Lingering at Sunset...

Sunset. 

My favorite color.

(That'll be on a quiz someday. :))

Few things stop me dead in my tracks more quickly or rivet my soul more completely than God's fingerprints across the western sky.

I always, always linger...

And if I'm compelled to tear my gaze away before the color is gone, my heart lingers. My heart sings...

Sometimes there's a twinge of loss too... After all, the day is gone.

But there's so much to be thankful for.

Well, I watched a "sunset" today.

The last teenager in our house turned 20.

And my heart is lingering. 

Our day started early-- or late yesterday, as the case may be. I got my first "Happy Birthday!" in way before you were awake this morning between blasts of my siren at herd after herd of obtuse elk on the highway.

But it's been a happy day...

Happiest because of the joy we find in a God Who is faithful. . . and sister and daughter who is following where He leads.

And also happy because in the gather darkness that necessarily accompanies a sunset, we have begun to learn things we never could have learned in the light. 

The next dawn is still shrouded in mystery.

But we're all-out excited.

Excited about the altars that await us...

And the promises that sustain us.

And the joy of Jesus being All Sufficient.

It seems I'm seeing more sunsets in life of late...

Saying more goodbyes to yesterday.

But that's ok.

The stars are coming out now.

we kinda went "all out" this year, and planned a once-in-a-lifetime surprise party with beloved friends and neighbors...

Chantée's brainchild, the product of several girls' culinary art and creativity.

Thanks for loving Jesus, sweet girl...

All photos: © Joshua Nebblett