Oh, Happy Day!

It is 71 degrees today. Not 90 with humidity that covers you like a wet blanket. 71! So comfortable that the fans are facing inside the house pulling in the lovely air from outdoors.

This morning I dropped off my 3 darlings at day camp and spent the morning doing a great workout and cleaning house. And I loved it! I am so affected by the weather, it's incredible. When we had weeks and weeks of rain, I thought I might just give up facing each new day. When the humidity comes I sit directly in front of the fan and wish for winter. When it's winter and the days are short, I think I must have seasonal affective disorder as well as an aversion to arctic winds because my tropical island fantasies go into overdrive (minus hurricanes, tsunamis and malaria).

I wish to enjoy the season and not complain. Today it is easy. The weather is perfect. My legs are shaved. My house is cool. Life is good.

11 See! The winter is past;
the rains are over and gone.

12 Flowers appear on the earth;
the season of singing has come,
the cooing of doves
is heard in our land.

13 The fig tree forms its early fruit;
the blossoming vines spread their fragrance.
Arise, come, my darling;
my beautiful one, come with me."

Song of Solomon 2:11-13

If only my husband were home, then my joy would be complete.

Micah Girl

Anxiety

I have been struggling with deep anxiety for the past I don't know how many days. My prayers are all about unburdening my anxious heart and letting go of those things that I have no control over. I know to cast my cares on God, but am surprised that I have to do it every morning in such a dramatic way. Perhaps I should not consider my own weakness so strange. Maybe it means that I am peeling away layers of self-sufficiency and learning to trust more. Certainly as the world seems to whirl out of control with natural disasters and terrorism and threats of pandemics, I have nowhere to go but to the rock that is higher than I. As I watch my children grow and face the challenges that are in front of them, young as they are, I can only grow in prayer or fall back in worry.

Help me, Lord, to trust in You, for everything. Calm my anxious thoughts and my worried soul.

Psalm 121

A song of ascents.

1 I lift up my eyes to the hills—
where does my help come from?

2 My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.

3 He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;

4 indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The LORD watches over you—
the LORD is your shade at your right hand;

6 the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.

7 The LORD will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;

8 the LORD will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.

Micah Girl

Aspiration and inspiration

"I am like a little pencil in [God's] hand. He does the thinking. He does the writing. The pencil has only to be allowed to be used."
--Mother Teresa

"Do not have your concert first, and then tune your instruments afterwards. Begin the day with the Word of God and prayer, and get first of all into harmony with Him."
--Hudson Taylor

“The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone.”
--Harriet Beecher Stowe

Friday Five -- Rain, rain (go away, please)

Today's Friday Five is simple enough that I can do it. I can blog! My kids are doing their music lessons in the kitchen and I am enjoying some peace and quiet and catching up on email.

1. Favorite way to spend a rainy day
Baking bread. I've been doing that a lot since it's been raining practically non-stop and the spring is nearly gone.

2. Favorite song about rain
Rainy Days and Mondays--love the Carpenters!

Talking to myself and feeling old
Sometimes I'd like to quit
Nothing ever seems to fit
Hangin' around
Nothing to do but frown
Rainy Days and Mondays always get me down.

3. Favorite movie featuring rain
Any film noir with the rain on the streets and rivulets running down the windows.

4. Favorite piece of raingear, past or present
Spy trenchcoat

5. Favorite word for rain
La lluvia

Micah Girl

To blog or not to blog...

To blog, or not to blog,--that is the question:--
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The rainy days that should be summer
Or to vent online about my daily grind
And by venting escape it?--To blog,--to kvetch...
To kvetch perchance to rant
Ay, there's the rub!

I actually have no complaints about my life, but am so busy living it right now that blogging is far away from my priorities. I am baking bread, and homeschooling, and doing bible studies with students, and preparing to have family visit from far and wide. I have long term planning I must do...which is not currently happening. I have administrative stuff I should do...which I hate. And I have three children who enjoy playing spelling bee and doing Tae Bo and reading stories and that is so much more fun.

Alas, poor Micah Girl, I knew ye well.

Micah Girl