Spiritual Weeding

I've had a rough couple of days around here, so I went out for my best therapy today--the outdoors. Sydney and I went for our walk and said "thankyouthankyou" together for the beautiful day and then came home and set to getting rid of some of the weeds and tree shoots that make our yard look more like a crazy jungle than a place we love to live.

I find that while I'm outside doing something productive, I get some good thinking done. Rarely does my mind fester on dark things when I'm amidst natural beauty. Even in dark times, when I've been really discouraged by organized religion, I've always felt God's presence in the woods or even a pile of weeds I've just pulled.

As I was out there today, a hymn I've always loved came into my mind "For the beauty of the earth, for the glory of the skies, for the love which from our birth, over and around us lies...Lord of all to thee we raise this our hymn of grateful praise...For each perfect gift of Thine, to our race so freely given, graces human and divine, flowers of Earth and buds of heaven." (If you forgot the tune, go here) I love old hymns because they seem to show up at the perfect time. Sydney thinks it's a good dancing tune too.

And, while I was doing my spiritual weeding, I thought I should offer up an apology here. Apparently some of my readers were offended by a post I wrote a few weeks ago, which I feel bad about. I've erased it, but in the future if you are offended by something I write here, please email me. The English teacher in me must say that my intended audience is my family who doesn't get to see Sydney as often as they'd like and my dear friends spread all over the land. I write with that audience in mind and would never write something that would offend them, but am human.

I hope it's as lovely where you are as it is here today and that you are overflowing with the happiness that a sunny day brings.