Coming Home to Joy (Padraig the dragon & marriage...)

Hello friends, it's your long-lost blogging friend!  I am swamped planning the party of a lifetime, also known as a wedding...I see the final tasks being crossed off, as friends and family come into town to celebrate with us.  One of the tasks was updating my blog and book review page before life changes, and as I re-read the very sweet Dragon and the Turtle, by Paul & Denmark, I saw some sweet parallels to where I've been, where I am, and where I am going.  Padraig the dragon has been playing pirates, as any young adventurous dragon might do, and has flown off course.  He is wanting to get home, but can't find the way home alone, which brings his new friend, Roger the turtle into the picture.  Roger listens faithfully to Padraig, and they set out on a journey to find home, filled with adventure, new surprises, and a new friendship.  There are many life-lessons in this book for your favorite youngster, most especially the need to reach out to others despite our own needs (Roger is hungry and Padraig is hard to please)...  I find myself in the middle of the story, with a dear friend, my Jesus, always helping me along the journey, caring about my deepest needs and most detailed requests.  Padraig is remembering the smells and sounds of his home, and we all are looking to our Home Eternal.  He eventually does get home, and I find myself nearing the end of my journey to find 'home'...at least on this earth.  On Sunday the crazy journey of waiting for just the right man to create a home with will end, and the next adventure will begin.  I suspect, just like Padraig found in Roger, I will find my eternal Friend to be just as faithful in this new journey, as well as the many loving friends and family who have helped to guide my steps these past few years.  Joy is a state of mind, but I am choosing it more and more...and it certainly helps to be 'coming home'!  Regardless of what the journey holds, we can always choose joy.  

Habakkuk Rejoices in the LORD

 ¹⁷Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, ¹⁸yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. ¹⁹GOD, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places.