A Fresh Look

Surprise! Our blog has a new look. You might not have been tired of looking at the same old template over and over, but we sure were. Hope you like this new one. If not, let us know, and we'll try again. Anyway, spring is here, or, rather, it's peaking its head around the corner. There may still be some cold weather in store (as usually happens in the South, where the weather is rather unpredictable until June, when it becomes unbearably - but consistently - hot and humid). However, this week and past weekend represent the first relatively long stretch of warm weather since last fall.

Spring is my absolute favorite time of year. I love the sense of newness, the fresh smell in the air, the beautiful flowers and trees everywhere (despite their tendencies to make me miserable with their pollen), and - best of all - the ability to just get outside and soak in the sun again. Each season has its pros and cons, but I'm sure I am not alone in enjoying spring the best of all.

This past Sunday we went on a long walk nearby and saw these daffodils (above) on the verge of blooming - some of the few that actually hadn't bloomed yet in town. We also saw this field, which looked positively brilliant with its bright green color (and apparently it is also "the oldest continuously cultivated farm in America's first English settlement," according to a nearby historical marker):

Today after I got home from work, we also went biking (my first real ride on my new bike I got for Christmas) - just before a large string of storms ran up the coast and put us on a tornado watch for the rest of tonight. It was so nice to be able to exercise without freezing to death!

Anyway, other than that, it's the Lenton season. Neither of us decided to "give up" anything in particular this year, at least tangibly, but I have been trying to reflect a lot more on Easter and on the meaning of His Resurrection and of the entire Gospel for my personal, everyday life. It's so easy to get caught up in the unimportant, little things, and one thing we've been hearing lately in sermons is how important it is to to focus on the "big" rather than the "little" in life. The "big" is that Jesus came to earth to show us the perfect godly life, and He died for our sins so that we might have everlasting life with Him. The implications of that are huge, and it should really affect us more on a daily basis than it often does.

To comprehend better how to put all this into practice, I picked up a little, but old (and classic) book that I've wanted to read for a long time, called The Practice of the Presence of God, by Brother Lawrence. It talks about glorifying God in the small things - that is, finding peace and contentment in Him, but through what would normally be considered routine, monotonous, and dull. I guess you could say this means accomplishing the "big" through the "little" (which turns into the "big" when He's in it). This is a lesson I learned awhile ago, but it's one thing I think we can never quite remind ourselves of too many times. I leave you with the quote (prayer) that starts Brother Lawrence's book:

Lord of all pots and pans and things...
Make me a saint by getting meals
And washing up the plates!