All the Good Things: January Edition

1. Dad who is my personal car advisor. Long distance car shopping made for some special memories.

2. Nature's colors that shine through the ice. We will not succumb to cold's deadness.

3. Piles of blankets and books. The best of winter nights.

4. Friends more than willing to drive me around town when I'm without a car.

5. Crunching down sidewalks and jumping over slush puddles. I will savor what little winter I see here.

6. Music that gives expression to my heart and is the soundtrack to my days. This month it's "I Will Survive" coupled with "Rest Easy" (both by Andrew Peterson) and "I Am Hidden Away In The Bosom Of Christ" (Ron Block) followed by "Let It Out" (Switchfoot)

7. Sweet potatoes and butternut squash - filling my stomach with sunshine.

8. Earl Grey tea. Some days need many mugfuls.

9. My art corner - the table is covered with jars of markers and paper waiting to be filled.

10. The church's liturgies that focus my scattered heart back on the presence of God. 

11. Long walks outside. Trees, sunshine, and breezes - my prescription for destressing.

12. Conversations with family. The distance makes phone calls all the more precious and meaningful.

13. The transforming power of the Gospel. The risen Lord Jesus has redeemed me body, heart, and soul. Now may I fully live out that truth. 

14. Handwritten letters in my mailbox. My day sparkled with the special connection that comes from the written word.

15. Congregational sing. My voice united with my church family on worship and in encouraging one another in psalms hymns and spiritual songs is one of the greatest blessings of each week. 

Where DO Violets Grow Anyway?

From By The Shores of Silver Lake, Chapter 30: Where Violets Grow, by Laura Ingalls Wilder:

"Laura sank down and took Grace in her arms. They were surrounded by masses of violets blossoming above low-spreading leaves. The sun was warm there, the sky was overhead, the green walls of grass curved all around, and butterflies fluttered over the crowding violet-faces."

This vignette of overwhelming beauty from the end of By The Shores of Silver Lake has enthralled me for years. The power of this beauty lies in the origin of the buffalo wallow. When Laura described the pool of violets to Pa, she thought it must have been a fairy ring. And Pa explained:

"You are right, Laura; human hands didn’t make that place,” Pa said. “But your fairies were big, ugly brutes, with horns on their heads and humps on their backs. That place is an old buffalo wallow. You know buffaloes are wild cattle. They paw up the ground and wallow in the dust, just as cattle do."

You see, violets grow in a couple special places, the first being a buffalo wallow. If I were a patch of earth that was continually trampled by bison, I'd feel miserable. I'd be beat up, tired, wondering why the bison picked me to wallow on and when the hurt would stop. All the while I'd have no idea that I was becoming fallow. Soon I would be ready to spring alive with masses of pungent purple flora, for beauty often arrives in the most unexpected circumstances. 

Our Creator has given us the promise that He will make everything beautiful in its time and that the good will one day triumph over all. But violets have been my friends since childhood in the real world, not just the in the pages of books. 

Growing up, my backyard was peppered with them every summer. In the place where we played wiffleball, ran with the dog, fed the ducks, made mudmen, and so much more, I could always count on violets to spring up amongst us. I put them on little wild animal graves, in my and my doll's hair, in tiny vases around the house...their little loveliness spread everywhere. 

In much the same way, all sorts of beauty is everywhere in our day to day life. Sometimes it just takes a little extra wide eyed searching.  

That's a bit of our inspiration behind this blog: finding beauty in the struggles and ordinary bits of life. Conveniently, everything around us should be reclaimed for joy which gives us licence to talk about a great variety of things. And so, welcome to our ramblings.