Showing posts with label Nevada. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nevada. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Building a Life, Bit by Bit

   Am I running behind? I don't know, maybe so. Some days it feels that way, but I'm letting go of my expectations about what summer days should be; summer days have rhythms of their own. Summer is a season in time for exploring, giving within community, and building our lives with a bit more freedom from school year routines. It's a time to sing, dance, read, or yes, even cry and whine. We've had a few of those days; hormones raging. Alas, this too shall pass.
   Summer is a time to help heal another, even if it's not what we expected of these sunny days. It's a time to help mend neighbors fences and get them hot wired, even if yours are not yet running.
   Because we build our lives bit by bit, brick by brick, and moment by moment.
 Trusting what we hold in the end will radiate beauty. 
   Then there's me, squirrelling away with the sheep in order to write, in order to create. Silence is a precious commodity around here because building a life is a noisy endeavor.
   I remind myself silence is over rated. I can survive without silence. I can, and will. It will be good for me. I can create in a loud space. I simply need be still.
   Pictures are from the Terry Lee Wells Discovery Museum in Reno, Nevada. Visiting a dear aunt and uncle recently, we beat the heat by building. I was quite surprised that the Smithsonian Spark!Lab was not the hit of the day, but rather The Shop. It's rare to see kids with real hand tools these days.  Let's change that this summer, shall we? Google Maker Camp is a good place to begin. It's a blast!

Monday, August 13, 2012

Desert Seeing


 Near Warner Peak View Point, Hart Mountain, Oregon

There are some things we see and experience only in a desert.

Mice in your warm engine block after a cold desert night. Ironically, you are listening to Bless This Mouse. Mom screams. Kids crack up.

Then there are the rocks. They are everywhere. I am constantly trying to get around them, avoid them in my life. I want a story with no rocks. No conflict. Yet, the rocks of conflict may hold precious gems, if I will choose to mine them, instead of tossing them aside, dismissing them as quickly as possible.  

He sees beauty in rocks. Long before others see a precious gem, he sees the hidden treasure. He doesn't have to polish a rock to see it shine.

Long Lake Petroglyph Wall, Hart Mountain Antelope Refuge, Oregon

The desert holds life. Wild bunnies and wild burros, cool swimming holes, and tad poles that nibble on you. Beautiful sunrises and sunsets.
There is treasure in the desert. In the dry and hot, we sweat out the profane, mundane, all that we disdain.

Protected under the Rock.
Long Lake, Oregon 

Virgin Valley Springs Campground, Nevada

In the desert, we thirst for what really matters. Living water.

Isaiah 54
 Spread Out, Think Big
1-6 "Sing, barren woman, who has never had a baby.
   Fill the air with song, you who've never experienced childbirth!
You're ending up with far more children
   than all those childbearing women." God says so!
"Clear lots of ground for your tents!
   Make your tents large. Spread out! Think big!
Use plenty of rope,
   drive the tent pegs deep.
You're going to need lots of elbow room
   for your growing family.
You're going to take over whole nations;
   you're going to resettle abandoned cities.
Don't be afraid—you're not going to be embarrassed.
   Don't hold back—you're not going to come up short.
You'll forget all about the humiliations of your youth,
   and the indignities of being a widow will fade from memory.
For your Maker is your bridegroom,
   his name, God-of-the-Angel-Armies!
Your Redeemer is The Holy of Israel,
   known as God of the whole earth.
You were like an abandoned wife, devastated with grief,
   and God welcomed you back,
Like a woman married young
   and then left," says your God.

 7-8Your Redeemer God says:
   "I left you, but only for a moment.
   Now, with enormous compassion, I'm bringing you back.
In an outburst of anger I turned my back on you—
   but only for a moment.
It's with lasting love
   that I'm tenderly caring for you.
 9-10"This exile is just like the days of Noah for me:
   I promised then that the waters of Noah
   would never again flood the earth.
I'm promising now no more anger,
   no more dressing you down.
For even if the mountains walk away
   and the hills fall to pieces,
My love won't walk away from you,
   my covenant commitment of peace won't fall apart."
   The God who has compassion on you says so.
 11-17"Afflicted city, storm-battered, unpitied:
   I'm about to rebuild you with stones of turquoise,
Lay your foundations with sapphires,
   construct your towers with rubies,
Your gates with jewels,
   and all your walls with precious stones.
All your children will have God for their teacher—
   what a mentor for your children!
You'll be built solid, grounded in righteousness,
   far from any trouble—nothing to fear!
   far from terror—it won't even come close!
If anyone attacks you,
   don't for a moment suppose that I sent them,
And if any should attack,
   nothing will come of it.
I create the blacksmith
   who fires up his forge
   and makes a weapon designed to kill.
I also create the destroyer—
   but no weapon that can hurt you has ever been forged.
Any accuser who takes you to court
   will be dismissed as a liar.
This is what God's servants can expect.
   I'll see to it that everything works out for the best."
         God's Decree.