Our March and April got a little more hectic than I was expecting!  As many of you know, we spent much of March assembling Easter baskets.  It seemed like we delivered them right up to Easter, but really we finished by midweek.

Altogether we assembled over 1,700 kid baskets and close to 500 adult baskets.  While exciting, it is also humbling for we know that those numbers did not come by our strength.  Our house went from looking like this…

and this…

to this…(well, the basement…I won’t show it just yet as we are still cleaning up Easter!).  And by the way, the answer is “yes”!  I definitely love pulling these rooms back together!!  But it is just that…our house.  Our Easter outreach definitely helps us to appreciate the space we have and renews in us a grateful heart for our home.

Right before Easter, we lost our aunt unexpectedly…my dad’s sister.  It broke our hearts for two reasons:  one from losing her and the other, from watching my uncle and cousins’ pain knowing it all too well.  As best as we could, we finished up Easter and collapsed. 

But since then, as we have moved into late April and May there has been more time for reflection and relaxation…

time to catch frogs and turtles…

time to try something new…

time to dip our toes in a lake…

time to watch admire the storms (of life) instead of immediately running for cover when the sky turns dark and ominous…

time to sit by a fire…

time to think about love and how to share and live it…

time to watch movies and eat popcorn…

time for check-ups, tests and waiting…

time to simplify and enjoy…

time to get away together, just the two of us…

time to explore…

time to read…

time to take in the sunsets…

time to study the art of patient waiting, steadfastness, devotion and contentment in the examples God gives us in life…

time to be on the water…

time to gather, remember and grieve…

time to see beauty in these moments…

time to renew and refocus…

It was while shopping this last Friday that God helped me to sum up these days…many of the days have been hard tempered with days of sunshine.  As I stood admiring the blueness of this picture and the yellow sunflowers, I realized what the words were saying.“Rain is good for growth. Shine is good for blossoming.”  Well, isn’t that simply and beautifully true?  We really do need both to grow and blossom–to become all we are meant to be.  Rain and sunshine.  Good times and hard times.  Too much of either, while pleasant for the moment in some circumstances, throws us out of balance and can lead to our demise.  Not enough of either and we cannot grow or blossom.  Any gardener knows this to be true.

And so those are the days around here lately…rain and sunshine…some days have been more rain (in the form of grief, pain, fear, doubt, procrastination, and frustration), and some days have held more shine (beauty, joy, peace, hope, laughter and love) than we can bear.  These are our days…and I am grateful for God’s reminder that we truly need both kinds.

“He will also send you rain for the seed you sow in the ground, and the food that comes from the land will be rich and plentiful.”  ~Isaiah 30:23