Evenings and Mornings

A second home did not even make the top one million things in my bucket list, and the story of how we came to buy it is a bit long, but we're hooked on it. It had been terribly neglected. We partnered with daughter and son-in-law, and we've all worked hard to put the love back in it.  We just call it Dove Creek.

Last week, I was there alone working on it.  I watered trees and shrubs and grass and cactus.  I cleaned up after the busted winter pipe flood, recent carpenters and the javelinas. And I picked up leaves and sticks.

 I crawled out of bed early every morning to be on the deck with coffee in hand while the sun was coming up.  I was there with the turkey, squirrels, deer, cardinals, hummingbirds and a million other birds welcoming the new day.  Is morning God's way of saying He hasn't given up on us?  Is it his way of giving us a brand new start?

Evenings found me and my tired muscles back on the deck usually with neighbors, Lee and Sally.

With God's creation of each day, scripture says,  "And on the ____ day God created the ____________ and there was evening and there was morning". It's there six times. He worked on His creation - then it was evening and then it was morning.  And He created again.

To me, the evenings of our lives are like the times when we are weary, sad, depressed, sick, tired, or just sick and tired of being sick and tired.  But God says, "Weeping may last for the night, But a shout of joy comes in the morning."  (Psalm 30:5)  Mornings are the joy and hope of newness and a fresh start - and maybe a chance to start over.

After a few days, I decided that I needed some company.  So I threw out a blanket invitation to girlfriends: I know it's last minute - but come if you can.  I had four takers.  We laughed, we cried, we encouraged, we told stories, we ate, and we drove the 20 miles into town and shopped a little.  Ok - we shopped a lot.  Oh, and we sat on the deck.  We helped the sun come up.  We said goodbye to the day.  And we had Church on the Deck.

Sunday afternoon, we divided the leftovers, loaded our treasures and went our separate ways.

I didn't know if I could get my sleep deprived, aching body home.  But then I turned down the county road to my little house on the prairie and saw the sun blazing in the west.

...and there was evening...