June Nineteenth

This morning I tore leaves from the stems of basil and oregano to ready them for preservation.  I dried and froze the flavors, knowing that even though work that doesn’t seem worth it now, it will fill me with joy when I am cooking this winter.  This is the fourth summer we’ve spent on our homestead and I’m learning that the extra work now is worth it come the winter months.  Food is cheap at the store but there is nothing better than tearing into some homegrown goodness while the snow is flying.

Our purpose on earth is similar, we are readying and preserving our best selves for a life lived in eternity with our King.  I know some of my harvest is still rotten, brittle and brown, but the Lord is teaching me to find my true identity and to grow my green and prolific parts.

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I woke with a head cold and although Winnie slept better last night than she has in weeks, I am still exhausted.  I pulled out the morning glory that was choking the strawberries, knowing it will return tomorrow, and now my neck is tight.  Our air conditioner is on the fritz and until we get it fixed the drone of the floor fan rages on.

I sit at our dining room table admiring how beautiful it all is outside.  Despite the hardness of life, the joy of the Lord fills me.  The Lord spoke to me as we were planting this year and promised me that things would grow well this year.  I had a hard time believing him because the soil we were planting in was poor, but gosh, of course he was right!  It’s a beautiful garden this year and just the right size for us to manage.

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I have a goal to not kill my hanging baskets this year.  So far so good, but we’ll see how I do in the July heat.  I don’t think I’ve ever had a hanging basket make it until frost, but perhaps with the right attitude and effort this will be my year.

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Grief can cloud your mind at a moment’s notice.

Grief can look like unforgiveness of the person who is gone for leaving you with a now messy life.

Grief can be loud and obnoxious, or dull and persistent.  It can come and go, and when it comes it nearly always demands your attention.

Grief can come in the form of death, or loss of something beloved, or change that was unwanted.  Grief knows no bounds, and no person does it leave unscathed.

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I love asking my kids about God.  They always have interesting and insightful comments and the questions they think to ask blow me away.  I long to give them a full view of the Kingdom and God’s grace that covers them.

The other day I asked Ira who Jesus is.

“God.  I think that’s his middle name.”