Throughout my life, since I was very young, I have been an avid reader.
I have always preferred books to television and have spent most of my life
reading well into the night.
The summer I turned ten my grandmother started my collection of
Little House on the Prairie books by giving me the first one
in paperback for my birthday that June.
By that Christmas I asked my parents for my first Bible.
I still have that precious gift.
A small black Bible with a zipper that closes it up
all the way around with a cross dangling from it.
Of course through the years I've had many other Bibles.
And I have read countless books of every kind.
There is something about words on paper that draw me in.
Words of long ago...
Emerson, Thoreau, Dickinson, Austen, Shakespeare,
Corrie ten Boom, Oswald Chambers,
well the list could go on and on.
And too many of today's authors to even count.
But my true peace and solace is found in God's Word.
I never tire of reading it. It is fresh and new every time.
Just like God's mercies are new every morning.
Although we face new challenges with each season of our lives,
and sometimes with every new day,
we truly can find peace in God.
This world is not always kind but there are still kind people in it if we focus in.
I'm not saying that life is typically easy, no not that.
But precious.
Oh yes, it is always very precious.
There are still so many moments of beauty all around us.
Though I have a sense of holding my breath
as I wait with my sister for her diagnosis,
I stop in wonder and my breath is taken away as I see this beautiful bumblebee
going about the business of the life God created him for,
without a care in the world.
And just like that, I am caught up in the stillness of the moment.
I see him working and as I step closer I can hear him buzzing.
I remember that we are all only here for a short while really
and I am reminded once again
that we are here to love one another first and foremost,
no matter what is going on in the world.
We are meant to be building one another up in all things at all times.
And we should never, ever lose hope.
I know from personal experience that God is still in the business of miracles.
Nearly five years ago he healed my husband from pancreatic cancer.
God can do anything at any time.
"Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice!
Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near.
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything in prayer and supplication
with thanksgiving let your requests be known to God.
And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension,
will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable,
whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely,
whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence
and anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things."
Philippians 4:4-8
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