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We have baby duckies! This is exciting. Three years ago we bought little baby ducks and all of them disappeared – often with just a small pile of feathers as evidence of an unpleasant end. The following spring, however, a mallard and his female friend spent some time in our creek. The female duck looked suspiciously like one that we’d lost. Hmmmm.
Well this year, the handsome couple is back, enticed no doubt by the fact that our creek is now a small pond. And yesterday we saw them – Nine beautiful, fuzzy, just-hatched ducklings. I tell you, there was a lot of excitement around Covenant Creek!
The ducks and our chickens – eight hens plus three juveniles that I call the Three Stooges – have a truce. They don’t really like each other, but they are sharing territory somewhat. That means, when I’m out feeding them, they all come. Plus we have our resident herd of black-tail dear, including a young buck in velvet.
I love all the wildlife around here. I love that we live in their neighborhood and they allow us to share their space. I love that the air smells so delicious right now – elderberry and laurel are in bloom, wildflowers are bursting everywhere – bleeding heart, wild violas and lupines. Everything is that magnificent shade of new green that practically shimmers in the sun. I spent a good hour in the forest Sunday just breathing!
The only thing I don’t love is that blasted chipmunk that has taken up residence in my greenhouse. Destructive little terrorist. He’s got it far too easy to relocate on his own. He must die! But first I have to catch him. Yeah, right.
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It’s the gardener in my, I admit, but I get very excited when the first daffodils bloom in February. It’s the first real indicator that the gloom and sog of winter are nearly done. I have hundreds of daffodils in my pasture and they started blooming a week or two ago. I often have a bouquet of cut flowers in my kitchen window or on my dining table – a little early spring inside! Lovely.
I love sunflowers, too. My friends know that is truly my favorite flower. They follow the sun with their bright yellow faces. Sunflowers are optimists! Nearly always looking up. They come in more colors than yellow – deep red is another favorite. I have several sunflowers started in my greenhouse.
Daisies are the next on my list. They are the most cheerful flower, indeed.
This may sound like gardening fluff, and perhaps it is. I get a particular peace in the garden that somehow helps me refocus on what’s truly important in my life. When I get mired in stuff, an hour outside sets me straight. Even if it’s just sitting on a hill, watching the sun bounce off the lake, smelling the fresh new-spring fragrance of flowers.
I’m not alone in this. Christ himself said, “Consider how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his spendor clothed himself like one of these.” (Matt 6:28-29) The message, of course, is don’t worry. If God takes care of these things that are here today and dried up and dead tomorrow, how much more will he care for you?
So now that I have completed some of my toil for today, I’m going to put on my coat, step into the sunshine, and enjoy my laugh-odils.
Spring is coming!
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We had a really big, Big, BIG windstorm this week. Quite impressive. Sounded like jet engines over the house – in the house! Huge trees were wiggling around in the wind like pom-poms. The power of nature is so humbling.
This evening I was helping my homeschooled daughter study for a test in her New Testament Survey class. She’s studying the book of Acts. We were going over the events at Pentacost when the disciples received the power of the Holy Spirit. Scripture says:
And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. (Acts 2:2, NASB)
That’s a powerful sound! It’s a wall and floor-shaking, shingle flipping, foundation-rattling sound, that violent rushing wind. It is the sound of absolute, unchallenged POWER.
The storm happened the day before my birthday and, honestly, I had a lousy birthday. The storm wasn’t a big deal; it was just a tough day emotionally. On top of that the power was out, a river was running through my basement, the greenhouse and boat had both been destroyed, and there was debris everywhere. My birthday was about cleaning up and functioning with few resources.
But I am so rich in people who love me: Friends who were persistent in calling even though phone lines were down for days. My husband who refused to leave my side. My kids who made a point to let me know they were loving me. I am just so blessed.
But what really hit home was the experience of the wind in light of Pentecost – the arrival of the Helper, the Gift of God, the Promise, the Holy Spirit. We have a power dwelling in us that the world simply can’t understand. It is a power to be at peace in the midst of the storm, to be bold in the face of adversity, to be fearless against any adversary.
It is standing firm on even the most blustery day.
Filed under: Woman2Woman
What does that mean, sick as dogs? I’ve never known dogs to be terribly sick, other than wetter than usual noses. But we, the Taylor Threesome, have been sick as dogs – whatever that means. Started with child and, true to course, it has slayed Ma and Pa. Pa particularly.
So here we have the ‘workingest family ever known’ and some of the most beautiful October days on record, and we’re too wiped to do much of anything. Lay on the couch, compete for who can go through a box of tissues the fastest, and cough until we can’t move. Yuk.
But the days have been so inviting anyway that we have spent some time outdoors. We raked leaves. The quintessential (that’s one of Sabrina’s vocabulary words! Yeah, Mom) Fall activity. I’m happy raking, even if I have to stop to catch my breath every few minutes. And, of course, we have a riding lawn mower, so Tim did get to chase chickens while he clipped the grass. And then, we all collapsed in an exhausted heap and enjoyed the lovely sunset. See, not all bad.
It irks us to not be fully functional. Weakness, illness, cognitive impairment, all those things that keep us down really bug us. I was talking with my good friend Stacy the other day. She’s gone through a long struggle with overload and is finally (in light of the spiritual 2×4 that God is wielding) stepping back, saying no, taking care of herself. Good girl. That’s so hard for us to do, particularly as wives and moms. There is a never-ending list of responsibilities and people to care for and we always end up at the bottom of our own list!
But did you know that’s not scriptural? True, we are supposed to die to ourselves everyday, but that doesn’t mean we’re to try to kill ourselves by wearing ourselves out!
In the second chapter of Philippians, Paul writes, “do not merely look out for your own interests, but also for the interests of others.” ‘Merely’ means that it’s not the only thing, but it is one of the things. We are to look after our own interests, and also the interests of others. There’s a balance.
And of course, Provers 31! The ultimate woman’s guide – most everything in my life seems to come back to those 21 verses. What does this scriptural wonderwoman do? Besides caring for her husband, her household, her children, the poor, being a real estate mogul, vintner, and merchant, she cares for herself. She girds herself with strength and makes her arms strong. (v. 17)
And, she’s not sullen, resentful, feeling overworked and overwhelmed:
… and works with her hands in delight (v. 13b)
She senses that her gain is good (v. 18a)
Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she smiles at the future (v. 25)
What a great attitude. It’s hard to feel sullen when you are delighting and smiling, don’t you think?
As I was telling Stacy, if we don’t pay attention to our own needs, or to that whispering in our spirit to slow down and rest and be still from time to time, God’ll thump us with a 2×4 across the back of the head and make us rest. And, funny, it usually means getting sick so that we have no choice.
Now I’m not saying I’m sick because I wasn’t listening to God. But I am taking advantage of the opportunity presented. You see, sometimes a mom needs an excuse to let other people take care of things. We have a hard time letting go. And we have an even harder time letting people care for us. If only I could give myself permission when I’m not sick.
Hmm. I think there’s an area for personal growth.
We’ve been busy dawn to dark – taking full advantage of these last summery days. The rains of Autumn start Friday and these final days of summer have been full of outdoor, warm weather work. Every muscle in my body aches, even the pinky on my right hand. But it’s a wonderful tired. Hard work, sweat, and looking back over the day and seeing what’s been accomplished. That’s my kind of day.
Physical exhaustion is preferable to the emotional or intellectual kind. At least in my view. I’ve experienced a lot of emotional exhaustion this year. I’ve reached the place where I didn’t have one iota of emotional strength left to deal with anything else. Intellectual exhaustion came when, due to the emotional toll, my brain just ceased to function. Even routine things became impossible to concentrate on.
For me, being physically active frees my mind – conversations I wish I could have, prayers for people I love, day dreaming and imagining, remembering.
Today I was remembering Nathan. It’s his birthday today. He would have been 25 years old. As I recall, I was only with him on one of his birthdays – the year he lived with us just after Tim and I were married. Other years he was living in Texas, going to school. So not having him near on his birthday is nothing new. But it does remind me of how much we missed and that will forever make me sad.
Today, I was also loving and being loved by my sweet husband. We make such an amazing team when we work together. It takes us a little effort to get our message across clearly, but once that’s done and we’re in sync – look out! We’ve become a mutual admiration society with a membership of two. I appreciate how hard he works, his resourcefulness and creativity, his faithfulness, and how he loves me. He appreciates my strong back, my support, and how I take care of him.
And after a day like today, when we’ve both worked hard and are tired at the end of it, He wraps himself around me and together we rest. I love you, Tim. Thank you.
Happy birthday, Nathan. I miss you.
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When my mother heard that we were going to be childless for a week, she asked if we were going to go away. A couples weekend.
The thought has come up a few times – the need to “get away.” It’s not that I ever need to get away, there’s no place I’d rather be on this Earth, it’s that I need a change of pace from time to time. So I made a request and my husband happily obliged.
We spent an entire day in bed!
Realize, I usually wake up at 5 am and I haven’t been able to sleep in past 7 in years. So this was the height of decadence for me. Tim, too, is such a hard worker that sitting still for any length of time is alien to him. This was a real stretch for us!
What luxurious bliss it was to snuggle in, eat strawberries and homemade bread, read (Tim – Alexander Dumas’ Count of Monte Cristo, JoDana – David McCullough’s John Adams), nap, listen to the rain one moment and enjoy the sun streaming in the next.
It’s hard to fathom that we were actually tired after all that strenuous nothingness, yet it was an ideal Sabbath rest for us in body as well as spirit.
It was a glorious day.
