Joy

Two years ago I dug up a tiny piece of this pretty roadside flower and took it home leaving plenty of the flower behind. This month I drew it in my journal. The longer I studied it the more I wondered why it couldn't be a particular flower I had wanted to grow but had never seen. I looked in my wildflower guide and realized it was the sought after flower.

God know's how to send each one of us happiness. "For God giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdom, and knowledge, and JOY." Eccles.2:26 The Jerusalem Artichoke is a native flower of Ontario and it is now growing in my yard scattering happiness like star dust to my daughter and I.

Sent from my iPhone

Thankful

This is my desk in my cabin. I sit here when I draw, paint, design tapestries and often when I'm mending. Creating is a very important part of finding solace in my very long journey in grieving loss.
I am thankful to God for his great blessing in bringing my daughter and I here to this wild space. I feel like I deserve nothing, but God has overwhelmed me with his gifts. And that leads to the second part of my observation and that is no matter how down I feel to remember my blessings. "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits." Psalm 103:2 ESV

Leaves

"and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations." Rev22:2 I wonder about these miracle leaves. What do they look like? What do they taste like?
When we moved here from PEI I brought along a tiny, native high bush cranberry shrub. What I didn't know at the time was that this shrub grew wild around the forested edge of my yard. What a surprise I had the first spring! The blooms are ornamental, the fall leaves red and the berries delicious. Each fall my daughter and I try to pick them before the grouse and other forest animals consume them. Interestingly this berry doesn't mold. When the berries are picked before fully ripe they continue to ripen when left out of the fridge.
As much as I admire this earthly shrub my heart is drawn to the celestial country where all pain no matter its source will be healed forevermore.
Sent from my iPhone

Survival

On a beautiful spring day my daughter and I saw this green comma in our yard last week. It was the first butterfly of the season. It had overwintered as an adult butterfly. After a cold winter it seems to me a miracle how this little creature survived. I feel encouraged by this butterfly. Since it survived the harsh winter than I too with God's help can survive the harshness of this life. "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."Phil. 4:13 kjv 

Sent from my iPhone

In the woods

I was walking with my daughter through the black spruce tree's behind my property. There are no roads in here making it a wild space. I was looking for birds when suddenly large, dark wings dropped down through the tree's and as silently as a feather falls through the air it disappeared ahead. We walked on in breathless anticipation when suddenly I saw the alarmed great gray owl looking uneasily at us with yellow eyes and then it swooped down among the black, inky, green trees and disappeared. I did a victory dance. I had turned 50 and my daughter 13. I was alive, healthy and despite all the heartache, loss and sadness I felt joy. I am thankful to God who sustains not only the owl but me. "He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous." Matt 5:45 NIV

Sent from my iPhone

Care

One of my biggest joy's last week was seeing a small flock of hoary redpolls. These tiny birds- no more than 5 1/2" long with a tiny red cap are visiting from the arctic where they live and breed on the tundra. They allowed us- my daughter and I to approach them - we were on our bicycles and come quite close. They were eating dirt on the icy road the sanding truck left behind. The experience reminded me of a bible verse in St. Matthew 10: 29-31. "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows." 

His Love

I'm waiting and listening for a particular sound but I haven't heard it yet. Instead I have heard male, red winged blackbird's calling from the unthawing creek. Another sound I heard was seagull's calling as they flew over the creek. When the temperature is above freezing I hear the sound of dripping water from the thick blanket of snow melting around the cottage. But the sound I am listening for is the ocean.

When I moved with my young daughter I drove 11 days across Canada before I saw the ocean again. It was a long journey for me and it showed me in a physical way the vastness of God's love.

I know that no matter which island I call home He sustains it all. This month is our birthday's and the three year anniversary marking that move. God has been with us when the sea of life was calm and when the storms of life were raging. His love has been eternal like the ocean. No matter how much of a wretch I am He has shown himself to be a God of love and it's this enduring, faithful love that binds me to Him. "We love him, because he first loved us." 1 John 4:19 Happy 10th birthday to my sweet daughter!!

Sent from my iPhone

Sent from my iPhone