Just start at the very beginning...a very good place to start...

Beginnings...

"Let's start at the very beginning
A very good place to start
When you read you begin with A-B-C
When you sing you begin with do-re-mi

Do-re-mi, do-re-mi
The first three notes just happen to be
Do-re-mi, do-re-mi
...
[Maria:]
When you know the notes to sing
You can sing most anything."
Copyright: Lyrics © Original Writer and Publisher 
source: http://www.lyricsondemand.com/soundtracks/s/thesoundofmusiclyrics/do-re-milyrics.html

At church today, (Frankenmuth Bible Church) the pastor encouraged us to take another look at reading the Bible all the way through. I love reading the Bible...but plans always make me feel guilty...you see, sometimes I just get stuck on a verse or a piece of a verse and then I get off the plan. I'm still reading every day, or most days, but sometimes it's a little, sometimes it's a lot. And then, there's the days when sometimes its the same thing over and over until it sticks. You know, the kind of sticking that changes your life.  This plan looks like something that I'll be able to stick to...well, I'm going to start! I'll see how I do.  

Here's a video to start with:

Beginnings:

1) Genesis 1:1 (ESV) The Creation of the World

"In the beginning, 

God created the heavens and the earth."

2) Proverbs 1:7 (ESV) The Fear of the Lord

"The fear of the Lord 

is the beginning of knowledge; 

fools despise wisdom and instruction."

3)Proverbs 4:7 (ESV) Wisdom

"The beginning of wisdom is this: 

Get wisdom,

    and whatever you get, get insight."

4)John 1:1(ESV) The Word Became Flesh

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

 This is the view that I have today. Right now, as I write. As I stay in this quaint little house in MI by the river watching over my little grandson, who was the littlest up to a week ago. Within a week he has become the 3rd from the youngest grandchild. It is amazing what a week will bring. A week ago I was at home in freezing weather on Christmas having lunch with a friend from church. Then I went on to finish preparing the house and myself for our trip. And what a trip it has become! We left just last Monday to go to Canada to see this grandson and his mommy and daddy who all live there. We had grand adventures! We saw a lot of snow! (It was warmer than Idaho though.) Then we drove yesterday from Canada to Michigan to meet our now, 2nd to youngest grandchild (and his daddy and mommy and brother), who only last night still was the youngest...

oh, what adventures early morning brings!

 I awakened to a text from my daughter...the MI cousin, would quickly give up his title of "youngest" as our daughter had her daughter just a little bit into the new year! From 5 to 7 in less than a week! It amazes me, this bringing of new life into the world...I saw it happen 3 times in my life as a mom and now 7 times as a grandma...and yet, it still amazes me. I want to soak it all in like warm sunshine in a sun room on a cold winters day...soak it all in until I can't hold any more, then soak some more...I know soon that I'll be going home to my empty nest...but for now, I just keep soaking it all in. I wonder if that is what Mary and Moses felt...

"But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart." Luke 2:19 (ESV)

And Moses would put a veil on his face after speaking with the people (after he had been with God)...so they wouldn't see it fade? (Exodus 35)

My heart is full...and it will continue to fill. I am treasuring these things. I am pondering them in my heart. I wish I could put a veil on so that people around me won't see this all fade...until I see my kids again...but that is not the life that I live in.

I live in a place of ministry to people. That means that I get to live life with people and that means that we see the things that fill us all up fade. We support each other. We love each other. We encourage each other. We practice the "one anothers" with each other, no matter how awkward at times it becomes. 

I long for the day when I will get to be with all my kids together in one place, in one time zone...but until that day I will continue to treasure the bits of time that I do get!