Beauty Before Me

It’s happening again.

I’m doing what I said I wasn’t going to do:

let life get way out of balance –

I mean – WAY out of balance.

I love what I do

I don’t consider it a job because I enjoy it so much,

but usually I let it consume me and my time –

especially at this time of year.

It’s something I’ve struggled with for what seems too long.

 I even started this year with a new resolve:

to balance family, home, work, church

but, sigh . . .

*

About a month ago, a friend asked me if I had seen my hellebores blooming.

Oh my gosh, had I missed the first blossoms of spring?

As a self-proclaimed beauty-seeker, I was mad at myself.

How had my schedule become so full of to do’s that I had forgotten how to just be?

How had my focus become so narrow that I had forgotten to really see?

I ran out with camera in hand

hunting for beauty

and found it –

there on the hillside covered in lovely blossoms

dangling downward

Lenten roses

*

Such a good reminder to live life slow

not as if life is an emergency;

to take the time to seek and see the beauty that’s right before me

and to thank God for each gift

*

Time is one of those gifts

and though it seems there is never enough of it,

every morning I need a reminder

that God has given me enough time

it’s all how I use it,

not how it uses me.

So a new resolve stirs to slow and be in the moment,

to balance, but always seek Him first,

and to be tuned in to the grace-shower that follows.

*

‘Plant the good seeds of righteousness,
    and you will harvest a crop of love.
Plow up the hard ground of your hearts,
    for now is the time to seek the Lord,
that He may come and shower righteousness upon you.’

– Hosea 10:12

*

Blessings,

Tracy

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singing a new song

i finally heard him this afternoon

my first robin of the season

i heard him before i saw him – he sounded so close

*

robins aren’t really known as great songbirds, but there is something comforting about hearing them in early spring

this robin, however, didn’t sound real happy

he sounded upset

then i spotted him in the mountain ash

right above the bird bath that was full of last fall’s leaves

i could tell he was scolding me to get that bird bath cleaned up and ready for him

*

it got me thinking

what song is my heart singing today?

am i  singing a song of impatience and complaints like that robin?

it’s easy to find things to complain about

here’s the challenge: for everything that goes wrong, look for the blessing

it may be hidden, but it’s there

*

kind of like this Hellebore (Lenten Rose)

i was pretty sure it would be there since it’s one of the first flowers to bloom in spring

so i went searching for it

and there it was – buried beneath the leaves

and what a joyful discovery it was!

*

the more we look for blessings, the easier they are to find

it’s a matter of changing the way we  see things

*

i’m praying that your heart is full of  thanksgiving for the many blessings you have been given

and that it’s bubbling over into a melody of joy

*

“He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. ” Psalm 40:3

blessings cont.

21. an afternoon spent in the garden

22. songbirds

23. my grandmother’s birdbath

24. hunting for surprises in the garden

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