Every year around this time I see Spring peaking around the corner. I remember the first time this happened to me, I was laying in bed one morning dreading hauling my self into the cold air when I heard a bird chirping outside my window. It caught my attention because I had not heard a bird chirping for months. Then I noticed the sun was shining when I drove to work, and it was a little brighter a little later in the day. When you live in Michigan you measure the sun in minutes per day and appreciate every one of them!
Last year when Spring started to appear like a tiny figure on the horizon, I was already living in this new old house. It wasn't ours yet and it wore more of my grandparent's fingerprints than ours. We still hadn't had the yard sale to clear out the stuff no one laid claim to, much of the stuff people did lay claim to still lined the shelves and walls. Actually we moved in in March so Spring was actually closer than it is now. But it was living in my gramma and grampa's house for sure. And actually, it was good for me. My grandparents played a huge role in my life and the letting go might have not been so sweet from our old old house.
Little by little, we began to show ourselves around the rooms. Computers and televisions moved in. As did a dog (gasp.) Pictures came down from the walls and were quietly leaned against the Queen Ann sofa in the living room, which had become the unofficial Eleanor & Bob Room. Items were boxed and put in the middle of the floor and the family room was rearranged. Flow Blue china went to my mom's house and rustic crockery replaced it. But still, it was my grandparent's house gone willy nilly with our belongings scattered around.
The sun shined brighter and brighter and the birds became common enough to not catch my attention first thing in the morning. And the seasons changed. And the days, like in Genesis, passed. And it was good.
This year the storage/living room with the light blue sofa only vaguely reflects its former self. Ivory walls no more, the C.S. Lewis room has deep golden walls with a lighter buttery yellow in the alcove. The formal furniture is gone replaced with dark brown sofas and the creamy damask drapes are packed away replaced with slate blue crinkly sheers on iron rods.
The similarly appointed bedroom with creamy walls is now pistachio but the furniture inherited from my grandma now feels like ours and not a sleep over from childhood.
The blue and white bathroom is sweet pea green with black cabinetry and stark white trim, cobalt blue accents that will change to some other color (yellow?) with Spring's official arrival
The family room and kitchen will be slower to evolve as finances ultimately pace our renovations but in the meantime, our lemon dishes are now in the cupboards and our brightly colored print of an African American church service now hangs above the fireplace. Candles burn on the table tops in the evenings as the Mr. and I snuggle up on our second hand pillow back sofa to watch Netflix movies.
So, Spring was heard in the voice of songbirds this morning and the sun slanted through the blinds bright enough to make me squint when I opened the drapes. Nothing special except the miracle of seasons of families and houses and nature quietly walking forward into the next season; some predictable (the weather will eventually warm up!) and some unexpected (will the Mr. have his automotive industry job when the sun begins to creep away again?)
I know that today I'm writing in the same vein that I seem to fall into, call it sappy or simply a rerun. But for me, it is a moment of praise to God for his goodness and unchanging faithfulness to me. Without the always new miracle of seeing his glory in the ordinary, I would be distracted by myself and the gray hair and wrinkles that appear with the songbirds! In Him, I can welcome age knowing that the passage of times brings a greater awareness of all that He is and the promises that He always keeps.
Gray hair reflected in Spring sunshine noticed despite sub-freezing temperatures can make you smile if you listen hard for the song of life in the background.
Last year when Spring started to appear like a tiny figure on the horizon, I was already living in this new old house. It wasn't ours yet and it wore more of my grandparent's fingerprints than ours. We still hadn't had the yard sale to clear out the stuff no one laid claim to, much of the stuff people did lay claim to still lined the shelves and walls. Actually we moved in in March so Spring was actually closer than it is now. But it was living in my gramma and grampa's house for sure. And actually, it was good for me. My grandparents played a huge role in my life and the letting go might have not been so sweet from our old old house.
Little by little, we began to show ourselves around the rooms. Computers and televisions moved in. As did a dog (gasp.) Pictures came down from the walls and were quietly leaned against the Queen Ann sofa in the living room, which had become the unofficial Eleanor & Bob Room. Items were boxed and put in the middle of the floor and the family room was rearranged. Flow Blue china went to my mom's house and rustic crockery replaced it. But still, it was my grandparent's house gone willy nilly with our belongings scattered around.
The sun shined brighter and brighter and the birds became common enough to not catch my attention first thing in the morning. And the seasons changed. And the days, like in Genesis, passed. And it was good.
This year the storage/living room with the light blue sofa only vaguely reflects its former self. Ivory walls no more, the C.S. Lewis room has deep golden walls with a lighter buttery yellow in the alcove. The formal furniture is gone replaced with dark brown sofas and the creamy damask drapes are packed away replaced with slate blue crinkly sheers on iron rods.
The similarly appointed bedroom with creamy walls is now pistachio but the furniture inherited from my grandma now feels like ours and not a sleep over from childhood.
The blue and white bathroom is sweet pea green with black cabinetry and stark white trim, cobalt blue accents that will change to some other color (yellow?) with Spring's official arrival
The family room and kitchen will be slower to evolve as finances ultimately pace our renovations but in the meantime, our lemon dishes are now in the cupboards and our brightly colored print of an African American church service now hangs above the fireplace. Candles burn on the table tops in the evenings as the Mr. and I snuggle up on our second hand pillow back sofa to watch Netflix movies.
So, Spring was heard in the voice of songbirds this morning and the sun slanted through the blinds bright enough to make me squint when I opened the drapes. Nothing special except the miracle of seasons of families and houses and nature quietly walking forward into the next season; some predictable (the weather will eventually warm up!) and some unexpected (will the Mr. have his automotive industry job when the sun begins to creep away again?)
I know that today I'm writing in the same vein that I seem to fall into, call it sappy or simply a rerun. But for me, it is a moment of praise to God for his goodness and unchanging faithfulness to me. Without the always new miracle of seeing his glory in the ordinary, I would be distracted by myself and the gray hair and wrinkles that appear with the songbirds! In Him, I can welcome age knowing that the passage of times brings a greater awareness of all that He is and the promises that He always keeps.
Gray hair reflected in Spring sunshine noticed despite sub-freezing temperatures can make you smile if you listen hard for the song of life in the background.
Ecclesiastes 8:15 So I commend the enjoyment of life, because nothing is better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany him in his work all the days of the life God has given him under the sun.
Pic: 5/26/08, Donny lazing in the backyard.
1 comment:
Sappy.
Rerun?
Not.
Excellent post miss sara...
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