Sid and I are so blessed to be able to live at my sister’s house when we come down from our home in Maine to be with family here and with our Ruach family. Our GPS when we say “Home” always has to ask which one since we are at home as much here as at our own home in Maine. As I looked out the window this morning at the deck at  my sister’s house, the scene revealed so many truths by which we live our lives, or by which we aspire when making life’s choices.

The deck itself, like ours in Maine, is always a challenge. Sid paints ours in the fall and inevitably by the next spring the wear begins to show. It looks so great that first season until the hardship of winter weather takes its toll. It always helps when multiple coats of paint are put down the first year. Then each succeeding year just a simple touch up on the worn areas and one full coat are needed to maintain the beauty of the deck.

So too, is our preparation when studying Scripture and working to seek closeness with our Lord. We can really prepare and work hard in our studies, in our prayer, in our walk, build a strong foundation. To do so is much more work than just getting the basics. Yet the deeper we work to learn and immerse ourselves in Him from the beginning, the easier it is to keep spiritual clarity and closeness than had we not done so. We find our faith and Scriptural knowledge impenetrable resources that sustain us when the harshness and challenges of life, like hard winters, attack our days. As in paint jobs, it’s never too late to deepen each layer of coverage, preparation, and start again, as we do so many times over our lifetimes.

I marveled at Wendy’s tall flowering sunflowers. I know she got a later start than others in the neighborhood. Yet there they are now just as tall and in full bloom. It’s never too late in a fertile growing season for the sunflowers to seek the light and the sun, just as in a seeking environment it’s never too late for us to find the Light and the Son. Regardless of when we begin, or renew, our journeys, we will bloom.

Wow, are her tomato plants overflowing with tomatoes!! They’re just in simple pots on the deck and she decided not to prune them as is always recommended. She just let them be and the fruit is delicious and abundant. So too, sometimes we don’t follow all the usual ways to serve Him. Or at least we may go down a path that seems counterintuitive only to find out it brings us, and those around us, closer to Him than we could have possibly imagined.

I don’t know whether that’s a case of God using our choices for His good, or whether the unforeseeable path by us was one always seen by Him. Nevertheless, in the case of the unpinched tomato plants, as well as examples in our own lives, this result is often the case. It was never on my life plan to live in Florida for part of the year, away from family and community. Yet it continues to be a time of overflowing spreading of His Word to so many that I know it’s where I’m to be for that season. Perhaps when our personal choices still keep Him at the center of our service, there is no bad choice.

I see the empty dinner table and chairs on the deck suggestive of the chairs to be filled when the next meal, real and spiritual, is served. I see the magnificent trees, birds, and greenery around the deck as His Glory and blessings abound.

This true life still life, as a painting, is never still, for His covering, His shalom, His whisperings in the breeze are everpresent, here, and with us always. V’ahavta, to love the Lord our God with all our heart, all our soul, and all our strength. As we are reminded of His place in our hearts, our eyes can’t help but see Him everywhere, and be dazzled.

Shabbat shalom.

Diane