Peonies. Beautiful blooms.
They delighted me for every minute they swayed on their stalks. They don’t hang around long. I wonder if that isn’t part of their enchanting charm. They are a distinct reminder to savor What Is Here and Now.
I’ve been writing the books I’m reading in My Reading Life journal. I have the tendency to start books and then start more books. Pairing my love of stickers and book journal, I had the lightbulb idea to add a sticker to the page when I’ve finished reading the book. As I thumb through, I can tell at a glance which books are finished or unfinished.
In super fun news, Anne Bogel has a reading journal designed particularly for kiddos coming out in August. Woohoo! It’s titled My Reading Adventures and you can pre-order here.
{affiliate links in this post, friends. Thank you!}
sunbeams catching, dancing, playing,
splashing straw hat sparkles,
and hope always shimmies in on quiet toes,
shining,
and brokenness abounds,
but beauty greater,
and the seeking of it,
also requiring,
greater intention,
a presence,
a pausing,
a still soul seeking to savor,
beauty • gratitude • hope
these are the ways.
walk in them.
Book Club
For a very L O N G time the idea of a Book Club has bounced around my brain and flittered through my lists of Ideas and Inspiration.
For a very L O N G time, I’ve loved the idea. Yet, that’s where it stayed. Rolling around in Idea Mode.
Recently, it moved into Reality Tab. I’m beyond delighted.
My framework of criteria for a Book Club looked like this:
• fellow lovers of reading, books, and discussions
• analysis of characters
• thoughtful dialogue about the writing and use of language and words
• a look at life lessons we draw from good stories
• fellow thinkers and avid readers
• an incentive to read from my L O N G TBR {To-Be-Read}stacks and lists
Our first Book Club pick is The Fellowship of the Ring. Tolkien’s use of language is amazing and There Are So Many Quotable Quotes. {Give me a great quote every day}
Hearing the quotes and passages highlighted by my Book Club Comrades is a highlight in itself.
Tell me ~ have you started a book club? Been part of one?
What did you read? How often did you meet? What details about it brought you delight?
“You can trust us to stick to you through thick and thin – to the bitter end. And you can trust us to keep any secret of yours – closer than you keep it yourself. But you cannot trust us to let you face trouble alone, and go off without a word.
We are your friends, Frodo.”
~ J.R.R. Tolkien
I picked up these titles at Bookends, a secondhand bookshop:
- Glimpses of Grace by Madeleine L’Engle
- Same Kind of Different as Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore
- Happiness for Two by Alexandra Stoddard
I’m currently reading:
- Awake by Anjuli Paschall
- Fractured Faith by Lina AbuJamra
This And That
This mug makes me incredibly happy. I ordered this book of poetry for my daughter and she adores it as much as I’d thought she would.
She read me The Brook by Alfred Lord Tennyson and it is completely delightful. The words and imagery are lovely.
Listen to the first verse.
I come from haunts of coot and hern,
I make a sudden sally,
And sparkle out among the fern,
To bicker down a valley.
She and I both love the “sudden sally.”
We have two baby kittens and they get to ride around in Renae’s bib pocket with her occasionally as she works in the yard. 🙂
These yucca blooms have offered enjoyment.
A lovely reminder of the power of grace right here.
This corded crew is the best!
A good podcast listen on trusting the process.
We celebrated our 25th anniversary this month. It really feels impossibly funny to be at this stage and age. I’m so grateful for my good farmer man. Marriage is a gift. Marriage is wonderful. Marriage is hard and terrible and refining. It provides grounds for shaping and forming and becoming in all the wild and beautiful ways. Marriage is tenderness and empathy and loving someone so much you give deeply. Marriage is selfishness revealing. Marriage is commitment and choosing again and again and again.
Every day is a gift. Twenty-five years is not something I take lightly.
“I believe the most adequate description of prayer is simply talking to God about what we are doing together. That immediately focuses the activity where we are but at the same time drives
~ Dallas Willard
the egotism out of it.”
Essentially, our life. Talking to God about any, every, all details of our life.
Living, dwelling, doing life with God in it, Emmanuel with us, Spirit in us.
Bringing our struggles, our attitudes, our anger, our angst, our pressures, problems, panic.
Questions. Challenges. Deep sorrow.
God is here for it. God can handle it
We can beat our fists on His chest, tears streaming and He is not unable.
Bringing our joy, our happiness, our delight.
Our praise, gratitude, overflowing awe.
Dreams. Hopes. Aims.
God revels in it, in us.
Ever shaping, ever forming, we become in Him.
“Talk to me,” He says. “I love the sparkle in your eye, the lilt in your voice. I tucked away the tear and bear witness to your pain. I thrilled when you threw back your head and laughed. I basked in the waving daisies’ beauty with you. You delight me because you are you. We are in this together.”
//follow the way of delight//
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