Random Photos and Thoughts

Some photos I never posted (or at least I don’t think I did) from this summer.

Henry loves shoes.  Henry loves making a mess.  Taken within this week.

I am reading Ben Ames William’s Come Spring, a historical novel written about the settlement of Union, Maine (where my mom grew up and very close to where we live).   You can really see the strength of the New England soul was formed a long time ago.  These strengths could also be considered strongholds in some circumstances.  Our Independent Nature.  Our Pride.  Our Work Ethic.

I can see some of the same spirits alive in our culture today: hunkering down for the winter and waiting it out ~ there is something so magnificent about a Maine spring after a long hard winter (nothing compares) ~ natives getting giddy over long days, warm summer nights, and taming the land ~ satisfaction in working hard for what you have.  There is definitely a strong thread that sets New England culture apart and it has been alive and well for a few hundred years.

I am doing a Precept Upon Precept study of the life of Abram/ Abraham.  It’s amazing how God gave him one command at a time or one answer at a time to Abram’s next step.  I always thought about that in Genesis 22 when God told him to take Isaac as a sacrifice.  God didn’t even tell him where he was going if my memory serves me right.  Probably Abraham was used to it by then.  In Genesis 12 it records God telling Abram to leave his country, leave his people, leave his relatives and leave his father’s house.  He doesn’t really know where he is going.  Once Abram obeys, God gives him the next step.  It’s amazing how much time I waste trying to figure out the next step before even obeying the first.  Geesh.  Come on, Rachael.  But thanks be to God that the work is finished and we can actually rejoice that our flesh doesn’t get good at the things of God.  BECAUSE (speaking to myself), we should be operating in our new life submitted to the Holy Spirit.  Things get stressful when we try to operate in the things of God or ANYTHING, for that matter, when we are not connected to our Maker.