Spring Will Come

It is a quiet day here at Linwood House. One of those days where you move with the gentle rhythm of ordinary tasks that fit together in making this an extraordinary place. Grandma is still away visiting with her older sister (who is 94) and Ron and Gwen are enjoying a much needed rest and time for reflection. It helps that it is also in warm and sunny Mexico!

Luise is working in the garden, clearing out the debris of winter and preparing for spring. Colourful primulas give a hint of spring. She works steadily and quietly digging, sorting, clearing, moving and at the end of the day will stand back to view her progress. Standing back to view our progress sounds like a good idea. Luise's "peace lovin groovy granola recipe" will soon be placed in our recipe link.

Rob is out working on the studio, placing cedar shakes on the east wall. The infinte care to each detail takes time and from the outside you cannot see the fine details unfolding within the four walls. Rather like our lives where God does so much inside us and it takes time for that to be reflected on the outside. Max and Luke, Rob and Sarah's two beautiful black Labs, patiently watch from their perch in the bed of the pick up truck. Their loyalty and patience is so beautiful.

One of the themes here at Linwood House is "safe places for the heart". These two beautiful creatures paint a picture of one quality we can offer each other in that theme, loyalty and patience.

Sorting cupboards one of my tasks today is this sorting of the kitchen, getting rid of what isn't necessary and keeping what we need readily available for use. There are little bits and pieces that are not useful so it is time to get rid of them. I find myself looking at inner sorting as I work in the quiet and stillness of the house. It isn't the big things, but rather those little niggly things that get in the way and cause clutter on the inside of us.

Wes Roberts was up here last week and today he is having some surgery. We pray the outcome will be favorable and he will recover soon.

One new book we are reading is To Be Told: Embracing the Stories of Your Life, by Dan Allender. Linwood House is so much about story so this will be a great book to place in our library (after we return this copy to its rightful owner Mike Todd)

It is St. Patrick's Day today and I look out at the shades of green that Creation placed upon this earth. In nature the shades never seem to clash do they!

The quiet is soothing today. The house will be busy this weekend with a surprise 50th birthday party happening. Twenty guests will be here and there will be lots of laughter, music and dancing too. Spring quietly will arrive and then the party of summer will soon be upon us. Ahhh it's nice to watch it all unfold. A quiet day at Linwood House also holds anticipation for we know guests will soon arrive again.

Meditating on these words today, Balaam has some wise words to sharing:
Decree of balaam son of Beor
decree of the man(woman) with 20/20 vision,
decree of the man(woman) who hears godly speech,
who knos what's going on with the High God,
who sees what The Strong God reveals,
who bos in worship and sees what's real.