No Walks for Two Days

Dear Diary,  it seems my goal of walking every day this week is on a downhill slide...no walk Wednesday, none today either.

Yesterday was gray and gloomy.  It surprised me that my mood was also gray and gloomy; I lacked that inner spark pushing me outdoors.  That old buggaboo, Discouragement, was trying to fasten its claws into me.  It was not about me personally, but a group of people very dear to me that is struggling through some contentious, confusing stuff right now.  It took a while for me to see the light and remember not to listen to Discouragement's lies, because God is without a doubt working behind the scenes and now is not the time to give up and just walk away. 

A two-hour nap helped rejuvenate my spirits a bit, and during Wednesday's afternoon and evening I lost myself in the pages of Jerusalem, The Biography.    I'm about 200 pages into the 544-page book and we have progressed to the year 750 AD/CE.  I'm finding it easy reading, and quite fascinating, although the astonishing array of characters with all their plots, plans, wars, loves, and building projects sometimes has my head spinning!

 Touching the light early on Thursday...my east-facing kitchen window.

Today, a glorious, clear and sunny day, I did the laundry, pruned the wisteria, and mildly wrenched my lower back by dragging two big pots of amaryllis several feet across the lawn to sit under the plumeria at the edge of the deck.   Backs can be tricky things I've discovered, and now I'm trying to give it plenty of rest so it recovers quickly.  We are supposed to go on a hike in the nearby mountains on Saturday and I don't want to miss that!

Consequently, there will be no walking on Friday either...instead, back to the books!

My collection of books waiting to be read is somewhat eclectic.  Some of them I have already delved into and will come back to, like the Andrew Murray collection which has been sitting here for about two years, and The Spirit of Food, a new addition to my shelf that I discovered thanks to Jodi's blog, Curious Acorn.   They can be read in bits and pieces because of how they are arranged.

Yet to be enjoyed are some (I hope) light and entertaining works of fiction by Patrick Taylor, a new author for me. 

Some I bought, some were free for the taking at the women's retreat I attended in November.

One, Small Surrenders, is going to be my Lenten reading this year.

There is one highly controversial modern Christian author here, Brian McLaren.  And another mostly forgotten controversial Christian author, Agnes Sanford.  Where reading is concerned, and particularly on faith issues, I push the envelope...I want to know what others are thinking and believing and why.  I am not going to confine myself to a safe little box that somebody else tells me is the only box worth sitting in.

Know what I mean?

Perhaps I should have become a psychologist?  Psychiatrist?  Philosopher?  No wait...didn't I want to be a librarian?  A writer of children's stories?  An illustrator of children's stories?  A fashion design illustrator?  A linguist, translating at the United Nations?  A nun?   An airline stewardess?  A fashion model?  So many choices...and only one little life!

Dear Diary, I'm glad to be just who I am!  I thank my God and Father in heaven that He has brought me to this place in life, this very life, this very moment.  So yes, I put my hand out to touch the light-filled window in my kitchen in the early morning and whisper "Thank You, You who are my light and my life, for this life You have given me."