If you would have a lovely garden,
You should have a lovely life.
—Shaker Saying

Summer Snow

When Maddie and Skye were playing on the back porch a couple of weeks ago, they walked along the sitting wall which made them eye level with the overhanging branches of the white crepe myrtle that are heavy with blossoms. I had so much fun watching them swatting at the bloom clusters and squealing when the petals showered over them and floated to the ground. Summer snow! When all the available blooms were harvested, they had the snowflakes in their hair and on their shoulders, and the porch was covered with petals. Time for a snow cone? Summer heat, summer treat!

Thank Heaven for Little Girls

From peanut butter and polka dots to puppy dogs and paper dolls!

Dance With Me!

This is Maddie and her new friend, Roxie. They hear the music!

Eastering

Dusty road, despairing pair,
Putting one foot in front of the other,
Grieving, bewildered, unaware.

Preoccupied with deep loss
Seeing once more that recent horror,
Their friend’s awful death on a cross.

Dulled by painful sorrow,
Immersed in tangled thoughts,
Anxious about tomorrow,

Barely noticing one coming aside
To question their troubles,
Matching their stride.

Their vision was clouded with doubt and tears
So, recognition delayed,
They told him the news and their fears.

No reproving or chiding in his talk
As with clear understanding
He walked their walk,

Then joined them in a simple meal.
It was bread that was broken.
By this they saw what was real.

Tears were gone, hearts on the mend.
It was as bread was broken,
That they knew their dear friend,

And learned by heart what eyes had concealed.
That He was with them.
That first Easter, in Emmaus.

I travel my own path far from Jerusalem.
Am I blinded by what comes next to do?
Will I know what comes next to be?
In the breaking of the bread, I remember Him.

I see with my heart, not my eyes.
With is a powerful thing.
Eastering, again.

Mary Ann Parker

Reflection for Lent

March has come in like a lion. After several balmy days causing the little nubs on the crepe myrtle outside my kitchen window to swell and turn bronze and green, suddenly the winds rose, temperatures fell and in Texas Blue Norther fashion, March 1 dawned near freezing. In my Bible readings in Luke, I feel the progression as Jesus begins to intensify his teaching to his disciples and turn steadily toward Jerusalem and His cross. I am reflecting on how He must have felt the changes in His followers' "weather" of understanding and relationship. One day they seem so eager and in tune and perceptive. Overnight, or the next minute there can be change to clouds of "me first" and questioning. Jesus must have felt them waxing warm and then cold, peaceful, then blustery. It is easy for me to raise an eyebrow at the disciples scuffling along on hot dusty roads among crowds of questionable people, many with urgent needs. I am so spoiled to comfort.

I think of the weather proverb we apply to March. "In like a lion. Out like a lamb."
Jesus entered Jerusalem like a lion. Lion of Judah. King. Hosanna.
He left, a lamb.

As He said...not "The End", but "It is finished".

It wasn't easy, but it was life-giving.