Sometimes I need
only to stand
wherever I am
to be blessed.
Mary Oliver
On this quiet morning when no air compressor assaults the silence, when Gerry is off at men’s meeting, and I sip coffee and gaze at the grandeur of the hills across the valley, I feel blessed.
Later, when it’s noisy and busy and my list of to-do things starts to pile up again, when I’m tempted to worry about this or that, when words that are spoken grate, when I feel anything but blessed; I will still be as blessed as I am in this moment.
It doesn’t depend on circumstances. It doesn’t depend on everything going the way I think it should. (In retrospect, how grateful I am that things don’t always go as I think they should. I’m not anywhere near smart enough to think I could direct this thing called life.)
And so I return to rest in the shelter of my Creator; blessed, knowing that the boundaries within which I live have, indeed, fallen to me in pleasant places.
Soli Deo gloria.
# # #
Simple happy.
Mining for gold in God’s word with friends.
Coffee dates.
Text messages.
Gifted teachers.
Slow cookers.

I sometimes go outside my abode, when nobody else is quite up yet (or at least not many)…4:30, 5:00 a.m. and just stand there and listen to the quiet. It’s pretty awesome. I am a real early bird, and I am blessed that I have these moments…and can recognize them as moments. I agree on “gifted teachers.” I work in Teacher Ed at my university, and I’ve seen hundreds of gifted teacher candidates, I have worked with hundreds of gifted teachers.
Karen, I love that you are intentional about seeking and appreciating those precious moments. They keep us grounded.