Springtime in Leavenworth always surprises me....instead of spring showers, snow showers. A lovely long walk this morning with Tracy up Ski Hill...in the snow. Ninety minutes of quiet conversation, laughter but best of all companionship that settles deep in my soul. 


Tomorrow is the first day of April. A month that marks a huge change for us....after close to 13 years I am packing up my office and taking myself to a new office, a new company. Praying for guidance, courage and a fresh perspective. That I would be able to sift through the experiences of the past and take only that which is edifying and useful, leaving everything else behind. Easy to say, harder to do.

A new decade has started and already the amount of change in the last 3 weeks has equaled almost all of the change in 2009. I wish I was exaggerating. "Managing change" is the phrase du jour but I think that perhaps that is just the best oxymoron of the 21st century. By definition change is doing things differently, throw into that human beings who are random as a collective group and as a general rule are resistant to change and you have the perfect storm.

It should be an interesting year....

Loving like Jesus

This morning I ran in the rain. It was not your typical Seattle drizzle but an honest downpour which started about 2 minutes before I stepped out of the house and ended as I trailed back into the driveway. I had to smile.

I have a friend whose Dad is in the hospital. His life is literally "hanging in the balance". I've found myself praying for Sam all week, "praying continually" as we are urged to do in 1 Thess. As I prayed for him this morning, I found myself wondering about Jesus and how He acted out His love for others. And for the first time in my life I realized something - something that I'm sure every Jesus follower has known forever - that Jesus loves first, always. The correction followed the love.

Consider the woman at the well.........Jesus' act of love was acknowledging her, speaking with her, knowing her. Any other man would have shunned her, looked through her or worse, cursed her. Jesus' words were a balm to her soul and she felt "known" at the end of their conversation.

How I need to love like that.

All quiet on the home front...........sort of

It's been an exhaustingly long week. I'm home alone except for the 4.5 year old who has alternated between stomping around in my new pair of boots and watching a movie from the 1960s. We like to keep them current around here. I'm hiding out in the kitchen hoping that his equally long week will catch up with him and sleep would claim him where he lays. Then I would truly be alone.

During my run yesterday I pondered how unquiet my life really is. Three children under 13 certainly create their own beautiful cacophony of noise. It's not that I would change the noise, it would just be terrific if I could calibrate it a bit better. I've been surprised in recent years to discover that my hearing is actually getting more acute with the turning of the calendar. And to think I was counting on quite the opposite as a benefit of the aging process.

All that to say, I miss the mountains. I miss the meadows. I miss a wide open quiet space that calls to my soul. That bids me come, sit and reflect on the Creator of all things. It is there that I feel whole, all the random bits and bytes knitted together in perfect harmony. Deep calling to deep.

For now I'll make do with a quiet kitchen and an almost empty house.

One of the best moments of recent years................