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Sunday, March 25, 2007

marvel at the beauty

We turned the clocks back last night.

Goodbye daylight saving.
Goodbye summer.

As if nature knew summer was truly dead, the cold wind swept in and the temperature sank so low the windows fogged over. Dark and cold in one fell swoop!

Technically we gained an hour, sleeping peacefully through 0200 hrs twice in one night, but one short hour seems small recompense for what has been lost, especially when cooking tea in the dark reduces the evening to a moment.

Time is a mysterious thing. There were exactly the same number of hours in today as there were yesterday, yet I felt mild panic when the dark closed in on me at 6pm tonight, as if my evening had dried up like a plump, juicy grape turning into a shrivelled sultana.

How will I get everything done now? As it is, I seem to pour all my spare time into study with minimal output - and now the evening is shrunken.

I'm tired, busy and a just little stressed by all that I need to achieve. When I'm not at work, house cleaning, preparing for church or cooking, my nose is buried in a book (thankfully it's interesting!)... I'm consumed by all that needs to be done.

And then this little insect lit upon my doorstep. All day it sat there just resting in the sun as I went in and out.

Incredible! Wings of delicate thread, intricately woven together.

I managed to trace down a name for the little critter - it's a green lacewing insect. The larvae eat aphids (explaining the aphid-free rose bush) and the adults suck on nectar and honeydew.

The green lacewing insect did more than pique my interest in its bio. Its fragile, lacy wings wove a pattern around my heart and lifted the weight of burdens.

Here I am bogged down by duty... work, study, life. I've become so busy that (once again) I've forgotten to notice the incredible beauty all around me. Birdsong, flowers, rays of sunlight, clouds tinged with gold - all around me is wonder and delight, but instead of drinking it in I look at the ground, the tasks, the burdens of life.

Oh Cecily - wake up, look up, soak up the beauty that is creation. Let yourself be touched with the splendour of it all. Marvel at the gift. Treasure the earth and its store. Revel in the glory. Commune with God. Don't let anything stop you.

4 Comments:

At 12:17 am, March 26, 2007, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Your little green lacewig looks like a women who is dressed to perfection. A dress could be make with the design of that bug and I'll bet it would be beautiful; it could even have a purse to match.

This was a beautiful post Cecily.

How cold do your winters get? Do you get snow?

 
At 5:59 pm, March 26, 2007, Blogger cecily said...

We have colder winters than some parts of Australia, but on a worldwide scale they're not too bad! The worst part is the wind - there's rarely snow in the city, but the mountains around get a sprinkle or three and the wind rushes in with an icy chill.

You'd have to have good legs for a lacewing skirt ;)

 
At 10:58 pm, March 26, 2007, Anonymous Anonymous said...

True on good legs for a lacewig skirt. I saw a movie last night with Elizabeth Taylor as a young woman, she wore a long skirt (knee length) with a wrap in the back of the skirt, so it was taylored in the front to show her figure and it looked loose fitted in the back. Imagine a long green straight skirt the color of your little bug with lacewig wings wrapped around the back attaching to the skirt toward the front sides leaving the front open. Instead of showing a loose fitting skirt in the back it would be see through because of the lacewings. I'd draw a picture but can't with this post. I should probably have been an adult in the 30's, 40's and 50's. I love the outfits from back then.

I think you have weather similar to San Francisco in the winter. In your travels around the world have you been there?

 
At 6:36 am, March 27, 2007, Blogger cecily said...

I love 40s and 50s styles too! Cool idea with the skirt.

Yes, I went to San Francisco... in the winter no less! I hit San Fran at 10pm on New Year's Eve with no accommodation booked - rather a stupid idea but I didn't know that half of California (or the US perhaps) descends upon SF for the night! I managed to find somewhere, joined the celebrations and was only a little scared when the riot police came out to control some crazy behaviour. Beautiful, beautiful city... I think it might even be warmer in San Fran than here cause I remember not wearing a jacket at all, just a long T-shirt and you couldn't do that here!

 

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