November: An Invitation to gratitude {Between Times}

November: An Invitation to gratitude {Between Times}

Autumn hoovers gently as the early morning mist between the exuberance of summer and winter's crisply chilled grip.  Shade loving foliage spread wide, florals risk one last burst of blooms. Spear shaped Elm seeds and tiny Live Oak acorns cast wide for the sake of another generation.

Between times offer grace, holding a place for the promise to come.

Monarch's flit enroute for the tropics. Canadian Geese and pristinely elegant swans glide onto the ponds. Continuous flocks of song birds darken the sky, settling in unison to fill power lines and  treetops. Winged migratory guests taking a brief layover, build reserve until the morning they're gone.

Between times offer grace, holding a place for the promise to come.

Families gather goods for holiday seasons rapidly advancing on calendars. Households harvest the last cool weather produce from the garden, sweep the chimney, stack the wood pile, then walk lazily down leaf strewn paths. New life beats steady and ever so small, cradles deep in mother's precious darkness as a family prepares in patience, prays for the promise, waits in love. 

Between times offer grace, holding a place for the promise to come.

A world revolving on its ancient orbit, turning until it is made new. 
An ancient people humbled by resurrection, living in grace and abundance until the return.

Gratitude for the between times bursting with grace, 
holding a place for the promise to come.

*   *   *

Additional Posts in An Invitation to Gratitude Series:

Day 1 Attentive Listening
Day 2 Boundless love
Day 3 Time Away
Day 4 New Roads
Day 5 Legacy
Day 6 Indian Summer
Day 7 Transforming Power of Gratitude
Day 8 Homefires

Linking with the Weekend Whispers, Still Saturday, Coffee for the Heart, and Tell His Story. 

Click on the buttons below to read posts by these communities of faith filled writers.

Living Art

There eventually came a time in life when a new expanse of freedom allowed me to design how I wanted my days to be filled. 

Instinctively I craved creative endeavors. My interests ranged from typical artistic pursuits of writing, painting, and photography, to the theology of spiritual gifts and  neuroscience findings related to brain function. All under the larger umbrella of creativity. 

An additional layer of my quest at that time concerned the desire to understand how my experiences with creative pursuits dovetailed with a sense of meditation and a sense God’s presence. 

I began studying oil painting in an artist’s studio and spending time photographing everything, everywhere. I wrote children’s stories, memoir pieces about family and professional recollections. I participated in a spiritual arts journaling workshop and began teaching the first of many years of Women’s Bible Study classes. Eventually in this same season I posted the first  entry on Reflections-Beside Still Waters blog. 

The deeply rewarding outcome of these endeavors continue today, with new elements emerging from time to time to constitute the richly woven fabric of a redesigned, greatly rewarding, deeply faith filled, creative daily life. 

“And He has filled him with the Spirit of God, 

in wisdom, in understanding 

and in knowledge and 

in all craftsmanship” 

Exodus 35:31

~

Celebrating with Emily

A Million Little Ways

We Will Make Art 

link up.

God's Grace

But to each one of us

grace has been given

as Christ apportioned it.

Ephesians 4:6-8

~

Grace is “the force that infuses our lives and keeps letting us off the hook. 

It is unearned love - the love that goes before, that meets us on the way.

 It’s the help you received when you have no bright ideas left, when you are empty and 

desperate and have discovered that your best thinking 

and most charming charm have failed you.

 Grace is the light  or electricity or juice or breeze that takes you

 from that isolated place and puts you with others 

who are startled and embarrassed and eventually grateful, 

as you are to be there.” 

Anne Lamott, 

Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith