As birthdays go, yesterday was fairly good. No cake, no singing, just a group of 8 teens who for the most part remained in control of their deeper aggressions toward the world and several adults who it's always good to spend time with as co-workers. There was nothing unusual, strange, shocking or disturbing throughout the day and it was fairly nice weather. It's always a sort of blessing to watch a 17 year old abuse neglect boy slide down a hill on a sled as is he were 8 and enjoying the exhileration of the wind against  his cheeks, the snow stinging his face and hands, and the laughter that eminates from deep down when he falls to the powdery white groud and rolls uncontrollably to a stop facing the sun, dizzy. That really is a birthday worth remembering if it wasn't the one I had wished I had planned ahead.

It's so great to be blessed with moments unasked for. So much forgiveness and a great big dose of Love from the Creator. How wonderful that we are not forgotten and even, unexpected, grace is there whether we know to look for it or not.

I re-read "The Book Thief" this past weekend. I spent most of my free time reading it. Though many have complained that it's merely a shell of a story and overly simplistic I get the feeling that many of those who find the book empty are looking for more of the blatant horrors that were common during the Nazi rule. Perhaps what they didn't like was that the book not only hints at the horrors anyone Jewish suffered but also the fear that was constant to anyone German who dared to dissent from the reigning forces. Some may not be prepared to accept that everyone suffered under this rule. Everyone. In my thinking that does not lessen at all what was happening to specific groups of people but makes the overall heaviness that much more difficult to comprehend or understand. I highly recommend reading this book if you haven't.

I've also been reading the gospels in the Bible again. So very much of it is like reading it for the first time. It's wonderful, tragic, heartbreaking, promising, lovely, beautiful....so many things as well as the Truth.

May we have lovely a day full of grace and beauty, forgiveness and love, blessings for us and blessings to pass on to others.