Good Apple

As I was leaving from a short visit with my parents, my dad gave me a bag of apples from their trees. 
They are old trees.
I don't know what kind they are, but I call them antique apples.
They are not sprayed, so they are quite natural.

Each year, my mom lovingly makes these apples into pies and applesauce.  Patience is needed to core and take out some "bad" spots.

But today, as I prepared a Dutch Baby Pancake (baked puff pancake, filled with cinnamon apples), I looked at them differently.

Instead of cutting out the bad spots, I cut in the good parts.
I needed the apple cut into pieces anyway.
A different perspective.

It reminded me of life and people.
It is easy to concentrate on what is wrong, and dealing with the bad parts.
But maybe it is more satisfying to concentrate on the good parts,
and how they may be found and used.
Yum.
(Thanks, Dad.)

"...hold fast to what is good....
1 Thessalonians 5:21b (NRSV)

Birthday Girl - Mom

I was glad to celebrate Mom's birthday this week
in beautiful north country with beautiful colors!
Happy Birthday, Mom!

You and Dad were my first examples and lessons of God's love,
both to feel loved and to love others.
I love you!

Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God;

everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.

I John 4:7 (NRSV)

 

Seeing Differently

In third grade, I discovered that I needed glasses. 
I was amazed and thankful at all the detail I noticed on the drive home with my first glasses.

But sometimes, detail can be overwhelming.

Sometimes, in a different light, a big picture emerges.
An outline.
A shape.
A direction.
Calm.
Peace.

On a recent twilight walk,
I heard neighborhood night sounds. 
Some cars.
But more sounds of life:  crickets;  gray tree frogs?

Maybe I was more aware of sounds, because of the change in lighting.

As for sight, I saw what I needed to see
to find my way home.



For it is the God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,”
who has shone in our hearts...
2 Corinthians 4:6a

...we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen;
for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.
2 Corinthians 4:18

It is good to give thanks to the Lord,
    to sing praises to your name, O Most High;
to declare your steadfast love in the morning,
    and your faithfulness by night,
to the music of the lute and the harp,
Psalm 92:1-3 NRSV
[and the sound of crickets...]