The secret on the stone revealed

“Ah, dearest Lissy”, said grandma when Lissy told her all about the strange stone she’d found in the garden.  “A garden can keep a great many deal of secrets in it.  And the greatest of all, is this:  Creation, including all the beautiful things you find in a garden, is an expression of God's goodness.  His mercy towards us served as an approach to creation.

“Come, on!”, said gramma suddenly, “let us walk back to the garden, shall we!  There is something else I want you to see there”.

Lissy, glowed with enthusiasm at the thought of a new adventure and the prospect of finding new exciting things in gramma’s magical garden.  And truly, something amazing was about to happen indeed!   

The sun was setting down over the horizon by the time Lissy and gramma reached the farthest part of the garden where large weeping trees grew and vines climbed and twisted around their trunks like fat snakes.  

Lazy shadows stretched themselves across the grass and came to rest above the drooping branches of the weeping trees like dark umbrellas.  It felt so peaceful and quiet in this shady corner of the garden.  A blackbird stood perched on a nearby branch. Lissy had this curious idea that the bird was watching them.

Lissy followed gramma through a sheltered path among the weeping trees to a little bench hidden among the shrubbery, where they both sat down.  Past the weeping tress and the little bench, and past the picket fence which delimited the garden from private lands stood the open fields of barley and red clover with its expanse of red blooms stretching away into vastness.  Lissy had never been to this part of the garden, and it was beautiful, and it felt wonderfully secluded and cozy.  

“See the sun setting over there?”—said gramma pointed a finger towards where a giant orange marble of a sun was painting the sky in cerulean blues and baby pinks.  “Long, long ago, in the beginning of all things, our earth didn’t have a sun”—continued on saying gramma.  “In fact, the earth didn’t have any shape at all.  It was empty and an unfathomable darkness covered the deep waters.  

“You did not exist. Neither your parents, brothers or sisters. There was absolutely nothing, or anyone alive. Only the Spirit of God, like a mighty bird, hovered over the surface of the waters and above the darkness that covered everything. 

“Then”, said gramma picking up a certain song in her voice, “that’s when God stretched out his sight all the way through time, up until your time, and saw you. 

Lissy jumped on her sit at that. Her eyes widened with excitement. 

“He did?”  She exclaimed!

“He certainly did!”, said gramma, “and He loved you so much right there and then, that He decided to create an entire new world just for you.  A beautiful place He knew you’d love and be happy in, and where He could live close to you eternally.  

“The Bible teaches us that God saw us even before He created the world. That is why He told us through his prophet Jeremiah, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness” (Jeremiah 31: 3).

“It was this mercy towards the still non-existent generations what motivated God to create the universe. God's love for us will never be exhausted. There has not been a time, nor will ever be in all eternity in which God would stops loving us.

Everything God does is motivated by his eternal love for us, a love that is perpetual, endless and eternal”.

This is the continuation of a story I started HERE, in case you want to read it again.

Happy Thanksgivings!

Five days off from work—to get to be home again, enjoy my nest relish my solitude appreciate life love every moment… to be happy, to contemplate my little world outside; the world of birds in the silent winter garden and be one with them.  Feeling content, feeling blue, nurturing little joys deep down in my soul, feeling nostalgic at time feeling young inside old outside.  Feeling that time comes and goes too fast to be able to appreciate it; rather soon rather short for all I want to do and feel and for all the dreams being weaved into the depths of our souls to become realities… 

I’ve been cooking, and baking, and I’ve so many books I want to read and so few hours of the day for such endeavors... 

I think of mom throughout my days, I miss her. I see her in me in my fingers and in the apple of my eyes. I want to tell her so many things want to talk to God and hear angels sing. I walk the lonely garden with a broken wing hidden under my heart. It happens every winter, life changes colors, life is a blue balloon melting away… in dreams and hopes and a desire of a genuine faith.

It snowed lightly yesterday; a puff of a snow and the sun is out today warming up the garden and melting ices away.  Birdfeeders have been refilled and as I write this, behind me, I hear a ruckus of birds and squirrels competing against each other for a fair share.  

Later on today we’ll get together with those loved ones closest to us, we’ll share food with strangers too and mingled in sentiments as equals under this world of God.  Praying for heavenly blessings towards us and toward others. For unity and love and for the peace that passes all understanding… a strong, resolute faith and confidence, that no matter what circumstances you encounter, God is faithful, God is good, God will keep you, God will provide for you, and God will bless you.  

A happy Thanksgiving to all!

Our Christmas tree

Winter is a lingering season, is a time to gather golden moments, embark upon a quiet journey, and enjoy every idle hour…

It is also the time to find all your Christmas decorations and sort them out…

Decide what you want to see and where you want to see them...

Make sure you add lots of little lights, candle-lights, fairy-lights...

Pine cones big and small and crystal bowls

Feeling happy feeling part of everything around me.  The warm glow of fairy lights on my eyes... wishes, dreams and songs.

Christmas is all about love, family and children. It doesn't matter what we eat or what presents we get as long as the holidays are spent with loved ones.

Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childhood days, recall to the old the pleasures of youth, and transport the traveler back to his own fireside and quiet home!     

Our family room looks so cozy and bright with the Christmas tree here.  Not too fancy not too big not too much.  Just the perfect amount of everything... and happy lights!

Have you put up your Christmas tree yet?

Late autumn days

I walk the silent garden in awe—the last sun of the day immersing the western sky in golden pinks. All my senses are stirred; my soul afloat in a buoyant kind of an ecstasy.  And I walk on tiptoe, so as not to hinder the sacred silence that has befallen… walking in reverse, and out of time, as if by doing so I could stop time or get ahead of time… before dusk transpire, leaving my soul hanging from its bare bones.  Days are so short, so short and this melancholy that comes with those last days of autumn is in us too, this feeling of nature flowing back and forth. It is the time for the quieting of spirits and the slow walks under orange moons. It is the season of inner calm and a kindly stoicism etched in memories of joy.

I hear movement, a bird, or two, foraging among the dried leaves of vines for ripen grapes, and I want to reach out and cuddle them in my hands like these last days of autumn cuddle my heart in auburn leaf hands.

We are the gold and reds that carpet the grass. Earth and all she gives in the harvest months enchants me… and it makes me want to hurry too and jump over the days, and I guess I had, because yesterday I felt this incredibly urge to start decorating for Christmas… and so I did.

And thus, our Christmas tree is up and lighting shadows away…

It is cold and dark as I'm finishing my post, but inside is the gentle light of fairy lights, the music of flutes playing softly and the smell of fresh cinnamon buns wafting out of the oven to great our souls as we smile and sit down to enjoy our home for the last few hours remaining of the day, or the evening, until we leave home again in the early morning… goodnight everyone!