Sugar on Snow!

    Have you read Little House on the Prairie? I did, and I remember reading about the maple syrup harvest and how Laura loved the sweet maple candies they made. Sugar on Snow. What a lovely name. :) Is it possible that something delicious can come from inside a tree??? The answer, of course, is yes. And just in case you want to try it for yourself, here is the recipe! 

Sugar on Snow*

1 cup maple syrup (not the fake stuff)

1/2 stick butter 

1 tub packed snow

Candy thermometer

Real maple syrup!!!

1. Heat syrup and butter in a pot over medium heat, watching carefully. Turn the heat down if it threatens to boil over. Heat until candy thermometer reaches 234 degrees Fahrenheit.

The first few minutes...

Almost done!

2. Cool slightly and test for done-ness by spooning a drizzle over the snow. 

If candy sits on top of snow and clings to fork like taffy, it's ready. If not, heat it back up again for a few more minutes.

3. Pour or drizzle with spoon over packed snow. 

Wait a few seconds for the candy to harden, then enjoy!

You should be able to lift off a whole bunch of squiggles in one golden sheet like this. :)

*Based on recipe from the Maple Syrup Cookbook 

Awesomeness Outside My Comfort Zone

    If my friend was standing in the middle of the road about to get run over by a semi, wouldn't I run screaming at her and push her out of the way?

If a girl I knew had a week to live because of a new type of cancer and I discovered the cure, wouldn't I tell her and her doctors about it?

    But what if one thing that is worse than getting mauled by a semi is spending an eternity in Hell?

And what if something worse than dying of cancer is living until the end of time away from the presence of God?

And I've been letting them die. 

  .....and then I went to Dare2Share. My life has been permanently changed. Tell me, friends. Do you not think this video is awesome?

    Yes, he was at the conference! Plus two other fine speakers. There were at least five skits (very well done, by the way) and I'm thinking about four worship/concert sessions with Desperation Band, including cool flashing lights and everything. :)

    After they pumped us (over 3,000 teens) up and equipped us with tactics and advice, we hit the streets. To witness. 

    Boy, was I scared. I mean, knocking on a strange door in a strange town handing out batteries for smoke detectors and asking people if they needed prayer? I can only imaging how crazy we looked. But in the end? It was worth it. Ten times over. One sweet lady with a kid peeking through the door had us pray for her sick mother, then thanked us profusely and hugged all three of us who were standing on her doorstep. 

    After the first few houses, my trepidation fell away and I found myself eagerly looking towards to next house. Something was working in me, because I am not an outgoing person. Like, I don't even like to knock on doors of people I sort of know. By the time we ran out of batteries, I was pretty pumped up. I would have been content to keep going for another hour! It was awesome, guys. And it was awesome in a God - type of way. 

    Back at the conference center, I learned (at least) two more amazing things. 1. God gave me a mustard seed of faith to partner with my brother and sponsor a little boy from Ecuador through Compassion (!!!!!!!!! I love him already!!!!!!). Faith because it's hard to pledge a monthly sum of money when I only have summer jobs, but faith says God will provide. 2. I love it when guys lift their hands in worship. There is something in seeing a strong young man with his hands outstretched to Jesus and his head bowed that really touched a chord in my heart. I've decided my husband will have to be an all-out worshiper like that. :) 

    Dare2Share pushed me out of my comfort zone. But there, outside Ariel's comfy bubble, I found a new type of comfort - that of trust. Once I let go of the railing and stepped out in faith, I knew the only thing holding me was Jesus' hands. So I clung to them and that was what made my experience awesome. 

    I'm going to witness again, friends. Soon, I hope! I've got a plan brewing along the lines of Valentines Day cookies and messages about the love of God to hand out to strangers. :) I'd appreciate your prayers!

Whispers on Horseback

    My body stiffened, jaw tightening. A brown head flashed up then down in front of me. Just hold still, will you? My mind screamed, and my hands urged the same through the taught leather reins. Tenebrae's mane flashed again, and she vigorously chomped her bit and pranced sideways. I pressed my leg and heel into her side and hauled back on the reins. My efforts solicited a few stilted steps in the general backwards direction I desired, but as soon as I released the pressure from my hands, Tenebrae shifted her weight forward again. I tugged on the reins, and she pranced in place. Don't you see? It's for your own good if you stand still... just chill for a second, and you'll be better off when it's your turn! I watched the rider before me sail over a jump, then returned my attentions to Little Miss Impatient. Through my seat, hands, and legs, I could feel Tenebrae working herself into a frenzy as she fought my command to be still. It was a simple thing, to be still. And for her own good, besides. But still she fought her rider. Her master. 

BAM. 

    There, in the hazy arena, on the back of a thousand pound bay beauty, I understood. Myself. In an instant, thoughts and prayers from the weeks before flickered before my eyes, a mirror image of the horseflesh struggle beneath me. 

Tenebrae - I think she's sneezing in this picture :P

    Be still. Know my presence and let that be enough. My master had whispered through my devotions, day after day. In return I fought, tossing my head and craning my neck, searching for something to do, something to be. 

    Be faithful in the small things I am asking of you now. Obey me in the moment, God whispered. I was prancing in place and tugging at God's gentle guiding reins. I want to do something big! My mind screamed. I want to take off on a wild adventure with you, God. Why are you holding me in place? I was chomping at the bit, sidestepping God's guidance, and working myself into a frenzy trying to go somewhere my master did not want me to go. For the moment, that is.
    Tenebrae and I did go over the jumps. I did eventually ask her to move forward, to canter, to fly. But before that, I asked her to be still. Because if she had trotted full steam ahead with no restraint from her master, she would have messed up someone else's timing or run into another horse. There was a reason - multiple reasons - I asked her to be still. She just didn't - couldn't - understand. But because I loved her, because I wanted the best for her and everyone else, I persisted; tugging, nudging, pressing, restraining. And still she fought. 

    And still you fight, God whispered. Rest, He urged. I felt the reins tighten in my mouth. Be still, and He guided me with strong nudges of His leg. Do what I have asked of you, the little things, and wait for me to release you for the mountain ahead. Scrabbling at it's base, stretching and clawing at handholds will only tire you before I ask you to climb. Just... be still. 

Adoration and Two Brilliant Lights

"I was so excited when I saw the sun this morning that I dropped what I was holding and ran down the stairs," I declared to my sister as I encountered a pile I had abandoned on the floor. 

The sun - it gets me so excited in the winter... inwardly I call it my "pool of liquid gold" when I watch it spill over into the trees trying to hold it back and rises, molten, to the sky.  

See that speck of light down in the tree line? That's the sun. And it's a thousand times more beautiful in real life, I promise. 

But that sun? It shines through the darkness around it. No matter how dark those trees try to be, the sun still shines bright. 

Through the darkness the sun finds a peephole and lets loose a barrage of brilliant rainbow particles.

And the darkness? It only serves to make the light more bright. 

Instead of drowning out the light, the dark only makes it more beautiful, more precious. 

And it's just like God to christen our guiding light the sun. 

Because, said out loud, no one can tell the difference between the sun and the Son. 

Who also happens to be our guiding light. Coincidence? I think not. 

I get so excited when I see my pool of liquid gold...it's so beautiful, so exquisite, so alive. 

But the Son is alive. He's alive, people! Why doesn't anyone get excited about this anymore? I mean, if I can stampede down the stairs in the middle of my morning to gaze at and snap pictures of something I see every day... well, then I truly have no excuse for being ho-hum about the Son. I am capable of adoration. 

I adore the sunshine.

I adore my friends. 

I adore creating things.

I adore cheesecake.

I adore the Son.

Yeah, but how do I adore Him? I mean, if I grin ecstatically at the sun 

And spend hours talking to my friends

And work long head-aching hours crafting things from my fingers

And close my eyes in bliss at the first bite of a cheesecake

Then my adoration of the Son should be a million times more.

Really, Ariel. How much has the sun sacrificed for you?

When have your friends stepped down from a heavenly throne to die in your place?

Do the things you create ensure you'll go to heaven?

How many times has a cheesecake given you selfless, overflowing joy? 

Yup. I'm convinced. I don't adore the Son nearly enough. So, yeah... I've got my journey cut out for me, somewhere along the lines of learning to adore Him more.

But along the way, I know of someone who is always there. And He's given me an exquisite reminder of Himself in the glowing, spreading, darkness-hiding light of the sun. So much like the Son. 

One last thing. Remember how light always wins over darkness?

Well. The Son is light. So the victory's already won, my friends. But that doesn't mean I can go traipsing off into the enemy camp, now does it? I've got a journey to live, and battles to fight. Mission número uno: 

Adoration.

Here.

He is here. 

Blank screen, pulsing line. Cursor.

He is here.

Not scolding in the past, or waiting in the future, but here.

Now. 

And more loving than the world and bigger than life and more real than the ground under my feet.

Unimaginable. 

Do you comprehend that word? Unable to be imagined. 

Let that sink in a second.

Because the ground under my feet is only holding me up with the attraction of minuscule molecules, one to another, keeping wood particles whole.

He holds those molecules together.

And He is here. 

Can you imagine someone more real than reality, a fifth dimension, ten thousand new colors and bigger than the biggest universe? 

And He holds those molecules together, under my feet.

And He is here.

"I am," He said. 

He is. 

He is not "I was," nor "the great I will be" 

"I am who I am."

Because the only thing that's real right now is something that is here. In this moment. 

He is. Here. Now. Holding together the molecules under your feet and loving you more than you could ever comprehend. 

Let that sink in a second.

And if the Great I Am is here, holding together wooden floors and loving and being Himself - ginormous and brilliant and stronger than strong and infinitely, wondrously, good - then who are we to fret and question and worry and complain? 

He is here. 

And that is enough. 

**************

If you want more info on the subject and/or the story behind God calling Himself "I Am", you can look it up in Exodus  3:1-14. :)