Wanting....

...to get engrossed this weekend in a slow, melancholy book set on the sea. On a chilly coast. A Weight of Water or Memory of Water type novel, only better. Any suggestions?

Expect hope to be rekindled.

Expect your prayers to be answered in wondrous ways.

The dry seasons in life do not last.

-Sarah Ban Breathnach

Pay Day

Today's pay day. What are the odds I can grab my check, hit the door, rush "home", bake cookies and watch movies all rainy afternoon?

Yeah. Didn't think so.

Oh my gosh. Did you see these today? Quick, step aside as I fake illness and limp to the door.  *cough*

September

By all these lovely tokens September days are here,

With summer's best of weather

And autumn's best of cheer.

-Helen Hunt Jackson

I'm knitting this week. And making spiced honey. I might even try to take off one day to gather firewood and pick apples.

Ah, autumn. Welcome! Long have I awaited your return...

Best Wishes (and Cake) Ever

My brother is getting married this weekend. They're having pie at the reception instead of cake. My family has this love affair with chocolate pie that knows no bounds, so it's only reasonable that we'll pie with our nuptials. (grin)

Just in case anyone misses cake after the happy couple jets, I think I'll sneak in this: the Best Cake Ever. EVER. I mean... ever. I've been making it off and on for the past couple of years and nothing beats it.

Best, incandescently happy, chocolate-pie-and-cake wishes to the lovely couple. -B

Little Thought #3: Unrelenting

A thing to know about God is that He's unrelenting. His love doesn't let up. His mercy doesn't give out. His pursuit never ends.

I was walking through the airport a few days ago and passed a girl sipping a Bud Light, deeply absorbed in The Shack. I kept walking. I wasn't a fan of that book, God. What do You think of us down here trying to know You... picture You... describe You and define You? What do You think of our searching?

It thrills My heart. I felt those words pulse through me, along with an overwhelming feeling of love. As if my blood had turned to liquid love and gushed up and down my veins. Now go back and tell the girl with the book. Tell her I love her.

I argued for a minute, then wheeled my suitcase back down the terminal toward the girl. She was still reading.

How do you approach a stranger in the airport and tell her of God's love? The way the conversation unfolded was surreal. I knew, before opening my mouth to talk to her, that she was 23. A student in the medical field. The youngest of her family. I knew - without any way of knowing - that something awful had happened in her short life. Tell her she's not to blame. Tell her it wasn't her fault. Tell she's loved with an everlasting love.

I looked at this girl and wondered what it was like to be reading in an airport, unknowingly pursued by a loving, purposeful, unrelenting God.

Irena is 23. The baby of her family. She's in dental school. And almost three years ago, she was sexually assaulted. Luke is still in diapers.

We talked quietly. She cried. I had to assure her twice that I'm not psychic; that God knows her... knows everything she is and everything she's been through. He'll use anyone around to make sure we know.

Does God love everyone? she asked, quietly. I mean, everyone?

I nodded. Yes, everyone. He loves me. He loves you. He loves that lady over there selling newspapers. A well-dressed man rushed by, berating someone at the other end of his cell phone. Irena raised her eyebrows and tilted her head toward him. Yes, especially him.

You're the second person to talk to me about God, she confided. A co-worker talks about Jesus. She told me to read this book.

Hmm. What's it like, I asked her, to be sitting in an airport, knowingly pursued by a loving, purposeful unrelenting God?

What's it like, she countered, to know Him the way you do?

You won't relent until You have it all. My heart is Yours. -Brin