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Blessed Be the Tie That Binds
He arrived one morning in a cat carrier, the last duck at my son’s farm. His destiny was the chopping block if I did not adopt him. Why could I not make room for one more fowl? I reasoned with myself. I have three white chickens and a little hen-house. One more body would fit comfortably, and they could be a family. Gently placing the carrier on the ground,my granddaughter Lillian suggested that since he had hung out with her chickens, he would feel right at home with my chickens. With trepidation, I opened the door to the carrier. Will he stay here on our little patch of Kansas, or will…
- Life Goes On, Life on the Farm, notes from the farm, Spiritual Disciplines, The Presence of God, Uncategorized
“Come”
” Come.” You are calling out to me, Jesus, “Come.” How often I have heard it in the recesses of my mind. “Come.” But it doesn’t ring out above the other voices, those loud and demanding voices. Yours is soft and gentle, and I have to stop and listen carefully to hear it: “Come.” Instead, I listen to the call that demands productivity: “Get it done, now.” Rather than lying in bed and listening to that still, small voice first thing in the morning, I sleep in until Judd awakes, and then dash to get dressed, make the bed, and get the coffee pot going. And you say “Come.”…
- Bethlehem Revisited, Life on the Farm, The Gift of Community, The Gift of People, The Gift of Vision, The Presence of God
Bethlehem Revisited
Ah, life feels more typical these days! Last Sunday, a menagerie of people from young to elderly filled our living /dining area. All of them with vital roles in the planning and execution of Bethlehem Revisited. Shut down for a year; once again, we are planning our annual Christmas event. Bethlehem Revisited is central to much that goes on here at the farm. Our grandchildren have grown up living through all of the stages: planning meetings, workdays, the days of the event, which usually begin early in the day with preparation for that day and into the late hours of closing down for each day, and the final clean-up afterward.…
- Bethlehem Revisited, gifts,giving,thankful,, Life on the Farm, Prayer Walk, The Gift of Community, Uncategorized
“Wokeness” on Kitten Creek
The weather in Kansas can be fickle. Countless times this year, we have watched the threatening clouds bear down on Kitten Creek and then watch in amazement as the storm circles left or to the right and totally misses us. Sooner or later, though, we get the storms. So we prepare. Presently, we are watching the threatening thunderstorms forming in our larger, cultural surroundings. We are not naive. Inevitable cultural pressure is coming (and presently seeping) into the area that surrounds our community. We are preparing. One of the storms forming around us is a “woke” culture, filled with judgment for anyone who is not “woke.” What does a “woke…
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Hope and Peace
I am a naturally hopeful person, but sometimes it becomes difficult for any thing but supernatural help.
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COVID Confusion?
I opened my eyes and looked at the clock. Sunday morning and it is seven-fifteen. The alarm should have gone off. I jumped (or rolled) out of bed and quickly donned my clothes. Although we are now watching church on-line during the COVID era, Sunday is special. Judd remained in bed. That should have been my first clue. Hurrying to the kitchen, I turned on the coffee pot, grabbed some Panera bagels from the freezer (we always have some kind of sweet rolls on Sunday), and made my way to the garage to begin my daily chores: feed the cats, fill the grain canisters, and make my way to the…
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on neighborly social distancing
Thud! Judd and I had just settled into our recliners in the living room. That strange sound had come from outside the kitchen window. “What in the world was that?” I leaned forward, my eyes scanning the dining area to the kitchen. What I saw caused me to giggle and jump from my chair. Our neighbor’s chickens have not heard of social distancing. Every morning for weeks they had been coming across the brome field to accompany me in my morning chores of feeding two chickens, two ducks, a goat, and a donkey. And then, they gravitate to the bird feeder. Judd feeds the birds, and ever since our grandson,…
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I’ll take the ‘stay-at-home’ order . . . please
The order for the last few months has been, “For your safety and the safety of others, please stay at home.” COVID-19 has brought monumental challenges to this world and smaller challenges to my personal world. My daily life right now consists of three basic postures: (1) facing-the-daily- grind kind of things, (2) trying to stay in tune to His voice, and (3) trying to trace His hand in the events that are taking place. And I am content. It is not that life is easy, but I find I have interior-ized something that my Russian mentor, Catherine de Heuck Doherty, taught me. In her book, Poustinia, Catherine was teaching…
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Freedom?
The Sad Tale of Phineas the Steer The bell in our driveway sounded an alarm. Jumping out of bed, Judd hurried to the door and flipped on the porch lights. Beyond the edge of artificial light lay quiet darkness. No visitor at the door; no car in the drive. “Must have been a deer,” Judd mumbled as he crawled back into the warm bed. After several more alarms from the bell (“Probably deer,” we assured ourselves), silence reigned, and we both fell blissfully into dreams. The next morning as we filled our bowls with granola, Judd glanced out the kitchen window. “Hey! There’s a cow on the porch.” Setting his…
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carpe diem
The beautiful bench that once adorned my cabin has been relocated to our new home. When it arrived here, its pink flowers, green ivy, cream backdrop looked foreign to the room in which it was placed. It did not belong there. For many years, the bench was the centerpiece in my little cabin across the road, a place that had hosted countless hours of deep discussions, friendship building, as well as solitary quiet for many souls. The cabin stood for hospitality as well as solitude and silence. The bench was placed in the room that has replaced the cabin in the last few years. This room has taken on its…
