sweet b

this morning was a typical junuary morning but when i emerged into the outside world after choir, it was bright and sunny and just plane june. june is a month of peonies. everyone knows i love peonies. they're my very favourite. everywhere i go i see their gorgeous bright heads hanging heavily over walks and lawns and lanes. my own single peony that in theory at least, is white with a splash of ruby red inside has not blossomed for the second year in a row. i'm a little sad about it but i haven't given up hope. my peony has some challenges to overcome. first, it doesn't get a lot of sun and second, i didn't do any aerating or fertilizing this year. i just water it occasionally. as i was driving home from church i was thinking about peonies and how unbelievably beautiful they are and how they are a little like women everywhere who have such shining radiant beauty and yet bow their heads. maybe they don't know how amazing they are. maybe they're afraid to let the light in them shine out. maybe they hope no one will notice. maybe they hope someone will notice and remind them--tell them. maybe they've been told a lot that they're nothing important. maybe they think if they are wonderful it will make other people feel badly. maybe a lot of things. anyways it was just something i was thinking about, not a well cultivated thought. but the thing about peonies is whether their heads are bowed and laying on the ground, or whether they're staked upright they are always a peony and always lovely. it doesn't change.

huh.

happiness is sometimes a back scratcher.

today after thinking about peonies i was distracted at francis and railway by a sweet smell. i realized that someone had cut the long grass that was growing lushly along the railway tracks and now it was dried and smelling like sweet hay. i breathed in the sweetness and smiled at the sunny sky.

today all the women were wanted in rs so the men took over the last half of primary. since you need two men per class, there were a lot of priesthood walking through the doors cheerfully ready to do their part. some were doing classes together, and some were prepared with their primary books to do sharing time and singing time. brother umbach even made his own liahona to teach sharing time with. it was unquestioning, uncomplaining support and i felt it in almost a physical wave of support as i saw them all come in. it's like that guy said to me in edmonton. i was hopping with a sprained ankle from the back of the gym to the front of the chapel and he came and just put my arm around his shoulder and helped me...actually i think it was on the way out. he said something about leaning on the priesthood or "this is what it's like to get support from the priesthood" or something like that.

so to sum it up, today i'm thankful for:

1. peonies

2. women

3. cut grass

4. blue skies and sunshine

5. priesthood support

6. back scratchers

and i didn't say this, but i'm also thankful for choir. today was my first day back after a long long time and i really do love it.