Singing Heart

Today my heart is singing. The sticky oppressive heat promises to go away for several days once some storms have passed through. The rose bush which has promised new blooms finally has produced; I have 3 roses in the bud vase. The Rose of Sharon bush which also holds promise finally has some slight streaks of color in its buds. Two pine trees were planted today behind my condo to replace the ones that died last fall. I found a lovely serving bowl at the consignment shop for $3. 

My husband wanted to eat lunch at the Grace Village dining room today. While eating, a man and wife joined us. It appeared that she had rolled him in his wheelchair from the rehab section. As we chatted, we learned that she will be moving into the vacant condo down the block from us August 1st, her husband joining her when able.

 Then, I finally sat down and read the blogs I follow and learned that I was 1 of the 5 winners of Leslie Leyland Fields' blog give-aways. She is sending some homemade jam and what I most want, her book Surviving the Island of Grace.

 The package never arrived. I had been told it could take a month as it would go on a small boat from the island where she lives in Alaska to a post office and then to the mainland. But after 3 months I figured it would not show up. It did not.

It is a sad commentary on the poverty of my soul that it so easily soars when the beggar’s bowl is full of lovely things. My heart is full of gratitude to God; but when circumstances and things are hard, the gratitude is not so easily given. 

I just finished The Hawk and the Dove (a Christian fiction trilogy) by Penelope Wilcock that so poignantly describes the soul’s struggle with reconciling loss and suffering with God’s goodness and love. It is a story of a 14th century monastery and how the individuals of the community must come to grips with these lessons in their relationships with one another and with God. A good reminder that whatever fills the bowl of life, God does love us.