“The fruit of silence is prayer, the fruit of prayer is faith, the fruit of faith is love, the fruit of love is service, the fruit of service is peace. “
~ Mother Teresa
Thinking and praying on this as a week of homeschooling, wedding planning, cooking, and extras stretches before me. 🪴🌷🌿🍃🌲What’s on your heart? 💜
“That one?” she said. “Is that one quite alive-quite?” Dickson curved his wide smiling mouth.
“It’s as wick as you or me,” he said; and Mary remembered that Martha had told her that “wick” meant “alive” or “lively.”
“I’m so glad it’s wick!” she cried out in her whisper. “I want them all to be wick. Let us go around the garden and count how many wick ones there are.”
~ The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett, illustrated by Tasha Tudor
I’m so glad there’s green, life, and hope YET! Spring is here! Thank You, Jesus!
🌿🌱🌲🌳🪴🍃🌷☀️
From the ends of the earth, I cry to you for help when my heart is overwhelmed.
Lead me to the towering rock of safety, for you are my safe refuge, a fortress where my enemies cannot reach me.
Let me live forever in your sanctuary, safe beneath the shelter of your wings!
Psalm 61: 2-4, NLT
What’s been inspiring me? ♥️🌿
•listening to•♥️🌿
BTS’ new ‘Arirang’ album. 💿 A bit different than what I expected but it’s growing on me. I don’t love lots of language or overly sexual themes, but there’s enough deeper lines/ideas that got me thinking. Hope to write a few of my own poems based on some of the lyrics.
I’ve also started the audiobook of Quarter Labyrinth by Victoria McCombs on the recommendation of a friend! It’s included free with Audible currently! I really hope our weather will warm up a bit so I can get outside walking and listening. 📚🎧
•reading•♥️🌿
I always have a healthy stack 😏🤪 of things I’m dipping into! I’ve started my two buddy reads and I’m currently really enjoying slowly rereading my favorite Victorian novel of all time, Wives & Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell. It’s almost an annual reread for me. My 14 yo is listening to it for the first time and enjoying it! I’ve also been craving a reread of The Scent of Water by Elizabeth Goudge. It’s been awhile and it’s a perfect spring read.
I’ve also been enjoying the Alex Rider Series by Anthony Horowitz about a 14 yo spy with M16. The fifth? one made me definitely warm up more to Alex who seemed a bit cold/distant at first. They are so adventurous and thrilling. Definitely super violent, but compelling. I also just dove back into Donna Leon’s Commasario Brunetti’s police series. She writes Venice and Brunetti’s family life SO well, that I’ve just fallen in love with Guido as a police detective. The crimes are gritty and disturbing, so if you don’t like police procedural type detective novels, these may not be for you. I feel so immersed in Venice and his friendships and his family that I’ve come to love them! They are a fast, great Kindle read that I get through the library!
•watching•♥️🌿
I really haven’t watched much recently as I took a Booktube break for the Lenten season. I did put on hold at the library the first Season of Dr.Quinn Medicine Woman 🤪🤣 to see if I can get my hubby to watch with me during the chilly, spring nights.
•noticing• ♥️🌿
I’ve really been noticing and remembering little tidbits from this lovely collection of quotes!
“God has not called me to be successful, He has called me to be faithful. When we stand before God, results are not important. Faithfulness is what matters.”
•Mother Teresa•
Happy Easter, my friends! 🩵💜🩵
How ‘bout you? What are you listening to, reading, watching, noticing? ♥️🌿📚 I’d love to hear! ~
“The face of the enigmatic Jew seemed weighted with an almost insupportable burden of anxiety. The eyes, narrowed as if in resigned acceptance of some inevitable catastrophe, stared straight ahead toward Jerusalem. Perhaps the man, intent upon larger responsibilities far removed from this pitiable little coronation farce, wasn’t really hearing the racket at all.
So deeply absorbed had Demetrius become, in his wide-eyed study of the young Jew’s face, that he too was beginning to be unmindful of the general clamor and confusion. He moved along with inching steps, slanting his body against the weight of the pressing crowd, so close now to the preoccupied rider that with one stride he could have touched him.
Now there was a temporary blocking of the way, and the noisy procession came to a complete stop. The man on the white donkey straightened, as if roused from a reverie, drew a deep sigh, and slowly turned his head. Demetrius watched, with parted lips and a pounding heat.
The meditative eyes, drifting about over the excited multitude, seemed to carry a sort of wistful compassion for these helpless victims of an aggression for which they thought he had a remedy. Everyone was shouting, shouting-all but the Corinthian slave, whose throat was so dry he couldn’t have shouted, who had no inclination to shout, who wished they would all be quiet, quiet! It wasn’t the time or place for shouting. Quiet! This man wasn’t the sort of person one shouted at, or shouted for. Quiet! That was what this moment called for-Quiet!
Gradually the brooding eyes moved over the crowd until they came to rest on the strained, bewildered face of Demetrius. Perhaps, he wondered, the man’s gaze halted there because he alone-in all this welter of hysteria-refrained from shouting. His silence singled him out. The eyes calmly appraised Demetrius. They neither widened or smiled; but, in some indefinable manner, they held Demetrius’s a grip so firm it was almost a physical compulsion. The message they communicated was something other than sympathy, something more vital than friendly concern; a sort of stabilizing power that swept away all such negations as slavery, poverty, or any other afflicting circumstance. Demetrius was suffused with the glow of this curious kinship. Blind with sudden tears, he elbows through the throng and reached the roadside.”
The Robe, by Lloyd C. Douglas, p. 73-74
Happy Good Friday, my friends. A horrible, yet beautiful day I remember as a Christ-follower. I recently was privileged to read with three friends a stirring historical fiction centered around Marcellus, a Roman soldier and his slave, Demetrius. We follow Marcellus as he crucifies Jesus and wins his homespun robe in a gambling match. Douglas seeps us in the rich, historical setting of first century Rome and ultimately, we walk away with a profound sense of wonder. We who touch the presence of Jesus are never the same.
I was deeply moved by this novel and it made me rethink how I live day to day. How would my life look if I actively acknowledged His real presence right in and around me? I highly recommend this book! ♥️
A beautiful hymn we are singing in our homeschool co op has been hanging around in my heart as I think of what my Lord’s death and Resurrection mean to me. I used to love Christmas the most, but slowly as I’ve lived more life, the hope, spring-freshness, and LIFE to Easter have become a most meaningful time for me.
Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die…”
John 11:25-26a, NLT
~
Assault
I had forgotten how the frogs must sound
After a year of silence, else I think
I should not so have ventured forth alone
At dusk upon this unfrequented road.
I am waylaid by Beauty. Who will walk
Between me and the crying of the frogs?
Oh, savage Beauty, suffer me to pass,
That am a timid woman, on her way
From one house to another!
~ Edna St. Vincent Millay~
Millay’s poetry has been recently touching me deeply. Do you have a current favorite poet? Mine is constantly changing. I’m a lover of words and Beauty of poetry often waylays me! The other morning I stopped with great delight over my steaming coffee and knew that I was hearing the spring peepers on our little pond. It brought me so much joy. I received a Barnes & Noble gift card for Christmas last year and I’m sooo glad I picked this giant tome of her work. ♥️♥️♥️
What beauty touched you recently?
Hello Friends! New fresh month, no mistakes in it yet! I’m hopping on to share that I’m going to attempt to do a bit of a 100 Day Project here! I’m excited to have a little something to challenge myself with and a place to dump all the beautiful ideas I’m gleaning. I have no format for what I will be sharing, it may be little more than a brain dump some days🤪😅, lists, a photo, a quote, and so on. My hope is that it will encourage and inspire you. What am I doing with the little I’ve been given? That is the question I’m asking myself currently. ☺️♥️🌿
Soooo, what prompted this plan? A couple things! My oldest child, my daughter, is engaged to be married later this year! 😳😭😍♥️Nothing like a family wedding to celebrate and work towards in multiple areas. Secondly, my sister kindly gifted me this book and we are going through it together:
I’m already a pretty established journal-er, but wanted to step it up a notch! By journaling HERE, my poor dark, quiet blog friend, 🤣 and using it as a catalyst for little writing creative projects. I see these as offerings of worship. 💜🌿
I also love my little to do/gratitude daily journal so will be keeping up with that! Another strange combo that works well for me!
My absolute favorite journaling is my reading journal and I have two buddy reads beginning this month! 😍💜
I will be using the prompts in The Book of Alchemy and also continuing The Body Revelation questions, both with my sister. ☺️♥️Those are most likely private prayers/entries etc that go into my spiritual journal.
How ‘bout you? How do you ‘begin again’? How do you breathe life into creative or life projects? Having some sort of paper/stickers/glue and pens always motivates me! 🤷🏻♀️😂♥️ I’ll leave you with a quote that I saw that has me thinking deeply!
“…they fear love because it creates a world they can’t control.”
•George Orwell•
😬😳☠️😍♥️💜 Chew on that, my friends! Bless you all!
chaos & giggles
dirt & brownies
low gas & cardinals
shards of peace.
amy m. pine 🌲♥️
Enoch lived in close fellowship with God for another 300 years…
…walking in close fellowship with God…
…then one day he disappeared, because God took him…
Excerpts from Genesis 5:22-24, NLT
Thinking on living in close fellowship with God for 300 + years! Then basically walking up to Heaven! What a life! What a prayer. 🙏🏻 May I live and walk in close fellowship with my God.♥️
Trying to move my feet literally and spiritually move my spirit by seeking after my Lord wholeheartedly! Started a fun little walking challenge for myself. Steps-for-Books! For every 15 miles, I can buy a book over $5. I already earned one, but haven’t purchased it yet! I’m really enjoying the Strava app my son got me into for tracking.
My sister and I have been slowly going through The Body Revelation by Alisa Keaton and it is my favorite health book so far that I’ve ever read! I love all the Scripture and focus on the Lord, yet the love and compassion of healing ❤️🩹 inside and out. I’ve been through a lot of learning not to stuff my emotions down, but to lovingly deal with them. My go-to-unhealthy habit has been eating my way through emotional stress or extremes in various areas. I’m facing myself honestly here as I’ve lost and regained so much weight over the years, done so many different things to try to deal with all the feels. Learning to be compassionate with myself by gently working through things instead of stuffing them with excessive food, books, entertainment is so hard but good. I’m learning to just having patience and be consistently obedient to the inner work that needs doing.
How is your New Year starting off? I know it’s cliche to talk about health in January, but it’s something I’m determined to prayerfully, patiently surrender to this year. I’m looking forward to being apart of the February World Peace Poem project again! I think this is my 5th? year participating! Sending out about a poem a day to others. ♥️ Do you have any fun projects on the horizon?
Golden gone
Gathered glimmers
Wood whispers
Weathered whirls
Feathering flew
Flickering fire
Unveiling ushered
Ugly uniqueness
Jay of blue jabber
Juxtaposition joy
Solemn still
Stalk slithers
Miraculous moment
Marvelous million
Soliloquy of stick, stone
Smoke sneaking
Pine prayers
Peace paupers
Caw cemetery
Crunch crackle
Heart honey-honed.
Heart hollowed heavenward.
A.M.Pine ~ 🌲♥️
I sometimes think the worst thing a young person can feel is when you can find no answer to the question of what you are supposed to do with this life you’ve been given. At moments you’re aware of it balanced on your tongue, but not what comes next. Something like that. I can now say that another version of that happens in old age, when it occurs to you that since you’ve lived this long you must have learned something, so you open your eyes before dawn and think: What is it that I’ve learned, what is it I want to say?
Niall Williams, This Is Happiness, p. 13-14
Treasures from around the web to encourage you as you start your week!
Sarah speaking straight to my heart…
Anything from Kourtney, writing, homeschooling, all of it beautiful and encouraging…
Mr. Kleon’s quirky collections of fascinating inspiration and art…
Swoony, bookish inspiration and a general kindred spirit…
Wonderful list of Victorian books like my FAVORITE Victorian book by one of my FAVORITE Booktubers ever…
My favorite instrumental music at this time of year to read with…
What’s inspiring you? ♥️😍🍂
…let your compassion come to us quickly, for we have become very weak.
Excerpt from Psalm 79:8, CSB
I love finding random journaling prompts on Pinterest and really enjoy looking back at lists I’ve made!
Currently: 🍂
Reading…
My main focus this month is dipping into my massive stack of Victorian literature (one Victorian inspired in that stack!)for an online event called Victober! Community reading of literature published in the UK during Queen Victoria’s reign {1837-1901}. I set aside many other things to be apart of this lovely reading focus. It’s honestly become a highlight of my year for the last few years! I’m reading poetry from Tennyson, Emily Bronte, Oscar Wilde, and George MacDonald. I’ve dipped into Queen Victoria’s childhood diaries a teeny bit, too. I’m slowly rereading Our Mutual Friend. My favorites have been the drama in Charlotte Mary Yonge’s The Three Brides (Kindle) about three newlywed SIL’s thrown together under their new invalid widowed MIL, Shirley by Charlotte Bronte, and Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy with the audiobook read by Alan Rickman.
I’m supposed to be reading Niall Williams’ This Is Happiness with my IRL friends, but got distracted by the Victorians! 🤣
I’m also dipping into various things for study and to keep up the homeschooling co op classes I’m facilitating, mom’s group, a writing commitment and our own homeschool. The opening chapter of The Medieval Mind of C.S. Lewis was fascinating and so lovely.
Watching…
I’m on a bit of a social media purge so missing my Booktube watching, 🤣 but I did watch “Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone” with two of my older kids. It’s the only one of the movies I truly love.
Playing…
I honestly love my journaling. They bring me SO much joy. 🤩
Trying…
I’m ‘trying’ to find balance?! with all our outside activities, homeschooling, cultivation of relationships, and taking care of myself. It’s not working well 😅🥲, but one has to have something to keep aiming for even if they miss continually. 🙃
Looking forward to…
Continuing Victober and hopefully watching the BBC miniseries of “Our Mutual Friend” this month?! and next probably. It’s long!
Dreading…
Hmmm, deadlines are necessary evils, but they can be stressful for me. Leadership is stretching for me. Unfinished household projects. The great clothing change-out. The usual. 😅
Obsessing Over…
All things Victorian! I made these recently! It was difficult, but so fun! I’ve loved noticing one of my favorite autumn things…glancing in the rear view mirror and seeing the leaves swirl up, dance, come ‘alive’!
Learning…
So much through facilitating our co op highschoolers through The Divine Comedy and realizing that worry can be pride, I’m saying I know more than God. 😬🫣😅🙏🏻
Drinking…
I’ve been making half pumpkin spice flavored coffee with regular dark blend and it’s so great! I drink it black and it’s just a hint of pumpkin flavor. I don’t loooove flavored coffees, but this is gooood. 🎃
Loving…
My hubby and I took a 4 day trip north in celebration of our 23rd anniversary which was in September. We enjoyed history and nature together!
Hating (or rather Broken Up About)…
All the relational tensions, loved ones going through illnesses, marital pain, financial stress and just the general feeling of the absence of love 💕 permeating the air. 😞🙏🏻♥️Oh, Lord, come!
Starting…
Revamping my prayer time again! Needed something fresh! Journaling and alternating spots I’m reading in the Bible. Old Testament, New Testament, and Psalms. Currently added a Proverbs of the Day! Love finding the one that matches the day of the month! ❤️🙏🏻
Thinking…
About our life’s work?! and about the resurrection of my poetry scribblings and collage art, what I need to sacrifice to make it happen. Thinking about the movie “ Dead Poets Society”, which I watched for the first time a couple months ago. 🥲
Feeling…
Not sure. 🤔 Overwhelmed a bit 😵💫😉😬😅, but also inspired by the gorgeous autumn weather and all the lovely knowledge and life ripe for the picking. It’s right here for the taking.☺️♥️
Praying for…
My heart to be knit closer than ever to my Jesus and a listening heart to be wide open for others and for all the beauty here and now in this moment. For all the suffering near to me and far from me. 😞♥️🙏🏻
How about you? What’s currently beating in your heart? Let me know your answers to these! ♥️🍂Happiest October! 🎃 🦇 🕷️ 🕸️ 🍁
A.M. Pine - Hearth Ridge Reflections 