Wonder and Belief!

   

Ice sculpture at the Festival des Voyageurs 

"Your eyes are windows, into your body, If you open your eyes wide

 in wonder and belief,

Your body fills up with light." Matthew 6:22   MSG                                        

There is so much wonder around me that my eye does not see.  How often do I come to the end of a day and feel as if I have been walking in a dark cave? Today was actually one of those days... I have to admit that I often choose walking in a dark cave instead of letting my eyes focus on the light around me.

Living on the Manitoba prairies, it is impossible to ignore the light.  Winnipeg enjoys over 310 days of sun a year (about 2353 hours) . That is a lot of sun compared to the average of 1650 sun hours in Germany.

Snow-shoeing in the White Shell

Amanda standing in an ice fishing shack

 It’s cold up here, but the sun shining down on the billions of snow crystals glistening like diamonds gives the feel of a peaceful and powerful serenity that leaves me breathless and in awe….almost a feel of victory...(can you tell I have been watching the Olympics :-)

Standing on the lake...that's an ice-fishing hole!

So let’s open our eyes to “wonder and belief”. Let the windows of your heart choose to see the God given beauty around us everywhere.  The ugly is certainly there, but I can choose to put shutters on those windows.

So take more pictures, write a blog, have a "thankful list" diary, laugh more and open your eyes in Wonder and Belief"!

At the  Festival des Voyageurs in Winnipeg

Enjoying frozen maple taffy at "la Cabane au Sucre"

The French Canadian actors enjoying the festivities

Maple taffy, made by pouring maple syrup on the snow and wrapping it on a stick

Tomorrow I take off for the Democratic Republic of Congo. The sun shines brightly there, but it is a place of many dark corners. I appreciate your prayers as a team of Congolese colleagues and I prepare plans for a new school in the city of Kinshasa. I hope to blog from there next.