Taking a Deep Breath this Easter Week

This week finds me tentatively moving toward commiting to spending a week this summer at Warren Wilson College at The Swannanoa Gathering. Check out the website for The Swannanoa Gathering. It is exciting and a bit intimidating. If things work out as I hope, I will take Beginner Autoharp as one of my classes. The week is filled with music, music, and more music. On top of that there's contra dancing, story telling, shape note singing and lots more. For me, the difficulty is overcoming my hesitance to commiting to be in that place at that time for that experience. Don't ask me why. I do not know. But I think I need to take this step toward this new creative journey.

This is Holy Week. Easter is my favorite holiday. Knowing that Jesus came to this earth as a human baby is still a wonderful mystery. Knowing that he lived a truly human life with all its ups and down helps me to realize how much he loved all of us. He knows our joys and knows our sorrows. He laughed and wept. He had friends and saw friends die. He came to take our sins upon himself. He came to show us that we must love the unlovely. He came to show us that he helps those who cannot help themselves. He came to earth for the least among us. He came to fulfill the Law and to redeem us for Himself. I will go to my church for our Maundy Thursday communion service. I will think of the mystery of the enormous sacrifice Jesus gave for me. Friday and Saturday will bring that searching sadness within my heart knowing that Jesus suffered as a human for me and for each one of us. He chose it. He endured it. Even as he died he begged God to forgive those who killed him. How can I understand such a love as this? As I journey on toward Sunday, I seek to understand it. I look with joy toward Sunday!!


The earth is renewing itself. Gently the new leaves begin to appear. My Yellowbells are blooming!! It seems to me that New Year's Day should be the first day of spring. There is such promise!!

This is the Day!!

This is the day the Lord has made, Let us rejoice and be glad in it !! Psalm 118:24

Even on this new spring day, with its damp chill and clouds, I see a patch or two of green (either grass or weeds) in my lawn. There are a few buttercups blooming in the yard across the street. In my backyard, the new green leaves of my tulips are breaking through the wintry sod. It has been a hard winter, both inside my head and outside in my yard. But, I sense the newness of the return of Spring. I yearn for it. I check for new buds on the lilac bushes, give a nod to the robin pecking for worms in my yard, and whistle back to the redbird perched in the top of the poplar.

So, I will continue to look for Spring. But today, I will rejoice for the newness of opportunity that God has given me.

I will put out the papers for recycling, unpack from the wonderful weekend I had in Winston-Salem with my daughter June & son-in-law Bobby and with 10 of my church family at the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina General Assembly.
I might read some from Half the Sky by Kristoff & WuDunn. My book club is reading it this month. Check out info about the movement spurred by this book. I will rejoice and be thankful for this new day !!