First Bloom

The first white blooms of crocus's popped open two days ago. What a wonderful sight. A harbinger of things to come.

The daffodils and tulips are up and ready to produce a bloom. The trees and lilacs are budded.

And for the past two beautiful days I have raked tons of leaves and picked up branches from the yard. Swept pounds of sand off the driveway. Set out patio furniture. Freed the arborvitae around the brick patio, from it's protection of chicken wire and burlap. (Deer are a real hazard to greenery in downtown Canton) Watched the last vestige of snow in my garden disappear today. And generally set the outdoors of 42 East Main in order.

My lastest interest is to remove the chain link fence, which housed three kennels, (we are getting an invisible fence thanks to Liz) and begin to plan for a lovely little kitchen garden right off the back porch, all enclosed with a low white picket fence and lovely little gate.

The next dream is to build a green house in the backyard with all those old windows that are currently inhabiting the attic of the barn. The foundation and short walls will be made from the stacks of brick that we, by hand, loaded into our truck from the Reiters three years ago. I don't remember what we were going to do with those bricks originally but they have sat in between the barns for three years and now I have a great idea. The only thing missing is my partner in garden and landscaping crime....He is away again for most of this summer too. Who can grab onto my newest vision???

Laura actually sat outside today and got a sunburn. Wow, and it was just snowing last Sunday. The adventures of living in the North Country!

DESIRE

We sang and worshiped the Lord last night at church, the last night for Presbytery here at CFC. It was wonderful, liberating, joyful and refreshing. As we moved from song to song, one refrain rang out. "We are His desire". We read it on the overhead, we sang it with our voices, we heard it in our spirits.

Shouldn't we be singing He is our desire. Yes, we know He is. For those who have been redeemed we know, He is our desire. Where would we be without Him? Our confidence, our friend, our Savior, our King, our deliverer, our healer, our Restoration.

But no. We sang, we are His desire. And that is right and it is wonderful, almost too good to be true. Despite our sin, our indifference, our insistent on independence, we are His Desire. Our creator's desire is His creation. A relationship with Him, on a personal, intimate level.

And I was reminded of reading the book of Hosea last month. An account of redemption, sacrifice, and ultimate love.

The Prophet is told to go and take a wife who is a harlot. What? That does not make sense. But it is a story and a visual picture of how much God loves and seeks for us. And Hosea is obedient to his calling.

Gomer and Hosea are wed and they have a son. There are two other children who Hosea names but we don't really know if they are his. In fact, God tells him to name his last child Lo Ami, "not mine". Hosea is to love this woman as God loves the children of Israel.

In chapter 2 we see that Gomer has become a street walker again, and is unfaithful to Hosea. In chapter 3 she is for sale. She has sunk so low that now her current lover has her on the auction block. For sale as a slave. And God tells Hosea, "go again" and get her, buy her back.

"Go again," One more time. Show her my love. Show her how much she is worth. Show her how priceless she is. To me, to you.

Hosea pays an enormous price to get her back, financially, socially and emotionally. To love anyone with problems, issues, addictions, and sorted pasts requires a subsitutionary sacrifice. A love greater than ones self.

And so we see and understand how much we are God's desire through the prophecy of Hosea. We understand Isaiah 64 better; "Your maker is your husband".

We get a more complete picture of our relationship with the Lord. Yes, he is our King and we are his subjects. He is our great Shepherd and we are his sheep. He is our Father and we are his children. But now we are told we are his bride and we are His desire. A relationship so intimate, so personal, so tender, so life changing, so securing.

A marriage, a relationship of priority. That's what we are to Him. Just as I saw Christian rejoicing over Elizabeth as she walked down the isle of the church with organ music swelling, trumpets sounding and witnesses standing. God rejoices over us.

Just as Gomer found rest in her husband, Hosea's love, we find hope and purpose and rest in God's love and desire for us.

A beautiful passage:

Hosea 11:3 "It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms, but they did not realize it was I who healed them. I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love; I lifted the yoke from their neck and bent down to feed them."

A Request

As I am slowly but surely emerging out of this season of devestating grief and loss, and as one friend said, "at times, paralyzing sadness", I realize there are five other women who are experiencing those emotions, thoughts, lonliness and questions that Elizabeth is.

Yes, intectually and cognitively I have known that Elizabeth was not the only one. But their grief and sorrow and that of their family's has not entered my consciousness until now. I've been seeing only the loss in Canton and Racine.

But now..... And I am thinking about how all of them will do with personal holidays and celebrations; anniversaries, birthdays of spouse, children and self, and vacations without husbands and fathers.

So, I ask any of you that are still reading my blog if you would pray with me for these ladies and their children as they go through this next year of personal rememberances. I know that one lady had an anniversary last week and it was very hard. She has two children. Another lady has an anniversary next week and Elizabeth's anniversary is in July and Christian's birthday was in the beginning of August.

I have a few things on my heart for the group but I want to really get His heart for this situation, so if you think about me and have the energy, please include me as you pray. As I think about this accident, I realize that we are just a small microcosm of so many situations in our country and around the world. People and families going through tragedies and many without knowledge of His love. It really is a hurting world and as lights we need to reach out into the dark. Somehow. He is greater than death and sorrow.