Summer::August:full of sap and green...

August is summer's hump month--that's how I look at it anyway. It's halfway to cooler mornings and pleasant evenings and no mosquitoes; and if there's one word to describe Florida in August it's green. 

Mere days into the month, Louis is diagnosed with a detached retina and referred for surgery, and I'm scheduled for a remicade infusion, as well as my yearly series of pulmonology and rheumatology evaluations.   

It seems that we spend more days on the road and in waiting rooms and exam rooms than we do at home; and maybe that's why I've been more inclined to wander outside of our air-conditioned house, even if August holds some of summer's hottest and most humid days.

I'm desperate for sunlight, fresh air, and beauty...ever full of sap and green.  

Crepe myrtle, beautyberry, a downy woodpecker, magnolias, honeysuckle, a mama fox squirrel scurrying up an oak tree with her baby, and Casey's family coming to our rescue to mow and work outside when Louis can't. Dragon flies and blue skies, wildflowers, and Emily and her rescued chocolate lab.  

I'm so very grateful.

And goldenrod shoots continue to grow taller, reaching for cooler not-summer days.      

The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. They are planted in the house of the LORD; they flourish in the courts of our God. They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green, to declare that the LORD is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

~Psalm 92:12-15

Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.

~Jeremiah 17:7-8

Creation sings the Father's song... a song of love and grace. [video]

Still Saturday::my soul be still...

Still my soul be still

And do not fear

Though winds of change may rage tomorrow

God is at your side

No longer dread
The fires of unexpected sorrow

God You are my God

And I will trust in You and not be shaken

Lord of peace renew

A steadfast spirit within me

To rest in You alone

Still my soul be still

Do not be moved

By lesser lights and fleeting shadows

Hold onto His ways

With shield of faith

Against temptations flaming arrows

Still my soul be still

Do not forsake

The Truth you learned in the beginning

Wait upon the Lord

And hope will rise 

As stars appear when day is dimming

STILL, MY SOUL BE STILL

Words and Music by Keith and Kristyn Getty and Stuart Townend

Still Saturday::the purpose of loveliness...

The fundamental purpose of loveliness is to convey [God's] love.

~ Ann Voskamp

{Photos - loveliness in late August on Pollywog Creek}

To be stilled by the infinite fullness of brightness and glory...

All the beauty to be found throughout the whole creation,
is but the reflection of the diffused beams of that Being
who hath an infinite fullness of brightness and glory;
God...the foundation and the fountain of all being and all beauty.
Jonathan Edwards

Green is the color of August...

An edited repost - my signature segue into August

There are two reasons I love the month of August: the green-tinted kaleidoscope through which we view this rain-nourished world around us, and though it's only a minor seasonal fact that has little to do with the weather, August is the last full month of summer. It's hump-month. We're half the way to cooler mornings and pleasant evenings and no mosquitoes. 

Not that I'm complaining, because I promised myself long ago that I'd cultivate contentment and stop wishing my life away in anticipation of something in the future.

To not fully delight in the gifts of the moment is both foolish and ungracious, for it's not only all I really have, it's abundantly more than enough. 

So I begin the month of August once again counting a multitude of gratitudes for a day and a week and a month of more than enough. 

• the color green - dotted with rippening beautyberries, a blazing flamebush, dangling clusters of wild grapes, and the giant orchids that have boldly pushed through the rain-soaked earth
• four days and nights to run my fingers through his soft curly hair and leisurely cuddles with a baby grandlittle
• Wednesday morning in study and fellowship with sisters in Christ and the teaching ministry of Beth Moore
• an evening round the table with Nick, Casey and Emily for the first time since Christmas
• the fervent prayers of righteous sisters carrying me through a seige with shingles
• the daily reading in the Word with Louis 
• my beautiful Emily home from Georgia - who makes days and nights with grandlittles possible
• a blue bowl of sweet cherries
• the assurance of God's new mercies every single day

Related: Green is the Color of August 

Photos: August greens on Pollywog Creek