Tag Archives: nature

Today,

Today, we washed out the bed of Dad’s pickup truck with the hose. The water ran down the street in a tiny river, hugging the curb. The boys and I followed it, splashing with bare feet.

Michael brought an old broom from the garage and used it to splash the running water over buckles in the concrete. We decided to see if it got all the way down to the storm drain.

We stopped to make dams out of sticks, and watched as they forced the water farther out into the street. We snatched the sticks away and watched the water surge ahead, a valiant and insignificant trickle. Nothing mattered but the blue sky, and the warm sun, and that trickle making it to the storm drain.

Today, we were ragamuffins, jeans rolled up, ankles dirty, shoes anywhere but on our feet.

Today, we got amused looks from the neighbors.

Today, we were straight up Huck Finn.

We swept the water along, taking turns with the broom. We reached the storm drain and watched the water fall headlong through the grate.

I didn’t get the boys home in time for dinner, but I got them out of the street every time a car went by. We came home with our feet and hands dirty.

Today, the world felt a little bigger, and I felt a little smaller.

Today, we chased our goal and reached the journey’s end, and tomorrow I’ll fall headlong into a new adventure, refreshed from today’s stream–just enough water to trickle to the storm drain.

Spring

This post is just a reminder. A reminder to stop and pay attention to what’s happening to the world right now.

Spring is coming.

After a cold February in Omaha with record-breaking snow, this week has been warm and sunny.

I spent some time outside today, and it reminded me what spring feels like. There are still dead leaves piled around our yard; the grass is brown, and there are rotting acorns squished into the mud; there are twigs and stumps of dry bushes everywhere, and all the trees are bare: there are dead things all over.

But everywhere, everywhere there are subtle whispers of life.

Cliche though it may be, spring reminds me of what Salvation means. Waking up. Coming to life.

Stop and listen!

Don’t you feel it?

Undomiel

In case you hadn’t yet noticed, I love this necklace!

Thank you, Spencer, it’s awesome.  And yes, it still is, even when I do cartwheels and it hits me in the forehead.  😉

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I can’t believe how well this turned out!  And in case you were wondering, that’s my new favorite shirt.

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These two are very special to me.  I always connect this necklace and its story with the idea of hope.  I thought the bright sparkles looked so hopeful against the ashes.

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I don’t know why we had this pile of cinders in our backyard, but it made for beautiful pictures. 😉

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And yes, I totally take photo-shoots of inanimate objects.  Doesn’t everyone?

Happy Saturday! 😉

Lauritzen Gardens

I know these have been a long time in coming. . . better late than never, right?  Anyway, I’m very happy with how they turned out!

If you don’t like hundreds of pictures of flowers, feel free to skip this post. 😉  And, believe it or not, this is the narrowed-down version.

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I got a lot of good pictures of Little Brother.  I guess he’s just picturesque.

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I am so excited about this picture!  My pictures of bugs never turn out this clear!

Continue reading Lauritzen Gardens

King

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All that is gold does not glitter,

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Not all those who wander are lost;

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The old that is strong does not whither,

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Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

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From the ashes a fire shall be woken,

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A light from the shadows shall spring;

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Renewed shall be blade that was broken,

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The crownless again shall be king. (193)”

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

A New Road

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Still round the corner there may wait

a new road or a secret gate,

And though we pass them by today,

Tomorrow we may come this way

And take the hidden paths that run

Towards the Moon or to the Sun. (86)

The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

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We went to Lauritzen Gards yesterday, and I think I took a million pictures (including that one ^^).  We’re going to be pretty busy for the rest of the week, but I’m hoping to post the rest of them sometime soon.

Happy Wednesday! 🙂

Storms

I step outside, onto the wet grass, and look around the yard.  I’m shocked to see how much damage the storm did.

Nothing huge–thank you, Jesus!  The trampoline’s standing, and there’s no trees down.

But the plants are in tatters.

The ferns were so pretty this year; so tall, so green.

Now they hang in droopy shreds of frond.

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Still, I can’t help but feel that the air is clear and warm, and there’s a picturesque beauty about the yard still.  There’s a promise hanging in the storm-washed air.  It’s Spring–things might still grow back.

I plop down on the wooden bench and open my Bible, trying to stay focused on the small words, and not the nature around me, shiny with rain-drops.

I look down, and there on the ground, amidst the battered flowers, is a tiny egg-shell.  A bright blue robin egg.

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I find myself whispering, Oh God, don’t let it have blown out of a nest in the storm!

I catch myself–does it matter that much?

Suddenly, a Bible verse comes to mind, and a thousand songs with it.

A sparrow cannot fall without notice. . .

I begin to think.  What does that really mean?

He never promised that the sparrow wouldn’t fall.

He says when it does, he sees.  He cares.

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Jesus never promised us that He would keep the storms away.  He promised to weather them with us.

He doesn’t say He’ll keep us safe–He says that no matter what, He’ll be with us.

He came to earth, was born in human form, as a helpless baby.  He lived in our world, felt our hurt.  He experienced human hunger.  Human pain.  He experienced every thing we must experience–and things none of us need ever experience now, because of His sacrifice.

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As Christians, that is our job.  To come to the pain.

Establishing God’s Kingdom does not mean eliminating pain.  It means bringing Jesus to the pain.

Our job is not to hunker down and wait expectantly until Jesus returns.  To lock ourselves inside and close the shutters.

Our job is to run to the pain and suffering.  To step out, into the aftermath of the storm.

And bring Jesus there.

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In the second The Hobbit movie, The Desolation of Smaug, the Elvish king hears threats of war and devastation from a goblin he captures.  He tells his son, Legolas, to order the closing of the gates to his underground kingdom.  Hearing that his friend, Tauriel, went out to track the rest of the goblins, Legolas goes in search of her in the forest.

Finding her, he tries to convince her to come back before the gates are closed.  Tauriel refuses to leave the goblins to kill and destroy through the other lands.

“It’s not our fight,” Legolas tells her.

“It is our fight,” she answers.  “Are we not part of this world?”

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We are a part of God’s Kingdom.

We are not to close up the gates and hide until the storm blows over.

We are to engage the world He made–and loves enough to die for.

We are a part of this world.  It is our fight.  It is our problem.

We cannot close our eyes to the war and pain and storms.  We must open them, and feel the sting of the falling raindrops.

We are called into the storm, and that is where Jesus is.  Is it not better to walk through the storms with Jesus by our side, than to hide from them–in temporary safety, but all alone?  We are not to fear what can harm the body, but what can harm the soul.

Do not be afraid, little children, you are worth more than many sparrows.

May showers bring. . . ???

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As you can see, we have plenty of flowers.  But the showers didn’t pass on when April did!  We’ve been getting quite a bit of rain, and we had some spectacular hail last night. . . I think Spencer was the only one who wasn’t woken up by it about 3:00 a.m.!  I came downstairs this morning to piles of ice out the windows and a thin layer of leaves and sticks over everything.  Literally, everything.

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Flighty Nebraska weather! 🙂