Good light transforms the ordinary. It reveals inherent qualities, and highlights unseen potentials. We all see so imperfectly, but we know when we have those blessed moments of clarity that something truer and better than ordinary is afoot. Strive for those visions.

This morning I walked through poison ivy to get closer to something beautiful. It was a small risk, and worth any potential harm, to be able to see the light better.

The milkweed is spreading its wings in the fields.

October 10, 2014.

Good-bye, My Brother

We awoke to frost on the fields on September 14, 2013, and a chilly 34 degrees (that's Fahrenheit), which was a bit of a shock after temps topping the 90s just a few days earlier.

My brother had passed away the afternoon before, on September 13. It was a rather sudden death and the reality of it was only beginning to sink in, so life was moving in slow motion for me on the following morning, despite the fact that I rose early. The world seemed changed in many ways, and yet remained so constant and sure.

On that morning, I peered into the slowly rising mist that obscured the distant landscapes, and I thought I may have just caught a glimmer of him there, peering back at me. Such a thin veil separates us. 

The low light of the early rising sun turned the dewy field grasses at my feet into shimmery chandeliers. There was no breeze.  A lone sand crane flew overhead and disappeared into the distant sky. I stood in that quiet space and just stared… those small lights at my feet, reminding me that His word is a lamp to my feet, a light to be trusted. 

And then surprisingly quickly, the mist rose up and was gone, and it was just blue skies.

We, all of us, cope and grieve in various ways. That morning, and those fields spoke to me. I am so blessed to live where the play of weather in nature can speak, and I can hear so many lessons there, and find comfort in that quiet space. I take photos to remind me of the very goodness that surrounds me. My God lovingly speaks to me in language I understand.  He uses so many ways to reveal Himself to me...  not always the same ways, but always the same loving God.

This morning, on September 14, 2013, He was speaking clearly and my grieving heart was comforted just a little. 

We live, we love, we pass on. Our Faith sustains us.

May it be well with you today.

New Starts, New Beginnings

I am posting this pic of a beautiful sunrise today as a symbol of the dawn of something new.

Waiting in Silence

Waiting in Silence
Originally uploaded by marylea.

Lent began a little over a week ago, providing time for additional prayer, fasting, and reading.

I was lucky to wake early last Sunday morning to see this beautiful sunrise, and remember the line from Psalm 30, when David considers the condition of his soul, and rejoices in God's saving work.

"Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes in the morning." -Psalm 30:5

Blessings to you this season.