DELIGHT

I seem to only write once to twice a month on here.....and maybe that is because I only want to share if I have some grand epiphany, delightful verbage to contribute, profundity bubbling in my heart and head, or something comical.....I think it is hard to "blog through the mundane." I can surely promise you that you don't want to know a lot about my last few weeks...:

Like that I acted like a kid at Christmas time, the day we Fresnans woke up the other day and saw that it HAD rained in the night, and my pavement was wet, yet when I scooted out the door in my pjs, nothing was falling from the sky. I came back in the house and my power was out, so I showered in the dark, and remembered that I am a person from many places. I flashed to my years in Vancouver, where I was always freezing cold, so tired of the constant day-in and day-out rain, always hoping for one tiny ray of Mr. Sun, Sun, Mr. Golden Sun, to please shine down on me....I'm so thankful, actually, for all the sun-time we log here in the 'No, but my heart was giddy with rememberence of the good rain memories. I also flashed to my college summers, when I'd leave Vancouver, and head back to Maryland. Maryland would be hot and humid, and then would offer up terrificly divine flash flood thunder and lightening storms, and I would watch with glee from my couch, in awe....until out power went out for days.

Can you possibly imagine that all of what I just wrote "flashed" through my mind in about a ten minute period, just because it actually happened to rain in the middle of the night here in Fresno? That instance/happening/event in the night was intersecting with my past, my life experiences, my rich memories, my weather preferences, and my well-geographically travelled soul.

Still working at my job, day in and day out, trying to become more inventive and creative in my work, loving the chance to work with kids, not loving working 8:30-5 EVERYDAY. Yuck and a half...that is permanently unresolved, temporarily...if that makes sense? Yet, I guess I don't want to share common things on my blog, or average thoughts, but things that have great feeling or depth, or hold weight, or, or, or.

So how about:
I'm in a small group through a church, and it started up a few weeks ago, and I'm so delighted to meet new faces of people my age, who love Jesus, and who seem to all be in this place in life of really wanting to ask Jesus what it means to live authentically for Him, to really know Him. The book we're reading................is really good. Yea, let's put our "I know my Christian literature, or I'm a Greek Philospher" mindsets aside...and seen as teaching tool/devotional guide....the book is teaching me SO much. Are my life and my actions filled with love and grace-giving? Am I primarily concerned with loving God and loving people, or am I wrapped up in outward practices, that can be good, but are not if they operate in and of themselves - faith practices that can turn into legalism, that we put in the center of our hearts, rather than loving and serving Him and His people. Will people see Christ in me? If so, how?? Will be it be because I'm full of His love?

How about:
I'm so incredibly excited to re-make this fab holiday-esque recipe that I tried out for the first and only time, a year ago Christmas time. Something to the effect of taking Greek Phyllo pastry, and laying out sheets of it. Then putting a Brie cheese round in the center of the Phyllo dough pastry. Then seperately one makes a concoction of dried cranberries, pecans (that you have to toast first), a bunch of spices (not sure off-hand which ones), and a fair dose of port. That all gets mixed together and heated up really well and so all the goodness merges. Then when there is definite merging action going on, pour the said goodness all over the Brie. Then wrap up the Phyllo pastry around the Brie and gooey mixture, like you're wrapping a package (except not like when I'm wrapping a package - I swore off wrapping things from now on!! It looks like a 4 and a half yr. old wrapped it....gift bags only.) Lastly, you do an egg wash over the pastry, pop it in the oven for some amount of time (?) at a certain said temperature (?), and VOILA!!!!! Yummy gooey mess that tastes great with some quailty bread - like artisan whole wheat kalamata olive bread, or quality crackers of sorts. Keep in mind that when you cut into this, I think it is a bit runny/messy.

How about: I have the great opportunity to be a part of an acoustic/folk show at a coffee shop coming up, and get to work with some talented musicians...I'm going to be contributing back-up vocals, so to speak...I'm as happy as a peach pie!...(I hear they are happy, I've not confirmed the rumors..)

And also...I was already closer to 30 than I was to 20, but this really get cemented as I have ANOTHER Birthday in 2 weeks!!! (It's funny how those b-day come around pretty consistently...) I'm not sure how I feel about this...yes it's just a number, but still....

Those are some of the HIGH-lights...yea, life is full of Low-lights (and no, I'm not trying to talk about getting your hair done...), but somehow my heart isn't so sure it is necessary to shovel out the low-lights in the blog, at least not today. My heart continues to wrestle, like most hearts do, with a lot of things. That's just being honest. I don't seem to always understand why things are they way they are, what things mean, what I'm supposed to be doing, what God is telling me...but I do know that God is so incredibly and amazingly wonderful. I think one of the reasons He is, is because He doesn't change. His character and nature are always consistent and He is always faithful. All those billion attributes we can pin on Him...well they are always attached to Him. He'll always love me in profound ways I don't yet understand, He'll always be gracious, He is the One that has set out plans for my life, He is a Father and a Healer, and a life-giver. He cares for the least of these...He is God...and I am not. I'm glad He is, and I am not.

So, I guess this is an update, a small tiny one....snippets. I am hoping that tomorrow morning or sometime soon finds me wandering Fresno with my camera again, taking pictures of things that speak to me as I walk. If I find myself doing this soon, I'll be sure to post any pictures that I get excited about.