It is a beautiful day. The sky is brilliant blue, and there isn’t a cloud as far as the eye can see. The temperature is just right. I went for our walk dressed in sweat pants and a long sleeved shirt and was too warm. I just love days like this. They are days to savor – much as I did those last warm days of fall when we lived in upstate New York. All too soon our days will go from warm to hot. Some years we don’t get much spring; it’s just a quick hop from winter to summer. Then if we don’t get out early for our walk we must wait until evening. The late mornings and afternoons are just too hot. So a day like today is to be enjoyed and stored up for those “too hot” days that will be here very soon.

We had our first Bible Study last Wednesday. We attend a very large church (our pastor said recently that it was the fifth fastest growing church in the United States), and there are probably two hundred women in this study on prayer. We divide into small groups of about ten for the first part of the morning to discuss our week’s lesson. I have been with the same group of ladies for two years now. Usually our Bible Study leader only keeps a group together for one year. The idea is to get us to meet and know other women. However, we sort of whined enough that she let us stay together one more year. It is a special group. We are all around the same age – all of us (except one) with grandchildren. We have grown so very close over the past year and a half. We are comfortable sharing the deepest concerns of our hearts. We have prayed each other through some difficult times. It was so good to get back together after the long break for the holidays. This is going to be a good study.

My piano teacher is the church pianist. This week marked her fiftieth year in ministry. She began playing the piano for her church when she was thirteen years old. We surprised her with a little get together before choir practice Wednesday evening. We had taken up a collection from the choir and orchestra members to raise enough money for her to get her kitchen retiled. It’s something she’s wanted to do for a while now. She was so delighted.

She is an amazing musician. She married a man who was also a musician. Together they were part of the PTL ministry – back in the day before all the scandal. She played piano live and on the air!!! I love to just sit and listen to her play.

She is also a very compassionate, encouraging, loving, giving person. The day we received some bad news concerning a medical diagnosis I had my piano lesson. I walked into the room and said, “This has been the most difficult week of my life.” She just opened her arms and drew me into a comforting hug. We spent that lesson time with her listening to my heart and encouraging me. She told me about the year she lost her husband, daughter and mother – all of them in that short space of time. Her husband first, from cancer – and then her daughter and her mother. I will never forget her saying that she would love to have them back with her again, but she wouldn’t trade the wonderful relationship she now has with the Lord that was born of that difficult time. I just looked at her in amazement. I know that she was right. It is during these times that we draw close to the Lord in a way that we simply don’t when everything is going along smoothly. I wish that wasn’t true, but it is.

She is truly a gift in my life. I wish I were a more brilliant student. But when I was feeling discouraged about my progress just last week she once again encouraged me. I left feeling like I really had made progress and would continue to do so.

Yesterday was my parents’ 61st wedding anniversary!! They celebrated by going out to dinner and just spending the day shopping together. They are truly an inspiration to us. I don’t think I’ve ever heard them really argue. Oh – they have their little disagreements to be sure, but I have never seen them remain angry at one another. They are an example of love and commitment. We are so blessed.

I finished the afghan I was knitting for my daughter. Now I really must get back to my quilt. I set it aside for a few months, but I want to try to finish it sometime in the next year!! It is quite a project. I think the next one I make will be smaller. This one is a king size, and it is hard to maneuver it is so big. I get all tangled up in it when I try to turn it to quilt the other side. That is so “me” – always biting off more than I can chew.

We got a little letter from our grandson in Houston the other day. It is such fun when they write. It was just a friendly little letter to say hi and tell us what he’d been doing. We will take a trip to see them soon. Oh how I wish they still lived around the corner from us.

We had someone come to look at the property yesterday. They didn’t like the location and were gone almost before we knew they were here. They wanted to have a little restaurant with a bar. We have a school just up the street from us – so that wouldn’t work. I have a feeling it was going to be more bar than restaurant. We aren’t feeling too bad about missing out on that one!! We will just wait until the Lord sends us the right one.

Well – time for some lunch. I hear noises coming from the kitchen. Have a blessed Sunday – and GO COLTS!!!

Blessings,
Linda