I am trusting God

I drove a short way into the Hills late yesterday afternoon,
and marvelled at a rainbow; enormous and multi-hewed.
It beamed at me, in an upside down sort of way.
It was so fully there that i could imagine I was seeing the allusive/invisible indigo.

I always remember what the first rainbow told its seers.
And so i reminded myself
that God DOES keep God's promises.

It isn't always easy to remember.
God doesn't always promise-keep in the ways I thought would be
Doesn't always follow my timeline and my agenda.

I suspect God is sometimes frustrated when
the people who are supposed to be part of the promise
miss their cues.
When I miss my cues.

But I must believe that God's intent is always for good.
For me and for my family.

So I continue to chose to believe,
to trust,
to hope,
to hold onto promises given.
And to be glad of rainbow coloured reminders.

I am back

Hmm, yeah well sorry about the silence.
I've had a fantastic holiday break that included many of the things that I love:
beach, camping, holidays, time with my family, reading, beach, tenting (I LOVE the smell of our sleeping bags, and probably should pull them out sometimes in the middle of non-holiday season just to inhale them!), and ... time hanging out with people at a camp. I got to listen to people's stories, and maybe offer some wisdom or encouragement, and to help out, and fill gaps that needed filling, and just be with people. And you know what, people seemed to 'preciate it. and I remembered how much i LOVE that sort of stuff and how "me" it is to have a place where i do my bit and everyone else does their bits and together we marvel at God doing God's bit.
So it's not that i somehow lost it trans-Tasman (you make think it's silly that comes as a relief), it's just that there haven't been many places to put that particular me-ness into action. With others. So. I AM still that me; listening-Lynne, caring-Lynne, big-hearted,-loving-Lynne. Just a little underutilised at present. Which, frankly is ridiculous!
So, that is my I'm back rant.
More later!

Today I am (starting to be) a holiday-preparer...

...it's like the pre-stage to being a holiday-maker

We're heading off tomorrow for an Easter + break...
Looking forward to:
time as a family
hanging out at a youth camp
tenting in Ballarat and (somewhere on the) Great Ocean Road.


There's a bit to do
This working fultime lark doesn't leave much time for
car maintenance and repairs
buying "extra" items we never used to be able to squeeze into our little car,
(like a lantern)
finding police checks
completing child safe training.
And packing.
And buying our gear for the "op shop formal"

I am glad of the love of camping that my parents instilled in me.
I am glad my husband and kids share such a love.

I am glad we have a house- and stellar(cat)-sitter, who needed a place to stay.
I am glad the mechanic made space for our car (and that it is still under warantee)
I am glad my thesis will be here when I return.
I am glad I worked a couple of hours last night that completed something someone was waiting on.

And I am glad of 10 days stretching before me.
Full of potential.

I am a sun-lover

One of the things i love,
is sunshine.

I think i would be well-suited
to life as a cat,
finding a warm patch
in which to curl.

Or perhaps a lizard
Sun-basking

as an essential dimension of
life, healing and wholeness.

One of the ways I encounter God
is in such sunlighty patches.
When I get into a sunwarmed car on a cool day,
I am reminded of
the enveloping love of God.

My mother's daughter

My Mum turns 80 today
And I am here and she is there.
Not together.

We've done birthdays together
and we've done birthdays apart.
Most often because I have lived away from her,
though she has had adventures away as well.

So today, I am Mum's
DD Lynne.
Darling daughter.
Loved, cherished.
And sadly missing my mum.

But glad of her
and the strength of our relationship.
And all she has given me
in her love and wisdom.

So today
I am
my mother's daughter.

Why do I ask?

Sometimes I feel a little lost,
Not because I don't know where I am
But rather because I have lost sight of who I am.

A generous dedication to a book of poems
by a lovely and creative friend reminds me of who I am.
Or at least who I was in those days
when I got to watch his creativity blossom.

And I am missing the me that was that me.
The me who had easy opportunity
to play a part in helping create spaces, places
for people to become all they are created to be.

So rather than wallow and feel lost
I take the opportunity to reflect on who i am.
Which on one hand sounds like a hugely indulgent, navel-gazing affair.
But on the other hand is (I suspect) not actually about me at all.

So if you happen to happen upon this little blog,
I hope you will discover a little more about you.
And celebrate the you that you are,
as I discover and celebrate the me that I am.