Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!
Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near.
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things... and the God of peace will be with you.
Philippians 4:4-8
So does anyone else have a hard time with this concept, or is it just me? This is a passage I drilled into my kids! Whenever they would put their hands on their hips or roll their eyeballs at me and say "What-Ever..." I would finish the phrase...'is good, is honorable, is lovely..." And yet, I still tend to live more by the phrase "If you can't say something nice... at least make it funny"...a slight twist on the much wiser phrase my mother taught me (or tried to teach me?)... if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all...
At any rate, I'll be honest and let you know that it has indeed been a Long, Dark Winter here... I've found that the months of February and especially March are the hardest for me! It's almost spring.... it's almost light.... it's almost warm.... but not quite, and so I sit and think about those things (and talk about those things) and then wonder why I'm so tired (and crabby!)... As I talk about the weather, we also know that this is the story of life .... we all have long dark days with so many different issues in our lives, health concerns, family concerns, financial concerns, disappointment, strife... It's all a apart of life, but too often those things become our only focus and we forget that it's just a part, not the whole.
At every turn this week I have been reminded of Hope.... from my Bible lesson on Ruth, to the blogs that I read, everything... even the nasty black slushy snow lining the roads here remind me that light always follows darkness and that although "God gives and takes away" it doesn't end there... it ends with "He gives..." How cool is that?!!! God is good, and although I don't understand his timing, and ways, I am without doubt that even in the darkest days he is at work in Amazing ways!!!!!
I hope this doesn't sound like I'm in the pits of depression or despair... I'm NOT... NO you don't need to call... (but you can if you want too *smile*) I am good (very ready for spring - but good!) AND there are so many exciting things going on in my life. I just want to be REAL here...and remind you, that no matter what you might be going through right now, we have an awesome God... that doesn't mean life is perfect... or easy but it does mean that there can be peace in the midst of every long dark winter... and hope, always hope....
So, the pictures?? ... to the untrained eye they're just stupid pictures to fill up space on a blog, for me... they are pictures of hope, but you'll have to wait for another day for an explanation!
"Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 15:13
