Beauty in the Mess of Life

Thank goodness for the peonies in my white ironstone pitcher.Who knew how vitally important they would be when I picked them up at Trader Joe’s two days ago…

Mr. C and I just returned from a fast trip down to see our daughter in Davis, California. On our drive we saw great friends in Camas, Washington and spent the night with the owners of Kriselle Cellars in Medford. You MUST check out their beautiful winery! We sipped, took a personal tour, and woke up to the beautiful Rouge River right off the deck.

Davis is a fabulous college town right outside of Sacramento. Our sweet girl and her roomies were great tour guides and have a darling apartment. The hi-light of our trip was watching & listening to our Allie sing worship at the church she’s interning at. Goosebumps!!

Now we’re home and I'm it's a mess. The innocent-looking adorable Sydney had a few more accidents while we were out of town. Due to needing the carpet professionally cleaned in three rooms imagine what our abode currently looks like: furniture pushed back, half of the bonus room “stuff” out in the hall, unfolded laundry tossed on the couch, wedding dress box and other tubs waiting to be stored in the garage… and then of course is the HUGE pile of items that we need to sell that were in the bonus and are now back in the recently cleared garage. A future move to another rental is imminent since our landlord is going into foreclosure… Did I mention how much we've loved living with a front porch and water view and how much we dislike packing and moving???

I'm just not productive right now because my heart is heavy for the young parents of  a beautiful baby boy named Noah who went to be with Jesus last week at 11 days old.  Is it a coincidence that God has provided lots of rainbows this week as a visual reminder of love and comfort to all who prayed that Noah would be healed? 

A darling bird just landed outside on the porch rail; another reminder of God being in the details. Even though I can't stand disorganization, and even though I have a busy next few days ( I work every day this week, my oldest is home visiting, company is coming to spend the night Saturday and two people need me to provide food for events), I sit; writing, sipping coffee, feeling overwhelmed and unproductive with a heavy but hopeful heart. Then I gaze at my beautiful pink peonies in my pitcher and I know Jesus will help me through the next few days as I deal with my messy home and messy mind and heart...

"God supplies power to the weak." ISAIAH 40:29,31

God always provides beauty amid the mess; sweet birds, rainbows, even pitchers of pink peonies. ..  They are His visual reminders that He sees and is with me/us. Some days are busy, some days are HARD, but every day I know God provides encouragement and power. I hope that you feel His love and see small bits of beauty in your day too!

In His Grip, Jane