A familiar fox arrives, the rose behind its left ear bobbing as it bows its head to you, then takes a missive from the bag at its side.

You take the letter, and begin to read...

The sky is that PERFECT shade of blue. The breeze is finally cool. It is, officially, fall. Hallelujah. But alas... I still have a month of Halloween decorations in stores left to endure. I hate the motion-activated ones. Scare me every time.

In personal news...

Goodreads has HALF-STAR RATINGS now! I am overjoyed. Less overjoyed, however, about going back to edit various reviews I have on there. 🤣

What I’ve Been Reading:

​Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, by J. K. Rowling; bittersweet ending (lots of people I like dying.😢) , with a really neat fairytale in it (That may have been my favorite part of the book.). Not the best book, but it wrapped the overall narrative up pretty well and I love Mrs. Weasley's swift and righteous defense of her children.

​Rebecca, by Daphne du Maurier; a fabulous suspense with an ending that left me shocked but pretty impressed with how I never saw it coming. One of the classics that I can ACTUALLY enjoy.

​The Unraveling of Emlyn Dulaine, by Lindsay A. Franklin; a really, really cool book about storyworlds and superpowers that leaves me needing answers (sequel time...)

​The Wishing Jar, by Penelope J. Stokes; a multi-generational story of overcoming through grace and love, though it was a bit rough to read.

​Rock, Paper, Incisors, by Amy Timberlake (Skunk and Badger, book 3); a darling, fun book that is terribly relevant to me, personally, at the moment. Dealing with new, small people once one's life has taken on a distinctly not-small-people routine... readjusting is hard sometimes.

​The Book of Japanese Folklore, An Illustrated Guide, by Thersa Matsuura; cool research on various cryptids, monsters, and minor 'gods' from Japanese culture and history.

Some Funny Stuff:

Snippets/Stories to Share:

This month, I will be leaving this section mostly blank, as I'm cramming on a super-secret project and plagued with migraines.

However, I have a prompt for you all!

Towers deep in the enchanted forest are always a source of treasure; either one finds a beautiful princess in need of rescue, or a wizard who will pay you to go away. So when you find one, you're overjoyed... However, this tower contains nothing but a hand mirror in the center of the floor.

Something Cool to Me:

I want this man to make the soundtrack for if/when my stories are made into film. Hannes De Maeyer is a genius. (I believe I've mentioned Professor T before; but Patience is new to me and when I found out it was him doing the music... Gotta tell you, that man creates SUCH wonderful music I want to weep when I hear his work.)

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Closing thoughts:

There is a season to everything, a time to everything under Heaven... does that mean that each season is enjoyable? Far from it. But there's a difference between joy and happiness that makes a great deal of difference in the choice.

Let's take the route of responsibility: I can choose to wake and look at the day and worry about what's to come, planning furiously to ensure everything happens the way I'd hoped for, and be frustrated when God moves where I didn't approve of (gasp!). Alternatively, I could wake with the knowledge that the One who loves me is running the show, and make a few goals (physical lists help on the days I feel 'dumb'), put a complete (as in, what I have for that and no more!) effort into completing them, and taking the time to speak with Him when things go not as I'd hoped or foreseen, and when they do!

I have a hard time letting things go because I know that those things often truly need doing. I don't tend to make lots of grandiose plans for, say, whole-house cleaning in a day (or even a week), I don't just jump up and go on trips to the newest store three towns over and then wonder why something that was necessary is left undone. My schedule is usually overbooked because of lots of little things, whether truly needed or things I think are needed, as they say, 'for morale'.

But the One who loves me most is the One who owns 'the cattle on a thousand hills', the One outside time who measures it 'in His scales' and keeps it 'in His storehouse'. Is there excuse for laziness, or for excess pinching of time? No. Being a good steward means carrying the load you're given, then handing it off to its true keeper when your responsibility has ended.

Keeping the time is not my job. Redeeming it is. I am to not let the screen lure me overmuch. I am not to let the 'saving' of time (through a lack of rest) lure me overmuch. It is my task to use this resource to God's glory, but that means to let God have final say. It means being willing to accept a heavy load some days, and to offer it up and rest some days. The list is not my God, nor is the promise of fun and community.

Sometimes, I am to be humbled with my mortal constraints to show His magnificence. And I hate it sometimes. I hate the pain and the weakness. But if I was made a lantern, and the Light shines brighter because my glass is clear so that other's footsteps might be guided by Him, instead of being merely a lovely stained-glass object (and I LOVE stained glass), who am I to argue?

Maybe I am a lantern meant for one person alone. A lantern, after all, is no streetlamp, nor neon sign. Perhaps the audience God means to use me for is but a very small one... but if I am faithfully holding the light, then my work is complete. I need not chase a task I am not meant for, nor am I to allow my glass to become cloudy through passive apathy under the guise of patience or contentment.

May He stoke your flame, so that the fire never burns low, no matter how great or small your burdens are that press you.
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"We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body."
(1 Cor 4:8-10)

The fox bows again, and as it turns to leave, cocks its head.

"Shall I take a message in return?"