How to say "hello"

Not that I haven't had things to say...

it has been over five months since I posted.  I must admit I'm still trying to figure out how transparent a person should be, especially in this cyber-space that is like a newly discovered world.  You know, new worlds are full of enchantment ~ and ~  fraught with danger.   Just how "real" to be in black and white words?  I have a tendency to live out this broken/restored life right in front of God and everyone.  I practiced silence these past months, hoping to hear Him better in the inward places.  

These have been days of heavy grace.  Do you know what I mean by that?  A toiling period in life, when a larger view of this family ~

~ these individuals

~ these sons and daughters of God

expands the borders and takes in the full light of the hard work it takes to live with each other,

 to live-out God's calling to each other, 

and creates an urge to run with swift feet from the "hard" with "Not this day!" words

 ~ whining words ~ 

issued from the child in me that offers up to my Papa that I'm too small, too tired, not enough

 to labor in this place.

Praise Him for Heavy Grace.

Grace that doesn't bend the back towards breaking, but roots the feet to the ground so that the urge to run is fleeting, the reminder of the Rock beneath, sustaining.

"...And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ..."  Eph. 3:17

I'm grateful for this quiet, simple place He has given us, for our lives are anything but quiet and simple.  I'm grateful for the beauty He has sustained in our family, because life IS hard and people DO run, and in our little space we continue to link hands and work through "hard" together.

I'm grateful for the abundant joy we have experienced through this summer.

I'm grateful for growth that has happened, and the privilege I've had in leading towards it.

I guess after five months away, the best way back is simply with

HELLO, Favored One