Dear Reader:

Yesterday I left for Sunday School early so I could try and catch my young confirmation partner… whom I am mentoring… during her faith journey. Since I was out of town last Sunday… during one of the scheduled confirmation group sessions…I wanted to check in with her and make sure she was feeling good about her evolving faith statement .

I discovered that daylight savings time had thrown the family off and not all got there in time…but I was able to talk to her mother and pass on a (hopefully) ‘helpful hint.’

I was planning on staying for church and it was still way too early for that…so I decided to just go sit in the car, catch up on some blog comments and personal texts. As I looked up one time…I saw it!

Our new church sign was finished! Between family, the snow/ice storm, babysitting, Eloise’s arrival, and the scare of the flu epidemic my oncologist warned me about (the procedures I would need to do if I got it)…I had been more like a ‘ghost’ myself at church since the new year.

I knew the new sign was close to completion but now I was seeing it for the first time with much delight! It just blended into the beautiful surroundings that our church site is blessed to be situated on. As I watched its information flick on and off…like the time of Sunday School and church service…it went to a third message that said…“Let There Be Light!”

Immediately I jumped out of my car with my IPhone and waited until it changed to the scripture line and took the photo. Then I looked down at the church nestled in such beauty and took another photo.

I felt such a wave of emotion pass over me…a sense of nostalgia for what this church has meant to me over the years of watching my children grow up in it. It was just then that the sun broke through the early ( daylight savings time earlier) morning gray clouds and brilliantly shone down on the exact location where I was standing.

“Let there be light!” and there it was. I glanced up…aimed my IPhone blindly and clicked. When I got back in the car…I had gotten it…my God Wink for the day…my message from God… early on a Sunday morning.

*I know I am an imaginative creature…but does anybody, besides me, see a red heart smiling back at me through the trees? Well, that’s my story and I am sticking with it. 🙂

Aren’t we all guilty, as hard as we try, of spending too much of our time here on earth in the darkness? The darkness of mis-understandings, misjudgments, and missed opportunities to be a light for Christ.

In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus spoke:

“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”

Paul wrote to Timothy listing these six attributes as a compass for following the light.

“…As we prove to be examples in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, and in purity, we will qualify to be lights to the world.”

(Excerpt from article “Be an Example and a Light” – President Thomas Monson)

The ray of light, yesterday, breaking through the gray clouds of early morning darkness, reminded me of my role in this life…to spread the light of faith.

So until tomorrow…Father, Open our eyes to Your compasses, guidelines, and winks. Sometimes, we  just have to blink a few times to catch on.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

More ‘delights of the day’ on my walk

*This azalea bush has won the battle against the fence…toppling over the top and growing through the links. Beautiful scene!

My white bridal veil bush (I think) decided to ‘marry’ Mr. Azalea since the two bushes are completely intertwined…the combination is extra extraordinaire!