bumping up against obstacles and detours and detainment’s…it does almost feel like someone or something is trying to stop me. But I must persist because this is the one and only thing that I have been given clear direction on.
I am living a life of faith now. Well hopefully I’ve always been living a life of faith. And I know that God is never late. His timing is perfect. He knows what He’s doing and even though I don’t know what His plans for me are, He knows the plans He has for me. Plans not to harm me, plans to prosper me (in every way) and give me a future (on earth) and a hope (for eternity). So I will just have to fly with that and when He starts putting those plans into action…Life is not going to be boring anymore folks. But I must wait and trust.
This will be my Life
“I am going to make everything around me beautiful – that will be my life.” – Elsie De Wolfe
“I just want to make beautiful things, even if nobody cares.” – Saul Bass
My passion is to make everything around me beautiful…that IS my life. I’m driven by the excitement of designing something beautiful or transforming something old and giving it new life. There is nothing that gives me more satisfaction than making a beautiful space. Creating at atmosphere. Making people feel special and blessed because their surroundings are calm and beautiful. I love the idea of transporting others from reality to fantasy and I do that in my designs and creative re-creation of spaces. My goal: to make others feel safe and loved and relaxed. I have succeeded if I invite someone to a space that they don’t want to leave – they want to stay all day.
This philosophy transfers over into my home. I try to create lovely, beautiful spaces that sooth, heal and calm. Since I am not a person that has the privilege of shopping at high end home decor and furniture boutiques, I create my own beauty. I take that old chair and I recover it or slipcover it with gorgeous or whimsical fabric that I fetched out of the bargain bin at the local fabric retailer. I paint what I love on canvas to match my decor or just to satisfy my whimsy. I give old cushions new life by make slipcovers for them. I’m all about the flowers. As Monet has been quoted “I must have flowers, always, always and always”. That sentiment resonates with me to my core. I am always intrigued at how wallpaper can transform a room and atmosphere. I have been known to change my decor with the seasons. Guilty. I don’t want to be sitting in a red velvet chair with red taffeta floor length curtains soaking up the warmth from the fireplace in July. That is absolutely perfect for December and January. But come summer I want to be surrounded by flowers and aqua glass with sunlight streaming in the windows and so…. I switch things out. I slipcover those red velvet chairs with cream colored drop cloths from the local hardware store. Neutralize everything and add flowers. I’ve been known to fetch armoires out of ditches and paint them up, give them vintage ceramic rose pulls and put them to good use again. If not useful, at the very least beautiful.
I do not follow the rules when it comes to art, creation and design. I am a ‘follow the rules’ person in most every other area of my life so my creative side is quite a bit more adventurous. I’m kind of a ‘if at first you don’t succeed, go back and read the instructions” kind of gal regarding art and creativity. When it comes to art and design I am a visionary. I picture what it is I want to create and move forward until I have reached that end. I’ll admit, sometimes I have had to go back and read the instructions but I have learned so much from these experiences. As far as creating and decorating go, be it for a theme party or my home, the sky’s the limit. I know what I want to create and I reach for the stars. Sometimes I am unable to pull off everything I had imagined, due to time constraints, finances or reality but no one is ever any the wiser because they do not know what I had cooked up in my mind’s eye. Sometimes, as it turns out, less is more.
My reveals are the baring of my soul to the world. And I know now, after much deliberation and a series of unfortunate events, that I am only truly alive when I am creating. When I am making beauty. When I am transforming old to new. Aged and worn out to beauty. So I have decided to reach out to the world and offer my creative skills to help you create beauty in your spaces as well.
Real Life Fairy tales are the Best – Indulge me!
I can’t help myself. I am drawn to the Royal weddings. I’ve always been drawn to Cinderella over the years as well. What true blue girly girl, dreamer, romantic hasn’t? I think the attraction is the fact that this is a real life fairytale. A commoner marries a prince ….at the Castle…and becomes a princess. Hello? It’s not just any of us. Its true life royalty, and her life will never be the same. Yes, there is responsibility that comes with that position but what little girl doesn’t dream of marrying her prince charming? And there has been no prince more charming than Prince Harry. Am I right?
I realize a lot of folks are down on the royals as they are merely figure heads that have a lot of money and spend a lot of money to maintain their lifestyle. Castles and crowns are expensive. But the Royal dynasty was going long before Queen Elizabeth was born into it, through no fault of her own, I might add. I guess as the Queen, she could say enough of this nonsense but its her family heritage and probably doesn’t seem like nonsense to her. In fact, I know she takes all of this very seriously. And her children were just born into royalty…they didn’t choose that. Then Charles chose Diana and she became our favorite real life princess and then they had two boys who also, through no fault or decision of their own, became true blue prince’s. So you can look down your nose at them but that’s the way it is folks.I’m just a commoner caught up in the romance and pomp of it all. God save the Queen. Here, here!
If you watched the royal wedding of Harry and Meghan this morning you would have been in awe of the florals. Mostly greenery with tiny white flowers nestled amongst the leaves but that archway that was the door to and from the church. Absolutely stunning. Who ever was responsible for that is in the business of creating fairytales. Add to that a 16 foot trailing veil on an elegantly simple dress and you can’t help but get emotional. Inside the church…those three arches inbetween where the commoners sat and where Royalty sat in the choir loft were amazing. And they were so cute up there, holding hands forever. No one will forget Harry looking at Meghan through veiled admiration and telling his new princess she looked amazing. AND that cellist? Yes, these are the elements of lofty, pinch me dreams…fairytales.
I wish them well. Godspeed. I want their lives to go well and for Meghan to find true love with Harry and visa versa. These are real people, royalty, but real people, with feelings and failing bodies and tangled emotions and families and friends and dreams. I want them to be happy. I want Meghan to be be much happier than our royal idol and love, Diana. I still feel she got the short end of the straw and that she was set up for failure and yet, she still won over our hearts, hook, line and sinker. Harry is her youngest son and I want him to be happy. He has been through much grief and mourning in this life. Let him marry the woman he loves without finding fault. He looked truly over the moon.
I was blessed to be a witness to this momentous occasion, even if only on television, surrounded by dear friends and family that share my enthusiasm and tenderness for the Royal family. We joined in the the festivities by having our own Royal Wedding breakfast complete with the Elderflower lemon cake that was going to be served at Windsor Castle. Well not the exact same one obviously but a homemade replica. It’s been a day to remember.
Momma
Repost from May 8, 2016
Just browsing through all the tender and poignant pictures and tributes to mothers. Mothers really do make the world go around. At least until Father’s Day….But what an honor and a privilege to be given the opportunity to be a mother. It’s not a for sure thing you know? Proverbs 31 says “her children will rise up and call her blessed” and I see a lot of that going on today. There IS good in the world and this is as it should be.
Maybe not everyone is a mother but we all have a mother or had one… For better or worse. With all the broken mother/child relationships in this world let us never take it for granted if we have open lines of communication with our kids and a constant flow of love and cherished memories. If we are proud of them and they of us….then we of all women are most blessed.
I am among the blessed. I have loved my calling as a mother (just don’t tell my kids). It has brought joy, meaning and a purpose to my life that I never could have imagined. And it’s been so much fun, except, of course, when it wasn’t. IYKWIM. I got to play with Barbies again, and build Legos and practice beautiful hairstyles in my daughters lovely long hair. I got to hang at Toys R Us as an adult and see all the Disney movies without anyone questioning my maturity because I was doing it for the kids… Of course, for the kids. Even our hot pursuit stalking and collecting beanie babies… I was SO into it. Making memories has always been my constant purpose and we have collected almost as many precious memories as we have beanie babies. (Unfortunately they did not pay for Andrews university education which was the original plan).
I can entertain myself for hours watching reruns in my head of all our adventures, mishaps and treasured moments. The joy has been worth every heartache and breakdown. (That would be me breaking down not the kids).
So here I sit by the fire on this cool Mothers Day eve not feeling sad or disappointed but feeling rich and blessed to have been the centre of someone’s universe even if only for a few years. Now I need to take a little nap so I can pick my own mother up from the airport at midnight as she flies in from New Zealand. The celebrations continue.
I hope you recover soon!
“Would you like to have this pink love seat that we bought from the Fairmont Palliser Hotel renovation sale? ” I heard my friend ask on the other end of the phone. ” Would I? I thought you’d never ask.” A bunch of my friends, I call them ‘the beautiful people’, had all gone down to this hotel’s purging sale and scooped up a half dozen or more of these lovely pink love seats and several coffee tables to match. I was quite disappointed that I had missed out. This was years ago. I’d been lusting after the couches for years as I saw them in the homes of my lucky friends and now “I” finally had one. Bonus: she just gave it to me (aka free) as they were purging and moving or something. So there it sat at the foot of our bed for many years. I continue to look at it and remind myself that I should recover it. It needed to be recovered as opposed to slip covered because of the wooden frame. It was a lovely pink but the fabric was dated and dirty (I mean hello? the Palliser didn’t want them anymore because they were worn). I kept it covered with cushions so you could barely see the pink anyway. I guess I was using it as sort of a make shift foot board for our bed since our bed merely sat upon a metal frame. I put a mirror and some pictures at the head of the bed to take the place of a headboard and the love seat completed the look at the foot.
Then one day I pinned a beautiful settee on Pinterest that was recovered in black and white striped fabric with gold wood trim. That would match my black and white striped walls perfectly, I thought to myself. I would love to have one of those. But alas, I am skint these days and this wasn’t a necessity of life so, dream on. I did spot some black and white fabric at Chintz and Co. last time I was there but it was $45 a metre. I don’t think so! Then, as luck would have it, on my last visit to IKEA, to buy decor items for someone’s wedding, out of the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of some black and white striped fabric. Upon closer inspection I noticed it was on sale for $6.99 a metre. I wasn’t supposed to be looking for myself but this was a no brainer. This fabric was coming home with me. So I bought 5 metres of that beautiful fabric (not really sure how I would use it….but the love seat was definitely one option). There it sat in its clear smooth bag until I found the opportunity to do something with it. I decided I was going to use it to transform that pink love seat (I have too much pink in my life anyway) and I was going to do it this very weekend. Lexie was in Nashville at a wedding. Andrew as at work and Mike would be golfing. Just me and the love seat in the old Stewart mansion.
So I jumped out of bed this Saturday and rallied all the tools I would need. A screw driver, a hammer, some pliers, some scissors, a staple gun, some paint and a paintbrush and I set out to rip the old fabric off that love seat. I am sure there must be some industry standard that indicates there has to be no less that 25 staples per square inch. Seriously? In no time at all my finger nails were chipped and my hands were bleeding. But as I sat there, wondering why I took this on when I could be sipping a Peach Green Tea Lemonade and reading at Starbucks…. something occurred to me. I’d spend far too many afternoons and evenings this past year sitting at Starbucks sipping a Peach Green Tea Lemonade and basically thinking about all I should do, had to do and doing, precisely, exactly, nothing.
Yes, this was going to be hard work. Was I afraid of hard work? Had I ever been afraid of hardwork? Not that I remember. Had I become so soft in my year of unemployment that I no longer could do the hard work? Did I not have stamina anymore? Did I not have perseverance? Maybe it was the mindset that had abandon me? So I grabbed a stool to sit on, as I realized at this point, this was going to be back breaking work and settled in to make ‘removing staples’ an opportune time to meditate. As I sat there on this beautiful Saturday with sunbeams streaming into our bedroom and the sound of lawnmowers in the distance (sure sign of summer) I decided to press on. Slow and steady wins the race. When I think of recovering a couch I usually focus on the sewing part. Recovering the cushions…that’s my comfort zone. Oh how I love my comfort zone. Then it occurred to me that I had no idea how to recover this particular love seat. I had no idea how they applied all the fabric to look so smooth and perfect and once I had it apart, what if I couldn’t get it back together again? Of course, this isn’t my first rodeo. I have recovered furniture before. But not for a long time. I’d grown soft and lazy and very often, defeated.
I remember, years ago getting quite sick with a cold and I was in the middle of an upholstery project. My parents came over with a Get Well card that said “Sure hope you recover soon”. They howled.
As I pulled out stubborn staple after stubborn staple I began a conversation with the most creative person I know, the Creator of the Universe, He began to gently speak to me. And He reminded me of his directives on how I should handle my new ‘living by faith’ life. He pointed out that I need to quit talking about things and quit having intentions of doing things and actually do them. Fear was slowing me down. Uncertainty about the future was backing me cowering into a corner. For so long, I had just wanted everything to go back to normal (whatever that was) but I’ve started to have stirrings about a new normal. That old normal is not going to be my normal anymore. He reminded me that I just have to plug along and keep taking out staples. Keep peeling back the layers of fabric and the process will reveal itself to me. But first I have to start. If you want to walk on water you have to get out of the boat. And even if it looks like I’m getting nowhere – persist. Keep doing what I know is right. Keep pulling out those staples.
Soon I could see clearly how the back piece of fabric was applied. Yes – I could do this. Still having no clue about how the front fabric was applied – I kept pulling out staples and within another half hour I could see clearly how all the front fabric was put on. Once I could see the plan, the work didn’t seem as hard anymore. I still had to finish removing the staples but at least I knew what I was going to do next. I still hadn’t figured out how the bottom of the love seat was covered as it was all encased in the wooden frame work. Then I realized there was a screw in a corner piece of wood on each corner of the bottom of the seat and it dawned on me. Take out the screws and the bottom piece lifted right off, making it infinitely easier than I ever imagined. Now that the bottom piece was off, I could see how much easier it was going to be to get all the other pieces stapled back in place. I could now see, entirely, how to put this love seat back together. Sometimes God gives us clues in our lives and if we follow up on them, things get easier. But we have to be listening and watching.
There is still a lot of work to be done though. I have to sand the wood to rough it up for another color of paint and then paint it. While that paint is drying I will busy myself sewing the new cushion covers for the detachable cushions. This truly was the easy part. I could do this part in my sleep (and usually do).
It was so clear how this was parallel to my life. I even asked myself this morning…is this how I should spend my day? This little project serves no one but me. But now I know why I am recovering this couch today. Actually several thoughts came to mind but the most prominent one was this. I am embarking on my new normal this coming week (because circumstances have shifted) and I needed this lesson. I needed this reminder. Just start. Even if I can’t see where its all going…just start and He will reveal what I need to know when I need to know it and He will bless my obedience and persistence and will grow in me, perseverance. Do the hard work. No one else is going to do it for me. Most often we don’t know where God is leading until we set out in faith and obedience.
I am hugely encouraged by the lengths God will go to speak to me. Most often I think an idea is my own and it turns out it isn’t my idea at all.
I’ll post pictures when its done, naturally. Of the couch, that is.
We are not Forgotten
Embracing the rain this morning after enduring an extremely long, cold, harsh winter. I thought it would never end. Customarily, I love winter, but even I have had enough. The smell of rain and the freshness of the breeze wafts through my bedroom window as I lay in bed longer than usual because my body has succumbed to a spring cold. As I lay here barely breathing, every muscle in my body aching, mouth parched from breathing through it all night long, I’m listening to the rain drops beat the roof of our patio just outside our bedroom window and excited at the prospect of how quickly the dead, dry, brown earth will turn to green as the heavens water it for us. God never forgets the cycle of things. Things He set in motion. Things like Spring and Summer. They WILL eventually come. That is the hope we have. That the cycle God set in motion from the beginning of time, from the days He created the earth and declared ‘it was good’, will continue their cycle.
Even now, I am up to see if I feel any better standing up and surprisingly, I do….I am watching our aspens bend in the breeze and I observe that leaves are starting to sprout. I am so looking forward to seeing those towering aspens covered with bright green leaves and listen to them swaying in the wind as I lay in bed at night, trying to keep cool after a hot summer day. Those days are coming. I know they are. Those days of tossing on some flip flops to take a quit jaunt to Starbucks for their latest and greatest frappuccino to refresh us on a hot summer evening as we sit around the firepit on the patio and regale each other with stories of the weeks peculiarities or conquests.
It was also heavenly to feel the heat on our arms, faces and legs as we sat on the patio of a Lake House restaurant yesterday afternoon, gathered to celebrate the union of one of our village children. (sounds like a cult). Catching up and sharing memories with good friends we haven’t seen for eons. Good friends that take us back to our own wedding experiences. As I sat there in a comfy chair on that heat soaked veranda, already not feeling that great, I looked around and thought to myself…it is good. It is as it should be. We also were witnesses to a glorious sunset with hues of yellow, pink and purple as a darkness settled over the event, lit by hundreds of candles, creating just enough illumination to share stories with each other in hushed tones.
When life and all in it takes on a bleak verdict I believe we still have hope. The sun will shine again. The rain will fall again. God will show his face again. Joy comes in the morning. If not this morning, then tomorrow morning. This too shall pass. If you are walking through a particularly tough season, keep walking, eventually you will walk right out of it. Nothing stays the same and although we are often afraid of change, it is that change, often, that brings hope. That brings new beginnings. That stirs up life in dead places. We are not forgotten.
The Red Plaid Apron 
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