Simply Thankful: Lessons from November

Photo 52, Week 47:  Thankful

When it became evident that I would be driving my kids to school this year 

instead of sending them out to the bus,

the thoughts that filled my head

were not necessarily pleasant.

Leaving the house at 7:15 AM in the dark and cold?

No thank you.

But somehow the most dreary days

are when I've seen things that have made me want to go back

and grab my camera.

And thankfully, some days I can.

November has been busy!

Some days I can't see the forest through the trees.
It has not been much of a blogging month.

But the month that I usually consider bleak and barren

has proven to be much more beautiful

than I typically notice from the safety of the kitchen window.

One thing I've failed to notice before

is the way the ice reflects light and color

before it is covered with snow.

And also, that once the lake is frozen and you can't skip stones anymore,

people apparently slide them across the ice for entertainment instead.

November also seemed to want to tell me this year

that brown is woefully underrated,

and that if I can't find a little color in my world,

I may not be looking hard enough
or in the right places.

Photo 52, Week 48:  Photographer's Choice

But maybe my favorite lesson
was that everything can change in the time it takes to walk around the lake.

May God grant you the gift of sufficient grace
 to find the color in your life
this Thanksgiving!

Comfort

Photo 52, Week 45:  Comfort

November in Minnesota begs comfort.

In my case, the extra few weeks of waking up to a little daylight 

thanks to standard time is comforting.

Even more so with some sweet creamer.

(I have also gone on a soup-making binge.)

(And baking.  Oh, the baking!)

We have had a long, gorgeous fall.  

It made up for the spring that never was.

But when November comes, we sort of hunker down.   

And we have no idea for how long.

We tend to turn inward for beauty,

even though it's still out there.

It's harder to find, and there is this nagging doubt that the effort will be fruitful

as you consider whether or not to find your gloves and put on your coat

to brave the elements.

Photo 52, Week 46:  Bumpy

But wow, the ELEMENTS!

The deer have found their comfort food.

We don't see them very often, but we know they have been here.

We have food that doesn't get buried under snow.

Lucky them!

And lucky us, because we also have comfort that remains long after the bottle of creamer is empty.

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,

who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble

with the comfort we ourselves have received from God."

2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Praying today for comfort

for people experiencing all kinds of troubles.