Category Archives: Blog

Thanksgiving Prayer

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It’s Canadian Thanksgiving and we have a lot… a lot… to be Thankful for this year. It’s been a crazy whirlwind of life changing moments in the last few months, but God has been faithful and our ever constant source of support and comfort. Especially when the moments got just a bit too tough for my little human brain to handle.

So for today’s post, I thought I’d be super candid and simply write out a thanksgiving prayer. I hope it brings you joy this thanksgiving weekend.

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Dear Lord,

Thank you for being in charge. Thank you for keeping it all together when I feel like I don’t have it all together. Thank you for being there in the little things. Like my garden spider. The monarch butterfly. The simple daisies and the vine of red.

Thank you for allowing me tears and laughter. Thank you for special visits with family and friends. For blessing us with “Itsnotta” farm and our dreams and adventures now, and in the years to come. I’m grateful and humbled at what You have given to us each and every time we give “the tour”. I marvel at the details and how you orchestrated it all – just for us.

I thank you Lord for allowing us to be pushed out of our comfort zones. To integrate into a community where things are not the same as they were before. For pushing me to get out there and try. Please God, give me the courage to continue to be bold and a light in a world who so desperately needs You. Please help me encourage our children to grow in their independence as they grow into adulthood. Protect them and send your angels to guide, comfort and shelter them out on their own. May they feel the safety of “coming home” often. May they feel the freedom to raid the fridge and bring their dirty laundry home to mom.

Help me to be patient with others who don’t see eye to eye with me. Grant me supernatural love for those personalities who clash with my own. Allow me gentle words. Less sarcasm. Less cutting comebacks and more time to think before I speak.

Thank you, Lord, for bringing people into our lives who encourage. For a Christian heritage that has given us a strong foundation. May we never take that for granted. Help me to remember to take more time for those who need it. Help me to be aware of those who are on the sidelines and be an encourager.

Thank you, Lord, for the talents and gifts you have given me so generously. Help me to use them well and for Your kingdom. To not be proud – as those gifts and talents are not my own, but given to me to use well. Thank you for your goodness, and blessing us with adequate finances, a source of income, abundance of food, shelter and so many tangible items that surround us. Remind me to share and to not take anything for granted. For these things are Yours.

And finally, Lord, thank you for this little piece of the internet where I can freely express my joys and thoughts and musings with others. I pray that you use it to bless strangers. To encourage. To be real as well, allowing others to “taste and see” for themselves what you have done for us. Life is not always easy. Thank you. Thank you for pruning and sharpening us through trials… and for reminding us that only through pruning do we bear fruit.

As we go into this week, give us the energy we need to continue to do all the things. The resignation to push forward and do all the hard stuff. The self control to choose peace when we are pushed to our limits. And in it all, help us to be thankful!

With all the sincerity of my heart,

Amen.

PHOTO: FRANK SPINELLI/GETTY IMAGES

You Gotta Go Through it

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Oh beloveds! It has been way too long!! I have missed you. Where were we? Since we’ve chatted, I married off a son, gained a daughter-in-law, sent another one off to University and survived a week of extroverted activities. The old house officially sold, we entered high school and struggled with some very early morning catch- the- school- bus- or- else dramas. And then, of course, I promptly got sick. That was short-lived, though. So many things have happened, the weeks have been a blur of days, one on top of the other, piled so high that it feels like I have trudged through a mound of apple pie filling. (I don’t know, I felt like I needed some turning of fall reference. Long live pumpkin spice everything!)

Yet, here we are!! I guess I am not a very good blogger. True social media influencers would have documented all of the above, with flair. Sorry, you get me and my little piece of the internet. I’m hoping you still feel me. I am sure I am not alone in these crazy seasons of life where you just feel like it’s a bowl of chocolate pudding. Have you been there, my friend? I hear ya. Shout out to the tired momma of little ones. Shout out to the worried mom of teenagers. Hats off to the grandparents who juggle their own mortality with the lives of their adult children and the prayers for the next generation. It’s hard. Really hard.

Many moons ago, I wrote about a similar season (check it out here). I was reminded then, as I am now, that everyone needs a break now and then. What I didn’t know then was Covid was about to hit, my kids would grow and grow up, my home would be sold, and I would leave everything I know for a new adventure. Oh beloveds, I don’t even know how to express it on paper. The emotional rollercoaster of life. And I really have no excuse to complain. Many, oh so many others have struggled much deeper than I through life. We have been blessed in abundance. I count those blessings often. Sometimes you just gotta get it out though. So… I am back with this week’s musings after a short hiatus to gather content. 😉

I read something somewhere about these “recoup” moments and they referenced Elijah in 1st Kings. His enemies surrounded him, he’d been trying hard to live for God, doing good work, but life and the world seemed to be closing in on him like a thick coating of toffee on an old fashioned Christmas pudding. So what did he do? He took a nap. Had a snack. Had one more snack for good measure, and then he was ready for the next long journey ahead. He walked in the wilderness and had a quiet moment alone with God. We are allowed moments of refreshment, by God’s design. I’m comforted to know that God’s got our backs in these seasons of busyness. He knows that sometimes we just need a nap and a snack and a quiet moment with Jesus. I’m here for it. And for some reason, I’m craving a good sticky pudding…

Blessings to you!

A Rose by any other Name

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When I was in grade school I did a speech project on Shakespeare’s adage “A rose by any other name…” from Romeo and Juliette. I was a young romantic teen who was all into roses and romance and goo-goo-eyed gossip and summer crushes. Why wouldn’t I write about such a phrase if, in fact, we had to study Shakespeare? But that was a long time ago. Now I realize that Shakespeare was right. Sort of.

I suppose the point of Shakespeare’s monologue was to imply that it doesn’t matter what things are called, it matters what they are. Roses would smell just as sweet if they were called bluebells or snickerdoodles. Although snickerdoodles have their own sweeet aroma, don’t they? So here lies the muse. Are names important?

I’d like to think that we chose our children’s names based on research and good intentions. And we did. We talked about how they flowed and looked up their meanings and origins. I think most parents do. There is significance to who you were named after, your legacy, your family tree, etc. etc. Do you agree?

I suspect marketers and logo experts debate about what to name their products. Maybe not. I’ve heard many a story of music groups randomly picking names that seemed to stick. The Beatles? Really? Wham? Hootie and the Blowfish? Do they smell as sweet? Yeah, I guess.

I guess I was thinking about this these past few weeks as I was dreaming about our new place. The hubby says it’s not a “farm”… but it has a barn and a coop and so it must be a farm, right? Either way, a good property needs a name, right? I heard from the neighbours that most of the neighbouring farms were once owned by The Tinney family. The other half were from Linton’s. Dairy farmers. The name “Linton” seems to have it’s roots in the classic novel “Wuthering Heights” … which unlike Shakespeare, I did not read. Still, like most classics, there is a villian and a love interest and yadayada.

Why am I saying all this? Well. Names are important. They link you to your past. They connect you as a character in a story. They leave you a legacy to follow or one to create. Proverbs tells us that a good name is greater than silver or gold. What it means is that your character is connected to what people call you. Just think of all the names we have for God. Each describes a bit of His charcter. And that character helps us hold Him (and us!) in a good standing compared to others. Do you see it?

Anyway… my brain is kinda wandering around in this subject. Perhaps my thoughts are not as clear as I’d like them to be. Bottom line: names are important. But character is more important. And your name links you to your character and it’s legacy. Which is most important. So our new farm needs a name.

The Linton’s of Wuthering Heights lived in the Moors. Mitton Moors? Not really a moor. Not really a meadow either. Money pit? Maybe. Retirement Acres? Chicken’s paradise? Let me know your thoughts. I’m curious.