Saturday Stillness: Spring Up

Sharing with the community at Saturday Stillness

God's Blue

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

John 1:1-5

It has been so very long ago, that I've forgotten the name of the special paper we had to buy for that class we had to take, that class called Color. I remember it was expensive back then, in my make-every-penny-count college days. I probably could have eaten for a couple of weeks on the amount that precious pack of paper cost. But I wouldn't have eaten steak.

And the blades for our knives had to be sharp, sharp enough to slice through the clay-coat layer without chipping it. One clean, hard, sweeping press at exactly ninety degrees. Some taped the paper to the glass before cutting, some held it with gloved fingers. Tongues touching teeth in concentration, eyes focused on the straightedge and the knife.

We changed color in that class, made optical illusions by placing one against a variety of others to fool our brains into seeing what wasn't there. We learned about hue and shade and shadow, how sunlight casts violet into the green of the grass, how to squinch the color out of an object in order to find its value.

I learned that no matter how expensive the paper, no matter if I bought the packet of 256 sheets, or the packet of 512 sheets, there weren't enough blues to satisfy my hunger for sky and water.

My family went camping last weekend and I drank in the blue of the sky and the blue of the river. I noticed how the green leaves framed the water and deepened its hue. God's blue. It is more than enough.

Sharing today with the 5-Minute Friday community

Yay, It's Spring!

See! The winter is past;

the rains are over and gone.

Flowers appear on the earth;

the season of singing has come,

Song of Solomon 2:11-12 (NIV)

It is official. Spring has sprung in the North Country.

Every year I am awed by the wonder of new growth and spreading greenery.  My heart sings and I am glad. Warmer days, rustling leaves, freshly mowed grass and fields. I hear birds sing, children play outside, my daughter switches out her clothes in the closet.

Imagine if we, saved by grace, given hope for new life, are God's springtime buds and blossoms. Imagine we are his bulbs, planted before and enduring the winter, ready to bloom at the changing of the season.

Just thoughts. Just wanting to share these beautiful days. Thanking God for spring.

All photos were taken between April 29, 2015 and May 25, 2015 - Amazing month!

Linking with TellHisStory, and ThreeWordWednesday

All About Him

And Jesus answered and said unto her, 

Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: 

But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, 

which shall not be taken away from her.

Luke 10:41-42

I caught myself thinking yesterday.

I know.  What a statement.  I suppose it implies that there are times I am NOT thinking.  Well, yes, as a matter of fact, there are.  So maybe what I could have said is I caught myself NOT thinking yesterday.  Either one works.  And each speaks to a new attitude, a new way of looking at things.

Here's the backstory.

We have recently moved to a much colder climate than we are used to.  Complete with feet of snow and below-zero temperatures.  It is taking some getting used to - I have taught my daughter to wrap a winter scarf around her neck, nose, and mouth so that she doesn't catch her breath in wind-chilly gusts of cold air.  We are getting accustomed to layering our clothes and bringing our street shoes so we can wear the snow-and-ice-gripping snow boots on snow-packed sidewalks and slushy parking lots.  We keep our personal blankets on the sofa so we can snuggle in during movie and TV time.  I have added a new skillset to my teach-an-old-dog-new-tricks repertoire - I know how to start and run a snowblower, and I've learned how to throw snow up on four- and five-foot stacks using a push-and-whoosh shoveling style.

I think the snow started toward the end of November.  Here it is March, and between the lake-effect, the lake-enhanced, the regular snow falls, and the colder-than-average temperatures, we still have at least three to four feet of snow filling our yard, and we have neighborhood snow banks that top out above roof level.

It's a lot of snow.

I am wishing for spring weather.  I am wanting to see some greenery, some color.  Less white and gray, more pink and yellow.  I remember last year, about this time, I took my camera out and about in the neighborhood (yes, farther south from where we are..), and I caught some of nature's signs of upcoming warmer weather.  I called it bud hunting.

So, since this location isn't showing any signs of spring, yet, I decided I would bud-hunt through my iphoto files, and begin posting pictures from prior years.

And here's the aha moment.

It was snowing when I decided it would be a good idea to post those memories.  Big, beautiful flakes of snow falling into the backyard, falling on the driveway, clinging to the trees.  I could see them gather, airy and light on the porch handrail, on the flag-holder, covering the old snow left by plows, filling in footprints.  In the beginning of the season, when we first moved here, I loved to watch this kind of snow swirl and drift.  Now, not so much.

What changed?

The only thing I can come up with is time and habit.  I've grown used to snow, and it's overstayed its welcome.

Really?

Am I so looking forward to something new and different, that I am neglecting to see the beauty of now?

I've been reading from Beth Moore's bible study:  Jesus. The One and Only.  Years ago, Jesus had dinner at the home of Martha and Mary.  Martha opened her home, but Mary opened her heart.  Each made a choice.  But it wasn't between right and wrong choices, it was between levels of good choices, levels of right choices.  It is so easy for me to think of my choices in black and white - only one is right.  I don't like snow.

But I do.  I just don't feel like loving it right now, because I SO want to see and be in warmer weather.  But the choice isn't between snow and warm weather.  I honestly like them both.  The real choice is in my attitude.  How will I choose to feel about the snow while I'm looking forward to the spring?  Hmmm....

In this study, Beth shows that between Martha and Mary, the choice was between good and best...  But Beth's final words in the chapter had me thinking about my snow attitude...

Shall we allow good to become the enemy of our best?  The choice is ours.

Oh God,

Help me to see the forest for the trees.

Help me to recognize the good and the good, and to realize I don't have to choose between them.  Help me to glorify you and your creation - all of it!

Thank you for snow.  

And Spring.

Thank you especially, especially for Jesus, 

Because in the end, it really is all about Him.

Linking with Naomi, and Kelly 

Five-Minute Friday - When

There's something in the English language called 'the conditional'.  I'm not an expert, but it came up the other day while a friend and I were teaching our intermediate and advanced English as a Second Language classes to military spouses on post.

I would have wished for stars....   is an example of a conditional tense - this one (I think) is conditional past perfect (or past participle depending on how long ago you studied grammar...).  Using the word 'would' is a big clue.  You set up a condition with the thought of perhaps doing something, and there's an implied 'but' or 'if' -

Here's an example of the sentence that had us stumped for a bit...

"I wish I would have been watching."

See, it gets kind of confusing.  You have the present 'wish', the past 'would', the present 'have', the past 'been', and the present continuous 'watching'.  I know.  Bear with me - I'll get to the prompt.

So, the other teacher asked my advice.  She thought it wasn't a conditional tense because there were no qualifiers - the 'if', the 'but', the (here it is, folks....TA DA) 'when.'  We looked it up.  Yes, there is a good purpose for iphones!  Ends up this is a mixed present hypothetical past perfect conditional sentence with an implied 'if'.  EEK!!

Well, here's the point of this little jaunt into grammar-land.

How many times have you implied an 'if', or a 'when', or a 'but' into your life?

I will do such and such when....
I would have done such and such, if only...
This might happen, but....

See.  We live in conditionals.

Long example, short lesson.

God isn't conditional.  He Is.

We serve a mighty God who will NEVER forsake or desert us.  NEVER.  Not conditional.

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:38-39

Jesus said 'When'.  He didn't say If.  He didn't say but.

  When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, 

he will sit on his glorious throne.

Matthew 25:31

Our Savior doesn't imply conditionals.

That's cause for celebration, don't you think??

Linking with Kate at 5-Minute Friday