Breathing in the Moments

         This has been a wonderful week for us of breathing in the moments God gives. After the Restore Retreat and the whirlwind of activities, loss and responsibilities that came with early fall for us it has been so wonderful to spend some time with our family. We haven't all been together since our life dramatically changed in ministry and Ken and I were needing some hugs from our girls Mary Elizabeth and Maggie and her husband Spencer. There's nothing like laughter and Mimi and Papaw time with little Evelyn to brighten your spirits. When your children live so far away it is a rare and precious thing to be all together. Our youngest Mary Elizabeth flew into Atlanta from Oklahoma City and we drove in to spend some sweet time connecting and loving on one another. Our weekend began just hanging out on the back deck. You'll have to indulge me a little as my mind and heart are full and I wanted to share some sweet pictures and a few of the lessons I'm learning in this season.

Little Evelyn sporting her new hat that just arrived from Aunt SuSu in Baton Rouge!

Auntie M. is so happy to be with her little niece!

       The day after we arrived we headed up to the mountains in search of fall color and a pumpkin patch. Of course, what should have been an 1 1/2 hour trip took 3 hours and things got a little tense for the baby in the car seat, but we finally arrived. We seem to always have adventures and often get a little bit lost whenever we travel! The choir even wrote a song about it one year! This trip was no exception. The peak fall color hadn't really arrived yet, but oh my, there were pumpkins! Giant pumpkins and hayrides and lots of people. It seems like everyone else in Georgia and the surrounding area had the same idea, but we just breathed in the moments and savored it all.

Did I mention there were giant pumpkins!! Evelyn was more interested in eating the bark on the ground though!

Seriously fun - a hayride through the pumpkin patch!

Did I mention there were lots of people! Of course Evelyn was the cutest one there!

Of course we had to bring home a few smaller pumpkins of our own for decorating!

Looking adorable in the car seat before the restaurant poopie diaper - I'm so hungry scene. What were we thinking?!!!!

       The last few days we've been keeping little Evelyn while her mom and dad went to Florida for a wedding during the weekend. We've loved our strolls together, rocking and singing and even attempted going out to dinner with the baby - not the best idea! 


      As we've stayed the week, the colors have begun to turn a little on the trees. I've always loved the brilliant colors of fall. It's not something we experience as vividly in Louisiana, but what a show when the leaves seem to shout out the glory of God. 






       Yesterday on our stroll, I thought about how often I miss the opportunity to take the time to slowly walk through the beauty of nature and listen and look and breathe in the moments God gives. 


  I wonder if you might feel the same. When was the last time you simply breathed in the glory of God's creation and felt astonished and grateful, renewed, restored, and lost in wonder?

Evelyn trying to see her Papaw, He sings all the time! He just makes up little songs to entertain Evelyn. She loves her Papaw!

A little squirrel eating an acorn in the tree. If I hadn't stopped to look up I would have missed it.

---

The beautiful colors give way to the next season in the life of the trees in God's creation.

Psalm 19:1-6

1 The heavens declare the glory of God;
    the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
2 Day after day they pour forth speech;
    night after night they reveal knowledge.
3 They have no speech, they use no words;
    no sound is heard from them.
4 Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
    their words to the ends of the world.
In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.
5     It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,
    like a champion rejoicing to run his course.
6 It rises at one end of the heavens
    and makes its circuit to the other;
    nothing is deprived of its warmth.

        As we strolled the baby, I thought about the season of change in our personal lives and how like the vibrant leaves of fall, beauty can come from it. We will have to pause and breathe in what He offers us in each season if we are to really live the life the Father has planned.

 After the leaves put on their glorious show,
                                                 they fall to the ground, 
                                                                 the trees become bare, 
                                                                               and they enter a season of winter and rest. 


                      Truly we have beheld His beauty and glory. Perhaps a season of rest is what He has for us now. 

                                      Maybe you need a winter season of rest in your life.

        This week I have thought often about a book written by Ken Gire given to me by a dear friend  The Lord used it in my life to teach me about looking for Him in the everyday moments, in the art I create, in the beauty around me, in the relationships He calls me to. He is speaking everywhere. Often, I'm not listening, not looking, not responding with my life and my soul to the Divine encounters the Father has designed to uniquely meet the need He sees in my life.  I have quoted this little jewel of a book often and given it to many. It seems I must always return to the lessons learned about slowing down, taking in the moments, living a reflective life and looking for windows through which Jesus longs to touch my soul. 

“We reach for God in many ways. Through our sculptures and our Scriptures. 
Through our pictures and our prayers. Through our writing and our worship. 
And through them he reaches for us. 

“His search begin with something said. Ours begins with something heard. 
His begins with something shown. Ours, with something seen. 
Our search for God and his search for us meet at windows 
in our everyday experience.

These are windows of the soul.

“But we must learn to look with more than just our eyes and listen with more than just our ears, for the sounds are sometimes faint and the sights sometimes far away. We must be aware, at all times and in all places, because windows are everywhere, and at any time we may find one. Or one may find us. 
Though we will hardly know it...unless we are searching for him who for so long has been searching for us.”

Ken Gire, Windows of the Soul

Looking for His windows.
Grateful and breathing in the moments,
Kathy

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