Questions for the Prairie Lady on My Wall

Dear South Dakota Prairie Woman,

I look at you often and wonder what you are thinking.

I see you gathering beauty and teaching your children to as well.

That makes me want to know you, and to be like you.  

How do you gather beauty in a foreign, near desolate land?  

Are you thinking about the coming winter?

Wondering where your husband is?

Taking stock of the land and how best to use it?  What needs to be done first?

You look confident, like the lady of Proverbs,"When it snows, she has no fear for her household; for all of them are clothed in scarlet."

Are you thinking of God's provision, confident of his care for you and your family?

Are you a pilgrim, making a place of springs the Valley of Baca?

Or is it just a strange cloud in the distance, the possibility of a tornado?

I can tell you have a heart.

Are you missing your home and family?

Do you wonder how they are?

Or are you looking to the future, at those who will come after you?

Could you be looking north?

Knowing that even years and years later, women would journey to your land, seeking to make a home there.

Did you know one would be me?

Thank you for your courage; it helps me have courage, too.

From another woman on her way to make a home in North Dakota.

Sounds of Childhood

I asked the Lord the other morning, during our breakfast prayer, to help us see the gifts He gives us throughout the day.  Gifts we wouldn't notice, or maybe not even consider as gifts.

The morning flurry followed, and soon Raleigh was playing the piano and Dawson was playing the violin and Timmy decided I needed to play Deep Blue Sea with him.

So we sat down and I began.  Timothy's voice interrupted me..."no, we can't play it until Dawsy stops his violin.  I want to be able to hear the fishies splash."

We played, and the fishies not only splashed but sang "fiddledeedee" and the butterfly and parrot flew away.

Tonight that same little boy came into my bedroom saying he couldn't sleep because the dinosaurs were being too loud.  His new comforter and sham have dinosaurs on them, and the sham he was trying to sleep on was apparently  full of non-tired dinosaurs.

These are my gifts, the sounds of childhood.  How easily I shut my ears to them, busy with tasks and thoughts and struggles.

But the sound of fishies splashing and dinosaurs playing are waiting, beckoning me to notice.

Happy Easter!

He is Risen!!!

He is Risen, indeed!!!

He said to them, 

"Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds?  

Look at my hands and my feet.  It is I myself!  

Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have."

Luke 24.38

A Blessed, Happy Easter To You!