free and whole.

This is my view presently ... just kidding.  Wish it was!  Instead, I'm in bed.

I've been fighting a migraine the past two days and it is ugly this time around.  After seeing my naturopath today, I found out my body is also fighting another wicked virus.  "Again?" I ask myself.  Double ugh.

It's during bouts like these that you begin to realize how much to be thankful for.  Healthy children, healthy minds, healthy relationships ... our health period.  

The actual word "health", means: to be FREE from illness or injury, the root word meaning WHOLE.  When we can say we are healthy in body, we mean that our body is absolutely loosed from any bug or illness.  When we refer to healthy relationships or something not physically related, we are saying that we are free from yucky things like mental sickness or regret, shame, unforgiveness, grudges, etc. 

"The One that God sent speaks God’s words. And don’t think he rations out the Spirit in bits and pieces. The Father loves the Son extravagantly. He turned everything over to him so he could give it away—a lavish distribution of gifts. That is why whoever accepts and trusts the Son gets in on everything, life complete and forever!" John 3:34

Isn't it cool that God allows us to be free from messy stuff in our lives?  He has forgiven us completely and made us whole?  He allows us to be healthy.

This thought - helping me get through this day.

pic pix: the beautiful ocean, Apr.2013, Mexico

language of color.

I've always been drawn to color and know that it's always made things make sense for me.  Right down to making sure the different shades of green on my socks and on my shirt "match", I knew it was integral in my life.  Even at a young age, I was told I had an eye for color.  Somehow, shades and hues just speak to me.  Most multiplication answers, numbers, memories, words, etc. have a color association in my mind. One of my roommates used to ask me what I saw when I closed my eyes and thought of specific words.  It became a game of swirling colors!

I knew color was special to me, but it wasn't until I was in my early 20s when I realized how much color meant to me.  It was winter and I had a day off, so I decided to take a drive out to the mountains.  I don't remember the specific place I went, but I do remember the thoughts I had, I wish it was spring, summer, or fall so I could at least photograph something with color.  I still got out of my car and went for a small hike anyway.

As I looked around me, I just saw a white, nearly colorless place.  The evergreens seemed dull and the all the other ground was covered with bleakness.  Regardless of what it looked like, being out there helped me feel closer to God and that's what I was after.  I'd never audibly heard His voice or really felt like I "heard" him before, but I talked to Him anyway.  That day, I remember asking specifically if He'd somehow speak to me.

 At one point, I closed my eyes for a minute or so, and when I opened them again ... I heard Him.

"If you look the right way, you can see the whole world is a garden..." ~ Frances Hodgson Burnett

The gold moss seemed  to pop off the north faces of the trees.  Greys and purples radiated off of the rocks close to me and the mountains in the distance.  Branches and their twigs' ends were like black polka dots.  The trunks of the birches were no longer just white, but an off-linen-white.  What was once insipid and colorless, now spoke life.

Colors no longer were just beautiful, but living.  It's like it just hit me, God speaks to me through His creation, through His colors. 

Now, to me, when I see color, it's God's way of speaking to me.  When I see a pallid landscape, if I just look further and listen deeper, I see the colors.  I hear His voice.  He gave me my eyes to see through, and what I see AND hear is a gift - His voice.  

And secondly, my special language with Him.

pic pix: out my window this morning, 13.Jan.2014, at home

think. less.

I've been reading about different women in the Bible lately, and have noticed an "interesting" commonality...they weren't perfect. Yes, you read that right, not perfect. Trust in theirselves was sometimes greater than in God. The tendency to want to take matters into their own hands was evident in more than one situation. Things weren't always ideal.

I'd say, that would sum up how I feel somedays - unworthy of grace and love, ungrateful, spent - not ideal.

For my devotional reading the other day, one of the questions prompted a description of: who I thought Eve was or what came to mind when I thought about her. My mind immediately classified her as "the woman who lead Adam to take of the forbidden fruit", "the one who was deceived and listened to her own thoughts and not God's". Thinking that I had given the right answers, I moved on in my devotion. The next question to think about was: how did God see Eve and what she was created for?

It took me a moment to push aside all preconceived ideas about her and think of her how God did/does. She was created to be a helper to Adam - a comparable creature. Her name means "Living", so to Adam (who named her) she represented life. She paved a new way as a woman to be a mother and wife...something never done before. God created her for all of that, and clearly, thought as His creation, she would be capable.

Then I started analyzing the way that I view myself, and how much I hold on to these minuscule flaws that aren't really "me" but things I've done in the past. Things I've been forgiven for. Things that yes, had a part of shaping me, but don't (and shouldn't) be shaping me today.

His grace covers that old Sarah, and His love allows this new Sarah to view myself differently, freely, and unashamedly.

We don't have to be stuck in a box in our own perspective of ourselves ... we need to think less about the past and dwell and marvel in the beautiful right in front of us. As imperfect and flawed as we may see ourselves, His perspective breaks that and frees us to live. Hallelujah!

pic pix: try looking at these leaves with a new perspective ... it's amazing how beautiful they are, taken on a K-Country walk, Kananaskis, AB, 12.Aug.2013

my portion.

Why should I feel discouraged?

Why should the shadows come?
Why should my heart be lonely.
And long for heaven and home.
When Jesus is my portion...
My constant friend is He.
His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know, He watches me.
His Eye is On the Sparrow ~ Civilla D. Martin

When we are faced with little discomforts in our lives, it is tempting to fall into the lie(s) of believing "this is just what I have to live with", "this is my burden that I've been chosen to figure out and carry alone", or "others have their own issues...this is mine".

If it's a matter of healing of the heart or body or mind, our loving Father wants the ultimate for us...with Him.  For even a small creature like the sparrow is able to find it's ideal home near where the King lives:

"Even the sparrow finds a home...near your altar, o Lord of heaven's armies, my King and my God!"
Psalm 84:3

No where in God's truthful words to us does He say that we have to be stuck.  Actually quite the opposite.  He wants us to be FREE and unbound in His presence.  But by believing the lies of what our "portion" is, we miss those moments of His immeasurable freedom.  We think that our hearts can only get so full.

The song above reminded me that if I believe that Jesus really is my portion, there can be nothing, I repeat nothing that can constrict me or stop me from fulfilling the dreams/desires/freedom in my life...today, right now.

So I let go of the foolish lies.  I open my heart's ways to Jesus-size portions.  I receive.  I celebrate!

With my whole being, body, and soul, I will shout joyfully to the living God!
...What joy for those who can live in your house, always singing Your praises.
Psalm 84:2b, 4


pic pix: a September run-taking in God's perfect detail to even the smallest of things, at a park I still consider my backyard (even though, it's not really!), September.2011
p.s. LOVE this song!

consuming His love.

The sovereign Lord is my strength!  
He makes me as surefooted as a deer, able to tread upon the heights. 
Habakuk 3:19 NLT

There is no better way to start my Monday morning than with this very thought ... I am able to tread [walk along] the heights despite the weather I'm facing.  I am surefooted [unlikely to stumble or slip ... confident and competent] as I take each step.  All because the Lord is my strength.

For every weight, for every joy-filled moment, for every struggle, for every overwhelming thought, for every abundance of blessing: He is my strength.

In painful times, God is strengthening you.  
In peaceful times, He is restoring you.  
In all times, He is loving you. ~ source unknown

Join with me today as I revel and consume His strength, restoration, and fierce love.

Hallelujah, what a Savior!


pic pix: a view from the most amazing hike of my life (so far!), Mount Sparrowhawk, Spray Lakes AB, 10.Jul.2010

receiving from the source.

What a crazy time of life this has been for us...moving, growth of business, new church "home (all shared about here).  It's felt like a continual shower of blessings lately!

Through these "winter showers", I've (again!) been learning more about myself and am realizing there are some big imbalances with parts of my thinking.  One area specifically...being a "Receiver".  Can't say it's been entirely effortless or continual that I have been a total "Giver", but somehow by doing/giving/"sacrificing", I've justified this misconstrued thought about receiving things:

better to give than receive = it is more "righteous" 
to be in the giving position than on the receiving end. 

Wrong.

When I break down the root of this thinking, what I am really saying is that I believe that I am better, and I can do better than what anyone can give me...including God.  I've (unknowingly) warped a beautiful thing that God freely releases to me, and have turned it into another area of pride in my life.  The pride of "me" being my source.

A tangible example for me...money.  I've always thought, "If I work hard I can make it.  If times get hard, I'll just take an extra job and push through.  I know I can do it: 'GO ME'".  (Prick a pin to that bubble and it'll pop pretty fast!).  It's as though I've made myself the source of my dependency.  Not even considering the One who created everything that I need, I live thinking, "I'll give what I earn."  Never in the position to receive, always in the position of doing and busy-ing myself and feeding my ego in the process.

In Matthew, Jesus shares how we don't have to take it all on ourselves:

Come to me.  Get away with me and you'll recover your life.  
I'll show you how to take a real rest.  Walk with me and work with me - watch how I do it.  
Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.  I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you.  
Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly.

Matthew 11:28

Again, I come back to this passage (and I can guarantee ... it probably won't be the last!).  It's SO simple, but with that little bit of pride, I complicate it all too quickly.

It's only my God that can fully take care of me, give me sweet rest, refresh me, TAKE MY BURDENS.  If I have been overwhelmed by His blessings already, I can't even begin to imagine what more He wants to/could lavish upon me when I open my hands and receive all that He gives.

God is changing me and impressing on my heart that blessings don't just happen in seasons (i.e. winter showers) ...

Blessings happen everyday.  Now receive.


pic pix: a walk around johnson's lake, Nov.2010, Banff Area, AB

that time ...

Around here, Christmas is gearing up and we're about ready to deck these halls!  'Cool Yule' and 'Oh Holy Night' are two of our daily tunes, my pinterest food board keeps getting more Christmas treats added, the advent tree is almost done, some Christmas reindeer showed up in my oven this afternoon, a date set to get our Christmas tree ... it's almost here again!

I've never had the time before Christmas to let the infusion of the season saturate and permeate my day-to-day.  Since I've been an adult, it's been either an exam due, a rush to get work deadlines done before year end, or just the plain busyness of other events that have taken my time away from home.  So I am plenty excited to take it all in this year and have this time to celebrate the birth of our King!


pic pix: 'it's time for Christmas' - shots around home, 28.Nov.2012

a simple thought.

If you're a hard worker and do a good job, you deserve your pay; we don't call your wages a gift.  But if you see that the job is too big for you, that it's something only God can do, and you trust him to do it - you could never do it for yourself no matter how hard and long you worked - well, that trusting-him-to do-it is what gets you set right with God, by God.  Sheer gift. 

Romans 4:4-5

. . .

It was on our way to the Apple store the other day.  We had decided it was time that I get a new laptop.  I've had mine for 4/5 years and though it's still in workable condition (for the time being), certain quirks have been a little more obvious lately.  A write-off for the business.  The computer is old.  We need to be able to get the new updates ... just a few of our justifications.

As we were approaching the mall, neither of us were pumped to go inside.  Our conversation at this point was focused on how the mall really seems to serve no purpose except to encourage buying stuff, comparing stuff, and consuming more stuff.  Stuff, stuff, stuff.

Driving into the parkade (as we were right amidst 'bashing' our society of consumers), we verbally, and obviously realized that we were no different.  Our mission was to buy a new computer because we "needed" it ... {I keep thinking of that scene in the movie "What About Bob?" - gimme gimme, I need I need!}.

That little incident stuck with me.  It's caused me to evaluate:

How far from the thinking of "being right with God is a sheer gift" have I drifted?  

It seems unnecessary to depend and trust God for things that I feel are 'entitled' to be mine (like my wage) because the thinking is, "if it really came down to it I would get them for myself somehow".  How backward is that?  The Creator of all things isn't trusted to take care of His creations and their needs ...

My simple thought:

Sheer gift = the simplicity of a life trusting in Him.

pic pix: simple trees, Fish Creek Park, Alberta, 14.Nov.2012

be free from expectation

To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing it's best, night and day,
to make you everybody else means to
fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight;
and never stop fighting.
~ e.e. cummings

A few months back, my sister-in-law wrote a post about the dangerous path of comparison.  When I read it the first time, I felt as though she could somehow read my thoughts.  Judah was just born, major transition was unfolding itself every single day, and all I could think about was other (new) moms and how they seemed to handle/cope/learn things.  I had opened the window and let the thoughts and attitude of comparison waft [waft: a term to describe scents that have diffused into other parts of the room] around me.

Realizing my comparative heart, I resolved to not let it drive me or my emotions down that negative road.

Fast forward a bit ... it's September and I've started to feel bummed again.  Not because summer is over.  Not because I get to be Matt's girl and Judah's mama forever.  Not because I'm not loved or supported by family and friends.  It's because I've been allowing myself to feel weighted and discouraged (again) because of the comparisons I've been making with:

- other women
- my life in the past

 and with meeting the expectations of:

- what the "world" thinks of me
- this utopian-wife/mama that I've imagined could exist

Fawne wrote, "We have to stop comparing.  It's deadly."  William Shakespeare* also expressed, "Expectation is the root of all heartache."

I've again allowed this poison to waft in my heart room.  I've let it linger too long and no longer do I want to have it here.  This is not living in freedom ...  

"Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit [freedom], let us make sure we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives.  That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse.  We have far more interesting things to do with our lives.  Each of us is an original." ~ galatians 5:25-26 - the message

We have far more interesting things to do with our lives.

That is not only truth, but encouragement!  Why waste our life trying to live to a standard we weren't even created for?  The only similarities we have journeying through life are: we each have our own lives to live and enjoy; and we are free as we live it.

Poison is not something I would choose to physically eat ... so, why do I sometimes choose to pollute my heart and mind with poison?  Comparison is a choice, with a dead result.  Freedom is also a choice, with LIFE as the outcome.  I shouldn't teeter on what to live by when the product is so clear.

____________________________________________________

I challenge you to look at your life today.  Maybe you don't partake in the same poison I can get caught up in, maybe you do.  Your wafting poison may not be something visibly obvious to you or others, but it still is eating away in your heart room and not producing real freedom.  Think about what areas of your life you feel stuck, weighed down, bound, lifeless ... that is where your poison lies.

"Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is FREEDOM..."
~ 2 corinthians 3:17 - the message



pic pix: summer landscape in Calgary - indeed original, Jun.2012, Calgary, AB

let's talk

I find it funny (ok...more *ironic*) that when you are thinking/dwelling on a certain thought, it somehow always works it's way into your conversation.  With whoever, whenever, wherever however!  Like your train of thought, making every railroad station hear the same "steam" blown from the previous stop.

Lately, my mind has been chewing on the topic of "talking".

Earlier tonight, my two sister-in-laws and myself went out on a wee shopping expedition.  Without any children or husbands ... just us three.  We had coffee, shopped, talked, and drove and drove.  Then, talked some more!  Conversation was refreshing, open, sweet, the reminiscing & sharing kind.

It's more than good to communicate like that.  To get my mind ramblings out in a raw and natural way.  Nothing premeditated or unrealistic.  One heart honestly talking to the next.  A true tête-à-tête.

After leaving and thanking God for a special time to share with my sisters, it reminded me how God unreservedly craves our continual conversation.  Our communication.  Our confessions.

Sing to Him, sing praises to Him.
Meditate on and talk of all His wondrous deeds ...
Psalm 105:2

Always be joyful.
Never stop praying.
1 Thessalonians 5:16 & 17

But, if we confess our sins to Him, 
He is faithful and just 
to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all wickedness.
1 John 1:9

Again, I'm being awakened to the crazy, wonderful reality, that God ~ our Creator, my super-hero God ~ just wants me to TALK with Him.  How I converse with family and friends, sharing the happy, sad, mad, glad moments.  Simply, communicating with Him.  

Like my boy communicates with his dad when he gets home from work ...

Like a random message taped up for strangers to read ...

Like girlfriends re-uniting for coffee and a chat ...

He just wants us to talk to Him.

pic pix: all photos in Calgary, 2011-2012

not quite road tested

Take a good look at God's wonders ... they'll take your breath away ...

Bless the Lord, O peoples!  Give Him a thunderous welcome!
Didn't He set us on the road to life?  Didn't He keep us out of the ditch?
He trained us first, passed us like silver through refining fires, brought us into
Hardscrabble country, pushed us to the very limit,
Road-tested us inside and out, took us to hell and back;

Finally, He brought us to this well-watered place.

Psalm 66:7a, 8-12

Right now, with all of the changes and adaptions taking place in my life, I'm feeling like I am in some 'hardscrabble country' .... being pushed to my very limits.  Not quite at the point where I am being road-tested - so that I can fully articulate what I am specifically learning  - but KNOWING and TRUSTING that God is/will be guiding me.  He's keeping me out of the ditches.  And as He promised, He's set me on the road to life.

I'm not sure where you are at within your journey today.  Maybe similar to me, maybe you're closer to that road of completely understanding where you are on your map.  Regardless, remember and celebrate with me right now ... He has brought us to well-watered places before.  So will He do again!

Take a good look at God's wonders ... they'll take your breath away ...
Bless the Lord, O peoples!  Give Him a thunderous welcome!


pic pix: tonight - our first night away from Juju (yup, this Mama cried!), 14.Aug.2012, Calgary, AB

...reaches to the clouds

I will thank you, Lord, among all the people.  I will sing your praises among the nations.  
For your unfailing love is higher than the heavens.  Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.

Be exalted, O God, above the highest heavens.
May your glory shine over all the earth.

Psalm 108:3-5

pic pix: yesterday morning's sky, Calgary, AB, 08.Aug.2011

s'more of the simplicity...

What a great long weekend camping in Kananaskis - Blue Rock Campground (can't believe that it's already "last weekend"!).  Away from it all...phones, internet, work, busyness.  How is it that not showering, sleeping on the ground, and making food over an open fire makes you never want to leave the mere simplicity of it?  It's when I break it down that I ask myself,"Why is it so appealing?!"

It comes down to getting back to the basics, the rawness, the foundation of who we are created to be.  Jesus even reminds us to:  

 

 Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock.  

Matt 7:5-23-25

It seems way too easy, to just listen and follow ... to become strong and confident on solid ground.  Have you simply listened or obeyed today?  Today, do you abandon your complicated reasonings and seek to know Him and find His unvarnished strength and wisdom? 


Here are a few simple moments captured from this weekend:

pic pix: simple camping fun, Blue Rock Campground, Sheep River Provincial Park, AB Aug.2011

is it enough?

A few months ago, we went down to Montana for a quick get-away.  Very fun, beautiful, relaxing, fulfilling (shopping and all!).  While we were down there, we saw this old Ford F-700 that I VERY much liked.  Ever since we laid eyes on it, I've been trying to think of creative ways we could justify buying it...business ideas, to everyday usage (ha!)...suggestions anyone?!

Not just about this truck, but with other "things".  We have these perpetual thoughts, "If we had/knew this...", "If we could just...", and we continually look for what is about to happen.  Don't get me wrong, dreaming is what sometimes keeps me sane, but yearning to be anywhere but the present is what merits a negative perspective on life.  And really, it's not a  new message.  I've heard it from so many different sources said in so many different ways... "Carpe Diem-Sieze the Day", "Live now...", "The present is a gift", etc, etc, etc.  So, why/how do we always get back to the cycle of thinking if  (1) we know the answers or (2) have at least gotten these empathetic phrases from past thinkers who have contemplated these very same things?

Maybe I'm digging a whole lot deeper and going on a curved tangent from the simple dream of wanting to own this truck, but it has really got me thinking about what I REALLY want.  Where I want to see my life.  How I should be spending my time now.  Am I living freely...satisfied...bound to my Savior's grace?

I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live.  That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God.  I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it.  Ecclesiastes 3:12-14 

As a heart-cry, I ask God to continually remind me of all that He has done for me ... sending us His Son Jesus, His Spirit as our Comforter, giving us grace so freely, all so that I will not be in want.

All so that I may be satisfied in knowing Him and wanting nothing more than to learn more of who He is.


pic pix: FORD F700, Whitefish, MT, April.2011

it "works"

Years ago, my Mom gave me some useful advise that I've used for nearly EVERYTHING!  When it comes to shopping or designing, I've heard her voice in my head, countless times quoting the same few words.  I've even repeated her advice back to her when she's asked the questions, "Does this suit me?", "Will this go with my style?!".  Her wisdom ...

As long as you love it, it's going to work.   

A simple logic and great reminder for me never to get away from the basics of who I am or what I see beauty in.  Maybe the first time she spoke the words, she didn't intend for me to take it to heart in ALL areas of my creative perspectives ... but I have.

Again, as any time I think deeply about inspiration, creation, or beauty my thoughts are turned to our Creator, God.  My God loves everything that is in existence around us, regardless of it's flaws, nics, or scratches.  And somehow, and in someway, if you take a look around, all that has been created just seems to "work" together.

There is not one shade of green that is exactly the same if you look at a mountainside pixeled with trees.  The fact that combinations of different instruments can make many stylings of music that soothe and sing to us.  When words and textures that have never been integrated together are mixed and produced, some label the phenomenon as "original" with an instantaneous appreciation.  An instance where two opposite personalities attract, that make for a successful marriage...wonderful parents...

How does it all work together when it's not perfect or matching?  Simply ... because of His love for us.

    pic pix: 2 of my favorite things - peonies & paper - that "work"!  Jun.2011

his image.wonderful

wonderful : full of wonder
inspiring delight : delightful inspiration

Everything he does reveals his glory and majesty.
His righteousness never fails.
He causes us to remember his wonderful works.
How gracious and merciful is our Lord!
Psalm 111:3-4

 

 pic pix: colorful, intricate bark, Whitefish, Montana, April.2011

his image.awesome

 

Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.
      He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,
 for through him God created everything
      in the heavenly realms and on earth.
   He made the things we can see
      and the things we can’t see—
   such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world.
      Everything was created through him and for him.

Colossians 1:15-16

pic pix: above Spray Lakes, Canmore, Alberta, Jul.2010

his image.joy

 

 This day was THE happiest day of my life!!  There was so much promise fulfilled 

as God shared His pure JOY with us ...

pic pix:  picture courtesy of Perspective Eye Photography - "our happy day" - see some more of our wedding pictures here, 19.Feb.2011

his image.love

The book I was looking at had pages filled with images taken from the HubbleSite...a fascinating space telescope.  Picture after picture, the stars, planets, and funny-formed gases held new wonder and intrigue.  As a coffee table book, there were captions and quotes that expressed, awed at, and pointed to the amazing creation within.  Flipping through the pages, I couldn't help but be drawn to the question this verse asked:

With whom then, will you compare God?  To what image will you liken Him?
Isaiah 40:18

 

I am all about documenting the moment.  Usually, I remember special moments with the perspective I had when capturing the image.  Even for our wedding, I had to really study the photographer's viewpoint before it felt like the event really took place(!).  Images speak to me, teach me, and help me remember.  But when I ask myself about the Creator of it all ... how can an image(s) begin to render the Great YAHWEH?  The One who brings into existence whatever exists.  What do YOU liken Him to?

 

 Beginning with this image, starts a series of depictions that remind me of special moments when God has revealed a side of Himself to me. 

pic pix: God's pure love...for everyone, Llano Bonito, Panama, Feb.09
 

inspire

It's been hard to be creative lately. From writing here or my journal, playing or composing music, or just having the 'oomph' to start a project ... it's been hard. I've felt a lack of inspiration...

to {inspire}: fill (someone) with the urge or ability to do or feel something, esp. to do something creative; breathe or blow into [impart a truth or idea to someone].

When I compared the "state" of my inspiration before to now, I realized I couldn't find an excuse as to why I was not receiving inspiration with my surroundings, gratitudes, and love. Sure, I will face times where I will be in a slump and not as riveting, but right now, things are fun, fresh, exciting and new. So, why is it that I cannot find that urge or ability to do or feel something creative? It's my 'fuel', is what ... HOW I am fulfilled ... satisfied.

Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love

And his wonderful deeds for mankind,

For he satisfies the thirsty

And fills the hungry with good things.

Psalm 107:8-9

Much like this bamboo, I'm in a time of seeing variations of myself ... some yellow, fresh green, dried up and peel-able... Parts of me that I have brushed to the side, as I've faced "other, pressing" issues in my life until now, are now being exposed, revealed, even to me. Through this, I am learning, developing, and gaining sweet perspective of my Creator as He continues to provide, nourish, and reach me however I may be.

I flip my attitude and say, because of that, I can know satisfaction and be inspired today ... lucky me, and lucky for you too, as He promises to the same for you!

pic pix: bamboo shafts spotted on our honeymoon, Manzanillo, Mexico, Feb.2011