Spring is happening

It's a hot day, and the trees are seriously wanting to leaf out.  It is also dry.

I have not blogged much, and have not felt like doing it either.  The whole on-line thing is neither here nor there.  It was exciting in the beginning and it still can accomplish much, but something essential is lost in it, too.  Too many "relationships" turn sour because the communication is one-dimensional.  People fall out over the craziest things.

I have started a business and it has kept me occupied to get it going.   It also has kept me somewhat stressed out, but the learning curve is coming along--and I am operating in the black!  It's been lots of fun and people appreciate the service, but I am wanting to apply the things I have learned to a Christian application somehow.  There is a real sense of loss that the music I am making is not Christ-centered, though there is nothing wrong with regular human themes in themselves.

There have been many dissatisfying developments in the world, but one need hardly report on them or dwell on them, as this is being done far and wide, these days.  Even the oldest Seniors in the choir seem to be up on the latest news, some of them confessing themselves to be "news-junkies".  The American election campaign is giving them lots of think about.  Well, I hope it helps with the stemming of the dementia onset.  Personally, speaking, I try to avoid most of that topic, as one, as per usual, pretty much gets one's fill quite quickly.

So let's put that aside.

I had also given up a long-term discussion partner, and I have just now celebrated four months of having given up so-called "dialectic".  It was not really dialectic, at all, but it got to be a habit.  It got to be a bit like needing your joint of weed, or something (not that I know what I am talking about, there.)  From there, I had gone to reading Bo Giertz, who helped me over the time, and lately husband and I are just reading out loud from St. Paul.  It occurs to me with all the addictions to media, news, politics, books, poetry, dialectics...  we have gained a certain distance from scripture, which is not really a "gain".  Perhaps, in returning to it, we are bringing a renewed appetite and new angles to it.

So presently, we are reading the letter to the Romans.  What a challenging time it was for all parties:  Paul preaching and getting flogged and jailed (and killed).  Jewish Christians, Roman and Greek Christians living together in congregations, persecutions, dispersion, gifts and fruits of the Spirits, and Love the greatest of all, which will allow them to live together in a stimulating and joyful community.

Here is a picture of the Ohio Buckeye, I planted last year.  I loved sitting under it.  It had languished some after the planting but we hope this will be a wonderful year for it.  This is from just now: