Lifting the Load

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I had set this photo as my screensaver on my 21" screen but found it just too overwhelming as it jumped up at me when the screen lit up.  It's such a spectacular sight! * Our last visit to Niagara Falls was almost five years ago.  It was a perfect day and we could feel the spray form the Horseshoe Falls, the Canadian falls, and it felt great - cool and refreshing on a very hot day.  However, I wasn't able to get a good shot of those gorgeous falls since there was so much spray.  These are the falls on the American side.
*click on icon above photo to fill the screen

It's been a practise of mine to read through the Bible in a systematic fashion, usually one Book following another beginning at the Beginning - Genesis.   The last couple of years I've mixed it up a bit by adding a chapter a day from the Book of Psalms and then one from the Book of Proverbs.  It's so much more meaningful to read these Books one chapter at a time over the course of half the year simply adding it to my regular reading.

So today I finished the Book of Proverbs which concludes with the "Hymn to a Good Wife" in chapter 31 - to coordinate with the 31 days in this month.  It's a big stretch for me, this "virtuous woman" chapter"...but placed in there for very good reason I know.  Here's just one small segment about how a good wife should treat her husband, taken from "The Message":

Never spiteful, she treats him generously all her life long.

Wow, I need to improve here.  I remember my Mom lamenting quietly at one point in her grieving after my Dad passed away:


Ich konnte Papa besser besorgt haben...I could have looked after Dad better.

Wow!  My mother was exemplary in her devotion and attention to my Dad.

My good hubby came over to where I was working a few minutes ago.  He knew I'd been trying to come to grips with a few things dancing around in my head over the past little while.  So sweetly he  placed  his hand on my shoulder as he re-assured me that God's love for me was great quoting from Psalm 103-

For as the heaven is high above the earth, 
so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. vs 11

Now that was the greatest load-reducer I could have imagined!  Thanks sweetie.  Here he was looking after me so well.  I guess that's what a good  marriage is all about - a team effort.  When one gets weary, physically or emotionally, the other one picks up the slack.  What a great design the Lord laid out for us humans, marriage.  Through all the ups and downs God is faithful and keeps us on this pilgrimage - sometimes dancing, sometimes plodding, sometimes just enduring.   With His help we find our way through.


I've been spending a lot of time getting my photos into iPhoto and editing them.  When I came upon this shot of Niagara Falls I couldn't get it out of my mind.  A picture can be so powerful in its image and we can draw a lot of analogies from it.

It's difficult settling into this post today.  I don't know why.  I've been wanting to post for quite sometime and now inspite of the "scramble" of ideas, here goes on this last day of January, 2010.  God bless us all!

Snowdrops and Parsley

Coming home from an afternoon walk I was floored to see the snowdrops bursting forth through the rocks.  Where had they come from?  I had been looking for tulips in the front flower bed but had neglected to check the rocky area near our front door.  I couldn't believe I hadn't noticed them when I left the house an hour earlier.  But here they were... not quite open yet but with more mild weather in the forecast they'll just keep pushing upwards.  And so the cycle continues...amazing!

 

I checked back to last year's photos and to my surprise found that I'd taken pictures of the snowdrops on January 13 then as well.  They were only buds last year on this day but then we'd had record snowfalls and extended periods of cold weather earlier.

Taking my veggie scraps out to the compost later today, I stopped to check the parsley and there, sure enough, was plenty of fresh parsley to add to the soup.  On the somewhat protected bank along our backyard I noticed the grape hyacinths already long and leggy...and there were the bluebells and dwarf daffodils and crocuses all showing up at once.  I hope we don't have a severe cold snap to dampen their efforts.

My friend Hazel next door has lent me a book on gardening: An Ecology of  Enchantment - A Year in the Life of a Garden by Des Kennedy.  It begins with this month, January.  It looks like it will be worth the read one month at a time.  When I come upon something really "enchanting" I will try to include it over the course of the coming year.

Puzzles

I love puzzles!  That's good, since life presents itself in a kaleidoscope of puzzles it seems.  But the puzzles I like to escape to for relaxation or taxation are fun kind of puzzles to solve, like crosswords and sudokus...and maybe once a year a jigsaw puzzle.

This year I thought I should get a 1000 piece puzzle and leave it out for all who passed by to put in a piece or two.

I never anticipated doing almost all of it by myself.  I've never done this large a puzzle before.  Two of my sisters are avid jigsaw puzzlers and wouldn't even begin with anything less than 1000 pieces.  So after opening up the sealed plastic bag in the evening of Christmas Day after things had quieted down, I began the conquest.  Yesterday, I placed the final piece into place and was quite proud about it.  To be fair there were a few others involved briefly and I must say even Big Al humored me by sitting with me to painstakingly get that sky done.
Al thought it would be fun to take a picture of me so that I could post our accomplishment!  So he did...

Happy New Year!

Al and I wish you all a wonderful new year; a year plump-full of love, joy and peace coming to you from our loving, all-knowing, gracious, compassionate, never-tiring Heavenly Father; pouring into your life in the right amount, the right consistency, the right texture to embolden, strengthen and refine you and to fill you up in the way best suited for you so that you can become the whole, complete person as God has specifically designed you.

May it be a year full of just enough adventure, excitement and challenges to keep you alert and focused on the real reason for our existence right here on planet earth.

Revisiting favorite places from our travels via our photos, prompts me to include some on this post.  Here is an image of the beautiful Sea of Galilee, the Sea around which and on which Jesus taught so many lessons and healed so many people. 

In my Bible reading today I focused on the following thought-provoking Scriptures, Jesus' own words while teaching around this remarkable setting:

But the seed planted in the good earth represents those who hear the Word, embrace it, and produce a harvest beyond their wildest dreams.
Mark 4:20

Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity. Stinginess impoverishes.
Mark 4:25

Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You’re not in the driver’s seat; I am.

Don’t run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I’ll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to saving yourself, your true self. 

What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you? What could you ever trade your soul for?
Mark 8:34-38

This is once again the Great Reversal:
Many who are first will end up last, and the last first.
Mark10:31

…hmmm, so much to think about…please help me, Lord Jesus.
(Scripture References taken from The Message)
 
Along a similar vein of thinking, I came across this inspirational article in the Abbotsford Times today, written by Alice Maryniuk.  I've enjoyed her writing in the past and always find it well worth reading.  Please check out her column today at the following site by copying it into your browser:


http://www2.canada.com/abbotsfordtimes/news/faith/story.html?id=42e29d75-5ccd-429c-94bb-784245dad6be

Al and I enjoyed a pilgrimage to the Holy Land four and a half years ago.  Here I am walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee.  I'd love to go back.

Remember this good old song:

"In fancy I stood by the shore one day,
Of that beautiful murm'ring sea.

I saw the great crowds as they thronged their way.
to the Stranger of Galilee...."

-I couldn't find a good clip for it on You Tube but if you like you can check the words and "midi music" just by typing the title into the browser.

ps the photo of Al and me was taken in our computer room with our iMac-
Photo Booth