I love Fall. The colors, the apples, the clothes! Fleece blankets, football games, crisp and cool weather. I love it all! I’ve always been so happy my birthday lands right in the middle of this most delightful season! And this year is no exception!

“By all these lovely tokens
September days are here,
With summer’s best of weather
And autumn’s best of cheer.”
–   Helen Hunt Jackson, September, 1830-1885

My “here” friends and I are planning a day in Boston and I am truly anticipating that it will be a day of memory-making!  I’ve never experienced Boston, other than the airport, and it beckons to me, bidding me to come explore.  I already know we’re going to be great friends, Boston and I. I’ve always loved genuinely historic towns, and Boston is steeped in history! I cannot wait!

It’s most unusual for me to look forward to my birthday, let alone a celebration of it.  Just goes to show what a difference the last few months have made.  At the risk of running a radical statement stoplight… I confess I am a completely different person than I was just a few short weeks ago.  But that is another story, for another night (when I have again inadvertantly consumed too much coffee after 4 pm!) 

And now I am off to dream with my eyes wide open… of the upcoming adventures I shall have as the new Director of Youth Ministries in the quaint little town of New Hampton.  My personal forecast for football games, fleece blankets and hot spiced cider in the stands is VERY promising!

Now sleep, friends.  This is my midnight watch.

“I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.” “So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All you have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to you.”

Oh Frodo!  How I have been there!  So many times!  And while I am guilty of getting mired down there more often than I should, this bittersweet quote will remain my anthem.  All of us live to see such times.  I Corinthians 10:13 – “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” 

Even Christ, who became flesh and dwelt among us, lived to see such times.  All of us have those moments when we wish we could just go back to the “before such times”.  All of us have had those days where we are plodding through the Dead Marshes.  Days, weeks, months, years where we wonder if every step we take is just carrying us closer to total destruction, the place where hope seems nothing more than a cruel hoax. 

But there is a hope that shines forth. 

 1 Timothy 4:10  – “That is why we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe.”

Jeremiah 29:11 – For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Romans 8:1 – “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”

We have been promised much.  We have been given more.  The only requirement is that we trust and obey.  “All you have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to you.”  Our King is already on the throne.  Our enemy has already been defeated.  Our redemption is already paid.  What a glorious, wonderous thought!  We were destined to die in Mount Doom.  And we have been rescued!  In that light, I can let go of all the yesterdays.  They are history.   What will I do with the time that is not yet spent?  What will I do with the hours He has given to me?  What will I do with today?  What’s that shining through the clouds?  Ah, hope.  You are most welcome here.

The eve of a new year finds me spending much time both in retrospect and in dreaming of the future. It is with much anticipation that I launch this new blog for this new year. A new year holds so much promise. It is an unwritten book. Who can fathom what shall be written upon it’s leaves? The fresh, clean page eagerly awaits the story of life to be written upon it. And though I dream great dreams and plot great schemes, the Author of my story is not I. The Author of my story, my life, is I AM. His ways are perfect, and past finding out. And so I wait… with eager anticipation… to see what dreams He has for me, and what untold riches He has in store.

~ Further Up and Further In ~