Hope

Two daffodils bloomed today while winter's reach still looms.  It gives me hope that mournful hearts may yet warm and bloom to sing again.

"Sing, soul of mine, this day of days,

     The Lord is risen.

Toward the sun-rising set thy face,

     The Lord is risen.

Behold He giveth strength and grace;

For darkness, light; for mourning, praise;

For sin, his holiness; for conflict, peace.

Arise, O soul, this Easter Day!

Forget the tomb of yesterday,

For thou from bondage art set free;

Thou sharest in His victory

And life eternal is for thee,

Because the Lord is risen."

~ Anonymous

Anybody Listening?

"The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money."

~ Lady Margaret Thatcher

Justin and His Unusual Cake

A few days ago, Justin came home to celebrate his 23rd birthday.  It's not an easy thing for a mother to realize that her baby son is 23 years old (!) but we had a fun celebration and a fun weekend.

To add to the fun, big sister Kristin made a most unusual cake.  But it was a very appropriate cake for Justin who's left his heart in Egypt.  Here you can see three rice-krispy pyramids (two on a hill), the Nile River, and Egyptian fauna:  tiger, lion, and alligator!  Needless to say, we all derived a lot of entertainment from Justin's birthday cake . . . and it was good, too!
                          Here's the birthday boy and the baker of the cake.
                     Gilbert learns the joys of party blowers!  
                                       Balloons make great toys, too!
After the birthday festivities were over, all the spaghetti and cake washed from the boys and pajamas donned, Papa reads about Lowly Worm and all his friends.  Patrick thought this was great fun!
Ladybug thought this was great fun, too, and wanted to join in.  She even brought a toy!
Papa and the boys conclude a most enjoyable evening!

Consequential Ideas

"He was one of the great humanitarian French freethinkers; and the only thing wrong with them is that they make mercy even colder than justice."

~ G.K. Chesterton,  The Secret Garden

Nana's Smile

I just returned from a great road trip with Mama and Paula.  They flew here from the Great State and we all drove the 13 hours out to New Bern to visit with Eric and Kelly, and then on to Virginia to visit my Uncle Ray, Aunt Ginny, 1st cousins once-removed Sean and Jackie and their darling daughter, Taylor.  I guess officially she's a 1st cousin twice removed.  We just call everyone "cousins" and she just calls everyone "aunts".  It's easier that way.  The child has more "aunts" and "uncles" than one could ever hope for, and she's blessed with lots of Papas, too:  her actual Papa, her Grand-papas, and her Great-grand-papas.  What we all miss for Taylor, though, are her Nanas.  

I only knew one of Taylor's Nanas, and I knew her from babyhood . . . my beautiful cousin, Cindy.  Cindy went home to her Heavenly Father one year ago after a long battle with ovarian cancer.  We all miss Cindy terribly, but there is one special thing that Cindy left behind, and that's her smile.  I found it in Taylor, and it's alive and sparkling as ever.  

Buechner, Godric, and Friendship

This Christmas I received some books as gifts - some of my favorite gifts to receive!  One of the books was a short novel by Frederick Buechner, Godric.  Previously I had read another novel of his, On the Road with the Archangel, and had recommended it to others.  Hence the gift of another Buechner novel.

Buechner is great fun to read and I highly recommend him, but the opening line of Godric is a grabber:  "Five friends I had, and two of them were snakes."  He goes on to colorfully and fondly - but not always - describe his friends in the first chapter.  Which is only as far as I've gotten.  (This is going to be a good book!)   Just as Buechner is closing the first chapter, he writes:  "That's five friends, one for each of Jesu's wounds, and Godric bears their mark still on what's left of him as in their time they all bore his on them.  What's friendship, when all's done, but the giving and taking of wounds?"

Indeed, what's friendship but the giving and taking of wounds?  In our day, we are awash in sentimentalism and have handily and readily avoided bedrock realizations of relationship.  We can wax sweetly about friendship and all it's joys.  But, what about all it's pains?  

I believe that friends are one of the greatest gifts that God gives us - a balm and refreshment on our weary road.  Sometimes He gives us friends for seasons and times, sometimes He gives us friends for a lifetime.  Those are the rare and most precious kind, and it's usually in those types of friendships that we do indeed give and are given wounds.  Proverbs 17:9 says, "Whoever covers a offense seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates close friends."  This speaks directly about gossip, I believe, but I also think it speaks more deeply about forgiveness.  Scripture is plain throughout about not ignoring sin - it should be lovingly and honestly confronted and worked through,  (Justice and mercy kiss.)  and that can't be accomplished without  forgiveness.  'Friendship is a terrible thing to waste', to paraphrase an old advertisement.  As we live and love one another, forgiving one another, the foundations of friendship and relationship can grow deeper and stronger.  Gold purified by fire is precious indeed.  

But, there is more to it than just the advantage of friendship, for in fact, Jesus requires us to forgive.  We don't have to read much of the New Testament to realize that forgiveness is pretty high on the list.  Even the short prayer that Jesus taught his disciples to pray included "... and forgive us debts as we forgive our debtors."  I - who was in sin from my conception - was forgiven ALL by the blood payment of Christ, so who am I to withhold my forgiveness no matter what the offense?   For as many wounds as I have received from friends, I have surely given.  

Thanks, Frederick Buechner, for bringing this to my attention.  I can't wait to see what's in Chapter 2!

We're Havin' a Heat Wave

It's warming up!  This morning we awoke to a balmy 20 degrees.  Balmy you say?  Absolutely when compared with yesterday's morning temperature of 2 degrees!  As you know from math classes, zeros are significant.  We've been working hard to keep horses, cats, and rabbits with liquid water (vs. frozen water) and plenty of food.  Liquid water has been the most challenging of the two, but this year I found a new tool - hallelujah!

Here are the remains of emptied water buckets from stalls.  We have to stand on top of the inverted buckets and jump on them to get the ice to come out, always followed by a whooosh of what unfrozen water remains.  This is one way to make your own little ice rink.Here's the latest and greatest for keeping horses (and other creatures) watered in sub-freezing temps:  a heated muck bucket!!  Hooray!  No more chopping ice every two hours down at the water trough!  I just love this blue bucket.  Note the protected extension cord so it can be plugged in.  This picture of nice liquid water was taken at the same time as all the ice pictures - at about 20 degrees.Here's the water trough with it's frozen chunks of ice.  Hooray for heated muck buckets!!