February Series

 white peonies from my garden in Liverpool, NY

2015 started out rough.

But God has been here, all the time.  

He is at work in my heart, in my life, in the lives around me.

I am exhausted, but today I have chosen a day of rest.  It is 12:52 p.m., I am still cozy in my navy plaid pajama pants, and I choose not to be apologetic about this.  Not today.  I've been meaning to take a nap since Sunday, and today, even if I do not actually get a nap, I will read in my bed, in my pajamas, and rest my body and nourish my soul.  This is not a bad thing.

Although this blog has been neglected, it is a good thing.  It has been a time of retreat, withdrawal, a time of prayer and contemplation and finding my rest and peace in the Lord.

For He is always with me.  Whether I am happy or sad, whether I feel quiet or communicative, whether I am full of fear or full of confidence, He is always with me and never leaves me, never forsakes me.

During January, I've been thinking about things, about choices people make, and the choices others make in response, and about responsibility and carelessness, wisdom and foolishness, pain and healing, sorrow and comfort.

1 Peter 4:8 says, 

"Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, 

since love covers a multitude of sins." 

(ESV)

I am pondering this, trying to figure out what it looks like in my own life, wondering what could be the power of my own love, if I could learn to love well enough.

I've been ruminating on love, and realizing that true love is mostly made up of grace. 

Love and grace.

I haven't totally figured them out, solved the mystery, grasped the truth, practiced the principles . . . and I don't don't know if I ever will. 

But I am going to try to write something about love and grace on each day in February.  
(Well, maybe not on the weekends.)
February is the love month, after all.

Ha!  I have three and a half days to get my thoughts in order!