Rainy Day

Today we’ve had rain for the first time in probably a couple of months…spring has been puny this year for lack of water.

Rainy day clouds always take my breath away here in Arizona.

To quote my grandfather, “Arizona is seventy-five percent sky.”

Our sky here stretches like a grand tapestry from horizon to horizon, and the sun seems closer than other places. In the summer, monsoon storms chase across the mountains and cumulonimbus clouds tower over the earth like titans of old.

My favorite cloud-scapes are like the one pictured above–where the cloud floor parts and you see the tops all gilded with sunshine and almost lost in the brilliance. (The photo can’t do it justice.) It always seems like a scene from a storybook…I can easily lose myself in imagining other worlds and their stories on days like that.

Stories of those imaginary worlds are the principal reason I want to be an illustrator. There are so many pictures in my head–glowing with color and begging to be drawn! I look forward to the day when my pencil can keep up with my mind.

Well, I’ll sign off here. I just wanted to share our rainy day. 🙂

Laurie

Today I Am…

Today I am…
…drinking: Chamomile tea, which fit the day’s mood just right. I’ve always had a weak spot for chamomile, and sometimes crave its mild, soothing cheerfulness.
…reading: P.G. Wodehouse’s The Catnappers (I do love a good Jeeves-and-Bertie), Elizabeth Elliot’s Let Me Be A Woman (outstanding, and at just the right time for me), and various homework bits about photography.
…photographing: The thin-but-warming winter sunshine, and a little dog who lives for those few hours of warmth in the afternoon.
 
…enjoying: The zephyrs of fresh air that keep slipping into the living room from the deck door. There’s a certain lovely magic in letting the first springish air into the house…if I could, I would drink it by the cup. It has such a perfume.
…wanting: Spring to arrive for real! Of course, where we live, it usually appears in late February, so I won’t have long to wait. I do so love Spring.
…praising Jesus for: The answers to prayer He is speedily bringing about in many areas that need it, both in my life and others’. Also for His consistency, beauty, gentleness, and unending love towards myself, who least deserves it. His love staggers me.
…wondering: Which of my friends will succumb this spring to the curious love-sickness going around. 😉 I kid you not, they are falling like flies! Engagements, weddings, new relationships on Facebook…it simply doesn’t end! But I don’t begrudge them their happiness…it makes me dream happy dreams of my own special days of bliss as a mother and wife that I trust are yet to come.
…loving: Being able to wear skirts with impunity in the milder weather.
…trying: A modified Curly Girl method for my hair. I’ve been rather abusing it with heat and hairspray recently, and have enough wave to make it worth encouraging. I’m on Day 2, and am surprised at the curl already appearing. It makes me wonder what kind of potential it actually has! If you have any kind of naturally curly/wavy hair, I’d encourage you to visit the Curly Girl website: naturallycurly.com. They have tons of fabulous tips and tricks in their articles and forums. I’d like to try one of the protein treatments today.
Off to massage gelatin through my hair,
Laurie

Morning Thoughts

We were blessed with some beautiful snow this morning…I’ve always thought snow was such a wonderful thing. It covers up all the dirt and muck of this world, transforming it into a clean, fresh, wonderland of beauty. Actually, it’s a lot like our Savior’s grace and love in us!

I was thinking this morning about idolatry. The Lord led me to read 1 Cor. 10, and that was certainly interesting! (Not that I haven’t read it before, but it just hit me different.)

I’ve been convicted recently of having some idols in my own life. Chief among them is the computer and internet. It seems like every effort I’ve made to cut back on it has failed. But really, every aimless hour I spend wandering around the world wide web is my choice.  So, I was much comforted when I found this verse:

“No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.”

1 Corinthians 10:13

So, because Christ has made me able, I will start limiting my time on the computer to actually useful, productive stuff.  I’ve taken note of what I actually do on the computer…checking my email, social networks, and blog doesn’t take that long! After that, I have much better things to do. Like spend time with my poor neglected family.

In case some of you are wailing piteously at the very thought of me leaving, I am not.  I’ll still be on daily, just not for hours on end. And now, I will challenge you: is the computer an idol in your life? It’s a hard question…