Skirting Scout—Spring musings

IMG_20140320_161224794_HDR It was the first day of spring.  Who could resist getting out to feel the sunshine?! So I did a sunny circumvention of Scout’s faces…

And sat a while in the warmth reading and ruminating on what it means to grow in grace…

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And I had a happy tromp around the mountain…

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IMG_20140320_174319313_HDR…and back home again.

Meanwhile next door a new owner has taken up residence and is working to establish dominion over decrepit outbuildings, rambling thorns and a jumble of hodge-podge.  First comes the demolition, then the clearing and beautifying, as the old way of life on that property gives way to the new…

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Perhaps this is not so unlike what it means to grow in grace.  A new Owner has taken up residence and is making all things new—out with old decrepit life patterns that serve no purpose, in with the beauty of His holiness… It’s all part of a process that the new Master superintends, graciously.

–LS

And a fresh bit of wording from The Message New Testament:

There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears. (Phil.1:6)


“Let me put this question to you: How did your new life begin?  Was it by working your heads off to please God? Or was it by responding to God’s Message to you?  Are you going to continue this craziness?  For only crazy people would think they could complete by their own efforts what was begun by God.  If you weren’t smart enough or strong enough to begin it, how do you suppose you could perfect it?  Did you go through this whole painful learning process for nothing?

Does the God who lavishly provides you with his own presence, his Holy Spirit, working things in your lives you could never do for yourselves, does he do these things because of your strenuous moral striving or because you trust him to do them in you?  Don’t these things happen among you just as they happened with Abraham?  He believed God, and that act of belief was turned into a life that was right with God.”  (from Galatians 3)

 

 

 

We have seen His glory

The people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light…

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And upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death
Light has dawned

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The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

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The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world…

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And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,

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and we have seen his glory…

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And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace…for grace and truth came through Jesus Christ…(and) to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.

–LS

We, as believers, are of all people most blessed in this season as we celebrate our Savior’s coming.
May God’s light shine all around you and your family this Christmas season and then through you to enlighten your world.

———–

“And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts…” II Pet. 1:19 ESV

I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of LIFE! Jn.8:12

[Meditations drawn from Matthew 4:16,  John 1 and a late winter’s day hike up our beloved Scout Mt.—LS]

Quintessential Summer Daze

What makes a summer’s day just right?

Sunshine and heat and a tandem ride to the beach for starters…

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…a tall cool McDonald’s strawberry mango smoothie to follow,  a refreshing shower and a nap out back from happy exhaustion in the dappled seclusion of the willow…

Upon waking, juicy cold sailboat slices of watermelon till thirst is quenched and tummies tight ( :

A broiled salmon steak fished from local waters for supper and then a quiet perusal of the garden in the balmy evening and some industrious compost turning  just because making dirt is so much fun!

And at close of day a glorious billowing sky of gold and silver clouds to the west and a full arc of brilliant rainbow to the east…tying up the day as if it were a custom gift from God to us.

All these make a summer’s day just right.  What more could I ask?

But then today dawned and I couldn’t resist a little hike to a favorite ‘perch’ on the side of Scout…

And I sat and wrote and read the morning away, lapping  up the luxurious warmth of another rare summer’s day…

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And  I took pictures…

P1110649P1110650P1110653…pictures of every summery thing that struck my fancy…Well, not everything, the bumper crop of crimson huckleberries hanging daintily by the roadside I didn’t think to photograph.  I plucked little tangy handfuls and ate them instead!

Flowers everywhere are celebrating summer…

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Some with great fanfare…

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Others lollygagging about…

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The most exquisite bears thorns… she is the blackberry’s forerunner.

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And at last, home to my own flowers.

My very own first Gerber Daisy… looking artificial were it not for the rumple of wind and weather…

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A quintessential summer’s day would be incomplete without the bumbling buzz of bees, hard at work while we play…

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Here’s hoping you too are enjoying the essence of summer where you are.  What makes a summer’s day just right for you?  Drop a comment in the box before you head back out the door to smell the roses!

–LS