Saturday, November 16, 2013

Five Minute Friday - Tree - On Saturday

Yes, I realize that it's Saturday.  But I love Five Minute Friday!  I wait all week for this opportunity and the enjoyment of writing without fear.  So, I'm writing anyway!
Tree.
Just the word makes me smile.  Images immediately pop into my head - and they are all good.  The first tree that pops into my head is a tree that sits outside the door of Oklahoma Hall, in Glorieta, NM.  I heard my beautiful daughter telling a friend about the pictures in our dining room a couple of weeks ago.  She introduced her to some of my oldest friends who I treasure.  Then I heard her say, "And this is the tree where they fell in love.  It's at Glorieta."  Oh, the memories that flooded by heart.  I did in fact meet and fall in love with my husband at Glorieta.  And the tree is not at all far from the place where I declared to him that I could love him.  The place where he shared the same feelings.  I get chills and tears come to my eyes when I think about that place and that moment in time.  Many more memories come along with that tree that I saw everyday during the summers for six straight summers.  All of them are good.  Trees are one of the ways that God reminds me He is good and His creation is good.  This tree though may quite possibly be the most beautiful tree in the world.

Friday, November 1, 2013

Grace

Five Minute Friday - Grace

Grace.  Unmerited favor.  More than we deserve.  So thankful for God's grace.  So thankful that He extends it to everyone.  So grateful that He works in His people to allow them to extend it to others.  Just yesterday, I received grace from an old friend.  Forgiveness for an old hurt that I had all but forgotten I had inflicted.  Turns out I'd received it from her a long time ago, just had never accepted it.  Where once there was bitterness, now there is friendship and love.  Thanks to grace.  There is nothing we can do to earn grace, nothing we can do to repay grace.  But it is essential that we accept grace.  Accepting God's grace gives us the privilege of spending eternity with Him.  Accepting the grace of others allows us blessings beyond anything we can comprehend.  For our own good, and the good of those offering grace - we need to accept it and live in it.