December 31, 2:40pm, 21 degrees, but feels like 7, I’m sitting outside in a wooden adirondack chair. No, I haven’t lost my mind, I’m actually out here for a breath of fresh air. After hiking the woods for a little bit and taking photos of trees, I decide to sit and watch the clouds change shape, take in the smell of wood burning from the house, and absorb the sunlight upon my cold skin. The below freezing breeze is enough to make anyone retreat inside, instead, I sigh and find a cloud that was once a masquerade mask, slowly evolving into nothing. Searching for a new cloud, I am distracted by the color of a thick white cloud and reflection of the sun against it. The rim is a faint rainbow, or at least I want it to be.
There is contentment in just sitting here staring into God’s creation and watching the world pass by. Perhaps it’s the clouds, or the breeze, or the calmness I have in my heart, knowing I am where I am supposed to be. Just as the clouds change shape, so have I these last few weeks. I’m not worried, not anxious, and look forward to Jesus revealing my next steps. I found peace being here.
In a previous blog I spoke about the book, Calm My Anxious Heart, by Linda Dillow. Her words and stories have helped me change from stressed and overwhelmed to at peace and finding faith in our Lord again. Often times I have it and then I lose it…it’s a nasty cycle, but God brings me back around to His ways instead of my own. Praise!
Though I will have much reality to figure out when I return from this vacation, for now, I’m enjoying the present. I leave you with these two quotes, may you find redirection towards enjoying the now.
“It has been well said that no man ever sank under the burden of the day. It’s when tomorrow’s burden is added to the burden of today that the weight is more than a man can bear. Never load yourselves so, my friends. If you find yourselves so loaded, at least remember this: it is your own doing, not God’s. He begs you to leave the future to Him and to mind the present.” George MacDonald, Annals of a Quiet Neighborhood
“This is the blessed life — not anxious to see far in front, nor eager to choose the path, but quietly following behind the Shepherd, one step at a time.” F.B. Meyer
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