The Chronicles of Janie

God does a lot of big and exciting things in my life. He also does a lot of little things. In all honesty, it's the little things that usually make the biggest impact on me. Small, silent moments of spiritual revelation. Short yet meaningful conversations with other people. The bigger purpose manifested in the little plans and details of my very simple life. It's easy to expect to see God working in the big things. Such a big God would naturally care about the big decisions and momentous occasions in my life. But for the Creator of the universe to take an interest in the tiny details, to infuse the little things with power and meaning... that fills me with an awe and gratitude which can hardly be expressed. So here I sit. I'm sipping at a mug of coffee and reflecting back over the events of last week. I'm feeling again that familiar pulse of wonder as I remember how God showed His power in so many, many little things. ___________________________________...

Sun-starved skin basking in the afternoon rays. Winter-softened hands hardening to the handle of a pitchfork. Winter-softened feet hardening once more to the familiar soil. Winter-whitened complexion slowly beginning to brown. Returning to the old patterns of motion - shoveling, weeding, raking, lifting, carrying, walking with the swift, unhurried stride I perfected back when I was a child. Thoughts dancing gently from one thing to the next...    'Thank You, God, for sunshine, and how did it ever occur to You to make such beautiful contrasts of color? I never would have thought of it.'    'Wonder how much larkspur came up this year?'    'Goldfinches!'    'This compost is working nicely.'    'Wonder if we have any black plastic around?'    'Maybe I'll start that novel later on.'    'Wonder if I could write a poem about the way the soil feels beneath my gripping toes - so firm and... living? '   ...

And by 'love' I mean 'laugh at'. Love too, of course, but definitely laugh. It's the only thing that keeps me from bashing my head against the wall in frustration. Today's bout of nervous laughter came from the website Now the End Begins  *cue scary music*. People, we ARE LIVING IN THE END TIMES! Fo' sho'! How do we know? Well, OBVIOUSLY because of what's happening in American politics! *snort* Don't you just love these folks' humble attitudes? America has lost her moral standing, so therefore it must be the end of the world*! Umm, excuse me for a moment while I take a reality break...erm...check. Do you realize we're not the first to believe this about our country? For centuries, humanity has been convinced that it was living in the end times. Of course, now we can look back from the smugly comfortable passage of years and realize that humanity was wrong. We can grin at the people who, with varying degrees of certainty, p...

It's no secret that I've been suffering from a very serious addiction. It's an addiction that involves wire and pliers and lots and lots of time. Mmmhm, I'm addicted to wire wrapping. I'm really not very good at it yet, but it's just SO FUN! Anyway, I was searching for a new project to take on, and also anticipating Zhenya's return from her European adventures...and so it seemed natural to connect the two and make some dreadlock ornaments.  Do you know that the internet is pretty much devoid of all instruction in the dreadlock ornament-making department? I'm not sure who has the corner on the dread ornament market, but whoever it is, they're not sharing their secrets. But I decided 'it can't be that hard...right?' So I looked at a few pictures to get an idea of what I wanted to do, grabbed my weapons of choice, and went to work. It was a bit harder than I'd expected. To start with, I was using a thicker gauge wire than the...