Wood

Among my favorite things on earth, other than people, are all that God created—living green plants and flowers, rock, water in all its forms, the animal kingdom, the stars.  No superhighways nor sky-scrapers nor technology in all their marvelous forms can compare with the incredible artistry and perfect functionality of all that He made.

I have a thing for wood.  It fascinates me that trees were given to us for shade, for fuel, for food, for medicine, for paper in our books, for building our homes, and for creating all manner of tools for living.  They beautify our world in a palette of color, and renew the very air we breathe.  Imagine our world without trees! 

Many things we prize most highly are made of wood—furniture, carvings, décor for our homes, and frames on our paintings.  Manmade materials can rarely compare with the inherent strength and usability of this single substance.  And for the most part, it is the perfectly renewable resource—quietly growing and producing all its bounty with little help from us.

Wood is infinitely artistic.

 

We can get a peek into the past when we look at wood--and give our kids practice counting.

I even find it fascinating and somehow significant that Jesus was a wood-worker.  I can imagine that He loved the warm colors and fragrant smells in His shop as he cut and shaped and created articles for the villagers.  Makes me smile to think of that of that very ‘common’ connection we have with Him.

Wonderful wood!

60th Anniversary!

We celebrated a momentous event on our recent vacation to see our families…my parents’ 60th wedding anniversary!  What a precious time to honor them and thank God for His blessing on their lives.

With the traditional, Biblical model of marriage increasingly fading from our society and being redefined according to personal opinion rather than the Creator’s design, I want to stand up and cheer my parents.  They have lived out—through thick and thin—the covenant before God they made all those years ago.  Neither of them grew up with a strong example of a Godly marriage, but having chosen to follow Christ as young adults, they determined that with His help, they would establish a life together that honored God in every way.

This quote from Jane Eyre sums up so beautifully what I would say of my parents’ marriage:

"To be together is for us to be at once as free as in solitude, as gay as in company.  We talk, I believe, all day long; to talk to each other is but a more animated and an audible thinking.  All my confidence is bestowed on him, all his confidence is devoted to me; we are precisely suited in character—perfect concord is the result.”

How incredibly good God has been to give them these long years together, and how blessed I was to grow up knowing the security of their love and commitment to one another.   I love you, Dad & Mom, and honor you today for the example of faithfulness I’ve been privileged to know.

You’re the best!

Morning glory

These beauties greeted me a couple of mornings ago as I welcomed the day in the early dawn.  I didn’t realize until I saw the pictures on my camera that the rays of sunlight came through the back of the flowers, illuminating them from within.  Fantastic!