Something New

On a personal retreat alone in Croatia right now, today's prompt from the Lord was a drive and search for something new.

This is certainly not a new view - rather, one of my favorites on the south side of Hvar.

But this was new!

Fig trees grow wild here, and are everywhere! In the summer you can literally stop alongside the road and pick fresh figs off those trees. Our daughter, Claire, is especially fond of this practice!

Crazy...just this morning in my quiet time I was in Mark 11, reading about...yep, the fig tree that Jesus cursed. I had to do some study on that to understand why. Just in case you're wondering, THIS was a great resource for understanding the passage.

While I've taken a good number of photos before, I've never stopped at this particular steep spot on the dirt road to capture Luscice beach!

I headed towards Hvar Town since I hadn't spent any time there on this trip. I was hopeful for finding something new, which came in the form of a path I'd never taken before!

And resulted in these amazing views out over the water.

How have I missed this before??!!

The path eventually dropped down to the waterfront where I found a bench and just sat for an hour, soaking in the sun, sea and flotilla of various boats coming and going.

That boat is the "Kapetanija" - harbot patrol! There was a small boat sitting out in the harbor and it looked like they gave them a ticket for some reason. Not such a good day for them.

I loved listening to the splash of the sea against the rock's edge, Croatian conversations as people walked by, the buzz of motorboats in the harbor, the laughter of friends down by the water, the chirping of birds happy that spring is here...

...and the flap of the big Croatian flag nearby.

Seriously, it was hard to get up and leave that spot!

But, determined to stay on task, I wandered down back streets in search of more new things. How about a whole tree growing out of that tiny pot?! I stood over it for a while trying to figure out how it had grown this big from only that little bit of dirt.

Down on the riva, a huge boat was docking as I walked by. I looked it up (my friends who know I love to research will say, "Of course you did!") and found that it's a training ship for students in maritime school called Kraljica mora (Queen of the Sea).

I kept thinking I'd be in the mood for a new coffee, ice cream or food item at a cafe or bakery, but in the end, I was satisfied just with the new views along the way.

And the old ones that never get old!

I came back to the house with a full and happy heart, thankful for the Lord's specific guidance today to soak in all that he's made and allowed to be created!