Springing Hope - Missoula, Montana

Just when I’d given up on any chance of seed starts in my windowsill, hope springs anew! (I’d ‘bean’ hoping - hah!) This humble garden bean reminds us to persevere, even when 2 weeks of dutiful watering seems a bust. In the broader sphere (no broad bean puns, you garden people!), we often are not privileged to see in this life the deep work begun in other’s heart-soil by our seemingly simple daily kindnesses. Just keep planting or watering or whatever you’re supposed to be doing, and trust God to honour your faithfulness to painting in your little part of the big picture.

Spring Greens - Near St. Regis, Montana

Such gorgeous greeny greens all along today’s drive route to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho ! I don’t know how I’ve never seen this before, but the new needles on tamarack pines (that turn vibrant yellow and lose their needles in fall) spring out in electric bright green. Grateful to be out under the big sky on such a zesty day!

World of Wonder - Arlee, Montana

Two complementary thoughts to ponder from Kevin Kelly’s 99 Additional  Bits Of Unsolicited Advice : 

—--“That thing that made you weird as a kid could make you great as an adult - if you don’t lose it.”

—--“When a child asks an endless string of “why?” questions, the smartest reply is, “I don’t know, what do you think?” “

(Sincere thanks to Tim Ferriss, for the reading recommend!)

Breaking Through - Missoula, Montana

"Why are so many holy places dark places? The cross, the tomb, the stable – they are holy because even in the dark of night God is at work, breaking through the husk around our hearts and bringing life from under dead leaves." 

- C.S. Lewis (1898-1963)

(Many thanks to GSOT for sharing this lovely Lewis quote in today’s devotional in YouVersion’s daily Story.)

First Light - Missoula, Montana

“After all the false dawns,

who is this who unerringly paints
the first rays in their true colours?
.... the trees tremble.
Is it with a kind of reckless joy
at the gentle light
lapping their leaves
like the very first turn of a tide?
Timid creatures creep out of burrows
sensing kindness
and the old crow on the cattle-shed roof
folds his wings and dreams.“

- from First Light by Richard Bauckham

Last Light - Missoula, Montana

“And the fairy-light is fleeting ...”

-from The Last Light by Ernest Charles Jones

Between Winter and Summer - Missoula, Montana

“The air turned soft. The flowers rioted on the foothills and along the watercourses and clover bloomed. It was the few days between winter and the dusty summer when the earth held water for a moment, People opened the windows of their houses and let air wash through  They looked at the beds of iris and the camas lilies, up and brilliant and gone in a week. “

-from Long Son, A Gabriel Du Pré Mystery by Peter Bowen (1945-2020), page 152

Cottonwood Alley - Missoula, Montana

What a week - Sunday was shorts and t-shirt sunshine, Monday saw enough snow in the Bitterroot Valley that Corvallis, MT, called a snow day and canceled school! 

Springtime in Montana reminds us that change is part of life and there are no regrets when we choose to be fully present.