Category Archives: Inspiration

Hope and a Rock

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Welcome back, my beloveds! You’ll forgive me for missing last week… it was a crazy time and I just couldn’t get there. Or here. Or wherever, whatever. I’m back now. We had a few first world crises which made my momma’s heart heavy and the words didn’t want to translate on the page. This week, however, that heavy heart reminded me of a story about when we first moved in to “Itsnotta” farm. So, let’s have a go, shall we?

It was mid summer and I was excited about the new property and all its potential. We may have been here about six weeks or so. The previous owner had finished the back patio as part of our final agreements, and it lacked a little lustre. The property has a big front garden and I knew I didn’t want to get in over my head just yet with a bunch of new planting in the middle of summer, but I had splurged on a couple of chicks and hens and needed a spot to put them. So I dug out a little diagonal spot next to the patio, adjacent to the back porch. We had been finding a lot of little toads hanging out back there and in the spring of this year, the youngest and I are going to make a “toad abode” so they don’t end up in our window well. (Have you ever had to rescue a toad? … they are cute but not so fun to handle).

Photo by Kolin Smith via thisoldhouse.com

It’s a tiny spot of garden so I am not super invested – but decided it needed a rock. Now imagine with me our new property, a tiny garden spot and us city slickers with little cash and next to nothing in the way of large garden tools. We didn’t even have a wheelbarrow at that time. We did, however, have a large boulder with pretty red streaks of some mineral running through it, roundish and seemingly the perfect shape to put next to a toad house and some succulents. Only issue — it was on the other side of the pool, on the opposite side of the farm field from said tiny garden plot.

No problem. I am country woman now. I can do it. So, as my hubby and fully capable children sunned themselves in the newly discovered pool, I hauled that 60-70 pound rock! I had to toss it several times like a wanna be lumber jack learning log toss to avoid dropping it on my bare feet, but it made it through my “rests”. I plunked it down on a patch of dirt where it currently sits awaiting spring and the emerging toad friends.

Why do I tell you this? The memory came to me as I was fretting over the hard weekend last week. It seems appropriate that this, the first week of Advent, was the Sunday we light the Hope candle. I needed the reminder that life is hard sometimes. Even so, there is Hope. We struggle and push through with determination – often because we are stuck between a “rock and a hard place”. God gives us challenges to help us grow. Not that that thought makes it any easier. Rocks (and our burdens) are heavy. Sometimes we have a vision in mind of the final picturesque garden with spring flowers and where warty toads have their own spaces and don’t get in your way. Yet, the rock is there to remind us, that yes, we can do hard things. The rock provides our shade for growth. Our security and stability to plant roots deep and protected.

Overcoming challenges provides us with a reminder of the Hope Christ gives us. We anticipate it and push through the hard stuff because we have it. Given to us in a little baby whose birth we celebrate at Christmas. Still, Christmas brings its own set of “hard things” for many of us. Memories can be both joyful and sad… sometimes at the same time. Here’s praying you see and feel the Hope more than the heartache this season. I am looking forward to digging through the old decorations – and adding more this year as we decorate our country porch and the barn. Maybe I should stick a poinsettia out next to my garden rock and bring a little pretty to the hard stuff. A decoration for the sleeping toads.

…I will show mercy and compassion to anyone I choose… stand near Me on this rock. As my glorious presence passes by, I will hide you in the crevice of the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by…”

adapted from Exodus 33

Treasures and Time

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Greetings, my beloveds! Another week… thought I’d shake it up a bit and post a day late. Truth is, we had our first power outage last night and no posting was going to get done without power. The winds blew something fierce and we got a bit of freezing rain and then, poof! darkness fell upon the land. Thankful for our wood stove and the hubby’s persistence in purchasing wood, we survived the five or so hours of “living like pioneers”. Minus the data on our phones, and the battery operated flashlights, and the printed card game we played…

Would you like to live like a Pioneer? Photo by dogadakisakal on Pexels.com

I suppose the blackout added to my muse for today, which was prompted by a question I saw posed a week or so ago: What would be an era you would have liked to live in? Take a moment with me. Live in forever? Visit? Future? Past? I suppose the scenario may change if you were stuck there versus time travelling through… so let’s say we were just visiting. I’m hearing many of my generation and the next saying “Oh, if only we could go back to the good old days — live off the land, no pressures, no this or that” Which seems fair coming from a girl who just moved to the country to raise chickens and bunnies and learn to grow her own veggies. Still, there’s a never ending amount of work involved with those things… and no Home Hardware to help in 1800.

Perhaps some of you would say Bible Times would be the ticket. Meet Jesus and the disciples. Get a true feeling for the scriptures and the parables as a people of the time. Still, as a young woman, my life would look very very different. Perhaps my stubborn attitude would’ve gotten me into trouble. Jesus or not. Or swing the pendulum. Future? Automated everything. Convenience extrapolated to the max. What kind of satisfaction, or lack thereof, would that elicit? All fair assessments, and worthy of musing.

Where would you go if you could time travel?

A week or so ago we made an impromptu visit to an old friend who is now living in an old century home in a quaint little town not too far from us. Her place is fabulous! Perfectly accented with antiques and knick knacks that truly bring her showcase home to full beauty. I craved her secrets and sources, and kicked myself for being the realist I am, and that I am entirely too cheap. Besides, our century farmhouse has to be knocked down a notch due to dog hair, house flies and the manure patch next door. Pioneer times, my foot.

Still, I am taken in by things that various people treasure. I marvel at home reno shows and thrift finders who have a gift for finding that perfect thing. That little gem that fits exactly on that shelf and screams I am the G.O.A.T! Perhaps, you’ve DIY’d something or inherited a family heirloom that you display with pride. I found a little egg cup at the thrift store the other day that did me in. Normally, I gloss over the knick knack section (“frugal” remember?) but I picked up this little thing and hummed and hawed at the price tag (a whopping $1.98!) and decided it was too cute. Chickens. Farmhouse. Maybe even bordering on “vintage” … a farmhouse needs a chicken egg cup, right??

And so I enjoyed my hard boiled egg in my new egg cup on Saturday morning. And dream of chickens come spring.

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Matthew 6:19-21

Does this mean we cannot collect the goods and find that perfect piece? I don’t think so. It’s a good reminder to stay balanced. To live with Heaven in mind. To treasure our relationships and nurture our love for others not things. I can easily get sucked in to the beauty of “things” (or creatures…) instead of my people, so I must check myself every now and then. A good power failure reminds me that all that I have right now, in this era in history, in this moment in time, was designed perfectly just for me. I am given what I need and blessed with so much more. And so, although it is fun to dream and ponder and muse about this time or that treasure, reality tells me that you can’t take it with you. Be grateful and generous. Be thankful and thoughtful. But dream a little.

Persistent

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Persistence. It’s what I’ve been musing about today. The thought popped into my head as I sat watching a lone ladybug crawl up my windowsill this morning. Golly, these insects are persistent, I thought to myself! This morning we had our first dusting of snow. It’s the end of October, and the weather has been exceptionally warm up until today. We are finally getting the seasonal temperatures we expect. Which means the bugs should be dying off. Except they are not. Persistent.

I suppose I need to back track a little. Mornings are entirely too early here on “Itsnotta” farm. The youngest now has to be up and ready for the school bus by 7:10 AM. For us, that’s an early wake up call. And, the baby of the house is like her momma… mornings are not our best time of day.

Photo by Acharaporn Kamornboonyarush on Pexels.com

I’m trying. We set our alarm early enough to snooze a little before crawling out from the warmth in order to get the last teenager surviving up in time to catch the bus. Who decided high school should start at 8:15 anyway??!

I tried gentle parenting with no lights on and warm thoughts and kind words. It didn’t work. The hubby now gets up, flicks on every light in the house and we both do a lot of shouting. We pack everything the night before but the kid still manages to not eat breakfast. In fact, she’s barely dressed as we haul her out, shoes in hand, so as not to miss the bus.

All of this to tell you of my encounter with the lady bug. After the chaos of the morning routine, I have been sitting staring out the front window, still in jammies, warm coffee in hand, tucked under some sort of covering, thankful another day has started and wishing the sun to rise. Depending on the amount of shouting and, shall we say, non-gentle parenting that has happened, this quiet moment of solitude plummets me down into a deep hole of thoughts – sometimes good, sometimes not so good.

As I watched the ladybug, I flashed back to the day they invaded. Swarms of them. I hear they are not true ladybugs but some invasive species of Asian beetle who have these seasons of literally taking over. They were everywhere! All along the front porch outside, on every door frame and crawling up the ceiling in a mass swarm of orangey red waves. Bleck! Trusty Google told us not to squish ’em as they emit some sort of nasty stink, so we vacuumed them up in our ancient vacuum – which also emits a nasty stink – so not sure we were one ahead of the game anyway. At least the bugs were gone from inside the house. Except for these few persistent ones.

The houseflies are still here too. I can’t seem to get them under control, either. Occasionally, on a warmer day, a lone wasp still pays us a visit on the sunny porch. My spiders are no where to be seen. Luckily for the hubby, neither are the mosquitoes. Here I am panicking that the rabbits are warm enough and the blessed bugs are still surviving! Persistence.

So, as I muse about the eternally present insects, I think about persistence. Perseverance. The tenacity and determination to keep moving forward. To stay alive, even, when all other circumstances say you should give up – and just die off. Many of us have heard stories of the athlete or business entrepreneur who musters up enough gumption to continue to survive rejection after rejection. I think there are certainly those extreme cases of climbing the mountain to the top, but it seems like most of us ride the wave of persistence daily. At least I do.

We start out every early morning with big plans to be consistent, pray continually, seek grace and gratitude. Be thankful and look for kingdom opportunities. Often we manage to do all those things… for awhile. Then one too many early mornings take hold of us and we are too tired to fight. Or cutting words from someone else makes it super hard to treat them with grace and honour. It’s hard to be grateful when doubt and worry weasel their way into our thoughts as we balance the cheque book, or make another visit to the clinic or counsellor.

Ephesians 6 is one of my favourite chapters in the sense that it reminds us that spiritual growth is a journey of continually getting ready and getting dressed for battle. It reminds us to be persistent in our prayers. To stand your ground in battle and have an attitude of obedience. The apostle Paul knew the battle was difficult, but like my little ladybug he continued to climb heavenward even in the face of death. He knew the battle was worth it.

Photo by Dastan Khdir on Pexels.com

To be honest, I struggle with it. I pray, I write, I read, I study. Yet, circumstances and my own stubborn attitude prevents me from being the gracious daughter of the King He’s asked me to be. Some days I physically don’t have it in me. No one said the journey would be roses and rainbows. In fact, Ephesians 6 reminds us it’s a BATTLE. Oh beloveds, be encouraged that battles are not fought all alone. It takes an army. And each one of us have to put on our suits of armor and stand our ground. Shall we march heavenward together? I’ll see you next week!