Seek Peace

     I was reading my Bible the other day and I came across this passage,
Colossians 3:15
"Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful."
     This says that we are supposed to be ruled by peace. That sounds so wonderful to me. To be ruled by something means to be under its authority. To be under the authority of peace sounds like safety, comfort, and assurance. Unfortunately, I all to often allow fear into my mind and heart, and fear leaves no room for peace. Without peace there is no joy and that is not a good place to find yourself.
      But the One who created your heart knows that fear will try to cripple it, and He asks us to seek Him. He offers peace and He wants to breath it into the very fiber of our beings. Seek the One who designed peace and joy, the One who created laughter and delights in you.
Psalm 34:14
"Depart from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it."
     Pursue peace. Set your mind and heart on it and go after it with all that you've got. Because when you are pursuing peace, you are pursuing Jesus.
     There is something so completely peaceful about a Spring evening. I've had the windows open the past couple of nights and to hear birds sing and the rain gently fall floods my soul with the peace of the Creator. Seek peace, soak it up, and allow your faith to grow.

     On a side note, Norbert the Turtle got a tank upgrade this weekend.

Happy Sunday.

"God cannot give us happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing." ~C.S Lewis

Snow, Babies, and the Truth

        Another beautiful Friday has rolled around. Yesterday, it snowed and snowed and snowed. Today, the sun finally peeked out and the world was absolutely beautiful. The evergreen trees were heavy with sparkling snow. And since it was so cold it stuck to the trees all day. The view from my classroom window was delightful.

       Despite the beauty, I did manage to pick up a cold this week. I don't know if the kids were just chill today or if I just didn't let little things bother me, or maybe they sensed my need for a chill day. Whatever the reason, it was nice. I love having a rocking chair in my classroom. We spent a good chunk of time reading and when someone needed help with math my rocking chair pulled up to their desk. I am truly blessed with the job I have.
       Exciting news! The Lovely Keren Ruth had her sweet baby this week. Mr. Ephraim James was born on Wednesday and he is the cutest little nephew. From now on the adventures of Keren and Bea will be the Adventures of Keren, Bea, and Ephraim. They will be good ones!
       The other day I got an email from Pay Pal that was not addressed to me and I don't even have a Pay Pal account. Then, this morning, on the radio, they were talking about some scam that is going around. They talked about how scammers often send out incredibly legit looking emails trying to get your information from you. This made me think about how the enemy of our souls is a class A scammer. He knows all the tricks in the book to try to deceive you into believing a lie.
     It says in John 8:44 "When he[the devil] lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar
and the father of lies." So we know that the devil is a liar, but he's not just any liar, he's the best one. In the story of Jesus in the wilderness, we see how the devil comes to Him and begins to tempt Him. And he lies to Jesus. The tricky part comes when the devil uses the Word of God to try to deceive Jesus. (Matthew 4:1-11) Just like those internet scammers can do a pretty good job of making themselves look legit the devil tries very hard to make himself look legit. It says in 2 Corinthians 11:14 "...No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light." Because he wants nothing more than to scam you of the peace, joy, and hope that is yours in Jesus. 
       So on this beautiful, snowy, Friday, I hope that you lean back in the arms of the One who makes the snow sparkle and rest in His love. And if you have a baby to snuggle and kiss go for it. Because it doesn't get much better than that. 

Side note, Norbert the Turtle is a yoga master. 

"The Eskimos had fifty-two names for snow because it was important to them: there ought to be as many for love." ~Margaret Atwood 



"A baby is God's opinion that life should go on." ~Carl Sandburg 

Lunch?

      So Norbert the Turtle and Lucinda the Crab have been lovely pets. Sadly Lucinda mysteriously disappeared last weekend. Luke cleaned the tank and after that she was gone. We aren't completely sure what happened. We don't think she could have escaped on her own, but who knows. It's probably more likely that she got scooped up on accident. Or... Perhaps Norbert ate her. This is unlikely, as we found no remains. But it isn't for lack of trying on Norbert's part.
     The other day I walked over to the tank and noticed that both Norbert and Lucinda were sitting on the rock. Norbert was creeping up on Lucinda with the look of a mighty hunter in his eyes. He was hoping for lunch, I could tell.

    Then, the moment came and Norbert went in for the chomp. I'm sure he could almost taste the delicious crabbiness.

     Suddenly, Lucinda caught wind of the dastardly plot and scurried to safety. Norbert lost his balance and went plunging head over shell into the water. SPLOOSH!!! His dinner plans thoroughly spoiled.

    And Lucinda lived to see another day. At least until now. Who knows where she may be. Well anyway, I hope you are having a lovely week. Happy Wednesday!

“Joy is what happens to us when we allow ourselves to recognize how good things really are.” ~Marianne Williamson

Summer 2015

       Summer is here, even though it was only about 46 degrees when we woke up this morning. Today was quite beautiful and I spent a small part of it out in the garden with the Lovely Keren Ruth. A couple weeks ago,  my love and I headed south for a fun weekend. We got to spend some time with my grandparents as well as going to a big family reunion. It was quite enjoyable.
      While we were at my grandparents, we stopped at the Oasis. The Oasis is small chunk of my grandparents farm that has been converted into a picnic area. There is an old gravel pit pond and canoe, a small cabin, and a fire ring. "Grandpa and Grandma's Oasis, the Place of Shearer Fun."

       And fun has certainly been had there. Growing up we camped there, picnicked there, swam there, and had family reunions there. A few days before we got there, a storm had blown through taking down a bunch of trees in the area. Including this massive beast at the Oasis.

     The BPW reunion was also a lot of fun. It is three family reunion. One of my good friends, Polly, is part of the B family(she's actually how I met my love) and so it was a lot of fun getting to spend the weekend with her.

      I have been enjoying my summer job as well. Last week I went swimming with the kids and as I was attempting to get myself to sink so I could sit on the bottom, I realized that I was actually kind of buoyant. Sure, sometimes we sink and have a hard time staying a float in the water. But really, if you take a good breath of air you float pretty well.
     And, In this life, we often try to hold onto God as though He were a flotation device. We rely on Him to keep us from sinking, but we are just holding onto Him on the outside. But what we need to realize is that if we just take a deep breath of Him, He lifts us up from the inside out. What I am trying to say with all that is the One who keeps us afloat should be a life giving, internal part of us, not just something we hold onto. Anyway...
     My garden is growing well! My radishes are done and there was a LOT of them. I attempted making two different kinds of radish pickles to use them up. I'm not sure they make for great tasting pickles, but they sure are pretty.

      And then there is Norbert the turtle. Luke and I found him crossing the road awhile back and brought him home. At first we said we were only going to keep him for awhile, but we have gotten attached. Luke came home the other day with a real aquarium and water filter. He also got a tiny fiddler crab to keep Norbert company. We named her Lucinda. It has been a lot of fun. Baby turtles are fun to watch.

Norbert

 Hiding under the rock.

 Lucinda the Crab

Well I hope your evening is as beautiful wherever you are as it is here. Happy Tuesday and Happy Summer!

“Summer afternoon—summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.”~Henry James

Introducing Norbert the Turtle

     Today Luke and I went for a drive and we found a baby painted turtle crossing the road. We decided to keep him, at least for the weekend, and I want to take him to school next week. He is pretty cute. I named him Norbert.

Also, we bought a couple lemons and I'm going to try my hand at growing a lemon tree. We shall see how it turns out.

Happy Saturday

"Try to be like the turtle--At ease in your own shell." ~Bill Copeland