We’re having a sunny Sunday today and that’s very welcome after last week when winter came to visit. We even had snow on the ground one night. It’s still chilly, but the sun feels fantastic. As humans, I think we’re wired to need the sunshine. I know we need the rain and maybe if it was sunny all the time, we’d miss the gray skies. Maybe. But sunshine puts a spring in our step and a smile on our faces. It makes some of us want to get outside and clean something while others want to go fishing. Me – well, in spite of being a dog person, I get to thinking sort of like a cat when I see a chair beside a sunny window. I immediately want to curl up in that warm spot with a good book and spend an hour or so reading before the sun shifts to another window.
Not that I ever have the time to actually do that. I need to learn to be a better manager of my time. But with Christmas weeks away, I know every minute will be scheduled and I’ll be rushing to get everything done the way I always do this time of the year. Plus I went to the library Friday and got a whole stack of history books to help me figure out what was happening in the time period I’ve picked for my next Shaker book. So maybe I should be curling up in that chair with a history book, but if the history wasn’t riveting, I’d probably just doze off in that warm sunshine. Guess I’ll just keep typing here instead.
Some fun news. My new Shaker book The Believer is out on Amazon.com and other internet sites for pre-sale. Not that I think anyone will be buying it this soon, but if you’re interested you can go out there and check out the cover and some info on the story. I’ll be posting the cover on my website sometime soon, but I haven’t yet. I do like the cover with the Shaker buildings in the background and the stormy sky. I especially like the guy. He’s a good Ethan and Ethan is the Believer in the story. The Outsider was released August 1 this year and looks as if The Believer will follow suit in 2009. By then I should have my next and perhaps last Shaker book finished and off to the publishers. I will if I meet my deadline. So I’d better get at those history books.
We had a great day at Goshen today. Br. Fred preached on Psalm 107 “O give thanks unto the Lord for He is good.” He told us about a word in that first verse. A Hebrew word ‘hesedth’ that is translated in many Bibles as ‘lovingkindness.’ He says there isn’t any good way to translate it word for word into our language but that the closest you might come is a combination of all the good greeting words in the world wrapped together. All the blessings and goodwill anybody might want to wish to you and it’s all coming from the Lord. Hesedth. May you be wrapped in that loving kindness this week as you pause in your busy schedules to seek out that spot in the sunshine of the Lord’s love to warm your spirit and count your blessings.
You are one of the blessings I will be counting this week. Thanks for reading.