Glowing Daffodils

 One side of our yard doesn't get much sunlight, so not a whole lot grows there.  But sometimes our daffodils bloom.  I say "sometimes" because last year they didn't bloom.  The leaves were there but no flowers.  I had worried they wouldn't be back, so I was very excited to see the first bloom this year.  There are just a few scattered here and there.  We didn't plant them; we inherited them with the house so it's always a surprise to see where one is going to pop up.  As I said, we don't get much sun where they're planted, so the sight awaiting me after my walk this morning was extra special. As I came within sight of the yard, the flowers were glowing from the early morning sun.  One in particular was lit up as bright as the sun itself.  Those few little blooms shining in the sparse brown landscape were so beautiful to me that I laughed out loud!  We don't fertilize the ground, we don't water, and yet there they are.  It's amazing to me how they keep coming back, seemingly against all odds.  Another lesson to be learned from God's natural world.  I found Him today in those gorgeous glowing daffodils shining bright as the sun.

My Calling

This is from Steven Charleston:

I walk on, no matter how easy or difficult the path before me. I walk on in good weather and bad, under a beautiful sky, beneath a dark moon, I walk on when the road seems to pull me forward to discover what is around the next corner, or even when I need to stop for rest before I can take another step. I walk on without knowing when my journey will end, embracing the journey itself as gift, it is my life and calling. I walk on in peace, in wonder, in endless thanks that you walk with me, 
and that together we walk in faith, the road that leads us home.

 Up until I started my blog last year, I repeatedly asked God what I should be doing with my life and the gifts He had given me.  What was my calling?  I was happy with my life but had the nagging feeling I should be doing more.  Then I started my blog.  I wasn't sure that it was my calling, but I was too busy with it to worry about it.  When I finished my year of daily posting in January, it was somewhat of a relief.  I still looked for God in my day but didn't feel the pressure of verbalizing it in any coherent way.  It was back to just me and Him.  I also had lost the nagging feeling of needing to do more and that was such a blessing.  The daily writing had somehow shown me that what I had - and what I did - in my life was enough.  Then at the concert to dedicate our new church piano this past Sunday, Father Tom spoke of using our gifts.  And again, I asked the question of God - is there something else I should be doing?  I think He answered me in Steven Charleston's post on Facebook today.  I read his posts every day.  He's poetic and insightful, and I always enjoy his writing.  But this one felt like it was written just for me.  You know how that happens sometimes?  When it seems a writer has seen into your mind - your soul?  I think God used him to deliver this message to me so I can put my mind at ease.  I am truly happy with my life.  Happy to do all I can for my family and to volunteer when I can for my church.  And I finally realize that that's enough.  That "the journey itself" is a gift.  It's "my life and calling".  I use the gifts God gave me every day just by living my life the best way I know how.  That's my calling.  Yes.  God found me and blessed me today through the words of Steven Charleston.    

Early Morning Sun

Today is the last day of my daily blog.  I had set out to write here every day for a year, and somehow, by the grace of God, I managed to do it.  Some days were easy, and some days were a struggle, but the struggle usually wasn't with finding God in my day, it was in finding the words to write about it.  I think my favorite part of this whole venture was hearing where other people found God.  Because of this blog, it opened the door for them to tell me about it, and I felt so very blessed when they did.  I'm not sure yet how I'll continue.  I may not write at all for a while, but I plan to write when the spirit moves me, whenever that happens to be.  The invitation is open to anyone reading this to write here whenever they want to.  You can do it on this blog (though it makes you go through a few hoops), or you can write on the facebook page Finding God .  I'd love to hear your thoughts.  My next project is praying in color.  Pat W. mentioned it in one of our meetings a few months ago, and since then the thought has never left me.  When something keeps nagging at me, I take it as a sign from God that I need to do something about it.  I ordered some supplies a week or so ago, and coincidentally (or not?), they arrived today.  So my new project to communicate with God has started on exactly the day that my old one ended.  I find God in that.
As far as today, my last daily post, I found God in the beautiful scene over the sound this morning.  We had to drive to Virginia Beach today, and as we crossed the bridge, I looked back and saw the sun radiating through a bank of clouds.  It cast a golden beam across the water and shot rays across the sky in a way that can only be described as heavenly.  It was so beautiful it was dangerous as I kept looking over my shoulder to admire it while trying to stay in my lane on the bridge!  Such beauty is truly a gift from God, and I found Him as I crossed a bridge in more ways than one in the gorgeous early morning sun.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I know I write about food a lot, but I can't help it, I love food!  The fact that we can get so much enjoyment out of what at it's core is fuel for our bodies is truly a gift.  Now I'll admit that chocolate chip cookies aren't necessarily high quality body fuel, but I think I could live on them very happily if I had to.  It's taken me three years to finally come up with a good gluten and dairy free chocolate chip cookie recipe.  My favorite "regular" chocolate chip cookie is the Toll House cookie recipe, and I just could not seem to duplicate it.  The flavor would be good, but not the texture, or vice versa.  And then when I got both of those right, the cookie only stayed soft and chewy for the first day.  By the second day, it would crumble when you bit into it.  I tried everything I could think of, and then I stumbled across a recipe that used instant vanilla pudding in the mix.  I thought, "Why not? I've tried everything else".  The first try was close, but not quite there.  A few more tweaks and I had it!  I'm as close to the original Toll House cookie as I'm ever going to get.  And oh my goodness, what a treat!  It was the perfect day for baking - cold, overcast, and blustery.  When I bit into that warm cookie with the melty chocolate chips... mmmmmm.  Heaven.  I found God today in the perfect gluten and dairy free chocolate chip cookie.

Bacon

Does anything smell as good as bacon frying?  I actually "fry" mine in the oven to avoid all the mess, but it still makes the whole house smell like bacon.  I cooked some today for a recipe I'm making tomorrow, and when I walked outside for a minute and came back in it was like bacon just smacked me in the face.  It's supposed to be for tomorrow, but I just had to eat a piece.  The funny this is though, for me, as good as it tastes, it actually smells better.  I feel the same way about coffee; like the drink, love the smell.  And it seems like you can smell bacon a mile away.  So many times when I'm walking in the neighborhood, I'll smell bacon cooking somewhere.  It's like a siren "scent" drifting through the air calling anyone with a nose to come and eat it.  It's been a while since I've had any though, so this afternoon, I enjoyed eating it as much as smelling it.  Crispy, salty, yummy!  Today, I found God in the tantalizing smell of bacon frying.

Perfect Timing

I had some errands to run this morning, and all that went fine.  But when I got home I was hit with an excruciating headache.  I tried taking a walk thinking the fresh air would help, but it didn't.  I tried drinking some hot tea hoping it would relax me and quiet the pain, but that didn't work either.  Finally, I just gave up and laid down on the couch with my arm over my eyes.  And guess what?  I got some relief.  As soon as I got up, the pain came back, and I realized I needed to dim the light.  Even though it's overcast outside, the light was still bothering me.  So I closed the curtains, sat down, and rested my head on the couch.  Finally, finally, the headache was fading.  As I sat there with my eyes closed, I thought about where I could find God in a day mostly filled with that awful headache.  And I realized that it was in the timing again.  My afternoon was free of anything pressing that needed to be done.  Jeff and Marlayna are both at work so everything is quiet.  There are leftovers in the frig so I don't have to worry about dinner.  The only thing that helped my head was a darkened house, quiet, and time to rest.  God gave me those conditions this afternoon.  I found Him today in the perfect timing that allowed me relief from my pounding head.

Cartoon Mushrooms

I was walking out to the mailbox when a spot of something red caught my eye.  As I got closer I was thinking "trash?", "candy?", but no, it was mushrooms!  Red mushrooms with white indented spots; they almost looked like something had been eating them.  I couldn't believe it.  I've seen some crazy-looking mushrooms in the yard, but nothing quite like this.  They looked like something out of a cartoon!  In fact, when I showed them to Marlayna the first thing she said was, "That's a Mario mushroom!" - as in the Mario Brothers video game.  (I've never seen it so I wouldn't know.)  They looked so fake that I turned one of them over to be sure they were real.  God's natural world never ceases to amaze me whether it's through unimaginable beauty or something so strange as to almost be comical, like those crazy red and white mushrooms.  I found Him today in another of His amazing natural wonders - funny little cartoon mushrooms.