This blog has been silent lately, as you well may know.
Not because nothing is happening, but because life is happening at a speed that neatly typed words can’t capture.
Summer days are blurring rapidly into eachother in a steady race toward fall, and my flowers, wilted from the heat, testify that August truly is here.
Summer means I’m over halfway through my VS commitment, and I realize it feels like a long time ago that I packed up and moved here. I’ve lived every season in my new home, and God has filled my world abundantly.
I arrived here in the fall which seemed synonymous with all the goodbyes and endings that were part of leaving home.
I lived through the lonely winter months of trying to find my place in a new community, with so many friendly faces but the deep, heart connections were yet to be formed.
Spring came, and with it all the opportunities offered to me through new acquaintances – singing in a choir, teaching Bible classes at a city mission, leading a small group at a womens meeting… all creating a very fast paced lifestyle. I loved it.
Now, it’s summer. Life is in full bloom, but in an established, settled sort of way.
Work flows into evenings of doing laundry or sewing, and weekends of horseback riding and beach days and dress up tea parties.
There is never a lack of things to do, and I find myself adapting to the continual adventures of these people. Teach me to ride a horse? Sure. Hike a mountain? Tell me when. Go up in a small plane? I’m in! Target practice with your pink 22 this fall? That’s a stretch, but… Okay! Why not take the opportunity to learn random things? 🙂
Canoe races, late night campfire conversations, e-scootering, an impromptu visit to a historical library where I can find the stories of ancestors who lived in this area… I’m learning to seize the moments as they come.
I’m living like a tourist in my hometown, really.
And I wonder, how many hidden gems and missed adventures were there in the town I grew up in, that I missed seeking out, because it was just home?
This is home, now. But I’ve needed to explore it to discover it.
And maybe all of life is meant to be lived that way – as a hidden adventure, just waiting to be uncovered and enjoyed.
My mind drifts to the people who get me into all the adventures that sometimes leave me bruised and smiling for days.
Most of the friends in my world here were strangers a year ago, strangers that today, I can’t imagine life without.
I had to be vulnerable with every one of them, to open my heart and forge connections with new people.
Vulnerability can be in the simple things, like bravely accepting the supper invitation even if it means walking into someone’s home barefoot and sunburned. Staying home and hiding my very red face and feet until I can make a more perfect impression would have kept me from a great evening with a lovely family.
Vulnerability can feel bigger – I’ve had to learn to reach out and ask others for help. To humbly and honestly say, I need advice, someone to talk to… simply put, people to fill in the gaps of my family that’s 8 hours away.
While no one can replace my parents and siblings at home, the blessing of all my “family” here was definitely worth pursuing. (Even though some days I still would rather hide and do everything “all by myself.”)
I am very well taken care of by many lovely people, and it’s great to have others looking out for me. Through their example in reaching out to me, I’m also inspired to intentionally connect with humanity as a whole, not just my own family.
Life is full of adventures, but also ordinary days where I stay home.
I pick flowers and go for walks and enjoy the view… and thank God for it all.
Here in my summer season, there are still difficulties to navigate, questions to answer, and moments that stretch me more than I want. But there are so, so many blessings.
Maybe this post couldn’t capture all of them, but at least the essence of my cup running over…
In quiet strength, in simple joys, in everyday moments – I am blessed.
And I know without a hint of doubt, I serve a Good Father, Who was, is, and will be faithful in every season of life.
Notes from My Heartsong 