When Love Shines Through

Posted on August 21, 2012 by Sharon

Have you ever run across an unusual illustration showing all that matters in life is love?

This week we’re celebrating our anniversary, so I’ve been thinking about love and weddings and family. In the hectic hours before our wedding two years ago, I managed to take a few photos that capture the personality of our day.

Everything about the ceremony involved people and things we love, from the setting in my mom’s backyard to a family friend serving as the enthusiastic professional photographer. The centerpieces were fashioned of flowers and antique books, because both Curt and I love to read. And the flowers sat in vases collected from family and friends.

Guests were greeted with this old chest passed down in my family and painted by my dad.

Photos of our family hung on a weathered fence, displayed for all to enjoy.

Recently I found a love poem that immediately struck me with its poignant expression of devotion. What’s strange is that it was not written by someone trying to convey love. It was composed by a man named Leo Marks as a cipher for code in WWII. It was created in war, but still, it’s about love. Even in tragic, dark days, love showed up. The war ended, but the poem lives on and is read at weddings decades later.

The life that I have is all that I have, And the life that I have is yours. The love that I have Of the life that I have Is yours and yours and yours. A sleep I shall have, a rest I shall have, Yet death will be but a pause. For the peace of my years, in the long green grass, Will be yours and yours and yours.

This, to me, is one more example of how it all comes down to love.

Wishing you a week filled with love — maybe from some surprising place!

Linking up with Flower Art Friday, This or That Thursday, Texture Tuesdays, Sweet Shot Tuesdays, and Communal Global. Photos are processed with Kim Klassen’s textures Dream It and Phoebe.

Lighting the Way

Posted on September 6, 2011 by Sharon

Point Loma, a penninsula jutting into the Pacific Ocean, contains a variety of natural and manmade fascinations.

Whales migrate past this point to the warm waters of Baja. You can see a whalebone skeleton when you visit (Cabrillo National Park).

A lighthouse sits atop the 400-foot cliff, amid the sage and prickly pear and chaparral.

In the1800s, the light guided whaling ships to safety.

Fast forward to the 20th Century, and this spit of land became the first line of defense for the West Coast during WWII.

Tidepools and sandstone cliffs line the base the of the cliffs.

Standing on the edge of the ocean, you are part of the landscape, part of the whaling history, part of the efforts of a nation to remain free, part of the place that lights the night and protects against shipwreck. This beautiful juxtaposition of nature and man’s successful attempts to cope with darkness are an ideal place to celebrate a wedding anniversary.

Linking up with Sweet Shot Tuesday

Old Glass and Grace

Posted on July 25, 2011 by Sharon

Last summer I remarried my first husband. He proposed with a bouquet of red roses after a picnic lunch on the beach. Now we’re reforging our lives, rekindling romance, relearning who we are after the years apart.

I love people’s reaction to our news. From our children to friends and coworkers, I’ve seen faces light up with joy. Even the county clerk who processed our marriage license couldn’t stop happily marveling. This restoration of love and family is a tangible reminder that much of the world may be out of control in some sense, but God’s still able to do miracles. As a piece of life that was out of whack clicks back into place for two everyday folks, people see that God gives gifts we don’t deserve and anyone can grab hold of his grace.

In the sun-drenched garden in my mother’s backyard, we celebrated our wedding with family and friends and included in the ceremony our take on this season of our lives . . .

Today I’m guest posting on the blog of writer extraordinaire Mary DeMuth. Click here to read the rest of this post. And enjoy Mary’s musings about how to ”live uncaged”!

Getting Unstuck

Posted on April 21, 2011 by Sharon

My family met for pre-wedding photos at the park. We posed for various shots that included lawn and trees and a riot of bougainvillea. All was going well when we heard a small voice yell, “Help! Help! Help!” Nico had climbed partway up a tree – and he was stuck. He couldn’t go up; he couldn’t get down.

Grandpa ran to rescue him.

Here’s what surprised me. Next time I turned to look, Nico was not safely on the ground. He was not on a thick branch of the same height. He was higher. Much higher. And he was happy.

Sometimes we’re trying something new, something that stretches us. We get stuck. We need help. And then we can continue on. We don’t need to give up. We don’t need to get scared and return to safe ground. We can press on. We just need someone to give us a boost to get where we want to go.

Have you ever wished you could ask for help but were afraid to? Have you ever called on someone to help you achieve a goal at just the right time?

Hanging on the Fence

Posted on April 18, 2011 by Sharon

We wanted to display photos of our family at our garden wedding. So we hung them on the fence.

Photos of my childhood and Curt’s, of our children through the years, and of our three grandchildren graced the ropes and danced in the breeze. We were surrounded by those we love, by our heritage.

We strung the wedding pictures of our parents, and these glamour photos of my mom and dad from the 1940s.

Here’s one where you can see how much my dad loved me.

And one of three generations of us women (big hair courtesy of the 1980s).

On this fence I clothes-pinned the grandkids.

And the heritage grows. Since our wedding last summer, the family has welcomed a new member. Hunter William Odegaard carries my father’s name as his middle name.

The past and the future meet in this little guy.

Whoever you call family, whether it’s friends who are closer than brothers or a vast extended network of kinfolk, here’s hoping you pause to treasure them. Hang them on your mental “fence” and appreciate your past together. And look forward to a growing heritage in the future.

Who would you hang on your fence?

Tale of Two Coffee Pots

Posted on December 20, 2010 by Sharon

They lived apart, on separate counters, miles from each other, our two coffee pots. We married, and they moved in together, too. Same counter. Side by side on the lovely granite, right next to the fridge. One serves strong Columbian brew each morning to Mr. O. This pot’s coffee graces a dark-colored mug and remains black and pure. The other pot contains a delicious butterscotch blend, served mild with a splash of milk. Always in a white mug with a little curly-q design on the edges.

Two pots, two people, one home. Works for us!

Sometimes side-by-side-but-individual works best in a marriage. Have you found that, too?

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: