When the Coldest Winter sets in...
Lima is currently passing through the coldest winter in my lifetime. Now compared to England, the daytime temperatures for winter are good (11-16’C/51-60’F), but we have no heating in our houses here, the sun never shines and it is damp and windy! So, since May I have been in at least quadruple layers on top and bottom and we had to buy extra blankets for many of the beds. On the upside, the rain has been more frequent - which in a desert, the plants are loving and so am I as I haven’t had to water the garden!
But the strangest thing for me has been our peach tree. I planted it in the first year of being here and it did nothing for two years. At least, nothing visible. This time two years ago, it suddenly shot up, quadrupling its height and then last year it blossomed in September and bore hundreds of little peaches in March. Now it is August. Just five months later. We are experiencing the coldest winter for years, and that little peach tree has been in full bloom for a month! We have had dozens of different species of birds in and out of our garden seeking the blooms and now as the petals are beginning to fall, tiny peaches are beginning to swell. And it is WINTER!
And of course, I just hear God laughing softly because isn’t that just His way - that fruitfulness comes when we least expect it sometimes? When we stop trying? That He is always fruitful and in His Kingdom, there is no winter?
And here I am.
Back in February I envisioned starting a Spanish blog. I wanted to write regularly on my English blog, and I wanted to re-do the blog under a new name. And I had tried to make it happen. And it hadn’t. I put the idea of doing a blog re-vamp and Spanish blog under ‘next year’ in my mind. Trying to keep up with writing posts, I became overwhelmed and decided to lay it down for a while.
And then God began whispering to me about the vision again. His vision for the blogs. His support for the re-vamp. And I prayed and He answered and a hummingbird sat on the peach tree branch just as I got out the camera. And the first photo is the one you see on the title bar above.
And I am living again, what I thought I already knew to be true - that in abiding, fruit grows. That from the resting and the listening and in the laying down comes forth God’s Holy breath - His Spirit.
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So welcome to this new season, under a new name. ‘Sitting Under An Open Heaven’ has now become ‘From a Quiet Corner’ reflecting that most of my creativity comes from a Quiet Corner of my very crazy house, and also from a Quiet Corner of my spirit.
I hope you like the new website. Please do take a moment to sign up to the mailing list if you would like to receive new blogposts direct to your inbox. (If you were already signed up before, you will be added automatically). Do take a moment to stop and say hi in the comment box below!
I am expectant about what God is going to do in this next season and I am so glad you could join me. Thank you so much to those people who have encouraged me so far - God has used you at such needed moments, and helped me to see beyond my keyboard and computer screen!
I look forward to chatting with you soon!
