Beautiful Things

 "Beautiful Things"

All this pain
I wonder if I’ll ever find my way
I wonder if my life could really change at all
All this earth
Could all that is lost ever be found
Could a garden come up from this ground at all

You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the dust
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of us

All around
Hope is springing up from this old ground
Out of chaos life is being found in You

You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the dust
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of us

You make me new, You are making me new
You make me new, You are making me new

I listened to this song tonight while fixing dinner and was moved to tears. Though I have heard it many many times, it still speaks to me deeply. I am so grateful that God does indeed make beautiful things out of the dust and that he is committed to making beautiful things out of us! In spite of some glitches the last few days (for example-- going on a walk with the family yesterday during a time that turned into a torrential downpour so that we had to resort to Plan B in the middle of my "great" idea for the afternoon), I have been thankful for the way that there is grace around every corner, if only I will look for it. We went to lunch today at a friend's house and saw a little girl (about 3) come running into the room only to fall right as she ran in.  She could have burst into tears, but with some encouragement from her mom, she stood up and started over.  Even this can be an invitation for me to start over too and to rise again.  We can accept the invitation to allow Jesus to carry the weight of whatever it is that is burdening us and to rise again. Amen... 

the kids were so fast that I could not even get them in a picture! (I did manage to capture Jason's stride though!) 

reindeer at Swanson's nursery 

our little Christmas tree that Anna picked out :) 

With sunshine in Seattle today, we could not pass up the opportunity to go by Golden Gardens today on the way home from the nursery picking out our tree. 

sweet spontaneous hug this evening... 

dinner date tonight with the Atkins at our house