A LampPost Flickering

I'm not usually one to dwell on challenges and depressions, especially ones that are spiritual or personal. I don't like to air dirty laundry. Writing that sentence on this spring day in South Texas does make me desperately miss my clothesline in Michigan and the fragrance of freshly laundered and country-air-dried sheets. Ahh. Oh, back to what I was talking about. Dirty laundry. Physical evidence of the day's/week's/month's toil. Oh, look, she had pasta again, I can see the marinara spot on her white shirt. Hasn't she had enough pasta? I mean, does she know how many carbs are in a plate of penne? This is all figurative of course. (And I did make a YUMMY whole wheat baked penne this week, with chicken, zucchini, red pepper, onions and garlic, but that's clearly an aside.) Oh, she's been grumpy with her kids? Feels distant from her husband? Lacking in her prayer life? Trouble sticking to her Lent fast? The chaplain's wife?! Dirty laundry indeed. I do...

"Beauty is visual but also exists in sounds, scents, tastes and touch." (Etched on a wooden sign at the South Texas Botanical Gardens.) We journeyed in search of beauty, vibrant color, signs of spring and new life. We found it, God's gentle breath of life in the wonder of His creation as we gazed and marveled at colors found only in flowers and dreams and touched baby soft petals and inhaled crisp air dampened by rain and made rich by earthy spring. If this is only a shadow of the beauty found in Heaven, what glorious treasures await us there!