Bittersweet but mostly sweet morning story

Every good gift  and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. 

James 1:17

I went outside this morning to read by the Castle.  Finding shade under a cherry tree, drawing, convening with the Lord through time to sit and read His word, especially Deuteronomy 6, in this week of  Parsha Va`etchanan.  

At some point in to the reading, I realized He was showing me something, a picture, that He knew I would want to take, and I looked up. I  was moved to get up! And found a good spot to take it!

It was A heron high in a tree.  Up there, can you see?

Then I sat and drew some more.  There were workers doing upkeep on the Castle walls and around the moat, and everything bathed in His light.

if you look closely, you can see a workman on a ladder here he is clearing weeds from the stone walls

Then after a little while of being there, two women,  a little older and with Japanese parasols, appeared walking towards me.  They were sweet and ladylike and expressed that they were glad to see me there admiring the beauty of creation.   They seemed to come out of a world where once people did so, and  commented that people don`t stop to admire the beauty so much these days.

I showed them some of my sketches and they flatteringly said `上手｀`jo-u-zu`(it means `very good!`)  though I don`t know that they are `jo-u-zu` really they are quite child-like, but they are from my heart.   Standing in that spot with them the morning seemed alive as we three watched the fish swimming in the moat, turtles too, birds flying, and the dappled light making patterns through the trees.

 Then one of the women signaled to the other and she opened up a package one of them was holding and took out two sparkling rings of some kind of treat.  It was goya!

Goya is a summer season vegetable in Japan that is very bitter! It has a rough skin on the outside.  You have to prepare it by scooping out the seeds and there are ways to cut the bitterness if you prefer to.   I have recently been cooking it on summer nights as it is said to give stamina in the hot days.  But I never saw it like this, all coated with sugar and in perfect rings!!  I believe it was a delicacy and a new taste, something from the Almighty himself to give me strength and taste His sweetness on this summer day.

Soon they continued on their way, these two Japanese women receding into the far distance with their umbrellas.  I held the rings of goya up close to see the castle through them, like vignettes of all the views I had been seeing.  Then I gave thanks and tasted the bitter sweet.  It was a new taste, sparkling with sweetness more than bitter, with the sugar all around in a ring.

Everyday is, a gift from our King.

♡

Shabbat Shalom!