Easter Monday

"He is not here. He has risen, just as he said."
Matt 28:6

Focusing on Easter Sunday is great and goodness knows, lets never take our sights off of the miracle and enormity of Jesus' resurrection. But, please indulge me for a minute...the humanity of my excitment gets to me sometimes. But...can't you just imagine the excitment the next day?! Oh. my. gosh. He's back!! Are you serious? Are you kidding? No, he's here!! Just as he said he would be. I can't help myself, but I love to think of what must have been happening the day after Jesus' resurrection, with his disciples and family and friends. Surely there was indescribable wonderment, and oh the power of the past few days. Do you think they celebrated and wept and laughed among themselves? Do you think they danced and sang? Or maybe they were overcome with prayer and an awesome stillness, the kind that shakes you to your foundation so that you can't even speak.

I don't know why I like to think about Easter Monday and imagine....

I pray I'm worthy of His torture, of the horror of what He indured, of His ultimate sacrifice. Lord, let me live my life always in appreciation, always striving to be what you see that I can be. Let your pain and torment be not wasted on me. I love you.

Spring in the South

Spring in Georgia reminds me a little bit of Forrest Gump. Spring in Georgia is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get. Some days the weather is gorgeous , like yesterday, sunny and mild, and makes my green thumb itch. Other days it might be cloudy and cold, so that you think winter is making her last stand. But this past Saturday, nature once again decided to show her stuff. We were pounded with terrible storms, and tornadoes. I awoke early Saturday morning to a terrific show of thunder and lighting. Now I love me a good thunderstorm, especially in the wee hours of a Saturday morning, when I don't have to crawl out of bed until I'm good and ready. My dogs were scared, and ended up on the bed with us. I laid there all cozy just taking it all in with enjoyment. However, a few hours later we saw the news about the tornado that hit Atlanta on Friday night. Talk about shocked! It was amazing and overwhelming as we watched the news coverage about the damage to our major city.

Later that day, we sat glued to our television as we watched the weather reports about the storms that kept rolling through our area. It was the strangest feeling to literally see tornadoes, not one but several, move along the weather radar path, headed right toward us! And to watch the weather outside as the storms barreled down on us! We spent about 20 minutes in our basement when the weather man told us to, and when we heard the tornado sirens going off at the school up the road from us. As we sat in the basement, watching TV down there, our phone rang off the hook. My daddy and my son were also in the line of fire, in the next town over. My poor daddy was scared to death. I wanted to be there with him.

Luckily, all of us survived any major damage. But some of our neighbors and friends were not as lucky as they had to deal with downed trees and power outages. Its a miracle no one in our area was killed and we are thankful.

As nature would have it, the day after the storms was a gorgeous spring day, perfect for Palm Sunday. I love it when nature shows off, but I think I can do without the tornados, high winds, and hail. But I'll take a good thunderstorm anyday.

Spring Fever

I have an awful case of Spring Fever. Maybe its because the past few days have been so beautiful. Although the air is still relatively cool, the temps have been in the low 60's around my house, the sun has been warm and bright, and I've heard birds singing in the morning. The days are getting longer too. Its much lighter now when I leave the house so early in the morning. All the signs to me, that spring is right around the corner, and I can't wait! Every year my fingers start itching to dig in the dirt, even when the dirt, and the air, are still too cold. But I can spend an hour or two browsing the local nursery and garden centers, dreaming of what I want and need to do. I found myself sitting outside yesterday afternoon, looking at a fairly barren area of my yard, and once again dreaming, as I do every year, about what I want to do with that area. I just haven't gotten around to it yet. Maybe this year will be the year. But its going to take a lot of work. I need a garden tiller just to get started.

Another sign of spring, are the jonquils that are popping up at my daddy's house. My daddy still lives in the home that I grew up in. In a small garden area in his yard are jonquils that date back several generations of my mother's family. My uncle (my mom's brother) visited their old homeplace about 7 or 8 years ago, and dug up some of bulbs that were planted by his grandmother and a great aunt. That spring he brought a handful of the bulbs to my mom and they planted them in that little garden area. My daddy tells me that now those original plants should be about 100 years old. I think its neat that now daddy has bulbs from those original plants. Each year I plan to dig up a few bulbs for myself, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. I wanted to do it last year but plans to sell our home stopped me. Since thats not an immediate plan anymore, I may try and do that this year. Yes, I should go ahead and get some of the bulbs. I suppose not many folks can claim a line of plants that date back 100 years. Would that make these jonquils heirloom flowers? I like to think so.

Ahhh, The Wonder of Nature

I have always loved nature, how she can be so consistent, seasons changing dependably, flowers blooming every spring, leaves turning shades of amber and orange each Fall, beautiful thunder storms cropping up in the heat of midsummer. But every now and then, she gives us something special. Sometimes those special things are frightening, like tornadoes or hurricanes. Other times those special events are wonderous, mysterious, like the summer the Halle Bopp comet hung out each evening for weeks over the lake. We spent many a summer night down on our dock just staring into the sky. Sometimes we were silent, other times we talked about how the comet was moving, changing as the days went along. I think our telescope found a semi permanent spot on the deck that summer. Last evening was another special gift, of a Lunar Eclipse. Luckily we had a gorgeous view from our house. The night was cold, and mostly clear. Every now and then the clouds blew over but it never really blocked our view of the earth casting her shadow across the bright moon. From start to finish, the entire eclipse took just a little over an hour. I ran in and out of the house to gaze upwards to the heavens, and back inside when I got too cold. It was fascinating. I've always been a star gazer, as far back as I can remember, lying in the large yard of my childhood home, sometimes until late in the evening when my daddy would call me inside to get ready for bed. I love the night sky, especially when it is full with stars, and they appear to hang low in the sky. I still find myself lying in the yard some nights, gazing upwards. So I was excited, happily anticipating all day long yesterday for the evening's big event. And, I was not disappointed. My favorite part was when the moon was fully eclipsed. It wasn't blacked out as one might expect, but instead it had a pinkish orange glow about it. And as the earth's shadow began to move away, the glow, only for a brief time, intensified. It was amazing. I love it when God sends us little wonders such as this. Its like He says, "Let me show you something really cool." Just when you think there's always order in the universe, we get a nice little surprise.

Deep Dish

One of my favorite authors is Mary Kay Andrews. I've read all her books and they are delightful, just a hoot! So I am so excited that she is finally coming out with her newest book, Deep Dish. It comes out Feb 25, I think. But I will be at my local bookstore waiting for it. A bookstore in Decatur is hosting a Book Launch Party on Feb 25, and I would love to go, but I'm not sure I want to tackle Atlanta rush hour traffic on a Monday evening to drive down there. http://www.wordsmithsbooks.com/deepdish.html

So, I'll probably wait and grab it at my local bookstore. I sure would love to go to one of Mary Kay's book signing appearances, and meet her. I've always wondered if she is anything like her books....sassy, funny, outrageous.

http://www.marykayandrews.com/ I feel some good, fun reading coming on!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I love this sonnet by Elizabeth Barrett Browning...

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints, - I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, with all my life! - And, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

And, of course, this favorite truth:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails...
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13: 4-8, 13

Peace

I spent last week with my sister, Judy. It was a tough week. We learned at her doctor's appointment on Tuesday that her cancer is more serious than we thought initially. Her chemo treatment sounds very aggressive, and will be hard on her. Throughout the week, in the face of fear and disappointment, it was amazing how God made Himself known to me. Consistently in the midst of panic and fright, God would somehow, supernaturally, drop a blanket of peace and reassurance on me. And one day, while thumbing through Judy's bible, He gave me two verses that I am sure he wanted Judy and I to remember.

John 14:27: "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."

John 16:33: "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

Fear was such a powerful emotion last week, and I'm still bothered with it even now. Funny, how God knows exactly how to zero in on that. I hope He will continue to work on me, and on Judy, in the face of our fear, and remind us that he is Jehovah Shiloam, and Jehovah Rophe. His will be done.

I am thankful for a wonderful circle of friends, and the dear "belles" a wonderful group of online friends who have prayed for Judy, and encouraged me. And, especially thankful for Tammy, Roycea, Cynthia, and Chris, my sister Judy's circle of close girlfriends and prayer warriors. These ladies circled around Judy last week and prayed with us, for us, and lifted Judy up out of a dark place. I thank God that he surrounded Judy with these girlfriends. God bless you for your goodness.