Ms. Piaf

Just picked up the album "Eternelle" today, and find this woman so intriguing. A majority of the pictures taken of her show her either completely absorbed by the music she's singing, or looking so achingly sad, as in the photo above. Just from her voice you can hear her background, her many lovers, her boisterous personality.

So beautiful.

Will find out more.

"with your might"

"Go, eat your bread in joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already appointed what you do. Let your garments be always white. Let not oil be lacking on your head. Enjoy life with the one whom you love, all the days of your vain life that he has given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going."

~Ecclesiastes 9: 7-10

Practicing Resurrection

"So, friends, every day do something that won't compute...Give your approval to all you cannot understand...Ask the questions that have no answers. Put your faith in two inches of humus that will build under the trees every thousand years...Laugh. Be joyful though you have considered all the facts....Practice resurrection."
— Wendell Berry (The Country of Marriage)

This quote does so much to remind me never to lose hope. All the despair we encounter in the world? Because of what God has done, I am able to view the whole mess as Him flexing His muscles, like the angel before He rolled the stone away, just dying to show His power to His people.

"Practice resurrection."

There is always hope.

pop

Now that's commitment. Hard, crackly commitment.

(But beautiful when the light shines through.)

To be pondered...

"Humility is simply the sense of entire nothingness, which comes when we see how truly God is all, and in which we make way for God to be all." ~Andrew Murray

Stalky

Variety:

something we take for granted so often.

(Just as a prerequisite: this will hearken back to some older posts I've written, and I don't want to belabor the point, but it does deserve some pointing out. (over, & over, & over, & over again, though it may come))

The whole concept sprang to mind again because of an article I found online describing the different types of rhubarb available for growing (turns out 29+; isn't it grand??) while on a mad search for a recipe for Rhubarb Oat Muffins. I've only ever partaken of standard rhubarb fare, so when I saw this:

I had to know more. Turns out it's a Yorkshire Forced Rhubarb. These are grown in a particular region of England for the type of soil found there, with no exposure to sunlight to preserve the delicate flavor, harvested by candlelight, and it even made its way onto the website "UK Protected Foods" (part of a network of websites that protect regional and traditional foods against imitation). Pretty impressive for one variety among 29.

I think it's just the fact that we can do so much to preserve one variety of rhubarb that gets me. It really is incredible, when you think about it. And for as much as a rant about people being petty, being wrapped up in themselves, not seeing or reacting to the problems in the world, not doing anything to help the hurt, there's a sense of gratitude that comes with finding out about something like this. If God cares enough to create 29 varieties of rhubarb, we can care enough to preserve 1 of them, even if it means harvesting it by candlelight and creating ridiculous websites to "guarantee its authenticity".

I'm off to find some recipes.