Sometimes we journey to places that we would not choose. I have been on hikes that had I known what it would be like, I would not have chosen it. Yet once on the hike you have to journey on to get back to "home." You have no choice but to sit down and quit or to keep moving along the trail. Life's journeys are sometimes like that as well.
Yet even on the Hikes from h## there are moments where you just have to laugh or at the very least it makes a good tale for later. And yes even on those hikes you will find places and moments of beauty that draw you into a place of peace.

So it is with life's difficult journeys, if we do not quit and sit it out but just keep moving along the trail, God will give us grace and moments of beauty that draw us into a place of peace. There will be tears and a deep pondering that is tinged with sadness that seems to want to linger. But even in those moments we have the promise that our friend and comforter, the Holy Spirit will sit with us and perhaps catch our tears as if they were precious jewels because they originate from our very souls.

Do angels wait for us as the sun sets on our earthly lives? I think they may. Do angelic choirs sing for joy as we, God's people go home? I think they may. There is peace much like the disappearing of the sun for the night as you sit by one who is meeting God. This I know, for God honored me by allowing me to be there in those final moments.......As we sang Amazing Grace very softly, did the angels listen or did they sing with us? I think they may. This I know... Jesus awaits us for He told us that He goes and prepares a place for us, that where He is we may be also. I know the Holy Spirit is all around as God's people take their final earthly breath because I felt His presence surrounding us as a friend, a child of God, breathed his last earthly breath. Do angels wait for us as the sun sets on our earthly lives?......I think they may.....

Words.......they have such power. They can change everything in just a moment.....You are not alone .........."I will be with you always." "Love one another as I have loved you." "Let not your heart be troubled. Neither let it be afraid. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you."
I sat with a friend. The doctor asked me who I was and I responded without thinking, "I am her sister." And I realized I meant it. I heard the doctor speaking words that were full of gravity and truth as he knew it. Words....they have such power. They can change everything in just a moment.
"The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." "Be of good cheer for I have overcome the world." "I go and prepare a place for you." "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." Words....they have such power. They can change everything in just a moment.

In search for perfection......one of my goals for our vacation was to find a " traditional" key lime pie made with a graham cracker crust and a meringue! Most key lime pies are no longer made with a meringue. So since arriving in Key West I have been asking in every restaurant about their key lime pie only to be told they did not make the pie with a meringue. So on this our last day I was absolutely determined to find this elusive pie. Our poor friends were so patient with me in my quest!

Thus we found the name of a restaurant that still made the pie in the traditional way. We had walked all morning along the beach. We had walked back to lodging and back to the old town for lunch. Upon hearing that "The Blue Heaven" restaurant had said pie, I asked our friends how far away was this place. They responded that it was a mile and a half away. I became a DRIVEN woman! So off we went; I am sure by this time my friends could care less about pie of any sort but their patience prevailed. We finally arrived tired, hot and sweaty at "The Blue Heaven." We ordered the pie and believe me the pie was all that I anticipated it to be! It was its own blue or more aptly green Heaven! Every bite was a sensory pleasure!
Is there a lesson for this little tale? If there is, I guess it would be that some things are just worth the effort! Tenacity sometimes pays off. Do not give up as you seek "perfection" for "Blue Heaven" may just be a few steps away!

It is incumbent upon each of us to be aware of all the simple things that become God moments in our lives. Yet it is also incumbent upon us to open our hearts to those times. I am convinced that those moments become part of our souls. Our memories may fail us over time but I can only believe that the God moments become a part of the eternal within us and that we will always have the "Eternal"with us.
Today, here in Key West, our friends along with Jon and I wandered into a little French bakery. We ordered croissants and I had a cafe au lait. We sat out on the white front porch to enjoy our treats. There was a gentle breeze off the ocean. People from all walks of life were sauntering down the street. Tropical palm trees and flowers were displaying their lush colors to complement brightly painted buildings. I savored each bite of my croissant and each sip of my cafe au lait. I laughed with my husband and our friends. And I felt as if God took time to smile with us, His creation, His children.
Are those not God moments? Are those moments perhaps a glimpse of our eternal home? Are those moments not always a part of our souls?

Tonight I took another step into the world of Marblelites........After volunteering at the Marble Charter School, I came home and did what everyone does, I cooked dinner or as we say in the south, supper. Many Marblelites live off the land in that they hunt and eat what they kill. So a neighbor gave us some elk burger. Tonight (being St. Patrick's Day) I made shepherd's pie. For the meat and gravy that make up the bottom layer I used the elk burger. It turned out to be quite good. Elk are beautiful creatures and I would have difficulty actually shooting one. However I have to admit they are not bad for consumption. Another day, another adventure becoming more and more a citizen of Marble, CO.

Sacred silence.......Saturday, Starbuck and I took our earlier than usual morning walk. The world in Marble was a different place. There was two inches of fresh snow, blue skies directly above, but every single mountain peak around us was blanketed with clouds.....just the peaks. I marveled at this new mood that our world here had taken on.

It was a bit chilly because the sun had not completely popped up above the 10,000-13,000 ft peaks. As Starbuck and I got to our usual turnaround point, the sun made its grand appearance above the mountains. It immediately warmed up and I decided that we would continue by taking the winding curves that meander through the aspens up the old Ski Lodge Road. The sun turned the multifaceted snowflakes into shimmering crystals like a carpet of diamonds. The aspens' white bark with their dark eyes (that is actually what the dark areas on the bark are called) seemed to reach toward the sun.

We rounded a curve with a perfect view of the mountain, White House. Where the plows had pushed the snow back, there was a sort of chair formed in the snow complete with a seat and back. I sat on it soaking in the sun and marveling at White House. I watched as the last vestiges of cloud cover lifted completely off the peak revealing a magnificent view of the "snow" white mountain literally shimmering in the sun. I was so taken with what I was seeing that I thought I should praise God. I began with, "How Majestic is Your Name...." and suddenly I stopped. The words were interupting the moment and I felt as if God was saying Shhhh.

As I sat in the stillness, it felt as if Jesus sat beside me in our chairs of snow. The Presence was so strong that I whispered very softly, "hello." Yet I had the feeling that even that whisper was too much noise. Words were not needed. Did not my Companion know every thought, every prayer, every desire of my heart? Did not my Lord know me from my mother's womb? So I sat in a sacred silence.......a place where words were not needed.

".....Mary who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said....... 'Martha, Martha,' the Lord answered, 'you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better and it will not be taken away from her." Jesus Christ