Writings on the Wall...or in this case, the dust ruffle

In making one my daughter's bed today after company left, I spotted this on the dust ruffle:

I found my mind traveling back 18 years...One of my best friends had disciplined her less-than-2-year-old for writing with markers all over their hallway wall.  That week, she lost her precious baby. She never cleaned the markings off the wall; and when she moved, her family carefully cut the sheetrock around the artistry, framed it, and displayed it prominently in their new home.  Sometimes, you just gotta see with a new perspective.

Now, I'm sure one of my grandaughters created this masterpiece..it doesn't really matter which one.  It sort of gives me this sense of their presence and comfort knowing that a part of them has been left with me in our home.

As a grandparent, I have a different perspective.  In fact, while I can smile at the thought of the secret that is hidden under a quilt, I can rest in the confidence that~~at some point~~each one of my granddaughters has left such masterpieces on some unorthodox canvas and probably were disciplined in a way that no longer left them with the desire to create further reminders of their presence.

I'm glad this happened before that time...because it sure does make my cup overflow!

A Place of Rest

My secret garden is the place I go each morning for my quiet time with Yeshua.  The thirst in my soul is quenched here...it is here I am emptied out and filled up ready to poured out. This is my time to be refreshed and renewed so that I might flourish in my day.

Being still before the Lord has never been one of my strengths, even though it is one of my strongest desires.  So it is amazing that this secret garden has provided me with a place that invites me in and beckons me to draw closer.
       
Right now i'm in Ezekiel. It's a harsh book. It feels repetitive. Yet there are new revelations and applications for me each time i'm brought back to its pages.

  

The readings I look forward to the most are a Psalm and a Proverb.  They open my eyes and my heart in worship and teaching.  Today, Proverbs 3 held a treasure chest full of reminders in every single verse...it overflowed with more than my brain could hold.  I could write a separate piece on that chapter!  Psalm 27 was my Psalm for today...I read it over and over and it was my praise for today. 
                                


In return for my praise, God shows me His majesty in my garden.  Mr. GoldFinch appeared up today introducing me to Mrs. GoldFinch, and it looks like Mr. and Mrs. Hummingbird (who showed up late in the season) have 2 new friends with whom they are allowing to share their feeder!  The garden teems with purple martins, chicadees, woodpeckers, mourning doves, sparrows, cardinals, mockingbirds, purple finches, squirrels and rabbits.

Bouquet after bouquet of flowers burst with color, filling the air with its soft scents, and bring vividness to the life that has been nurtured here. 

 

Though the thick moss will soon give way to new grass, I immerse myself in its softness, and the healing that the damp soil brings to my feet causes me to linger with each new step. 

Trees tower up into the sky with a protecting canopy that ushers in the soft summer breezes along with cooling shade, coloring the sky with differing hues of green.

In these days in which the realization that another season has passed and my parenting days are over, my secret garden offers me solace to focus on the One who gives me hope and assures me of my future and of a new season just as He promised in Isaiah 43:19:

Behold, I will do a new thing,
Now it shall spring forth;
Shall you not know it?
I will even make a road in the wilderness
And rivers in the desert.

All these reasons, and more, are why my cup overflows today.