Bit of a drag coming back to winter after three summer weeks in Thailand, all flip-floppy and sun-shiney and green. Glad welcomes home, and lovely to be with beloveds. But I also catch myself in those stuttering sighs of a good cry without having had one, from missing beloveds I left on the other side of the world.
Then right away, before I was really ready for it, there was Easter; some parts over the top amazing, some parts disappointing in sad and worrisome ways. I cherish Easter, expect a lot of it, feel very protective of it. And I finished the weekend feeling that in some ways I failed my Risen Jesus on a day meant to highlight His exceptional awesomeness.
So today, having two grand-littles keep me company since there was no school, we opened the windows.
Literally. The afternoon sun edged the thermometer's red line up enough to prompt my first airing out of the season. Window's wide, especially the bedrooms. Let the spring air in to blow out the stagnant winter. Let's be outside for a bit, picking up branches strewn by layers of storm, now exposed on still brown grass laying flat from where the snow was. And we dug a little hole and said a little prayer for a very little bird found dead. And we accepted with gratitude our first free gift of Vitamin D and the glory of an early spring afternoon.
And now, in the quiet of their departure, I feel like my soul-windows were pushed open as well. Fresh reminders of the mountainous abundance of my life; warm mercy from a Risen Jesus who rose to set me free from self-tyranny, blowing newer thoughts through my moody mind to bring direction to the week ahead, and grace to forgive myself and keep doing this thing I do, however imperfectly.
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| Photo by Kristyn |
