My friend, H was really fit when she was younger, back when how she wanted to spend her time was what mattered, back before she starting having babies. Stuff changes when the focus shifts from here to there ... whichever there we chose as we ... grow up.  Sometimes that doesn't happen - the shift - but it seems to me that when it doesn't the person becomes less and less interesting as they grow old.
So ... H was crazy buff and now fitness isn't her top priority.  She misses those killer abs.  

That's what we were talking about yesterday when I was trying to describe how it "feels" to fly now.  I miss, really miss, the crispness. The smooth crispness.  I miss "not thinking" about execution.  I'm like Schroeder without a toy piano ... my hands seem to not know where to go. (lol)

Gosh. 

My body is still capable of the tasks, I'm just out of sorts, and wondering if I'll ever be good at it again, if it's worth it.  And ... that curiosity stuff is about the larger picture.  Flying isn't that important to me anymore.  Waking up to something interesting and challenging is though. And, I do love the idea of participating in someone's aviation journey.  (And soaring ... I forgot about how cool that is for a minute or two there.) I'm curious about what God has in mind for me.  I'd like to cooperate with that.

H was talking about how that sort of thing is with God. You can sometimes really "feel" a connection.  You can feel not alone.  It's like HE is with us.  You think if you keep on doing whatever you were doing that the relationship will just keep on getting better and better.  (And that usually means "it" feels better and better.  She laughed when I said some of the contemporary music,umm, worship music, seems like spiritual masterbation to me.)  I'm saying, from personal observation of my own life, that a spiritual relationship is like any other relationship, even great relationships wax and wane as people go through life together.  I like that God assures us that He doesn't change.  It makes the relationship ever so slightly more knowable.  

It doesn't rain much here. I don't know much about trees at all.  I did do a tiny bit of research on trees in general during the summer because it's interesting how they work/live and a bit different then I thought, but over all ... I'm casual about trees. I have observed this though; over in Alabama trees grow really fast, they seem to thrive.  Over here they are basically scrawny.  They really have to work at getting the nutrients needed to hold their own and there are relatively small trees around here that are really old.  You can easily see the growth rings on Alabama trees.  Tree crops are all over the place and they cut 'em down, process 'em, and send 'em on to Lowe's still wet.  Here, the growth rings are so dense that you can't quite see them.  Really.  These trees are tough, determined if trees can be so described, resilient because the environment demands it!  I didn't see one single field of trees when I flew last week.  I saw a lot of freshly plowed (assuming corn) fields dark with beautiful rich soil.

big old tree stump ... cut down a long time ago
you can see the rings, but not as easily as some other trees

C - hiking in Tennessee last week

yes they are scrawny trees
on my little day hike last week
taken when her pic came to me

and this, just because those little geese
and the duck are fun to see

Send some rain, would You send some rain?
'Cause the earth is dry and needs to drink again
And the sun is high and we are sinking in the shade

Would You send a cloud, thunder long and loud?
Let the sky grow black and send some mercy down
Surely You can see that we are thirsty and afraid

But maybe not, not today
Maybe You'll provide in other ways
And if that's the case

We'll give thanks to You with gratitude
For lessons learned in how to thirst for You
How to bless the very sun that warms our face
If You never send us rain

Daily bread, give us daily bread
Bless our bodies, keep our children fed
Fill our cups, then fill them up again tonight

Wrap us up and warm us through
Tucked away beneath our sturdy roofs
Let us slumber safe from danger's view this time

Or maybe not, not today
Maybe You'll provide in other ways

And if that's the case

We'll give thanks to You with gratitude
A lesson learned to hunger after You
That a starry sky offers a better view
If no roof is overhead
And if we never taste that bread

Oh, the differences that often are between
Everything we want and what we really need

So grant us peace, Jesus, grant us peace
Move our hearts to hear a single beat
Between alibis and enemies tonight

Or maybe not, not today
Peace might be another world away

And if that's the case

We'll give thanks to You with gratitude
For lessons learned in how to trust in You
That we are blessed beyond what we could ever dream
In abundance or in need

And if You never grant us peace
But, Jesus, would You please

~Nichole Nordeman 

GRATITUDE lyrics

I'm thinking about the idea she is expressing.  That attitude is easier said then practiced.  Better and better ...  seems better.

Someone expressed the wish of seeing everyone as God see's them(us ... you  ... me).  That would be amazing.  I wish for that miracle of insight sometimes.  Wouldn't it be so amazingly cool if we could have a tiny peek at what God was "making" in/of us for eternity?