Happy Easter. I have neglected blogs of all sorts so I spent a relaxing Easter morning preparing the leg of lamb and catching up. I laughed out loud at my favorite blog, ourliteraryjoys.blogspot.com. Family memories can be so healing and I love that they are recorded. Too many of mine are not on the page yet.
We spent the past four days, 12+ hours a day painting the basement and getting ready to become the Walton's. Grandma and Grandpa are walking kinda funny today. I really did take this picture this morning. I think we have a white Easter more often than a white Christmas, but I love a white Easter. It just seems right to see the bright, white, clean world when we wake to celebrate that Jesus made us white as the new fallen snow.
He is risen!

Stone cold stiff, but pretty

I chose this picture because I would look just like this if I were an Old Testament woman, stiff, proper and pretty, but afraid to move. I have been reading though Deuteronomy and some of the laws seems kinda' quaint and cute, and then I read on. I am so grateful that I am a New Testament woman married to a man of God. Back in the '70's there was a movement in the church that took up some of the Old Testament traditions. I remember Steve asking why some laws were chosen to be followed while others were rejected. It was a good question. We live in an age of grace and I pray that I can be a source of grace to those around me. There is enough law and Jesus fulfilled it to free me from the life of a bronze statue. I can be real, be forgiven, be loved and be effective, not because I am wonderful, but because Jesus is amazing and sacrificed it all for me, and you too. Get up off the bench and be gracious. Bless someone for no reason other than that God took the time to make him, or her.

Is there a Moses for America?

Today's reading took me into Deuteronomy where, once again, I saw something I hadn't noticed before. Israel wasn't all that.
In Deut. 9:4 Moses tells Israel that it isn't because of their righteousness that God is giving them the promised land, but because the enemy is so wicked. Then in verses 7 and 8 he reminds Israel how their own sin provoked the Lord. Further on in chapter 9 I saw that it was Moses' intercession that moved God to allow Israel to continue to exist.
I watch the news every morning and today I wonder, where is our Moses? Is someone interceding for us? As a nation we have so much but are, apparently, never satisfied. I love being an American but the truth is, we aren't all that, any more than Israel was.
Are AIG executives and bankers judged out of righteousness or envy? The anger and self-righteousness I see on the news scares me. The venom spewed from the lips of our politicians is unworthy of anyone is their position. The cry for justice seems motivated by bitterness and suspicion. I don't want that to be me. I would rather be like Moses, on my knees, pleading for God to be merciful to His people, recognizing my own need for mercy rather than becoming the accuser. I have gone to the National Day of Prayer site to find out how I can pray more effectively. Here is the link if you'd like to do the same; www.ndptf.org. Moses made a difference, so can we.
This picture of a graveyard and a church was taken in St. Andrew's Scotland. The legacy of prayer in that place left me speechless.

Get Naked

Okay, Dashiell isn't naked, but I thought a naked baby picture might get me in trouble. I read this quote yesterday and did a double take. "Eros will have naked bodies; friendship naked personalities" C.S.Lewis
I see naked, blatant adoration in Dashiell's face. I want to be like that with God. He sees what I try to hide anyway, so I don't know why I expend the energy. How freeing to be naked before Him.
How scary to be naked in the same way with friends. I will pray for one or two that I can get naked with, personality wise of course. I think that would be wonderful. Actually, there is one who knows me that well already, besides my precious Steve. I love you Lorrie.

More details

This picture shows one of God's prettier details. I managed to snap this from the back door.
I have been stuck in Leviticus, thus the delay in posting a blog. I love the word of God, and I know there is a reason for Leviticus, but it is mind numbing, and definitely not breakfast reading material. Laws for sacrifice, checking for what kind of ooze is seeping out of sores, ... you get the point.
As I waded through the laws the Israelites had to follow I remembered a very encouraging verse.
Matthew 5:17 "Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill."
I looked up the word fulfill and it means to complete, finish, make complete. I am so grateful that we live under grace and not the law. Jesus completes me, and I am clean in Him.

The details

I haven't given up on reading through the Bible yet, though I confess I got bogged down in Exodus. Numbers is going to be a bear. There is an old saying, "The devil is in the details." I don't think it's the devil. God is all about details. Just read the last 10 or so chapters of Exodus.
I took this picture when we were hiking through the temperate rain forest in Alaska. My skin tingled with anticipation as I wandered through God's creation. I just knew, if we were very quiet and a little patient, we would get to see fairies flitting in and out of the ferns, or gnomes peeking from behind the roots of trees, or a hobbit coming out of door in an enormous tree trunk. The sunbeams pierced the tree tops in God's lush playground, but alas, no sparkling wings fluttered past, and no little bearded men peeked out at us. But I do have a lot of pictures of ferns and flowers and trees that give testimony of God's attention to detail. His creation inspires the imagination to dream of the magical.

Happy Birthday Yola

You are 81 now and when we skyped with you yesterday you didn't look a day over 65. Thank you for having such a wonderful spirit of adventure that brought you to visit everywhere we wandered. This picture was taken on the coast in Taiwan in '87. I didn't get a picture of my most vivid memory. It had to do with the interesting sculpture in the ladies room and helping each other get back up ... You have made all my kids think it is normal for in-laws to get along because you loved my extended family from the day I became a Sharpe. When I grow up I wanna be just like you, only I don't wanna make quilts, but I would like to live in Mendocino ...
Happy Birthday Mom!