Happy St. Valentine's Day!!

... Or "Let's Knit Something Red or Pink Day" ... or if you prefer: "Single's Awareness Day"... I also heard somewhere: "Half-priced Chocolates Day Eve" ... or even better: "Target Date to Get my Crush to Fall in Love with Me Day".
This year, I chose to celebrate St. Valentine's Day, I believe, to the fullest extent to which it is intended. One might ask... "How?" since I, ahem, definitely DON'T have a significant other - no husband, boyfriend, not even a secret admirer, nor a crush. Instead, I spent the day practically daydreaming about God's lavish LOVE - His LOVE for me, His LOVE for those I care about, His LOVE for the lost. And the amazing price He paid for all of us. My prayer is for God to touch each one of His children with His Divine LOVE today.
I did this without chocolate or flowers or stuffed animals - just a simple celebration of my roommate's birthday this morning, a simple dinner, and a lil' knittin' time this evening. While I was making my dinner of grilled chicken, cucumber slices (cut into little hearts) and strawberries, I had a terribly romantic crazy off-the-wall idea. Just of how much I was loving myself by foregoing all the indulgences of the day - and my future husband, whomever that may be <3 Cause I believe happy hearts are the number one cause of awesome amazing marriages.

Also, brought this little song to mind: one of the most beautiful love songs in the whole wide world. It makes me want to sing, play my violin, dance, throw pottery, paint & knit ALL at the same time.

To Whom It May Concern, by The Civil Wars

Reflections over Knitting

Why is it that I knit? That's a good question, really. Is it because making things are cheaper than buying them? Nope, not with the kind of yarn I use! Is it because I like giving and having things that I made with my very own hands? Partly, but if that was it then I would finish more projects in a more efficient manner! Is it because I think it's cute and trendy to knit? Well yes, that's how I got started... (although, I get a lot of "isn't that what little old grandmas do?" from people so it might not be quite as trendy as I think it is). Is it a good reflective and therapeutic activity?? I think that is one of the biggest reasons why I knit - along with just loving the feel and colors of fibers. They excite me. I love the stitches too. Simple stockinette, supple moss stitch, wandering lace and overlapping cables. So many ways to be creative!!!
Alright, so onto the details of the real reason why I knit - it's a good "deep thinking" and/or "conversational" kind of activity - same as throwing pottery, but with less expensive equipment. Driving kinda does it for me too. And editing pictures. So when you see one of my knitted projects, or pieces of pottery, or a picture that I took in a near or distant land... you can trust that many thoughts, reflections and/or conversations went into that piece. Every stitch, every finger ridge, every pixel contains a precious little bit of my mind and heart and soul. This is what makes it the most worthwhile.
So yesterday, I took a drive. It was a short one, but substantial nonetheless - with a continuation of thoughts from my drive to and from Montana. On my trip, God revealed to me a lot of things about how hard I work to sustain my own comfort level - only compromising it for my own recreational purposes or if it is "convenient" to do so for the purposes of comforting others. I slept in the snowy forest for "fun", then spent the night in a motel, and then drove all the way home a day early all so that I could spend the last night of my three day weekend in my own warm comfy bed. On my drive yesterday I got to thinking about all that and if I will ever put action behind what God revealed to me. So many of us just say, "Well, it's the thought that counts"... especially when it comes to gift-giving. Also goes the saying... "God knows our hearts" and there is an extreme amount of truth to that. So where's the bridge between what's on our minds and hearts and translating that into action that matters? So many of my prayers these days have to do with how and why I love people - is it for my glory or God's glory? What would happen if all the incentives for loving others were suddenly removed, would I/could I still love?
At some point, I think we can all have faith to really know that He accomplished through His Blood what mere following of rules, regulations and sacrifices could not do - Cleansed our consciences and our hearts so that He can write His perfect will, imbed it, into the very fiber of our being (Hebrews 10) just as clearly as He has engraved us on the palm of His hand (Isaiah 49:16). Christ's extravagant love for us inspires our extravagant obedience in response as we encounter circumstances that literally cause our head knowlegde of God to work it's way down into our hearts. We display the glory of God best when we realize our identity in Him and embrace His word (Psalm 19).
Many times, I believe our follow through takes His Perfect Timing too. There has been a certain spot up near Green Bluff, just west of the traffic circle on Day-Mt Spokane Road. The rolling hills dive into this winding irrigation ditch - very beautiful when the light hits it just right. Every time I drive by I think about how much I want to take a picture of it, but every time I'm either too busy, or it's too dark, or too overcast and it doesn't look pretty enough for me to take a picture. There have even been times where I set out to take pictures up there, but I went somewhere else instead. So yesterday I finally did it. I was driving by and almost just went on my way, but I stopped. The sunlight was gorgeous. Partly cloudy and the soft sunlight hitting the hills just right. What a beautiful piece of God's redemption for my delay in taking that picture. 
I also went to Starbucks to sit and knit. I wanted to go to Rocket, but they were crowded. Starbucks was fine. I started a scarf with yarn that I've started to knit a scarf with several times.... only to take it out and roll it back up again. I put many thoughts into the cable pattern I was knitting while I was there, related to what I've written about in this post, wondering if this was really the time for this yarn to become a scarf. At the end of my time there at Starbucks, I quickly unraveled the scarf, rolled it back up into a ball and went home.
Do those thoughts count??