Falling in love

Some days you just have to wonder about yourself.

You wake up in the morning, to a bright sunny day shining through the window, casting shadows on your pillow; to the birdsongs ringing through the spring air; to a life ready to be lived. Your feet hit the floor, and there's no turning back.

Breakfast is every man for himself, and then comes bread-making. Pounding the dough, letting it rise... Knowing that you're making something that the rest of your family will benefit from. Something that will give life and strength to those close to you--those you love. It's a good feeling.

Then you tie a bandana on your head, put your hair in braids and head outside to work in the garden with your favorite friends. (Actually, any friend is a favorite, aren't they?) You get delegated to finding stakes for the garden beds, and off you go, whistling "There is Sunshine in my Soul Today" into oblivion and beyond.

Eventually you end up on your knees in a garden bed, digging rocks out and tossing them over your shoulder, amid the golden beauty of the day and with those you care about. Digging that bed up is a challenge, but it's like finding buried treasure; and you know that once its done, you'll be able to bury treasure within the soft, turned-up earth: seeds that contain within them a little spark of life that will explode not to long from now. When you stand to your feet, there's dirt on your knees and hands, a twig hanging from your hair and a smudge of dirt on your cheek, and a radiant smile on your face. You take a deep breath...and remember the bread. Inside you go.

The bread gets put in pans and as it raises again, you dump a lot of assorted fruit and a good dose of soymilk into the blender and let it go. The rest of your family comes inside, and you all collapse on the furniture with a glass of cold smoothie and a happy sigh.

The bread comes out a little later, and the golden loaves are cooling on the rack at home as I speak.

Some days, you just have to wonder about yourself.

There's no reason for me to be so happy. No reason for this morning to have been so beautiful; no reason for this afternoon to be so full of promise of more beauty still. No reason...

Or is there?

I look back at this morning with satisfaction, with a full heart...and something else. Something deeper.

I think I'm falling in love.

Nothing could be more beautiful than summer as it tiptoes in on golden slippers. Nothing could be more full of joy and fulfillment than knowing that you're doing good, even in the midst of beauty. Nothing could've been more spine-tingling than realizing that I was apart of the beauty surrounding me...and I started to fall in love. With summer. With the beauty around me. With being needed and doing something useful.

And, most importantly, with the Creator of it all.

Today has been one big splash of beauty...and it's not over yet.

How about you?

Yes, some days you just have to wonder about yourself.

But it's the days when you wonder whether you're insane or falling in love that are the most fulfilling.

Are you falling in love? Have you fallen in love yet; with the beauty, the sunshine, the warmth, the summer.....

....and the God whose hands lovingly formed it all?