Wednesday, September 16, 2020

Up from the ashes, Hope will arise

 

Above are the Asiatic lilies on my kitchen table. Do flowers give you as much joy as they give me? 

Amidst all the poor and sometimes hazardous air quality in California, Oregon and Washington, and the dark or weirdly yellow skies, I found hope attending church this Sunday. Here are some of the lyrics to a song we sang:

"Up from the ashes, Hope will arise

Death is defeated, the King is alive.

Hallelujah. 

I will watch the darkness flee."

Whenever I hit the "enter" key to create another line in blogger, it insists on a double space line. I only want a single space. Do you know how to fix that? 

Marcia asked if we all wear masks when attending church and YES we all do. We have indoor, outdoor, and online streaming of our services. I attend outdoors, we are in chairs six feet apart and are all wearing masks. Indoors they do something to clean the air before each service, we have two services each Sunday. I also went to an outdoor memorial service during the week at our church, with the same precautions. I love being outdoors. I still am cautious about being indoors for shopping or for any reason. I shopped for food Saturday at 7:45 a.m., almost no other shoppers, I wore mask and gloves! What about you all?

28 comments:

Pamela M. Steiner said...

I am not familiar with that hymn, but I love it. So appropriate for what you are enduring in your part of the country. Been praying for you. Love the lilies. So pretty. As far as the double spacing goes, I have that problem sometimes. I find that if I have actually hit a double space on purpose, then it thinks I want that thereafter. So I have to go back up to where I hit the double space and delete the extra space, and keep it single spaced from there on. After I am done, I can go back and add the extra space. Try that and see if it works. I had hoped they would fix that problem but I guess they haven't. Take care my friend.

Sandi said...

Beautiful lillies!

I know that song. 💙 it!

I do not know how to fix the problem. The new blogger is full of surprises.

Junkchiccottage said...

Mine does the same thing I am not sure there is a way to change it to single instead of double. If you figure it out let me know. Hope is always a good thing to hold onto during these hard times. Hugs. Kris

Marie Smith said...

Flowers are always a favourite. These are beautiful!

Lin said...

Faith and flowers sustain me in these very trying days of fires, looting, violence, politics, the pandemic...oh, you name it!

Betsy said...

Beautiful, beautiful flowers. I have never heard that song but it is quite appropriate isn't it? We have brown and orange skies today. Ick is all I can say. Possible rain Friday night for the first time since June 1. I'm so hopeful.
Blessings,
Betsy

Starting Over, Accepting Changes - Maybe said...

The flowers are beautiful, Terra. Just looking at flowers gives me joy and peace.

My heart hurts for all those who have lost so much to the fires and all those who have lost so much to all the disasters that we have experienced this year. My daughter and her family live in Santa Cruz and was told a few weeks ago to prepare for evacuation, but, thankfully, she never got the order and the fire was controlled before reaching them. My anxiety level this month is about a 9.

Wanda said...

Terra, I love the words of the song you sang in Church. I love flowers, they always rise my spirits.

Wanda said...

Terra, can I use the words of that song for my Thoughts for Sunday blog?

Ann said...

Pretty flowers and hymn.
I have no clue about the double spacing. I haven't had that problem.

dori said...


What a wonderful song! I love it VERY much!!!!!

Beautiful bouquet! I also enjoy flowers. They can give a certain form of positive energy - -

The new blogger makes me difficulities, because I must change what I was used to. Sometimes I feel rather disturbed about. There is still a possibility to go back to the old version - you have to click in an orange field (or grey?) "Back to the old blogger". I often do this. So I can slowly change my technique.

Jeanie said...

There is a fix for the double spacing -- If you go back to my blogger survey results someone put a solution to that. Or at least did as of writing the post. I haven't tried it lately and they keep changing things. It's about three or four posts back.

I so feel for our out-west friends. This is a tragedy. The hurricane, too.

Granny Marigold said...

I feel the same about flowers. Flowers and books make life sweet.
I also find that double-spacing irritating and would like to know why it happens.
It doesn't always happen so I'm at a loss to know why it does or doesn't happen.

At Home In New Zealand said...

Love that hymn. However bad things get we can always have that hope in our hearts :) xx

Margaret D said...

Love flowers, your lilies do look handsome.

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Terra - certainly difficult times for so many. Love the lilies and life does come back - nature is amazing. Take care - Hilary

Marcia said...

I haven't noticed that problem with Blogger. My issue is with how it mixes up photos I want to insert in the order they were taken.

I worry about attending church in person. Are you masked the whole time?

Beside a babbling brook... said...

Best of luck with your air quality.

Please click on my Sig Line and tell me..... Has this happened to you???????

"New" Blogger only?????

~sigh~

😰😱Did Blogger finally do it?????😰😱

Linda said...

I love that song.....we need to fill our hearts with praise and feast our eyes on beauty....wherever we can find it.
Your hymn reminds me of the verse in Isaiah 61 .....”to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead af ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.”

We wear masks except with family we see regularly. At our outdoor bee meetings I wear mine but usually take it off while sitting since we are far apart and in open air and in the country and in a county with very low Civid numbers. But afterwards when we stand around and talk, I keep it on.

I’m buying a variety of masks until I can get back to making more. Since it’s part of our daily life, they need to be as comfortable as possible.

Sorry about the new blogger. It did that to me and I fixed it but I don’t remember how I did it!

Kay said...

We definitely take every precaution when we have to go out. We've cancelled all our doctors, dentist, optometrist appointments for this year. It's too spooky with our COVID numbers in Hawaii rising.

Inger said...

I'm glad church lifted your spirits and that you could sit outdoors during the service. And, yes, flowers makes me smile. We've had wild sunflowers line our road for a while now. They are the last flowers of summer around here and they always make me smile.

Dee said...


Dear Terra, I no longer drive and so I order my groceries to be delivered from Hy-Vee and get other items--toiletries, etc.--on line. So I'm seldom out except for a doctor's appt When I do go to a store or pharmacy, I wear my mask and keep some distance between me and others. Actually, because I've become somewhat of a recluse since moving and since having to give up driving, the pandemic isn't affecting my life much. But I am obsessive in watching PBS Newshour and reading online The New York Times, so I am aware of the pandemic's affect on others. What is coming to light so clearly is the systemic racism in our health organizations and in schooling and in law and in all sorts of ways that make this pandemic horrific for people of color and those who live in poverty. Peace.

Pom Pom said...

Everyone wears masks at the grocery store.
It seems like churches are all a bit different. I hope the weather holds for outside church.

Kit said...

So great to hear your church is taking good precautions. Here we are wearing masks but I pick up my groceries and do not go into stores. I still keep 6 feet away from my children. That is hard. Take care. Kit

Mel u said...

Here in Manila there as of last six months no in person Masses. There is life streaming and socially distanced communion is offered. We hope so much there can be Mass for Christmas. I hope your air gets better.

My Tata's Cottage said...

The fires have been awful. Your state was hurting and all around you. Colorado had so many fires and one was too close for comfort. The brief snow we had helped calm the skies and the air quality was a tad better. What I find so sad is that so many of these are caused by people whether on purpose or sheer carelessness. Very sad Hoping these fires are gone very soon. Your church sounds very nice and the words you sang rang true didn't they?
Always a pleasure to visit you here. HUGS across the miles XO XO

I was here today: annesphamily.blolgspot.com

A Casa Madeira said...

Always hope...
Nice to know your blog.
janicce.

Red Rose Alley said...

You're asking the wrong person about the new blogger haha. I'm still trying to figure the pictures and the writing part of it all. It's been frustrating for sure. I hope it's gotten better for you since this post. I really miss going to Mass and especially receiving Communion. Our churches are having Masses outside also, and watching the Masses on tv has also been nice.

Have a pleasant rest of the week, Terra.

~Sheri