Three Months Later

Three months and nine days have passed by like a vapor. I only cry in unexpected moments now. I still almost call her, which maybe she would like to know since she said I never call her. But I did.

The house has sold and is moving through the closing process. I went to get a few plants and a chair from her house last Friday and decided I don’t want to go back again. She’s not there. When I come in the door my hands are empty. Before they were full of groceries or errands and I always had to pee after driving down to see her. And all the time I’m in the bathroom she’d be chatting away. And then first thing – “fix my hair” would be her first request. But not this time. No TV blaring. No chatter. No hairbrush and VO5. Just silent echoes.

I dropped off one of her yard ornaments for a lady who had done some yard work last summer. She had also sat with my mom and did her dishes when I was out of town and needed someone to be there with her broken arm. This lady I’ve never met asked for a memento so I gave her a rooster. She put it in her “Momorial” garden – the place she made to honor her mom and now mine. That blesses my heart immensely. Praise God.

Praise God for a buyer. Praise God I know she’s not hurting anymore. Praise God for giving me a mom who loved me so much. And that makes me cry.

©Belindabotzong2019

It Is Well

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When peace like a river

Attendeth my way

When sorrows like sea billows roll

Whatever my lot

Thou hast taught me to say

It is well

It is well

With my soul

There have been a few times in life where challenges build up and pressures mount and stress overwhelms. And at times like those watching the peaceful river or the crashing ocean waves brings peace to my weary soul. It refreshes and renews the spirit to spend time listening to God’s voice in nature. The trill of a hundred birds in the forest. The rush of water. His breath in the oceans roar. The flirting of hummingbirds and dragonflies. The gentle flap of butterfly wings. The smell of the pine filled forest. The beauty and intricately designed patterns, textures, and colors of flowers, pine cones, and leaves. God’s fingerprint is everywhere and in everything. He soothes us with his spirit, nature, and beauty. He loves details and patterns and design. He blesses us with the natural world to connect us to the spiritual world that gets separated from us when we are focused on other things.

Take time to notice the care he takes to place all these beautiful details in front of us for our delight and his.

©Belindabotzong2018