Last night's bedtime prayer

Lord, Thank you. Thank you for this day. The sunshine and the blue sky, the smiling faces we've seen today...all have been such a blessing.
Forgive the un-done laundry, the dusty mantle, the un-vacuumed carpet. I neglected them today, Lord.
But Thank you, oh Thank You for sidewalk chalk and bubbles. For tricycles and scooters. For plastic jugs to hold water which is poured and studied over and over. For soft grass and the "what color" game. For smiles and giggles made even brighter by the glorious sun.
Thank you, for this day.

A season for everything?

(I started this post in June 2009 and finished it in April 2010 - talk about spanning the seasons)

You know that song... To everything ... There is a season ...

I've been thinking so much about seasons lately. How "seasonal" things can outlast their predestined or preappointed life span. How the term "seasons" is used to describe periods (usually of trial) in the human existance. Now is the winter of our discontent?

I began thinking about seasons because of a white poinsettia in the window of my grandmother's living room. As is the custom, she received it (and a few others) before Christmas. (In 2009, it was a white pointsettia that inspired me to start this post...in 2010, a red pointsettia that remains in the kitchen window inspires me to finish it.) A well known and very common symbol of the Christmas season, pointsettias don't usually last until spring (or summer, in the case of the white one). Except at Grandma's. This lady can nurse a pointsettia! But still, when walking into Grandma's kitchen in April, May or June the sight of a healthy, thriving poinsettia is a little off- putting. "Those aren't in season!" "How did that thing last this long?" "Wait, is that real?" Somehow this vigorous little plant and this caring, nurturing lady have managed to defy "seasons". And don't I envy them...

In this age of social networking, you can hear (I'm sorry...read) all about people's "seasons". Battles with illness, hard economic situations, relationships in crisis, the expectation of a child, an upcoming marriage, the loss of something or someone.

I never viewed life in this way until the last few years. Each stage of life is season. Some to be savored and enjoyed. Some to be weathered and survived. Here's to the thought of withstanding and spanning them all...like Grandma's pointsettias.

No time to blog!

Is it really so hard to find a few minutes each day to log in and reflect on.....something.....
apparently - yes.

The Space Between...2008 and 2009

The month of January usually causes people to do three things:
1) reflect on the year past
2) conjure up dreams for the year ahead
3) plan vacations - Upstate NY in January is cold, grey, and uninspiring!

On the first two, I'd like to say the following:

1) I don't feel the need to sit and reflect on last year. It's still glaring right in my face.
2) Although I do have "dreams" that are yet unrealized, I'm going to resist the urge to assign them to this year.
I think I'll give this year a break, by letting it have no expectations placed on it. Think I can do it? It's going to be very hard!!! Especially since I'm the romantic type that likes to put all my hopes in the chance that something wonderful will or could happen in any given scenario. But, alas, I shall resist. I want God to lead my hopes and expectations this year. I don't want to develop my own (set up for failure), and then be disappointed in Him when they don't reach actualization.

For me, my only real hope for the new year is that the space between 2008 and 2009 be more filled with grace. And, come what may - that I'll be strong enough to be gracious in it.