A Summer Recipe for a Thursday Morning

It’s summer time here in the northern hemisphere and contrary to popular belief, yes we get sunshine, people wear bathing suits and flip-flops and shorts, just for a snippet of time – blink twice and it’s gone.  Once and a while we’ll get an Indian Summer and they’re my favorite, when the hot sun decides to stay into the latter part of September!

I run a custom picture framing shop out of our garage studio, where I also write music and record song demos.  I was busy the last week of June and first week of July.  Hard to believe, because with such a short summer, I expected everyone to take their lawn chair outside and stay there, however we have had more rain than usual, flooding rain, you probably heard that in the news.

But here it is, I decided my summer had to be different from getting up and going to work.  I do homework in the mornings for Bible School and that is very good because it keeps me focused and more aware of how to avoid unwanted distractions, and then I frame in the afternoons.  However, I wanted to make my summer different and special?  Last summer I hosted a young women’s Bible Study -life changing memories.

We aren’t taking a summer holiday because we renovated our kitchen in May and June.  Come to think of it, we might not be taking an official holiday until next year but the kitchen is worth it.  Maybe I should plant my lawn chair there for a while?

I have decided to take one week off in the middle of our summer to go with my Bible, computer and write, and visit people who are dear to me.  I’ll get behind the wheel and drive and listen to God, but guess what?  You could call that a holiday?  I also decided that I would treat myself to some things I never get to do, like clean the house slowly, and thoughtfully, which brings me to this morning.

I have some of favorite tunes playing on a new i-tune playlist.  I am cleaning our two cherry wood book shelves and getting re-acquainted with our books, a love I am rediscovering – I am crazy about books.  It didn’t take long and I began to separate them into categories, music, writing, prayer, Jesus.

When I find a book that I forgot I bought, I sit down with my coffee and read a chapter.  I know there’s work waiting for me in the shop, but there is something very heartwarming about taking time to live and breathe and not allow schedules to box us in, which reminds me of a book I ran across and want to re-read – “When the Game is Over It All Goes Back in the Box” by John Ortberg, also author of “If You Want to Walk on Water, You’ve Got to Get Out of the Boat”.  I highly recommend them both!

So here is my summer Thursday recipe!  Put on some spirit filled music, pour yourself your favorite beverage and go through your book shelf.  Oh yes, I almost forgot I found a site on the internet that is helping me with book shelf style:  http://www.havenbyhayden.com/?p=868

I should have taken a picture of the before so I could show you the brilliant thereafter.  Oh well.

Happy Summer Thursday, my friends.  And don’t forget to eat breakfast!

 

Rainy Days and Faith, and Orange Plaid Rubber Boots

I sat in bed against all our fluffed up feather pillows with a “faith” cup I was given for my birthday – full of coffee and cream of course.   The curtains were open just enough for me to see the sky’s expansive shower head, rain down in a westerly direction.  Every now and then between whispering prayers and reading Psalm 73, I looked up into the darkest parts of the trees to see if God had turned the tap off.  It’s easier to see the translucent rain drops that way.  It was still raining, a lighter pressure than before, and the naughty branches were quarreling with each other.

It’s a good day for rain I guess. Life must go on, even though everything is a bit more difficult to do, umbrellas, plastic bags, rubber boots.  Mine, are shallow orange plaid so I can’t go wading in the deep puddles.  Maybe that’s why my husband bought them for me, orange so he could spy me from a mile away, and shallow to keep me on the sidewalk.

I feel like a little girl who needs to be told to keep out of the puddles.  I feel like a little girl most all the time. I keep her close to the surface in everything I do, that way I hear the birds sing, and watch for what God is going to say next.

What are you going to say today, Lord?  When the sun is out I think we run off and play without consulting you, but when it rains everyone is a bit more unsure of how to proceed.

Thirty One is Too Young for Anyone to Say Goodbye.

“I never knew him” I mused, but was positive once I typed his name into my computer’s browser, I would recognize his face and I did.  I spent a generous time watching Glee episodes for the first time with my jaw stuck to the floor.  My own musical dreams hadn’t turned out the way I thought they were suppose to, so rather than mope around or live vicariously through someone else, I watch science fiction and escape the melody altogether – usually.

He looks kind of like my niece’s husband, clean-cut, bright faced, happy and healthy.  Learning about his addiction problem didn’t affect how I felt about him, but hearing his age and that his life was now over – crushed my spirit.  Thirty one is too young for anyone to say goodbye, so much more he could have discovered and overcame and celebrated.  I am thankful we do have some amazing reel to remember him by.

Being an artist myself, I know that passion has to run deep for the song or the voice or any other instrument, or acting – to impact the world.  That same passion can often be called a “weak heart” condition, a tenderness that feels beyond the normal check-point of sorrow, which if unchecked can tip the balance and send a person into an earthly black abyss.  The pills or the alcohol are the quickest way back to sunshine for some, but only for a while.

I’m not sure where his mind was before he died, if he was on the edge of the abyss, or not even close, but I can tell you this….I am going to watch Glee now, and get to know just a small piece of who Cory was.  My sympathies to those who knew him well and loved him. We are all at a great loss today.  When ever any soul lives and dies, a treasure leaves our midst.

For those other deep artist types out there, “guard your heart, for out of it flows the very issues of life” (Proverbs 23:4)