Come See Me at My New Address!

I've moved!  Not physically but electronically.  I'm excited to announce that I will be blogging from within my own website!  Whoo Hoo!  This is such an exciting achievement involving the time and talents of two wonderful people that have made this possible.  I'll tell you more about that process later...but for now come see me at my new address!  I won't be blogging here anymore.

Where Have I Been?

Where have I been for the past year?  On a journey. Sometimes it was an exterior, physical journey but mostly it has been an interior one. A journey of the heart.  One of deep significance that is beginning to show on my exterior in subtle ways.  God has been about the business of remaking me from the inside out.  I am ready and challenged to take up the proverbial electronic pen and write of my journey...won't you join me?

Images of Love

With Valentine's Day around the corner we see red and pink hearts everywhere!

But are those symbols true images of love?

What does love look like anyway?  Red velvet cupcakes?  Red hearts?  The Eiffel Tower?
Vintage linens or glassware?

You might think of a couple walking holding hands; a child looking up lovingly at a grandparent; brand new parents holding their infant tenderly.  All those definitely conjure a comforting image for me, but what if you don't have another half?  Or your grandparents have passed away?  Or you are a childless couple?  My image suggestions would be painful and not full of love.

What images of love transcend the brokenness of our lives here?

 You may be familiar with this Celtic symbol of the Trinity from ancient times.  It is called the triquetra meaning a shape with three corners.  Various histories claim the symbol so it is not primarily a Christian symbol in origin, but it has been associated with the Trinity since the Celtic revival in the 19th century.

I share all this by way of sharing something I have recently come to appreciate as an image of love.  The unity of God in three Persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit is pictured in this symbol.  No beginning, no end, flowing One into Another.  You may know that Jesus the Son prayed in John 17
"that they also may be in Us".  When we are "in Christ" we are "in God", in the Trinity. 

I am a visual learner.  At the center of this symbol is a space surrounded by the flow of the Three in One.  That's where we are invited to live.  In the center of God.  Surrounded, protected, empowered, loved.

I want to be right there in the center don't you?  Not center stage.  Not even!  But in the middle of the Love of God from the foundation of the world!  Forgiven, Redeemed, Accepted, Loved.

That's an image I can stand on.

How about you?

Thoughts from Solitude

 One morning last fall, I happened to look out in our backyard as I was washing the breakfast dishes.  I saw something pink out of the corner of my eye.  It was a balloon floating over our fence.  It settled in our gone to seed garden bed.  I grabbed my camera and ran outside to capture the random event.

 I was able to get one stationary shot and then the balloon started moving on.  It gently floated across the beds and then suddenly caught an updraft.

The last image I took was just before it floated out of our yard.  The whole event was only about ten minutes, but the images and the randomness have stayed with me.


The pink was lovely and sweet; in an all male household there's not a lot of that color floating around!  The randomness was obviously unplanned; if my batteries weren't charged I would have missed the photos.  I need to be prepared to respond to the unexpected gifts of time with others or calls to action that the Spirit may bring my Way.  The gentleness and quiet movement of the balloon reminded me of the Way that the Holy Spirit often moves; I need to be attentive or I miss the opportunity of His gifts.

What have you learned in your solitude lately?