Crocus

The first delicate crocus appeared in the yard yesterday.  Barely 1/2 inch out of the ground, they are small blossoms with a big promise.  Spring is coming!

Cody's Prayer

Years ago, at the end of the sermon in our small country church, the pastor called on one of the youngest in our group to pray. Cody was only 4 at the time, and he walked to the front, his face serious, and bowed his head.  "Dear God," he prayed, "thank You that we can come to church and learn about You and Your only forgotten Son, Jesus."

I smiled to myself, thinking that he had misunderstood the familiar verse, John 3:16.  Cody, however, knew exactly what he meant to say. He continued, "and I pray for all those people that have forgotten You, that we can do something to help them come to Jesus."

Time has erased from my mind any remnant of that day's sermon, but it will be a long time before I forget the sermon in the prayer of one small boy.

For God so loved the world, 

that He gave His only begotten Son, 

that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, 

but have everlasting life.   

John 3:16 

Photo from Bigstock

My Best Friend

Sunday morning, in the early quiet, we walked in the hollow.  My husband and best friend, Don, pauses here with our best dog friend, Barley.

Frames

A few years ago, Don and I were having lunch with a friend of ours, a doctor, in a local cafe. Don had just brokered a deal in which the doctor had purchased a piece of property on the lake.  Having seen the property recently, I mentioned how beautiful it was, with sunlight sparkling on the lake through the trees.  The doctor turned to Don with a twinkle in his eyes, and said, "you know those artists, always putting a frame around something".

I suppose I'm guilty of that.  I'm often looking for something with which to frame a photograph or painting, and I do it in my mind without even being conscious of it.  We're encouraged by the popular adage to "think outside the box", which, at times, is very valuable. Last night, for instance, Don and I enjoyed watching the iconic movie, Field of Dreams which is definately an "outside the box" kind of film.  It removes the "frame" of time and space.

But it seems to me that there are many circumstances in which it is appropriate, even advantageous, to think inside the box, or, if you will, the frame.  Frames make things simpler, they isolate a manageable amount of information.  The noted 19th century German calligrapher, typographic artist and teacher, Rudolf Koch, put it this way: "the spirit needs fetters, freedom needs order, imagination needs solid matter".

We sense the whisper of Spring's approach in the song of the tree frogs, in daffodils pushing their way up from the soil, and in the return of the red-winged blackbird.  Just today I heard the cry of geese overhead, and looked up to see a large ragged formation flying north.  Their flight, which seems so free, fits into the frame of ancient established patterns.

I think it's only in heaven that there are not only limitless possibilities, but also limitless actualities.  Our friend, the doctor, left us recently, after a battle with cancer, to fly to heaven, where, we're told, there is "no more death or mourning or crying or pain".  And, quite possibly, I think, no more frames.