These Four
I watch them walk down the beach into the sunset and my heart tightens a bit in my chest. It’s not sadness really. It is more like the melancholy that comes with being in the presence of beautiful things. You know the feeling? Like wanting to hold this magical something just a bit longer?
That’s what my camera helps me to do. I peruse these photos and I linger in the sweetness of family togetherness just a little while longer. We have had a wonderful family vacation.
Drink Deeply
Sweet Katie
Shenanigans
Love
Daddy Play
Wisdom and Stature
It has been a hard season.
I am learning that waking the heart from the deep slumber of grief is just not possible for me. Only God can heal and wake the places that have hidden themselves away from me. And so I wait. I am waiting for wonder again. I am waiting to taste the richness of all his sweet gifts. I desire to feel my heart pound at the sight of magic hour light. I am desperate to find him in all he has made again. I am weary of the gray days that have crept over me and held me quiet since mama died.
Beauty
Annie Reaching
The blues and oranges found in each sunset soothe the ache. Encircling myself in the safety of my family feels like a soft blanket for my soul.
Settlers of Catan
While processing photos in the kitchen I hear Johnny say, “Anyone want to unload some sheep?” They are playing Settlers of Catan. The sentence is so ridiculous and out of place that I burst into laughter. How I love these people God gave me.
It is going to be okay. God never changes although life certainly does.
When mama died, he told me right there in that hospital room that he wouldn’t leave me alone. He told me that all the things I loved about her were found in him because he gave her those things. He told me I could still have that precious, tender love.
Because he loves me that way- like mama- like my dad.
I am so grateful for this week we have had to hide away for just a little while. I have tasted the sweetness of God’s love as we have rested deep in the beauty.
Psalm 42:7-8 ~” Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me. By day the Lord directs his love, at night his song is with me—a prayer to the God of my life.”
Jesus
Where Tides Collide
Walking on Water
Safety in the Storm
6 Comments
Oh, so beautiful.
So wonderful to hear from you again. I often feel so alone with the wrestlings in my heart, and then I read your blog and you perfectly capture in words what I have had trouble voicing. I feel that melancholy that comes with being in the presence of beautiful things whenever I’m with my girls. There is purpose in the various threads that weave our individual tapestries – because God is the weaver.
Missed you. Love you!
Beautiful, Mary Anne – thank you.
What a post from you to me, for me. I lost my husband of 41 yrs on June 13, suddenly (only to us) and although it is a temporary separation, the loss is beyond words. Because we were never meant to experience this loss, it seems impossible to grasp. But God! The One who never says “oops”, is never caught off guard, never resorts to plan B; He alone holds us close. My best friend and lover in this life had us heading to Watercolor Florida in Septemeber but alas, that was not to be. So you must know how beautiful beyond words is this post and these photos of our most favorite place together has always been; the beach. And with the exact colors you captured. Thank you beyond words! So-journing home with you, sister, Beverly
Beverly,
I am so deeply sorry for your loss. May the Lord hold you close. My heart is with you.
Love, Mary Anne