…the sun shone brightly all day and it’s getting warmer!
YEA!
So, I’m finding joy in the little things - at least now my fingers won’t be so blue and I can put away my wool scarf!
YEA!
Peace.
Monthly Archive for January, 2010Page 2 of 3
…to see the sun.
I know I really have nothing to complain about - I mean, I’ve lived in harsher climates (like Missouri - where we were snowed-in for 2 weeks with temps well below zero and Kentucky where I didn’t see the sun for 4 months!), and I realize I’m so acclimated to the Florida sun that if I go just days….not even weeks, but DAYS without seeing the sun, I begin to lose my mind.
I really should look into one of the lamps that people wear in Alaska…
I’ve been wishing for spring….for my songbirds to return.
In fact, a couple of days ago, I felt near tears over this weather…the bitter cold that I can’t seem to shake no matter what I do…and I was thinking about how I can’t wait to put seed in my bird feeder and watch the cardinals and bluebirds on my front porch - and plant bright and colorful flowers in my flower pots (which right now look like a cemetery….but I digress)…
Anyway, I was thinking of how I long to see the signs of spring, and we left to go pick up one child or the other from school - when I heard this horrible sound as I reached for the car door. As I looked to the tree where the noise was coming from, I watched in horror as a huge hawk flew away with a tiny bluebird in its claws.
That’s how I feel about this winter…like it’s snatching away the beauty of this part of the world: the sun, the flowers, the citrus, the birds…..
But, today the sun is shining at least, even though I’m still wearing gloves and a wool sweater and scarf INSIDE my house.
This cold is making me so weary, but THE SUN IS SHINING!
So, things are looking up, I guess.
Maybe it won’t be long until I have my wishes of songbirds and flowers in the pots on the front porch, and the harshness of winter will be just a memory.
Maybe….
At least I have things to hope for, and hope can warm the heart better than any wool scarf can any day.
So…
Peace.
Sunday’s message was about rain…the storms of life - and we sang this song since it fit so well with it. Some songs are just hard to sing - they just feel too personal. But, difficult or not, the song is true and I need to be reminded of it. It’s been repeating over and over in my mind all day.
“I can count a million times
People asking me how I
Can praise You with all that
I’ve gone through
The question just amazes me
Can circumstances possibly
Change who I forever am in You
Maybe since my life was changed
Long before these rainy days
It’s never really ever crossed my mind
To turn my back on you, oh Lord
My only shelter from the storm
But instead I draw closer through these times
So I pray
Bring me joy, bring me peace
Bring the chance to be free
Bring me anything that brings
You glory And I know there’ll
be days When this life brings me pain
But if that’s what it takes to
praise You Jesus, bring the rain
I am yours regardless of the clouds that may
loom above because you are much greater than
my pain you who made a way for me suffering
your destiny so tell me whats a little rain
Holy, holy, holy
Holy, holy, holy
is the lord God almighty
is the lord God almighty
I’m forever singing
everybody singing
Holy holy holy
you are holy
you are holy”
I remember, in the exuberance of youth, proclaiming things like “Storms?! I’ll fight through anything! Bring it on!!”
These days I don’t make such emphatic declarations…more like quiet questions and often the need for mercy. But, I aspire to say “Bring the Rain” once again. It’s just that I recognize the thunder more readily now - I’ve grown familiar to the flash of lightening and the pounding of the wind.
So, I pray to be able to have the strength to say “bring the rain….whatever it takes to praise You”. Whatever it takes…
Songs like this just bring home the fact that God is holy……and I’m not. I aspire to these things, but fall short so desperately.
So I’m grateful for His mercy and grace. Even in the rain….
….especially in the rain.
Peace.
Peace.
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