A Sacred Haven

Celebrations abound across the nation this July day. 

Born in a country prominent and powerful through out the planet, 
vast in splendor geographically, culturally, and materially; 
there is a great abundance to celebrate.

After the star spangled patriotic parades and the grilled feast picnics followed by blazingly spectacular fireworks...  

at the heart of this day
is a deep abiding love of home, 
the nation we claim, 
as well as the literal roof over our heads.

The freedom we have to strive to be graced with walls within which we live with people most dear to us. 
The freedom we have to design our families and create our homes in diverse ways and places. 
The freedom we have to pursue work to build a nest to feather for our comfort, survival, and security.
The constitutional rights and legal protections that make our home a sacred haven.

By the grace of God,
by the courageous might of our 
service men and women,
by the unique ingenuity and contributions
of our diverse people for 241 years,
the freedoms of home remain precious to us all.

Summer's End

School buses are rolling. The mid week fisher-kids on the ponds, have likely reeled in their hooks for the last time. We wont see much of them or their bikes, until next spring.The flag that was unfurled on Memorial Day will be flown until weather closes her down, like the end of a Broadway play. Summer’s nearly done. Though temperatures in our region will rage on through September, the pools will lose customers to football games and summer fruits will give way to pumpkins and gourds. So in these final days of a full moon shining bright in a sky still lit at eight o’clock at night, I’m pondering memories that marked the summer 2015…

Movies: 

Triple digit temps drive folks into theaters. Even with Netflix, its more fun to meet up with friends at the theater to escape the sun’s deep summer glare. A stunning remake of the classic film Far From the Madding Crowd was my favorite this summer. Filmed in the cooler climate of northern Britain, a smart woman, successfully manages her land and agricultural business in an era when few women had legal status to own land. Very British. Very inspiring.

Travel and Family Reunions:

When I fly over the university campus, the capital dome, and the azure blue lakes of my home town all manner of unseen forces pull me into that beloved region. I’m promise, my heart physically responds to the lakes and deep woods oxygen of that familiar place. Mix in the voices of family, the replication of my mother in my nieces, siblings eyes just like mine, same old tales told yet again, nephews with smiles identical to their dad’s and grandfather…summer reunions spent bare foot in the grass make lasting imprints on the heart.

Famous Women of Faith:

Do you, sisters in faith, do you respond deep in your bones when Christian education includes the leadership of Biblical women like Priscilla, Deborah, and Huldah? So blessed this summer by hearing those portions of God’s story that includes my gender. Women, His image bearers, fully valued and called by God to teach, preach, and prophesy. 

Benches and Books: 

...written about over here, because reading has been and always will be part of the tradition of summer. It goes way back to the Summer Reading Log that every kid filled out at the Public Library. You did that right?

Seasonally red,white, and blue will soon give way to orange, red, and yellow. The bold color of Pansies and Gerber Daisies will be memories as we plant Mums for the fall. Its time. Put a ribbon around summer’s memories and turn our faces to the respite and softness that is uniquely autumn.

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Joining the communities sharing at Chatting at the Sky, Give Me Grace: as well as Coffee for the Heart and Tell His Story. For the last two, click on their buttons below to join conversations of faith.

Distant Summer Memories

Far northwest beaches are reached after walking through verdant Pacific rain forests of towering aged trees. Occasionally mottled light splinters through the dense shade; that, and the sound of the surf, hints at the coastal splendor at the forest’s edge. 

Emerging from dense green foliage, stepping out onto the wide expanse of beach, floods the mind with the grander of the shifting boundary between land and sea. In that place beaches are wide, as the tide recedes with distant expanses of shallow water. 

The ocean polished remains of fallen, nearly whole, tree trunks are beached along the shoreline. Grey, splintered, and pock marked after untold time adrift at the sea. Smaller remnants of driftwood cluster with grey-blue indigo shells at the tide line. Sea tinged winds against one’s face, beach combing in bare feet, navigating the rivulets of sand and salt water; the soul ’s delight.

I unwrapped the collection of driftwood and shells that we had gathered that summer so many years ago and began to arrange it in a way that we could enjoy it’s beauty once again. Holding each piece, lifted an abundance of memories of that time and place. The extravagant beauty of that region; the old, old forests along an expansive coastline; the cool, moisture rich air; and the milestone in our life that the place marked. Through the years we have spoken of that time, recalled the deep serenity of those days, counted the years since we were there. It is a prominent marker on our timeline of living. A treasure in the midsts of numbering our days. 

"Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom."

Psalm 90:12

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July Smolders into August

July heat, an open oven door, with the scent of over toasted bread. 

Air meandering heavy and slow, dense with crackled dryness. 

The flag barely able to rustle itself from a limp fold of cloth on the pole. 

A full compliment of summer’s winged critters swarm, skim, and hum above the pond’s undisturbed surface, the sole opposite of lazy in the heat of mid-day.

Shuttered in the shade, slates angled to reflect rays elsewhere;

pondering what remnants of deep summer shine most in my memory…

~ Blueberries. 

Mounds of Michigan blueberries. Folded into pancakes topped with maple syrup, covered with milk and sugar, or nibbled dark-blue-fresh straight from the bowl. Summer’s orbs of berry-liciousness!

~ Huldah, holy woman of great reputation, chosen by God to be a prophet, teacher, and adviser to Kings! Listen up folks, she taught men! She was selected above Jeremiah, to inform the King about God’s will {2 Kings 22:1-20}. Take heart sisters in Christ, God does indeed call women to proclaim His word.

~ Reading Anthony Doer’s novel, All the Light We Can Not See…

in contrast to its title, SHINES big time on my recommendations to read. It’s multiple themes, creative intricacies, historical depth, wondrous characters, and sweeping plot enthralled me for a marathon four day reading binge. Go now. Download today.

~ Seriously now, what shines brilliantly among July’s memories 

would be a fervent message on Christian compassion. 

In the 4th video of Andy Stanley’s boldly honest video series Your Move, Stanley says even though Christians are told in John 13:34-35 to “Love one another”, he honestly admits, “Church people are some of the meanest people you know.” “(We) mistreat people in the name of Jesus.” In response, he expertly expounds on Colossians 3:12, “Clothe yourself with compassion…” reminding us that Christ means, “I want this (love and compassion) to mark you!” Yes indeed, that message burned deep in my heart in the midst of this July.       

http://yourmove.is/episode/ep4-follow-wear/

~ And, the frivolous is not to be left out, loving the new series, “Giada in Italy”. 

Really, my cooking interest (and talent) is modest. However filming of the Mediterranean gem that is Positano, captures my visual senses. Local markets, stucco architecture in contrast to brilliant flowers, melded with gorgeous food preparation…I’m in.

It’s the season to ice that tea, seek the shade, relish bone deep warmth, and ponder what memories shine bright for you this summer.

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Linking with Chatting at the Sky, Weekend Brew, & Still Saturday this weekend.

Morning's Stillness

In early spring wind off the waves brushed gently against our faces with soft touches of warmth and great moist whiffs of the sea. Pants legs rolled up to sink feet in the white bounty of coastal sand and surf. We walked. The wind swept through the mind, carrying the burdens of living far out to sea. I point out the scurrying Sand Pipers and he scours the beds of washed up shells for beauty.

Sand glistens in the way of gems, reflecting light from facets of uncountable grains, all broken, polished, and scattered across the beach. Treasures of the sea cast onto the shore, sourced from rock, shells, and marine life, mingled in tidal deposits washed up by waves. 

As I recall myself bowing over the sand, scanning the collection tumbled onto the beach, I ponder how similar this image could be to holy God gazing down from celestial heights onto the minute beings of humanity. Certainly, the diverse bits of shells, rock, driftwood, the occasional gull’s feather, or dried sand dollar ~ certainly, such a collection is loosely symbolic of humankind’s wide range of color and form in varying stages of wave tossed brokenness. I ponder the scriptures that assure us that our Creator follows the journey of each remnant of life and gathers it all for redeemed purpose.

And I walked, 

heart full to bursting, 

contemplating the divinely guided galaxies in the cosmos 

replicated in small earthly microcosms 

for human eyes to witness 

the magnitude 

and detail 

of God’s power.

The One who builds His upper chambers in the heavens and has founded His vaulted dome over the earth,

He who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the face of the earth,

The Lord is His name.

Amos 9:6

~

Linking to Still Saturday, Sunday Stillness, Weekend Brew, Tell His Story. Click on their buttons below to join the community of posts.

As the Cicadas Sing

After morning coffee on the back patio, after puttering with the flower pots, and after a walk around the ponds, the sun’s height begins to heat up this part of the world sending folks like myself to benches situated under the deepest shade or to comfy chairs in cozy air-conditioned spaces, anticipating the company of a good book.

Summer reading lists are iconic. Schools require them. Libraries endorse them. Newspapers publish them. Book sellers advertise them. Readers eagerly share them and scour the titles of favored choices for the season. 

Still preferring the real-deal hard copy to hold in my hands, 

these are some of the books in this month’s stack:

1. Wearing God by Lauren Winner. I really loved this fascinating exploration of the metaphors found in scripture that are used to describe God. Some were the familiar “clothed by God” and God as "the bread of life", other’s were much more surprising for instance God as “a sweet smelling savor” and as a laboring woman. Would love to read this one as a book study to discuss with others.
2. In the Sanctuary of Women by Jan L. Richardson. Written in a combined format of a daily devotional and as an informational text of historical accounts about the lives of notable Christian women including Eve, St. Brigid, Hildegard of Bingen, the Desert Mothers and others. This book has succeeded in capturing my heart for these sisters of faith. It requires a leisure pace and has been a reading in progress for several months. 
3. Eyes of the Heart by Christine V. Paintner.  The photographer in me is relishing this discussion of photography  as a spiritual practice. The work has opened my thinking to many new insights and practical suggestions to implement photography as a contemplative practice. 
4. No Man Is An Island by Thomas Moore. No doubt you will have heard of this classic and the renown Trappist Monk who wrote it. Although I was aware of the remarkable history of Moore’s devotion to a religious life of service, teaching, and writing; nothing compares to reading his own words. 
5. “Artful Blogging”, a magazine by Somerset Studio features the photographic beauty of several blogs in each issue. Pure eye candy for artistic photography and an interesting mix of tales about the blogging experience. Light and engaging creative inspiration.

Summer’s traditions include uninterrupted hours spent with well loved books. May you be blessed by an inspiring read as the cicadas sing and the porch swing glides.

~

Linking with Still Saturday, Weekend Brew, Sunday Stillness, Coffee for Your Heart, & Tell His Story. Click on the buttons below to read other posts in these communities.

Summer Remembrance

Early morning temperatures dipped by almost ten degrees this weekend, 

as August bids its 2014 adieu. 

The cooler morning offered a delightfully fresh hint of the next season, though we all know we still have many more weeks of extended summer that is par for our region. None the less, there was this brief interlude, this breath of coolness, this nod to softer days of less light and a planet tipping away from the sun’s blaze. Summer’s green begins to take on that more rustic shade, edged with crisped, drying hues. Blooms are worn, somewhat ravaged by the boldness of summer. The new blossoms are unfolding smaller, dropping petals sooner, there satin beauty not lasting as long as their predecessors. 

We turn to one another and say, Where did it go? 

Every season we say that. 

Remember when we were celebrating those glorious buds opening at the ends of stems and marveling at the late-into-the-evening sunsets painted orange across the blue sky. Remember children in the pool for hours perfecting their under water skills, extending their bravery in the deep end, diving endlessly to retrieve rings thrown to the bottom. Tomatoes and watermelon have been sweeter these recent months and sweet corn is still fresh in the produce department. Remember the lazier mornings of summer with coffee on the back porch, serenaded by birds, entertained by squirrels, and occasionally visited by that resident rabbit who lives in the Indian Hawthorn hedge. We watched lizards scamper across the top of the fence and fledgling Blue Jays teeter on the edge of their nest outside the bay window. We have watched Herons catch fish as turtles basked on the pond’s banks and the Mallards floated endlessly. 

And though the events of the world were far less bucolic through this summer, it remains important to remember that which was abundant, that which was brimming with blessing and goodness. In every season harken back to treasures that came your way, whispered from the heavens by God’s grace to season your life with His love and provision.

“I will remember the deeds of the Lord...” Psalm 77:11

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Linking with these communities of writers:

Still Saturday

The Weekend Brew

Tell His Story

Unforced Rhythms

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Slower Steps {Learning to Take the Long Way Around}

Taking shorter steps, slower steps, allows the early morning breeze to be savored, its banking, soft approach is noticed, its reoccurring wisps of cooler threads do not escape attention and are a welcome surprise this deep into the August summer. Freedom to take the long-way-around offers the most shaded canopy branching wide, ladened with the season’s full foliage. 

Passing the homes along each block ...

I’m aware that they’re likely empty on a weekday morning, just as my own was during the years of scheduled and contracted productivity. Occupants are at their office, at their desks, on their computers, attending to agendas, checking off lists, collaborating, reaching for goals, gaining information, experience, livlihoods...globally, homes are empty and work is moving history along.

Still walking, slowly... 

I recall the physical pace of those productive years. From the moment of leaving bed in the predawn of each day, the work day steps were accumulated with only occasional interruption, until back at home, end of day dishes were done, bath and stories were done, and all needs for the next morning’s departure were collected at the door. Steps were rarely short and certainly not slow. On arrival to campus, those steps were purposefully taken in a circuitous route, calculated to complete efficiently as many tasks as possible along the way, often in the company of twenty or so young students and the coral-ing of their many steps.

Crossing the street to follow the shade and the bend of the tree lined curb…                                                                    I ponder the process that took place to step out of that pace of daily living, to mentally step back from the persistent multitasking drive that accomplishes a never ending magnitude of responsibilities in the finite hours of a day. It was a process of gradual recalibrating of the priorities of time that allowed the external race walker to convert to walker seeking internal peace. Intentionally, it has become acceptable to take shorter steps and move at a slower pace. Not because I’m incapable of that meteoric pace, but because the value of attention to the bounty of this world, the bounty of  this fleeting life, can only be captured when its not being raced past in a blur. 
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Transitions take so many forms and all are challenging. What motivates you to engage in the process, to 'slow your steps' or 'take the long way around'?

Linking with TellHisStory and Weekend Brew. Enjoy the photos and thoughts of these fellow writers by clicking on the links below.

Approach from a Different Angle

While squeezing some semblance of life out of hard, uncompromising circumstances solace arrived in the strength of a single wild bloom. 

During an early morning walk it appeared unexpected and incongruent, like a sun-yellow flag planted in a moonscape of rock. Living green and spiraled gold surrounded by the sharp edges of dry, nonsustaining stone. 

A water seeking, nutrient dependent creature can perish in such an environment. 

Living seems just so at times. All that is visible appears to offer not a mite of support to ease basic survival through treacherous times.

Approaching the bloom on the return circuit of the walk, passing by from a different angle, changed the perspective, changed the understanding. 

Consider instead, the protective qualities of impervious rock. No lawn mowing blades arrived here to slice through a wild bloom. Flooding rivulets of rain washing down the rocky bank were channeled around the shallowly rooted, errant seed until its roots grew a deeper grip. The sharp and uneven rock surfaces prevented the smooth terrain seeking footsteps of humans. 

The seemingly rigid and hard may be providential protection and an opportunity to thrive.

Revisit the harsh and uncompromising circumstances. It may be that the presence of sacred grace, a veiled blessing, is obscured by a narrow perspective.

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Summer's End, August Learning

August, its a milestone month. 

The final warmth of summer in some regions; 

the final weeks of vacation too. 

The last vestiges of free schedules, sandals, lingering morning coffee by the pool. 

Even we bloggers feel the shift in season and time as the writing glances back at summer's inspiration before stepping into themes for the season ahead. 

In that over-my-shoulder glance, I've noted some things I've learned  like...

Bold summer nail color is way fun... 
(specifically Unfor-greta-bly Blue from OPI)

... then I can link up with Chatting at the Sky 
'cause the community over there likes to share these things.

Things I Learned This Month ~

Gutsy female characters catch my attention every time...
Reading Geraldine Brooks' Caleb's Crossing, a  gorgeous and captivating historical story of a brilliant heroine, Bethia in 17th century Pilgrim New England. I totally curled up for the entire weekend to read this exquisitely written book straight through, that kind of good! Learned a lot, such as: Harvard, the new world's first university in 1650 had an original charter that describes its missions as "the education of the English and Indian youth of this country". Much food for thought in this riveting portrayal [in part] of 17th century education; who gets it, who doesn't, and to what ends.


Repurposed architecture fascinates me...
Fabulous new library rises from the bones of an abandoned Walmart. What do you think of that?


Still have a fascination with words...
Just let this one spill from your tongue, quotidian.  
A mere four syllables, but don't they sound like you must have some intellectual moxie?
Here's the irony. The word means "occurring every day; belonging to the every day; commonplace, ordinary. To my mind, so not ordinary.
Then I read Kathleen Norris' discussion of the "everyday" and this makes it all better:

It is a paradox of human life that in worship...it is in the routine and the everyday that we find the possibilities for the greatest transformation...what we dread as mindless activity can free us, mind and heart, for the workings of the Holy Spirit...  The Quotidian Mysteries, p.82

It appears that I'm officially an introvert...
Susan Cain's bestseller Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking...well it just rings true. And I'm humbled to join the good company of fellow introverts like Eleanor Roosevelt, Madeleine L'Engle, and Rosa Parks. And then the Huffington Post ran an article with this list. So really, I feel better about the strengths that folks like me bring to humanity, such as, in the hunter -gather era, being "geared to inspect" we were more likely to do surveillance, scan the field under cover while the extroverts brashly stepped out in the open, serving themselves up to predators. Thus the introvert's skills of keen observation and data gathering have survived evolution. Something empowering about that.

I love lively, dynamic conversations...
We met for coffee and more than an hour went by as we wildly gestured and parlayed back and forth probably running off more than one adjacent java soul. I'm still an introvert.

How to create Art from Words ...
This nifty site helps you create art work gifts from any collection of words that you like. There are dozens of applications. The one I have seen is a beautiful pastel handprint created from all the names of the staff at our church preschool and given to them as a Back to School gift. Delightful.

A new recipe... 
CLEAN {healthy} Prosciutto Chicken. Easy, fast, low fat, yummy...I'm in. 

September looms with all its seasonal tradition and glory! 

Really hope Emily continues this link up next month. 

Fall has such possibilities! 

Blessings,

Lisa

Curious about other posts in this Link UP? 

Here's the JUNE and JULY lists.

Follow the Bird Song

Luke 13:18-19

 18 Then Jesus said, “What is the Kingdom of God like? How can I illustrate it? 19 It is like a tiny mustard seed that a man planted in a garden; it grows and becomes a tree, and the birds make nests in its branches.”

Mark 4:30-32

 30 Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? 31 It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. 32 Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.”

Matthew 13:31-32

 31 He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. 32 Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.”

~

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Late Augaust Gratitude

Early morning temperatures dip 20 degrees even in our drought stricken southern prairies; a brief reprieve until the climbing sun scorches the earth’s surface back to triple digit temperatures. In gratitude I step out to embrace God’s world at this early hour.

 “Let all the angel throng give thanks to god on high, while Earth repeats the joyful song and echoes to the sky.”   ~ Charles Wesley

535 – Boldly hardy late summer blooms

536 – Briefly clouds sooth over-lit terrain; sensitive eyes rest wide-irised in overcast skies

537 – Late summer trees bearing the promise of autumn fruit

538 – Red Cardinal parading across the fence, returns for three curtain calls, red plumes against weathered wood

539 – Memories of mother on her August birthday

540 - Mockingbirds chasing squirrels, rabbits visiting flower pots

541 - Sharp reflections on glass waters

542 - sun baked rocks along the creek offering sunning decks for wet shelled turtles

543 - Hymns giving voice to praise

“I will joyfully sing in the morning, I will joyfully sing all the day.” Psalm 59             Mary MC Donald

Linking with the Gratitude Community at Holy Experience. Join us for the joy of praise!