God Created Everything

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens! These are a few of may favorite things!

Weeds!

I have been pulling weeds in my free time this spring... I have an abundance of weeds. The most popular weed is wild strawberry. An appropriate name for a wild weed. The problem is that it is growing among my evening primrose. Primrose grows a little like weed too but I don't consider it a weed because its flowers are so pretty and it is not overly invasive. Then there is another weed that grows like a vine. I'm not sure what it is called, it has a white trumpet flower a little like a morning glory. It is a terrible weed because it winds itself around everything. When I pull it too quickly, I end up killing the flower or plant that it has wound itself around. So I have to gently unwind the vine from the plant. As I weed, I like to think of analogies. Today's analogy is how being a gardener who weeds is like God caring for us. He cares about the details in our lives. He cares enough to unwind the vines(sin) that choke us.

After I have released the primrose from the choking vine it is free from the burden of the other plant waying it down. It sways in the breeze. It can bloom and be what it should be.

I'm excited that I don't have any wild strawberry weeds in my real strawberry patch! Yet! I picked my first Strawberries today! I'm so excited. They are beautiful, sweet and a little tangy! Yummy! I picked some a little early before the bugs and other critters get them.

If you want to write, then write....

The funny thing about writing is that you don't think that you have anything to say until you start putting words down on paper. Then the words just sort of flow out of you. It is just a matter of which direction that you want your words to go. Do you want to pull up a memory, bring out an emotion or synthesize an event? As I began this post, I didn't have a particular topic in mind, I just started writing to see where my thoughts would lead me. They have led me to the topic of writing. I've been reading, "If You Want To Write" by Brenda Ueland. A book I would recommend to anyone who wants to expand their creativity. Mrs. Ueland states, "everyone is talented, original and has something important to say". She states, "the ardor for the creative impulse is inhibited by criticism, self doubt, duty and nervous fear..." She suggests that the creative power and imagination is the Holy Ghost (Spirit).

I agree with her. When I am using my creative gifts, I feel like they are from God. No matter what I am creating, a new recipe, story, lesson or work of art...the ideas are not my own but from God's Spirit living in me. Yes, my efforts are needed to carry out these creative endeavors. My experiences influence what I create; yet ultimately, they are a reflection of God in me and the world around me.

Good-byes

One of my students is moving back to India. It is very sad. It is hard to say good bye and not know if you will ever see someone again. Especially someone that you have known well for 149 days minus a few absences! Today we all wrote her letters and drew special pictures of her. She cried and then we all shed some tears. Her dad wrote me, "she is weeping every day at home and doesn't want to go back to India". I hope that she is okay!

She wrote the class a letter. She said that she will still be our friend. A good point! Even though she is moving across the world, the friendship doesn't end. The memories are still there. We can still write. The world has become smaller due to Internet. It is so easy to instantly send messages across the world. It still amazes me!

I am blessed with 18 of these wonderful little darlings! They make me laugh and sometimes cry! And I can always learn something new from them! It seems like the school year will last forever but before you know it, it's time to say goodbye.

We recently had to say good bye to our Jack Russell Millie. We had her since she was just a puppy. She was 14 when she passed away. Those years went by so quickly. I am so thankful for the memories! She will still be my friend. I like to think of her sitting on my friend Jill's lap in heaven.