Quiet Heart

I'm thankful for peaceful evenings... 

 the quiet of the trees...

the sun sinking over a placid lake...

being blessed by these people and these places, where God's beauty shines so clearly,

reminding me to keep a quiet heart.

A Life

This is just a poem I jotted down one night (I very rarely write poetry, as I'm really not a poet, but this is how the words came). I journal a lot, so this poem is, on the surface, about writing. On a deeper level, however, it's a metaphor for a life that struggles to make sense of itself, but prays to "write" the things that count.


My heart is full, the page is white,
And words make shadows in the night.
They float through mists like birds aflight,
But phantoms cannot catch the light.

Thought runs swiftly into feeling,
Tumbling, into darkness reeling,
Words are quickly over-keeling,
Senseless things, devoid of meaning.

The page lifts up its gentle face,
Still pure as winter's white embrace.
I close the book and breathe a prayer:
May gold, not dross, be written there.

At the closing of a chapter...

When the blog has been quiet for a while, it usually means life hasn't been. ;)

Working part time has been a real blessing this summer. It's starting to get busy with back-to-school shoppers, even though it feels like summer has barely started. Staples is a good place to work. There are high and low points of course, but I am so grateful for where I am right now. Having a few days off each week means there's time to help with laundry and cleaning, as well as work on my crochet and sewing projects. And I was even able to take a week off to visit some friends on their farm and doing a bit of camping with my family.

As it's getting busier at work, I'm coming face to face with the reality that I too, will be going to school this year. And not "back" to school either. For me this is a first. After a good 13 years of home learnin', I'm going to sit as a student in one of those dreaded "institutions" for the first time. Though I have my moments when I feel like a kindergartener, I'm excited. I know I'll never fully know what to expect until I begin, but I feel prepared, and secure in that while I may not know what the Lord has for me in the next few years, I am where He wants me to be right now.

I'll soon be entering a new chapter... one in which impromptu family vacations and my dear familiar online teachers are relegated to the happy memories of bygone days. But as I leave some things behind, and stretch in new directions, I know that Christ will use all for my good and His glory, to conform me more into His image. There are many possibilities opening before me that I never would have dreamed of a year ago. Perhaps the road will lead me there, perhaps not. But I know this: the Way beneath my feet is firm.