Category Archives: Education

Sounds of a Silent Saturday

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Welcome back, my friends. Apologies for skipping out last week… just wasn’t there. It was Easter and I was certainly musing, but I didn’t get a chance to sit down at the computer to write about it. So it’s going to overflow into this week. It’s my blog, I’m allowed. It’s been an eventful week this week too … two words: baby chicks! Therefore, I am a little late in posting. But: it’s my blog, I’m allowed.

Okay. Here we go. I want to invite you in to the middle of the night at my old farmhouse. I have very few neighbours. It’s not the big city. We have one streetlight, so that permeates the absolute darkness of, let’s say, three o’clock in the morning. I’m lying in bed awake, as some women of my age do, listening. The chubby dog takes up half the space I have allocated myself and I pull the remaining covers up over my shoulders. It’s chilly, but that’s okay. The dog snorts. I hear myself and the hubby breathing. My eyes are closed and block out the streetlight. I listen again.

Photo by Kseniya Budko on Pexels.com

During the day, our old farmhouse creeks and we hear the wind outside. Our neighbouring cows are loud most of the time. The occasional car, truck or farm vehicle zoom past our front yard and kick up the dust – the dog barks at the slower traffic. Up until recently, Morris our rooster could be heard. (It’s a myth that roosters only crow in the mornings. That crazy bird yelled all the time at us!) However, I’m sad to report he’s been missing now for a few weeks. I’d like to think he was heroic and was “taken” fighting the whole time to protect his ladies. Even our buddy down the road commented he hadn’t heard him lately and kinda misses him. Enough about that sad event. Moving on.

Back to three o’clock in the morning and the snoring dog. Imagine you hear a gurgling like a giant belch emanating from some underwater jelly-bellied monster. That monster happens to be the sump pump located in the basement, directly underneath our master bedroom. It belches several times throughout the day and night. Earlier in the spring it followed a constant sound of rushing water as the spring melt emptied and got flushed back out by the sump pump. I’ve learned to appreciate the sound of the it, because it means my basement isn’t flooding. Like the sound of generators running constantly during our ice storm a few weeks ago. Thankfully, those have stopped now, and we are back to a general quiet.

Listen again. Hushed breathing. The cat jumps down from something upstairs with a soft thud. My new baby chick birds finally rustle. I listen to hear them as I’ve only had them a few days (yeah!) and I’m still at the new momma “please don’t die” stage. Somebody peeps very softly, and I say a prayer of thanks for signs of life in the middle of the night. They settle back down in their living room home with the soft red light of the heat lamp. Silence again. Gurgle belch. Hushed breathing. The furnace clicks on briefly, with a rush of pilot light flame. Otherwise it is pretty quiet here.

I’m a week behind in this muse, but I’ve been thinking about it since a comment I heard Easter weekend. You’ve heard of “good Friday”. You may have heard of “celebration Sunday” or “Easter Sunday” or even “resurrection day”, but this year, for the first time ever, I heard someone use the term “silent Saturday”. The day between Jesus’ death on “good Friday” and rising again on the third day… the day when all was absolutely silent. Apparently, I am late to the party on this concept, for google has lots to say about silent Saturday. Not so silent on the internet. Well fine. It was a new thought for me. And so, I share it with you!

One imagines Jesus, stone cold in a dark tomb. Obviously, corpses don’t say much. God the father did a lot of “talking” on Friday, but no signs and wonders happen to be recorded on the day in between. Jesus’ followers have probably gathered, but may be hiding out, keeping a low profile. It seems like it really was a “silent Saturday”. And it seems, with some reflection on my part, and the internet sparking my thoughts, a day of quiet reflection should totally be a part of the Easter story! Life is difficult. There will be hard days. Yet, life is also beautiful, and there will be many a day filled with joy and celebration. And we often need a few silent Saturdays, to balance it all out. To question why God seems to have abandoned us. Why He seems like He is not answering our prayers. Then to reflect on His faithfulness, and draw strength for the next step. Like me listening for signs of life at three in the morning, thankful that things are still “okay so far”.

So, thanks to that friend that happened to mention this phrase to me last week… it ignited a muse that’s spanned a week! Was it news to you? Even if it wasn’t and you knew this lingo way before me, I hope it’s been a good reminder to you, to appreciate a bit of silence. May you take the opportunity to hear the gurgle belch of a good sump pump and appreciate all you have. Be blessed, beloveds.

Exploring the Fascinating World of Palm Trees (Say Palm Fronds!)

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Welcome back to my little corner of the internet. Last Sunday was Palm Sunday (and the Sunday we dedicated our little grand baby to the Lord … but that was just a coincidence … and I just had to mention our little man because that’s what good grandma’s do … but it’s not my main point for this week). Palm Sunday. So called because the patrons of Jerusalem waved the branches of palm leaves during the triumphant entry of Jesus. Anyway, during a recent walk out in our local forest trail the youngest was commenting on Palm branches, Palm Sunday, and the like, and we laughed: “If Jesus had to come to Canada, wonder if we would have pelted Him with pine branches or something” was the comment. And so I muse…

Did you know that you can order exotic palm trees that are cold hardy enough to grow all winter in Canada? I guess they aren’t just for Palm Springs or Jerusalem! There are over 2500 species of Palm … and not all are classified as “trees”. The tallest one is about 200 feet high. But let’s face it, palm trees make you think of sandy beaches, coconut drinks and relaxing vacations. Or the strip at Vegas. Or that fancy place where people buy expensive clothes. Am I right? Maybe Jesus on a donkey is not your first thought when you hear “Palm trees”. Let’s think deeper. Those big fan-like leaves are called fronds. That’s a fun word to say: “Palm fronds”. I used to read a book to the kids about a little girl who made dolls out of palm fronds. It was a hard word to say then. Palm fronds. Go ahead; try and say it 10 times fast.

Anyway, fun fact: Palm fronds were built to withstand huge gusts of winds (think tropical rain storm hurricane) and once they do become separated from the tree, are not easily broken down. According to ABC news, Phoenix alone dumps roughly 34,000 tons of palm fronds from city streets into a landfill, costing over half a million dollars every year. That’s the mass equivalent of throwing out more than 4,500 African elephants. Yet, unlike our Canadian pile of mulchy leaf muck, palm fronds can easily be turned in other organic works of art: baskets, hats and even fencing or roof thatches. Reminds me of another Bible story of the friends who lowered the sick guy down through the roof. Can you imagine Jesus getting rained on by twigs and buggy leaf bits as they tear up the roof that must, at this point, be dried grassy brittle palm fronds. Say it again: palm fronds. Giggle. I hope it gets stuck in your head. Palm fronds. Palm fronds. Pond frogs. Pog Wands. Okay, enough about that.

One of the trees on our property after the ice storm

You’ve got to admit, trees are one of God’s most fascinating creations. Huge trunks, teeny buds. Our recent ice storm made me appreciate both the strength and fragility of trees. Mighty oaks and maples are littered on our streets now, and the huge cracks tell a story. If you look closely, there are almost holes where the branches grew out from the trunk. Even tonight, the hubby and I were surveying the forest on our property. It’s going to be a mess to clean up and process off the lawn. Unbreakable leaves notwithstanding, Canadian trees have many more branches to make a mess with than those tall palm tree trunks that only monkeys and very talented locals can climb. No tire swings, I guess, on Rodeo drive.

And that’s my little bit about the trees. Like Dr. Suess’ Lorax, I speak for the trees today… their uniqueness. Their symbolism. Their might. Their weaknesses. An object so abundant, we take it for granted. We cut them up. Toss them in the fire. Throw them on the ground, and pile up the leaves. Have you ever hugged one? Looked at and felt a tree trunk? Rubbed a soft maple leaf between your fingers? Or cut your fingers open on the sharp edge of those palm fronds they give out on Palm Sunday to the little kids to wave Hosannas with? Yup, God did a good job when He thought up all those green things that are out there in the woods. And in the streets of Jerusalem that day. Symbols that take a very long time to break down. I wonder if the streets left evidences weeks later of cloaks and leaves along the path. And if the locals remembered and pondered the events of that Holy Week. Did you know that “palm frond” in Hebrew is Lulav. Lu – to or unto, Lav, heart. In other words “We give to you our hearts.” 

Now, How about that for a cool thing to say? Lulav. Palm frond. It really is fun to say, isn’t it? You’re welcome.

How Nature’s Harmony Reflects Life’s Lessons

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Welcome back to another episode of me and my little piece of the internet. The hubby asked me what I was writing about this week. I told him “symbiotic relationships”. He gave me the blank “okay fine” look and slowly walked away. I hope you don’t feel the same way. Let’s see where this thought goes, shall we? I hope by the end of this post you don’t “okay fine” stare and keep scrolling. I hope it makes you smile. So, yes, I was thinking about how cool it was that things all mesh together. Classic science calls this “symbiosis”. It’s where two different species have a relationship that somehow connects. For example, anyone who’s watched Finding Nemo knows about the clown fish and sea anemone. The fish gets protection and the anemone gets its daily cleaning from the fish. This is a fairly positive relationship. Parasites are an example of a negative symbiotic relationship… only one half benefits. The other half usually gets eaten. You can dig deeper if you want, but my original muse kind of expanded from there.

Therefore, we need to back track a little. This winter has been quite snowy. Snow has piled high and there was storm after storm. Most of us are sick of it. Finally, this weekend, it rained and rained. In fact, there was a thunderstorm with lightning and thunder. The rain has washed quite a bit of the snow away and we are finally seeing some grass on the ground (and mud… but that’s a topic for a different day). This is where my brain went: How cool is it that God set science in motion to bring rain to wash away snow. And this for that, and that for this, and … well you get it. Life and seasons all work in such as way to progress.

Time keeps ticking. We age. Life moves on whether we like it or not. The sun rises and sets and we mere humans can do very little to stop it. I think about all we do to mess it up. We cut down the rain forests, we pollute, and politics erase borders and plot, kill and pillage. History is full of human attempts to mess up God’s design for the perfect world and all that ebbs and flows naturally. At least that’s how I see it most of the time.

Perhaps that’s a pessimistic view of the world, and we should change the direction of this rant. Let’s go back to a mutualistic symbiotic ideal earth… where we all get along and benefit from others. You have to admit, it’s pretty cool that two species just hang together and help. Did you know that there is a bacteria designed simply to help the cow digest its food? Just living its best life in the warm, juicy rumen stomach breaking down all those cow yummies. Only a creative, imaginative God could set (even the fallen) world in order. And then keeps it ticking.

“Takes a licking and keeps on ticking”

We tapped our trees tonight for maple syrup. There’s grass. The chickens are so happy to be out and about again. The bunnies will soon be back in their run soaking up the sun. The pool and pond will eventually melt completely and be green again so the hubby can start his quest for pool boy of the year all over! Spring has finally started – as we knew it would eventually – and I am just feelin’ it! Are you?

Our pastor spoke on worry this past week. Admittedly, I’m not a huge worrier. I know, lucky me. It’s because of muses like this. I see how the world around me simply keeps on moving on, and me worrying cannot add a day to it. I get the whole “birds don’t sow or reap but they eat just fine” verse. I see it. And I hope after reading today’s post, you see it a bit more clearly, too. Happy Spring, my beloveds: Enjoy it!! God designed it to be a new start to refresh us all!