Yay!!!

The Story Isn't Over

Grateful for finding these words today at In Him We Live and Move and Have Our Being (and I'm feeling especially today as though without Him, I'd be unable to move as the living is so very hard right now):

 "...we need not pretend that all is well in our lives in order to experience thankfulness. This coming Thursday, try to find at least one thing for which you can be grateful despite the tough times in which you may find yourself this year. It’s amazing how much happiness this practice can generate, on Thanksgiving, and throughout the year....Finally, knowing that the story is never over will help us to have a happy Thanksgiving....Could we acknowledge the good despite the pain of not knowing what could be coming?...Ultimately, I realized that we were holding back because the story wasn’t over. Then I realized that in life, our stories are never over, so why wait?"




You have been raised to life with Christ. Now set your heart on what is in heaven, where Christ rules at God's right side. ^[a]

   ²Think about what is up there, not about what is here on earth.

   ³You died, which means that your life is hidden with Christ, who sits beside God.

   ⁴Christ gives meaning to your ^[b] life, and when he appears, you will also appear with him in glory.....

   

   You must quit being angry, hateful, and evil. You must no longer say insulting or cruel things about others.

   ⁹And stop lying to each other. You have given up your old way of life with its habits.

   ¹⁰Each of you is now a new person. You are becoming more and more like your Creator, and you will understand him better.

   ¹¹It doesn't matter if you are a Greek or a Jew, or if you are circumcised or not. You may even be a barbarian or a Scythian,^[d] and you may be a slave or a free person. Yet Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us.

   ¹²God loves you and has chosen you as his own special people. So be gentle, kind, humble, meek, and patient.

   ¹³Put up with each other, and forgive anyone who does you wrong, just as Christ has forgiven you.

   ¹⁴Love is more important than anything else. It is what ties everything completely together.

   ¹⁵Each one of you is part of the body of Christ, and you were chosen to live together in peace. So let the peace that comes from Christ control your thoughts. And be grateful.

   ¹⁶Let the message about Christ completely fill your lives, while you use all your wisdom to teach and instruct each other. With thankful hearts, sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God.

   ¹⁷Whatever you say or do should be done in the name of the Lord Jesus, as you give thanks to God the Father because of him.

1 Colossians 3

   

   

Always something beautiful

Never say there is nothing beautiful in the world anymore. There is always something to make you wonder in the shape of a tree, the trembling of a leaf.
Albert Schweitzer




Tina's PicStory

By mercy and truth iniquity is purged, and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil.  -Proverbs 16:6




Praying this today and lately.  


Hard times have hit. 


I am still writing.  One week left!  


Pray for me? That I might see and speak truth. That I might live and give mercy.  For wisdom and kindness and peace....












This is the last leaf
in the year's book.
Now I come to grief
as the earth's breast goes hard and mean
and hay is packed for the manger. - Anne Sexton


Oh Angel of the blizzard and blackout, Madam white face,
take me back to that red mouth, that July 21st place. - Anne Sexton

Fun stuff, kids.  This is my husband being silly/romantic. That's the way he rolls.

Weekend reflections

Books

A room without books is like a body without a soul. - Cicero

Thursday  Challenge

Snow and Trees

“I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields, that it kisses them so gently? And then it covers them up snug, you know, with a white quilt; and perhaps it says "Go to sleep, darlings, till the summer comes again.” 
― Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass