Classy on Sunday // Sweatering in Summer

Hello there!
I don't know about you all, but it seems like it has been forever since I have done a C.O.S! Perhaps it is because of my one week sabbatical from posting How We Play? Nevertheless, the whole shebang feels out of sync. What shall I share with you all? What would be interesting to talk about? I wish this was not a C.O.S, and that I could show you the happenings of this week, but for the lack of photos, and the demands of a schedule I will have to make do, and bring you up to date as I go along.



First of all, if there has been any Summer in which we have been the most comfortable, this is it! I am wearing a cozy angora shrug with this sundress for goodness' sake! Every day has been filled with calm breezes, dancing treetops, and temperatures so subtle that you can hardly tell the thing called temperature exists! The Lord has surly blessed us here! Brigi tells me that the midwest region used to be like this all the time in years past, and we are hoping against hope that such tranquil forecasts will stay all year long for many years to come. We shall see...

Secondly, my own personal/spiritual life, the one that only I and God can view together, has been in a little bit of turmoil lately. Some of our readers may or may not remember that I have been in the possession of a flock of homing pigeons for some time, and just this year, due to the great demands for our girls' voices, I have continually been pressed to find some way to leave this animal husbandry behind. I love birds with all my heart! And if there is one thing that is most hard for me to do is give up a responsibility that has long been my own. So what should I do? I sought out the Lord in this matter, and I found my help in His providential timing.

My flock has been absent for four whole days now. The backyard is silent, and only their loft remains to be the key reminder that they once dwelt here. A fine old gentleman, who has raced homers all his life, bought them off of me after discovering an ad I put up at our local feed store. I did gain a little profit from them, but my happiness is grounded in the fact that they were going to a good home. From the day that they left in the back of the gentleman's truck, the feeling of my purpose in life has been shifted around a bit. In many ways, things are the same; singing, blogging, household chores, etc.. But just like a tree during the approach of Winter, a part of me is growing dormant. Waiting for Spring is a slow process. Yet, their is a time and a place for all things–a difficulty hard to accept.

Dress: J Jill // Sweater: Hand-me-down // Necklace: gift // Earrings: gift 

With saying goodbye to this little part of my life, I have, naturally, begun to look for other ways to spend my time. One day I woke up and was instantly spurred into a furious stream of thoughts and ideas of what I could do. I was confronted with the idea of a business; but what could I make? I mused over writing; but what would I write? I considered just about everything, until my mind was frazzled and my head was turned into a spinning top of confusion! I cried out to the Lord to answer my thoughts and my puzzlement, and He gave me this. A dear friend of mine wrote a post on the topic of wanting admiration, and whether it is bad or good to want such a thing. After absorbing every word of it, I sat back, and thought,"What was I thinking? I must be content with the gifts I have been given to use for the joy of others and the glory of God! That is my calling right now. Why else did I give up the winged creatures I loved so dear? So that I could pursue this calling with all my might!" And that is just what I am going to do. 

"Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." John 14:27

May this be the balm for all troubled hearts. :)

Have you worn a sweater this Summer?

What has the Lord been helping you to see anew in your life?

Do you understand your calling yet?

Peace to you in Christ.

Jessica

The eldest sister & singer

CREDITS // Author: Jessica Boyer; Photography: Brigid Boyer // Photos edited with VSCO Film Presets.