Category: Spring

Consider: Resurrection 🌼

amyofhearthridge6 Comments

Do you ever feel stuck? I was recently struck by how stuck I am, this overwhelming sense of not living in the joy and resurrection power of the Lord Jesus. I was actually listening to an audiobook, about the fictional and unflappable Mrs. Pollifax. In the first of this novel series, the widowed, aging Mrs. Pollifax, questions her worth and what she is doing with her life. Her solution is to go and do something she has always been interested in. Join the CIA! 😂 I was struck to the quick about my wallowing, woe-is-me attitudes. Where is the resurrection power being lived out in me? Why am I hiding? Why am I cowering? Worrying? Trying to control my circumstances?

His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

2 Peter 1:3, CSB

These verses in 2 Peter and Wendell Berry’s poem Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front, challenges me to live fully and wholly. To live like there is something beyond myself and my woes. 🪴🪴🪴

So, friends, every day do something that won’t compute. Love the Lord. Love the world. Work for nothing. Take all that you have and be poor. Love somebody who does not deserve it.

-Wendell Berry 🌿

I don’t want to be worry-driven, short-fused, and impatient. I want to ‘dwell in possibility’, living simply, patiently with others, myself, and the Lord. I want to rest in my daily ‘round and find my delight again in listening, learning, deeply loving. No need for fretting, guilty-thought trains, or shoulda-woulda-coulda junk. Pay attention. Walk and work out your salvation with fear and trembling. Live with an ‘expectant attention’ (mishmash from Charlotte Mason, Amy Carmichael, and Scripture) and practice living resurrection.

~first time making hot cross buns in honor of Good Friday~

A thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.

John 10:10 CSB 🌷

Ask questions that have no answers.

Invest in the millennium. Plant sequoias.

~Wendell Berry ☕️

Laughter is immeasurable.Be joyful

though you have considered all the facts.

~Wendell Berry 🪺

Take the first step, Oh my soul…♥️🌿

I’m determined in my heart 💜 to choose again (and again and again) Jesus’ joy and resurrection power. Just making conscious choices that I know help me pay attention and relax into the Lord. Prioritizing my quiet time. Going outside. Holding online things very lightly, getting dressed in comfortable clothing I love, doing a little summer mom learning project with a IRL friend, taking good care of myself and my family, finishing little projects I love, and doing small, short trips. Not giving into overconsumption in any area of my life – frantic reading, buying random stuff, food, media, but a soaking in the Life-Giving Abundance of Jesus!

You reveal the path of life to me;
in your presence is abundant joy;
at your right hand are eternal pleasures.

Psalm 16:11 CSB

•heart, resurrect•

not hard, just

a deep death, rise again

chip corroded life-rust

if not now, when?

broken, now bloody birth

owner determines worth

who’s are you?

name, not what you do

down you lie

heart, flat you die

rise soul, into air

barn-swallowed by His care

A.M. Pine 🌲♥️

Consider: Shadows ⛅️

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I will give you the treasures of darkness and riches from secret places, so that you may know that I am the LORD. I am the God of Israel, who calls you by your name.

Isaiah 45:3, CSB

And as they sang, the fear and the suffering of the long winter seemed to rise like a dark cloud and float away on the music. Spring had come. The sun was shining warm, the winds soft, and the green grass growing.

Laura Ingalls Wilder, The Long Winter

Shadows and coolness, Lord,

Art Thou to me;

Cloud of my soul, lead on,

I follow Thee.

What though the hot winds blow,

Fierce heat beats up below?

Fountains of water flow-

Praise, praise to Thee.

Clearness and glory, Lord,

Art Thou to me;

Light of my soul, lead on,

I follow Thee.

All through the moonless night,

Making its darkness bright,

Thou Art my Heavenly Light-

Praise, praise to Thee.

Shadow and shine art Thou,

Dear Lord, to me;

Pillar of cloud and fire,

I follow Thee.

What though the way is long,

In Thee my heart is strong,

Thou art my joy, my song –

Praise, praise to Thee.

Amy Carmichael, Edges of His Ways

I’ve been thinking about shadows. Without the darkness of life, how can we see the light? It’s easy to forget my deep need of Jesus when things are smooth and relatively calm. I love strolling under cloud shadows and how they seemingly race across the road. The sun bursts out eventually, drenching all that was dim for a moment. I want to remember that even though my back is bent with my burdens, He is there with me, His presence making them light. How are you today? Weary and heavy-laden? Under dark shadows of life? He has given us His divine power for everything pertaining to life and godliness. The Light flickers and flares in the shadows. ♥️🌿

dense shadows
blindfolding
dark drinks hope
strike match
flicker of faithlight
look straight
into the eyes
of Shadow
arrow of The Light
slices through

A.M. Pine 🌲♥️

Happy April Eve! 🌿✨

amyofhearthridge6 Comments

Hello, Friends! 🌷🌷🌷Happy Spring!

I’m excited to start a new little ‘something something’ here. Just as we celebrate National Poetry Month, Letter Writing Month, (thanks for telling me, Kim!), Easter, and soak in the earth coming alive. A month to celebrate newness, resurrection, and the wheel of seasons turning again. I have a few things I’m simmering, so I hope you are as encouraged and inspired as I am about a freshness blowing through the windows…

How ‘bout you? Anything brewing in your heart? 🌿🌷✨

•most•

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Discipline is choosing between what you want now, and what you want most.

Abraham Lincoln, emphasis mine

•handfuls•

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Novelist Katherine Anne Porter wrote, “Human life itself may be almost pure chaos, but the work of the artist-the only thing he’s good for- is to take these handfuls of confusion and disparate things, things that seem to be irreconcilable, and put them together in a frame to give them some kind of shape and meaning.”

from Jean Fleming’s Pursue the Intentional Life

•penny•

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“There are lots of things to see, unwrapped gifts and free surprises. The world is fairly studded and strewn with pennies cast broadside from a generous hand. But-and this is the point-who gets excited by a mere penny?”

“It is dire poverty indeed when a man is so malnourished and fatigued that he won’t stoop to pick up a penny. But if you cultivate a healthy poverty and simplicity, so that finding a penny will literally make your day, then, since the world is in fact planted in pennies, you have with your poverty bought a lifetime of days. It is simple. What you see is what you get.”

~Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, p. 17, emphasis mine

What pennies are lying around just waiting for us to pick up? ☀️💕🥰☕️🌿🍄

•hallelujahs•

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Heartache comes in spoonfuls all day long. You get used to heartache, I suppose, because you know there just might be a hallelujah around the next bend.

Barbara Mahany, Slowing Time , p. 113

•north•

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The LORD then said to me, ‘You’ve been traveling around this hill country long enough; turn north…

For the LORD your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this immense wilderness. The LORD your God has been with you these past forty years, and you have lacked nothing.’

Deuteronomy 2:2-3,7 CSB

DIY Woman’s Well Refill “Degree” 😁♥️

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I was so inspired Chantel’s DIY Literature Degree that I’ve been thinking about how to incorporate something similar. I’ve been feeling the pull (again) to be purposeful about certain areas of my life. I need some home education, spiritual, and life inspiration! I put together a stack of books to pull from, resources, and habits to especially focus on this summer. I’m sure this will extend far beyond 3 months 😉, but I love sharing in case it encourages/inspires someone else and as a bit of accountability for me. Firstly, here are some of the books. I am going to be dipping into these, and/or finishing, or rereading. My Bible and Fire Bible notes are a biggie as well plus various devotionals I dip into!

~ Formation of Character by Mason (life/ home learning)

~ Learning All the Time by Holt (home learning)

~ Get Your Life Back by John Eldredge ✔️

~ Women by Edith Stein ( spiritual/creativity/life)

~ The Cloud of Witness by various (ongoing)

~Slowing Time and Motherprayer by Mahany (spiritual/life)

~ poetry from different poets (spiritual/life)

~Know and Tell by Glass (home learning) ✔️

~ Real Learning Revisited by Foss (life/home learning) ✔️

~Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Dillard (nature/life) ✔️

~Jane & Dorothy by Marean Veevers

Some of these are on my Summer ABC list too, which works well!

Our last co op Picture Study artist! Fascinating!

The next area is my health. I’ve been floundering a bit in the program I was in and have gained a lot of weight back. I prayed about it and talked with a few close people and made some modifications. I’ve started back in and am feeling hopeful. I am prioritizing getting outside/walks, drinking water, trying to sleep, journaling, healthy food, and a biggie is limiting social media. I also have to have margin around our busy summer schedule. The key to these things is just a little bit everyday. I know it sounds like a lot, but I’m keeping it VERY simple to set myself up for success. 🙏🏻❤️‍🔥

Multiplication with Beans

Lastly, I really want to focus on real life relationships. I have a lot of people here at home and around me that I want to pray for and keep in touch with. Soooo, I’m focusing on s-l-o-w media…like penpals, this blog (it takes me a lot of work to post as I’m working from my phone), and an occasional reading wrap up on Booktube (super slow because it’s a lot of work to film and edit)! This means I won’t be around Instagram this summer, and limiting how much Booktube I watch! I have plans to connect with church and local homeschool moms this summer and I’m excited and a good nervous. 😅 I’ve been seeing that I need to break some covid-era dependency on online friends. Not that I’ll forget them entirely, my Victorian Reading friends through Kate Howe’s Patreon are dear to me! 😍 I’m really focusing on reading aloud to my younger kids and dates with my hubby, too.

Recent library picture books that we loved! 🥰

How ‘bout you? How is your summer shaping up? If you could create a DIY degree for yourself, what would it be? I’d love to hear! Chat below! 😍♥️🏡🌿🍄📝📚

•watchman•

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Cos You’re all I have, Lord

You are the Way

And I’ll always love You

And I will wait

Like a Watchman at the gate

Wait for morning to break

~Josh Garrels, “Watchman”

Yes, please.

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Aesop Fables

I’ve been thinking, praying, and starting to research/plan for our next formal home-learning year. It’s so fun to pull off treasures from the past…ahem, books my older kids loved and share them with my youngers. We had so much fun listening to this old Jim Weiss retelling of a few of the fables plus there’s a few other stories for another day. ♥️

Yes, please.