beauty in winter

I've been teaching my students about adjectives and how to make their writing more interesting. Last week, we talked about beauty. How it is subjective and "in the eye of the beholder". I told them that on our nature walk that day we were going to search for beauty. They protested; "but, it's winter". True. It's harder to find beauty when things are dead. When it's not even snowy, but grey and gross outside. But that just makes it more of a challenge. 

So, we went outside and they found some. Hearty herbs that were still growing in the garden. Birds sitting on a wire. A birds nest. And a heart shape in the trunk of a tree. Beauty is everywhere if you can be bothered to look. And when it's hard to find, that's when you should try especially hard to find it.

Sorry I Can't Come To The Phone Right Now

I saw a poem with this title on Instagram that was really funny, so I decided to borrow the idea and create my own:

Sorry I can't come to the phone right now.

I am sitting on the sofa contemplating life/sipping my latte/staring at the glowing fire/listening to the rain drizzle on my patio/watching videos on Instagram/reading my prayer book/checking Whatsapp/twirling my hair around my finger/listening to husband on a work call/shopping online. I'm wondering whether to take a personal day tomorrow/thinking about my elliptical/remembering the nice jacket I saw at Superstore. I am regretting that it's my turn for school pick up/annoyed that the rain is so misty that an umbrella looks dumb but without one my hair is ruined. I'm upset /my feelings are hurt/I feel ignored. I am being petty/I am not using judgement of charity like RC Sproul taught me yesterday. I am basking in all the hugs I got this morning at Bible study/I am feeling loved. I am staring at the pile of books and wanting to read them all and also none. I am wishing you would text. I hate phone calls. I am busy.

new life motto

I have a new motto for 2023: I'm here to grate fresh parm all over my life and never say "when". This poem, but especially that line made me laugh. To be really honest, I have always said "when" to the waiter much sooner than I've wanted. I've thought about how it will look if I ask for as much cheese as I REALLY want. Well, no more friends....

trust

Word of the year for 2023: trust. I have blogged before about what a hard time I have trusting people. Granted, I have been disappointed many times by people who have proven themselves untrustworthy. But. I am no longer going to live my life always questioning what people tell me. I am tired of being a cynic. I am going to try to take people at their word. I am not going to spend my time wondering about the subtext, what they "really" meant, what they left unsaid. 

In my Bible studies this week, the verses talked about let your yes be yes and your no be no. The context was of course different, but I was thinking I could also apply it to letting another person's yes be yes and no be no. People don't actually owe me an explanation. If they give one and it's less than the "whole" truth, perhaps they are not comfortable with sharing the whole truth. Or maybe our relationship is not at the level that they want to tell me. Or maybe it's complicated and they don't want to explain right now. 

My job is to take their words at face value. People will tell me as much or as little as they want to and I am going to be okay with that. I am going to trust them.