I think I have rounded the corner and coming back into the land of the living or at least land of eating anything but crackers and toast. It seemed like I had almost made it unscathed this season but the bug snuck up on me.
Something that I have learned in the past four years is how to slow life down just a bit. It has been quite some journey from the days of frantic and chaos and staying way too busy just to be busy. The frantic and the chaos allowed me not to focus on the important and I used frantic and chaos solely for my benefit but as chaos is wont to do, it quickly went from me using it as my benefit into becoming my detriment. In these past four years I have had to re-learn how to approach and live without all the added stress and drama. So these past few days I have had even more opportunities to read and think through things. I'm mainly reading non fiction but there are few Southern fiction books waiting in my to be read pile. Then, one of my favorite authors, Gail Godwin, has a new book being released on May 7. I have already pre-ordered it. The Dear Reader newsletter of Square Books in Oxford, MS announced that the University of Mississippi had released four previously out of print books by Elizabeth Spencer. You might know of her from the Broadway play Light in the Piazza and the 1950ish movie of the same name based on her short story of the same name. I discovered her by reading the LSU Voices of the South series. I believe I will download these Spencer books onto my Nook. So many books, so little time. The book that has grabbed my attention is The Land Between. My friends Dena and Kathleen are reading it too and we all agree that it a word for us all even though all our circumstances are different. Kind of like the devo book Jesus Calling. It seems the words were written just for you and for those thousands of friends on social media who found the same word applicable to their own situations.
So you know you are not going to get out of reading another bird story on my blog unless you skip this paragraph. Let's just say there are a lot of articles on the Internet about doves. I have loved learning about these beautiful and graceful birds who don't seem to be the smartest birds in the bunch. The whistling noise they make while flying is made by their wings. They also have a little cup like pouch in their esophagus that stores seed. So when they are eating so quickly they might just be storing up some seed for later. They rarely eat bugs and they graze in open spaces and fields. Since we have a huge green space next to us, I see why we are the "grocery store" for so many doves. Also, male and female birds look so similar it is difficult to make a determination but it is the male birds that coo sending out a love call, looking for a mate. I just might have The Bachelor show for doves going on in the side yard. This next fact assuaged my fears, if a dove loses a mate, they re-mate. That's good because I always feel like I have single mom doves hanging around the garden and feeder. The mortality rate for doves is rather high and this does not include hunting. Now this next fact will make me be even more cautious as I approach the feeder to fill it. Snakes love to eat doves. Seems like there is a biblical feel to that last sentence.
Next week in leadership meeting I am doing the devo. It is as if it dropped into my lap, thank you God. I found some of my old journals while cleaning out a drawer. Right there, in the first one I read written in July of 2002 were the words that I had been trying to gather and make complete sentences and a complete thought with. Our devotion theme this year is a cup of cold water. I've enjoyed hearing the stories from these ladies of how and when, where and to whom cups of cold water have been served. Really, after the disappointing reality of being limited in areas to serve at church, in my particular gifting and calling, CBS Katy has been my cup of cold water for the last four years. Part of that cup of cold, refreshing water has been the friends I've met. I don't think we would have ever considered moving out to Rancho de Five if Peggy hadn't invited me to come to Bible study. Studying God's Word together opened up the opportunities to meet women who love God and are quite the fun friends as well. Win/win in my book. Make new friends but keep the old. That's not in the Bible per se as a verse but I think there is great wisdom found in that thought.
Well time to go put away what I don't want Chris to put away and then try to remember where I put the stuff that I didn't want Chris to move. Ah life!
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