Icy Jewels

Job 38:30

The waters are hid as with a stone,

and the face of the deep is frozen.

Every winter I'm amazed to see the great mounds of ice that build up on Lake Erie.  Just a few short months ago I watched the kids swim and skip rocks across the lake.  Today, frigid winds scurry snow devils across the surface, and jagged pieces of ice protrude from the pressure of the water freezing underneath.  All of the warmth and pleasure of the lake is hidden.

Just like the lake, so many things in life get hidden beneath a crust created by time, circumstances, or misunderstanding.  If we had the power to see beneath the obvious, we might evoke warm, pleasurable, and unexpected results.  Would it take the chill out of the relationship between a mother and daughter, if mama realized she will be a better parent because of that wayward daughter.  Would the teacher feel less frazzled to realize it's not the "A" student who makes her a great teacher?  Would a pastor wish for a congregation of compliant saints if he knew he'd never fully develop his ministry?

You see, we get caught up in looking at the hard, unforgiving, and uncomfortable face of things as they are today.  When circumstances and people in our lives make it "hard," we tend to judge them undesirable.  But beneath those frigid mounds standing in the way of pleasure and ease, vital changes are being made.  And just like Lake Erie, we'll be changed... changed for the better.  We'll be more understanding parents, teacher's who've created inovative methods for reaching the struggling student, and ministers with greater compassion, patience and understanding.  Could it be those undesirable things and people in life are icy jewels in reality?

The Friendship Bridge

Proverbs 17:17

A friend loveth at all times,

and a brother is born for adversity.

© 9/10 Angela Beatty

It had been a while since I walked this trail... much longer than I thought. I was totally surprised to find this dilapidated contraption standing among debris, dry rocks, and a slight trickle of water where a bubbling stream hand once meandered under a freshly painted and sturdy bridge. The shock literally stopped me in my tracks and confused me. I had to pause and try to figure out exactly when I had last been there. My best guess was eight years ago.

It's amazing that things can change so drastically in less than a decade. I tend to forget that time is eating away at everything and expect it to remain just as I last saw it. At least.... time wears away things that aren't kept in good repair. I can't imagine letting a bridge just waste away after all the hard work that went into building it! It seems like such a waste!!

But maybe I do that too. Like the stream, relationships dry up and the need for a bridge to connect two people just doesn't seem as important anymore. Does it? But when the spring rains come again, and the brook is bubbling, a broken bridge is useless in making a connection. All of the years spent together... all of the laughter.... the tears.... the learning about each other.... where does it all go? There's something heartrending about recognizing the shell of a once strong friendship and yet being helpless to span the gap that now separates you.

Whether it's a friend or family member, it's worth the time to make sure our bridges are still serviceable and can be crossed when the need arises.

Caterpillar Smart

Proverbs 24:3

Through wisdom is an house builded;

and by understanding it is established.

© 9/10 Angela Beatty

Things aren't always as they seem at first glance. When my daughter was small I took a black and orange woolly caterpillar and put it in a jar. Anita and I had been watching monarch butterflies in the yard, and I told her all about how the caterpillar would spin a chrysalis and come out ready to fly away. Sure enough, the little guy got busy and spun himself a cocoon. And we waited expectantly. I'm not sure who was more disappointed when the creature emerging from the cocoon was an ugly brown moth!

How many times in life do we just look at the people around us and assume we know. We interpret their actions and gauge the motives and feelings behind the actions or attempt to predict how others should respond in certain circumstances. But we fail to actually do the research and are misinterpreting the whole time! It takes time and energy to build relationships and assuming often leads to hurt feelings and walls.

I won't tell you about the time seven or eight years later that I put an orange and black woolly caterpillar in a jar for my son. lol Ah.... how soon we forget some things and repeat the mistakes of yesterday! Sometimes it just takes an ugly brown moth to remind us ;0)

Automatic Focus

© Angela Beatty 9/10

Philippians 4:8

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true,

whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are

just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever

things are lovely, whatsoever things are of

good report; if there be any virtue, if there

be any praise, think on these things.

~~~~~~~~~~~

My digital camera has a mind of it's own, and I've never quite figured out how to change it. The automatic focus is great most of the time. I can just point the camera and it does the work. But there are times when one object is closer than the rest of the picture and the automatic focus becomes obsessed with it - it perfectly focuses on that object and blurs the rest of the picture.

I guess I can be a little bit like my digital camera at times. Have you ever been there? One annoyance is in your face and that's all you can see for the rest of the day. The beauty of the scenery, the smile of a cashier, your health and vitality.... it all becomes faded background as that one annoyance takes on center stage clarity.

Maybe it's time to get out the old style camera's where we do the focusing, adjust the light settings and take control of what we're focusing on.

"Grape" Expectations!

Galations 6:9

And let us not be weary in well doing: for

in dueseason we shall reap, if we faint not.

Finally! The grapes I discovered growing in my back yard early this spring have ripened to a perfect purple. When I get home today, I'm planning to pick them and proudly display them in the fruit bowl on my kitchen table. Maybe it's a little silly, but I'm really proud of them. I've spent all summer watching them grow and anticipating the day I could pick them and taste their sweetness.

You know, it can seem like forever between the time something is planted until it reaches its potential. My grapes have only taken the summer to ripen, but I've invested in things in life that have taken decades to blossom and ripen. Raising children can be like that. Finding financial success can be like that. And personal development can be like that. But the good news is that one day you'll take another look at your "vineyard" and suddenly all of your efforts and waiting will have paid off, and you'll be getting your own fruitbowl out to set on the table.