pulling up my boot straps (with help)

Do you ever have those days where things just keep going wrong?

And then, at a certain point, the level of "wrongness" is so disproportionate that instead of being overwhelming  the pile-up of problems become ironic. Almost humorous?

(my worn boots in a pic taken by Hannah)

That was my yesterday.  From the truck stalling, to AAA not being able to find our insurance information, to my vacuum blowing up (ha ha ha -- not really blowing up but the motor burning out with half a room waiting needing to be vacuumed), to finding my boys stash of small pepper stems behind the couch, to the fridge motor icing up causing me to take everything out of the freezer and defrost, to getting late to ballet, to not checking one thing off my homeschool list, to finding out that Chloe MUST have braces as it's a functional problem and not just cosmetic, to finding out I have to go back to the dentist for several kiddos to get cavities filled, to the printer rejecting the ink-cartridge at 10:50pm when Hannah has a paper she needed printed for her class in the morning, to well, you get the picture. A mega dose of - if it could go wrongs - handed over to a tired momma.

That was yesterday.

Now it is today.  February 2, 2011. A new day.

And the Lord's mercies are new.

And I laughed about my yesterday this morning.

(ready for a new day)

I'll figure those hard things out -- with the Lord's help I'll have grace and patience and hope.  Rocky seasons remind me of the joy in good times, and like I've been writing, are helping me see the everyday beauty.  Like this morning.  My two oldest boys wrestling and laughing in the living room.  Samuel eating (yes eating) a gluten free pancake from Trader Joe's.  My new header, designed by my Hannah, as a gift to encourage me.  The fact, that hopefully, the truck just needs a new battery. (Oh, I hope it's just that......) To sweet Chloe's kind words in the morning. Or my moment of brilliance when I reminded the boys to dump the huge box of legos on a blanket so that we can clean them easier.

I have this devotional - Streams in the Desert by L.B.Cowman - that was given to me when Todd was undergoing cancer treatments.  I've pulled it out, dusted the cover, and begun rereading the pages. This is today's verse:

In the shadow of His hand he hid me;

he made me into a polished arrow and concealed me in his quiver.

 (Isaiah 49:2)

God's there. 

Always.

( by the way it ends with these encouraging words)

- remember how closely the quiver is tied to the warrior -

Alleluia.

I couldn't do this myself. :)

my Sam....and thought of spring

Samuel

My daughter Hannah took this picture of my Samuel.  I love, love, love it.  I'm hoping to have it blown up and put on a canvas type frame.  Sigh.  She's got many more pictures on her photography blog 2010 in 2010 and this picture she entered in a contest.  She wrote about it on her blog Aspire.

I love spring.  Well, mostly.  If it wasn't for my terrible allergies I could safely state that spring would be my favorite season.  Despite those pesky allergies, there is something rewarding about seeing green growth come from what seemed to be dead earth.   It amazes me how this plant, buried under piles of snow, sitting in freezing temperatures unthaws to come alive again.  I never grow tired of wandering around my perennial gardens looking for signs of life.  And today?  Oh my, oh my, my beautiful crocuses emerged.  Some years these hardy flowers peek through remnants of snow.  This morning I wandered over to be greeted by this:

new life

What an amazing God we serve.  We were dead in sin without Him. His sacrifice, His giving of His life allows us to emerge...beautiful.  It's so easy to forget the power of the Lord at work in our hearts and lives.  We tend to get so busy with the world's concerns that our hearts slow die.to the beauty of Christ in our lives.  We plod around our day, trudging from menial task to task and losing sight of the big picture.

He's alive!  Without Him we would be no better than dead earth.  But with Him we are free to grow, to love, to live.  And to find joy.

Spring is about reminders of new life.  Everywhere I look green and color are returning.  It's a beautiful reminder of how our lives parallel the seasons.  I've had those times of winter.  Times when everything is bleak, and hard, and where the everyday seems enormous.  And I've had those times of fall.  Times when I need to reign in activities, to refocus, and remember.  Or summer.  Times that are carefree, full of family, and moments of rest.  But spring?  Ahhhh, spring.  Springtime is a new start.  New energy for life.

The most surprising moment of my daily "check out my gardens" walk is a post of chives given to me by my father last year.  He gave them to me late in the summer.  By that time I was quite tired, being seven months pregnant, and I never got around to planting them in my garden.  So I left them sitting in the planting pot.  Untouched.  The summer came and went.  Fall, then winter.  And now spring.  I looked at them a couple of days ago thinking that I might as well just dump the dirt into my garden.  I thought they were dead.  And then today....on my walk...alive.

chives

No matter how dead we think we are in our walks there's always hope.  Hope in Him.  Jesus can take us, no matter where we are, and breathe new life. So take a little "check out the garden walk" today and be reminded of the beauty of spring in our own hearts.  Alleluia to Him!!