you've got to crush the grape to get the wine

No, we aren't tending a vineyard.
But we have been crushed. Ground. Shattered. Demolished. Decimated.
The business is falling apart.
Pride is being exposed.
Sin is laughing in our faces.

There is nowhere to go but to God.
He is there.
He has always been there.
He is forgiving.
He is healing.
He is picking up the pieces.
He is making all things new.
We are not standing yet but we are not down and out.
We have been humbled and hope to stay there - standing tall - under His grace.
"A bruised reed He will not break And a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish; He will faithfully bring forth justice." Isaiah 42:3

coming back

I can't believe it has been since August that I've written here. A lot has happened, a lot learned. I'm not good at talking about things; I guess that's why I turned to this medium so I wonder what it means that I haven't even written for a long time. Am I pent up? Not engaged? Tired? Frightened by what's inside? Hmmm.
My youngest child started her last semester in college in January. As traumatic and exciting as it was for her, it was bittersweet for me. Coming to that point in life - the threshold of no more children in college - will be a jolt. I don't feel old enough for that to be reality.
Yet it is thrilling to watch my youngest finding her way in life, working through difficult issues, managing work, classes, people, growing up - and doing it quite well.
For me, this stage of life - watching children become adults - is about learning a new way of relating to them, talking with them. I was going to say - talking TO them but that is how parents often relate to children - talking TO them. Maybe that should change, too. Anyway, I'm making my mistakes along the way but she is forgiving and we go on.