Prairie Lily Arts

Wasn't It Just Yesterday?

Thinking of Mary cradling her sweet baby boy as this Christmas season begins.  I wrote this a couple of years ago.

 

Wasn't it just yesterday

 When I first drew you close?

In that one miraculous moment

Your life began and everything changed.

In that instant you filled my heart

With all that is goodness, all that is joy,

All that is peace, all that is love.

 

Giving Thanks: A Life of Plenty

 

I could not begin to number the blessings in my life.

Thank you, truly, for visiting this quiet place...

for strolling along with me...

some for a moment...

some for a lifetime.

Won't you join hands with me

at The Homeschool Village

as I offer simple, heartfelt thanks

for a life of plenty?

Blessings to you this day and always.

From my family's table to yours,

Susan

Giving Thanks: Small in Number Great in Spirit

 

Reflecting on the words of  William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation... and giving thanks for those so small in number, so great in spirit, who planted the seeds of our nation.

"It was replied that all great and honourable actions are accompanied with great difficulties, and must be both met and overcome with answerable courage.  It was granted the dangers were great, but not desperate; the difficulties were many, but not invincible.  For, many of the things feared might never befall; others by provident care and the use of good means might in a great measure be prevented; and all of them through the help of God, by fortitude and patience, might either be borne or overcome. 

Giving Thanks: Writing On the Wall

 
When I host Thanksgiving, I encourage my guests to write on the wall.  It's a tradition we began a few years ago.  (I've since forgotten where I first found the idea.)  On the wall between the kitchen and dining room, I stretch a piece of white butcher paper.  Each guest chooses a colored pencil, each person with a different color.  And the outpouring of thanks giving begins.

In a Scrabble®-esque fashion we write single words for the blessings in our lives.  We are rather free-form.  Usually a little one writes first, out of eagerness... and the rest join in no particular order or turn taking... until all pencils are put to paper at once.  Little ones writing (or coloring) low, and adults arching over.  Depending on your number of guests it can come to look as much like a game of Twister® as a game of Scrabble®!  Some memories bring breathless little-boy laughter. 

Of Things Great and Small

 
When you feel most small,

Consider the possibility...

With each word, each touch, each act

Remains the stroke of your brush

Upon the artwork that is life...

A canvas which stretches beyond yourself,

Our Christmas Buddies

  
His little-boy arms could scarcely wrap around the box.  He drew it tighter and tighter to his chest.  I knew he didn't want to let go.  We stood in the back of the sanctuary before everyone else arrived.  The boxes had mounted over recent weeks in a towering pyramid against the back wall.  It was his first year to pack a Christmas box.

We didn't know the distance it would travel, or even the means.... where it would finally stop... what our tiny recipient would look like.  But we knew he was our precious "Christmas Buddy", and that he needed my little man that Christmas.  Would it be his first Christmas gift?  May it not be his last.

Veteran's Day Prayer

 
Lord,

Comforting Father.

Sustaining Provider.

Shield of grace and mercy.

I thank You, that You hear my whisper.

I marvel, that You see each and every one...

Each soldier...

And each heart holding them

With heartstrings which wrap the world.

A Surprise Present

 
Time passes so quickly these days... as water through my fingers.  Surely Christmas had not arrived in a blink.  Yet I woke in the middle of the night last night to find a gift in the quiet of the darkness... waiting to be opened.

How many of us who write, who blog, have found ourselves falling asleep over the keyboard?  Keys click-clack into the wee hours when the world stills enough for thoughts to flow.  As I closed out of applications, I noticed a blog visit from a familiar name... The Homeschool Post.  I clicked over and found my little corner of the world listed among those I admire, among friends, among those who welcomed me into the blogging community not even a year ago.  I paused at that screen with tears of appreciation.

Pulling Up Anchor

Are you willing to pull up the anchor?

You are created a vessel.

Seaworthy.

And granted provision.