by Sharon O | Jun 3, 2015 | Uncategorized
Living in the Pacific Northwest we have a wide variety of weather changes, one day it will be 80 degrees and sunny, then the next day it will go down to 53 and be rainy.
I have learned to love the overcast cloudy days, they are comfortable.
They do not challenge us in the ways the hot days do.
I even love a misty ‘rainy’ day.
Forecast for the weekend might be up to 92 or higher,
I cannot deal with that kind of heat.
I am a sweat pant and warm sweater kind of person and if I have to, I will wear shorts and a tank top, but my favorite is a cloudy cool refreshing day.
Thought I would show a few of our ‘roses’ … before they are beat down by the rain.
They show the beautiful raindrops, and tender leaves and the amazing buds.
My husband took these photos and they are really beautiful.
by Sharon O | May 23, 2015 | Uncategorized
Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion.
For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him.
Isaiah 30:15
I rise before dawn and cry for help; I have put my hope in your word.
Psalm 119:147
Let us acknowledge the Lord; let us press on to acknowledge him.
As surely as the sun rises, he will appear;
he will come to us like the winter rains.
like the spring rains that water the earth.
Hosea 6:3
The word prompt for the day is Rise.
I will rise to start the morning.
I will rise up when they bring the flag out… we rise when the judge walks into the room.
All rise. It is a sign of honor.
When we sing in church a lot of times we stand and rise to let others know, we love him and long to sing praises to his name.
I love these verses and many more that include the word, rise.
It even makes me think of dough when it has been pounded and kneaded… it begins to rise again.
Ever thought of that in a spiritual way? Pounding and kneading until all the air is out of us.
Then we rise… we rise slowly and deliberately and it is good.
VERY good when it is finished.
Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.
Isaiah 60:1
by Sharon O | May 17, 2015 | Uncategorized
I am realizing that as time moves forward the calendar does too.
Is is really the middle of the year and almost the end of May? wow.
Soon my grand daughter will be age 16 in a week.
The school year will be ending. Life will slow down some.
Then as quick as that, it will be fall again.
The seasons of time. The days passing into each other.
I turned 60 in December my husband turned 61 in January.
Soon we will be retired and able to go and see all that we have planned in our 41 years of marriage.
Life is passing before us.
I think it is time now to slow down and enjoy all the moments.
I am ready. To sit where I can hear the roaring ocean.
I am ready to watch the seagulls fly high in circles over the water.
I am ready to not think of schedules or meals or laundry.
Life is passing before us.
I remember when we brought our little Faith Elizabeth home weighing only 3 pounds 9 ounces and the many hours of rocking and holding and praying.
Now she is almost 16 in the middle of her teen years.
I still pray… I still hug her. I still hold her very close to my heart.
Life as we know it will change. But change is good.
Unless change brings sorrow and loss.
Today we breathe in the breath of thanksgiving.
Of gratitude that this life that is passing has been a good one.
We give thanks for small things and pray for those who are in sorrow.
I have received news of those who have lost love ones recently.
God comforts those who mourn. He heals the broken hearted.
Life is passing before us.
May be strive to do our very best to make it a good one.
Picture by Pamela B of Portland
by Sharon O | May 11, 2015 | Uncategorized
This time last year we were on a vigil for my mom’s passing.
She was end stage Parkinson’s and also failing to thrive.
It was sad.
She was not the mom I remembered. Not the mom I grew up with.
Her fragile state showed me a more ‘distant’… fragile side of her.
It was hard.
She failed to thrive, could not eat, could not drink and could not sit up by herself or do anything we would want her to do.
She was dying.
I went to see her in between all stars soft ball game for my grand daughter who was in 4th grade.
One scene very full of life, and young people and activity and fun.
Then into a more serene place for the dying.
It was hard to say good bye but I knew it was necessary.
She left in June after weeks of hanging on.
Her heart was strong, her body not so much.
Mothers day this year I am without a mother.
My husbands mom passed away 5 years ago on May 8th.
So neither one of us has a mom.
I am the mom now and the grandma.
I pray I do a good job of it.
I pray I leave a legacy of love and peace and great memories when it’s my time to leave.
This is the first Mother’s day I have no mother.
A strange mixture of feelings of sad, empty and remembering.
She wasn’t always a warm fuzzy mom.
But she was doing the best she could do even if her best was not good, or encouraging or even positive.
This time last year, we were waiting for her to leave and take her final breath.
The finality of words, “it’s over… she passed away in the night.”
Hard words, final words. Cold and pressing into the heart.
She is gone. Forever till we meet in heaven.
Remembering what it was like to say the ‘final’ good-bye.
by Sharon O | May 8, 2015 | Uncategorized
Acts 1:3-11
During the forty days after his crucifixion, he appeared to the apostles from time to time, and he proved to them in many ways that he was actually alive.
And he talked to them about the kingdom of God.
Once when he was eating with them, he commanded them.
“Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift he promised, as I told you before. John baptized with water, but in just a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
*I always find it interesting he teaches them during the time of eating. It is a communal time and a time of ‘listening.’
So when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking him,
“Lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom?”
They still really didn’t understand his purpose for coming.
He replied, “The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times and they are not for you to know. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere – in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
After saying this, he was taken up into a cloud while they were watching,
and they could no longer see him.
As they strained to see him rising into the heaven, two white-robed men suddenly stood among them.
*Remember we have seen ‘this’ before… in John 20:12 two white robed angels were in the tomb where Jesus body had been and they asked Mary why she was crying.
“Men of Galilee,” they said, “why are you standing here staring into heaven?
Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday he will return from heaven in the same way as you saw him go.”
Now I don’t know about you but I would be both disturbed and alarmed to see all this taking place.
Jesus didn’t stay as they expected him to do, and then he went up into the sky.
That is amazing… how would that have looked for them?
Brilliant? powerful? like a tornado?
We won’t ever know as we were not there, but what we do know is the promise of his return.
Some day. He will return and it will be glorious and powerful and awesome.
Lord we pray we are ready when that takes place.
