A bit of a Ramble

Thunder is rolling, frozen rain continues to fall, and ice thickens on so many surfaces outside. Some areas are already without power.
Being inside and looking out on the frozen world around me, I am ever so thankful for the warmth of the woodstove and the joy of the this simple life we have chosen to live.
The past couple days have given me much to think about with some of the comments on my blog being less than friendly chit chat. I am never comfortable with conflict. The "my way, your way" tug of war seems so senseless. Its like a mini war where there are no victories. My blog isn't a place where I want to convince anyone they should live my life and I sure don't expect anyone to try to convert me to their thinking. I am just telling folks about my life, a harmless soul, just talking about the things that happen and how I see things. At my age I have had a fair share of life experience and see so many folks chasing stuff as if its what they are really seeking. Its not, stuff is stuff. Life is deeper, we are here for some reason and its not to be collectors and acquirers. Its to impact others in a good way, to help find ways to end suffering. In the end of the game, the winners are not the ones with the most toys. It never has been. Seeking after things, takes away from finding out who you really are. It removes the moments of silence when you can sit alone with yourself. Those are truths from the beginning of time, nothing I came up with. To sleep each night with peace in my heart, devoid of worries about material things is worth so much.
And today, I need to refine, make more clear, make a stand you might say, that this is a Christian blog. I have not really made that a big focus of the blog but the more I come to grips with where we have been and where we have come from, I can feel more confident in defining my beliefs. I have wandered, roamed the world looking for answers to the endless questions I have had through time. Wanting to find that place where things feel right and make sense. A place apart from some doctrinal agendas, a place that is as simple as my life. The answers were under my nose, but my own desire to look some place else, some place more exotic and less familiar, clouded my own vision.
Redefining is like refining in some ways. Its not an easy job and its often unpleasant for the amount of change it creates.
I knew this blog would be a place more for me to put in print my journey, not so much for others to read as much as for me to see with my own eyes. See the journey. See the changes, complete with every step forward and yes, each step taken backwards. To acknowledge that and to learn from it.
I think God puts us just where He wants us. Sounds so simple. We are not to be stagnant, that's not what I mean, but that we are born into the circumstances we are meant to be born into, even if they are unpleasant or down right horrid. We have, by the Grace of God, the ability, the chance to change them and learn and grow. To become what we are meant to be.
I am simply a Christian. With a simple set of rules to live my life by, and words that inspire me to live a better life. To not seek after the things of the world that rot and rust, but to seek after those things that will make life better for those I can help. I also believe that life for me is to share the joy I find in Gods creation. Pretty simple isn't it ?
Simple works good for me.

pictures taken within the last two hours....

Ice on the dried asparagus plants

Ice forming on the pine tree out front, notice the freezing rain falling in the background

a stubborn oak leaf, not willing to let go of the tree, now covered in ice

Lilacs in bloom, so unusual for this time of year. Ice just beginning to form on the petals