close: dim & warm

walk down a quiet street.
in city dark, dim burning-gold light filtering through thick maples to the street.

the heat is close,
the only breeze from moving forward.
the heat is welcomed and so it holds me like a soft, long hug.


I've longed for summer, and it's July.
I've longed for Christ, and here He is with me in this quiet, close summer night. In the not profound walk home after ice-cream and talks, swings and prayers.

I am thankful for:

• laughing.
• sun.
• focus.
• a workshop.
• a companion.

housework.

Today - the third day of summer, I spent part of the day on housework.

Some might call this anal - I stay on top of it as I go along. And, with the change of a season comes new priorities.

Dusting, scrubbing, laundering, sweeping unseen corners, taking into account stock in the cupboards, and, my summer edition to household chores: checking, setting, and fine-tuning mouse traps (yes, what a fun thing to discover on my foot the other night...ugh).

Life is like that - at the change of a season, God shines His love-light so I see all of Him in me, and the streaks of friction on over-used parts and dust gathering where work has stopped.

And together we take account and prioritize steps ahead: Him shining and sharing, judging and redeeming; and me, thanking, resting, wanting and willing to be wiped clean again, so I reflect better - to be rolled through the wash cycle and set out to dry warm in the sun, so I smell of His fragrance.

I am thankful for:

• laughing - because it's ironic when you are feeding the mouse you are trying to catch.
• floating soap bubbles.
• big, dark storm clouds.
• surprise.
• a hidden book of prayers.

taking the heat

It's hot, very hot in my apartment.
89 degrees to be precise, and it was 93 earlier.
I actually don't mind heat. Heat works on our bodies as cleansing - pouring out, so that we drink in. As God's fire refines us, as we nestle ourselves deeper into the warmth of His embrace so we feel the sweat of cleansing, the pace of cleansing, the pressure of cleansing that makes us want to almost step out of the process - we call out for, receive, and appreciate drink in cleansing.


Nutmeg (my rabbit) and I, nestled in here, live on - at a pace dictated by the heat with ice cubes in our water :)

I am thankful for:

• movement; in general, and of air.
• warm-day naps.
• remembering a cucumber's coolness.
• water.