A Day at Home

Happy Veteran's Day, everyone!  I hope you're enjoying a good day off, if you have the day off.
I am happily working at home today. We have a big sale coming up, Lord willing, on December 3rd. It is Beyond the Unicorn in Springfield, VT.  There's lots to do before we're ready, so I'm praying for at least one day off during each week ahead so that I can have plenty of artwork: hand painted pen & ink notecards and several floormats/floorcloths ready to sell.  Syd is busily tying earrings but can only do so in the evenings.

I decided to concentrate on only ONE thing today, note cards.  I still have quite a stack to get printed before I can get them all done, but there are plenty all ready to paint now.  Next week I'll work on floorcloths, though later today I may at least get the base coats on them.  The ones that sell the most seem to be for our animals...the Doggie and Kitty feeding stations.  I call them Doggie/Kitty place mats (this is SO funny, I left the space out of  'place mats' and it changed it to placentas! Now that would be a strange craft item!)

For the first hour or more I took the time to check out all my blogging friends and anything new that they've written.  It is so much fun to read all the blogs.  I don't think that Ruger enjoys these home working days as much as I.  Hearing a lot of ruckus behind me while I've been at the computer, I just turned around to see almost ALL of his toys strewn across the floor and this eager-looking fellow ready to play. Hopefully there will be a lot of squirrel activity outside today to keep him busy!

Now I'm getting ready to just get going on actual work. The sun has started to peek through the clouds here, so my mind is already thinking about a walk with Mom after lunchtime.  Guess I'll get busy!

Hope you all have a wonderful day and plenty to keep you occupied.  There's always something. I keep eyeing the dishes, but had better pick up the watercolor pencils instead!

A Settled Peace

"He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." Matthew 5:45

I love the way that this mist has settled into the plunging valley of Mill Village. On a clear day from Darling Hill one can see just how deep this valley is.  On this particular morning the heavy fog appeared to be pressed into the mold of the twisted and hillocked terrain that winds its way between folded hills and leads East and South to villages and cities beyond. 

As my eyes take in the view, I am reminded of peace.  On an early morning before the sun has peeked his eye open to glorious sunrise, all is quiet and peaceful. The valley is blanketed with a haze that makes it difficult to detect a fox making her way back to the den, or the deer moving through and between trees to wooded thicket to wait out the heat of the upcoming day.  Above the mists Darling Hill has only begun to awaken. The birds have started to rustle and try their voices to morning calls. No dogs have been loosed to chase a skunk or coon that may have wandered too close to their driveway.

The clustered clouds grow pinker, then gold and purple and we know that the wonder of sunrise draws nearer.  And then it breaks forth! From the eastern horizon the glorious light spreads across the mountains and field. Its fullness streams into the windows, flooding the room with brightness and warmth as if it could burst out through the portals. Once relieved of this miracle, the sky's horizon returns to blue and clouds to gray-white.  A phoebe's voice begins the chorus. The day is awake.

Already can be seen the lifting of the fog from the lower village floor. It obscures the baser hills for a time then strands of gray reach upward as if trying to touch the face of the Creator.  He takes them home once more, as He has done countless times.

Before the morning passes there is still time to rest and reflect on the peace that can be had with the One who created mist and sun.  Like the fog that lay heavy into the valley's belly, this settled peace can rest within the breast of anyone who will place their faith in the Son of God, who's cross one day stood on the mount of Calvary. On this cross was shed the blood of the spotless Lamb of God.  His one-time sacrifice, sufficient for the ages, bridged the deep chasm of sin and the heavenly place where God the Father resides.  One day I walked across that blood stained bridge.  The Lord Jesus' death, burial and shed blood -my only hope to take away the sin that separated me from a holy God- was realized in my heart and my Father took me into his family and made me heir to eternal riches and righteousness.  Oh what peace!

No outside disturbances can take this away. As the day begins to take shape around me and the cares of life begin to press in upon me this peace remains.  It lies heavy in the valley of my soul. There is no lifting or escaping; no filtering out through the cracks. The mists of peace do not break apart and disappear into the great unknown. My favorite "peace verse" comes to mind, "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." (Romans 5:1)  The word "peace" there truly means 'legal, settled peace'.  Every time I look at this picture of the mist it reminds me of this peace that is, once and for all, settled into my being.

I hope that all readers have experience the peace that comes from knowing that you are brought back into a peaceful relationship with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. If you haven't, the Bible says that 'whosever will, may come'.  God has not changed, nor has His Word. Jesus died for all mankind and is ready to bring this settled peace to you too!

Things I'll Miss

Peepers shouting at the tops of their lungs as we near the pond; the sudden silence upon approach.  We step away several feet and hear one single peep, followed by a small ensemble then the entire symphony begins again.  These are things I will miss now that
   the leaves have loosed themselves from twig and branch and
   the carpet lies thick underfoot.

The crackle of campfire and smoke that lingers on hair and clothes;
   this scent I smell when rolling over in the bed
   in the middle of a hot, Summer night.

Listening to evening birds from the deck as we await the red moon
    that will soon, surely rise between the darkening mountain peaks
    while a dog barks at nothing from a house below.

Walking down the lane on a moonless night with no flashlight;
    as we, once more, lingered too long;
    wishing to prolong the company of family and friends.

Webs strung in bushes, heavily laden with morning dew
    throughout an entire corner of the field;
    as the rising sun glints from and lightens each silvery strand.

All of these delights will return when the snows
    disappear; having already given us a taste
    of what is to come and eventually stay for many months ahead.

The Spring will show her beautiful face again.
    The tints of green will begin on the cottonwoods
    and spread across the expanse of mountains that we see from Darling Hill.

Soon we will revel in the bright white of Winter;
    and soon express how much we will miss it's glittering blanket
    across each field;  every color of the rainbow reflecting in the low, cold sun.
    Once the snows melt into the earth that awaits the springing to life again.

Pictures of Rejoicing

      "Thou makest the outgoings of the evening and the morning to rejoice." Psam 65:8

We had a wonderful day with the church family.  There was good teaching from the Word and plenty of food and fellowship.  We shared "the Lord's Table" together, in remembrance of what Jesus did for us when He shed his blood and died upon the cross for our sin.  It was a tearful reflection of how much we owe to Him daily as He gave the ultimate sacrifice for us.

As I thought about all that I should be rejoicing in because the Lord has saved me, this verse came to my mind.  Even the sunrises and sunsets shout glory to the Creator.  They are a wonderful reminder to us that all of creation points to glorifying the God of the universe.

Through the years on the Hill we have watched many sunrises in the East and have viewed purple/pink reflections against these same mountains from the sun setting at our back.  Here are just a few.

As we head into another week I hope that you'll come to visit us on Darling Hill to check in on what is going on up here.  I do always pray that the Lord will give me something that will lift people's eyes to Him by sharing what God is doing in my own heart and how He is leading step by step.

If you read often, you have noticed that my blogposts are not always filled with Bible verses, though they sometimes are.  I do not necessarily mean to teach others by what I write, but often cannot help but share something that the Lord has laid heavily upon my own heart.  If the Lord might use it to bless another, I pray that He will.  Sometimes the posts are simply a piece of prose or poetry and other times it is just a funny happening of the day.  I hope that you will continue to read even though the blog does not follow a consistent theme.  It has been so enjoyable just to write.  All of my life I have written stories and poems that end up in a folder, tucked away on a shelf.  It is such a joy to know that anyone can now open this "folder" and read what is written therein!  Have a wonderful day and week.

I leave you with one of our moonrises.  During the Summer and Autumn months we sit around the campfire waiting for that moment when the moon peeks above the horizon and then rises so quickly into the night sky.