Tag Archives: Ecclesiastes

The Beauty of Seasons of Change: Life Lessons

Posted on by
Reply

Oh friends! It has been a whirlwind of a few weeks, and I am still not over it. Usually, I am a sucker for back to school week and do all the prep, cleaning, anticipating etc. etc. They say that September is the new January, and I am here for it… except I am not. Our kiddos are getting older, and only the youngest is left in her last year at high school. We bought 99 cent pencils and a couple of packs of post it notes. Oh – and a new pair of shoes. Not that she needed new shoes, but she got a new pair anyway. No more double pairs for indoor/outdoor shoes, no school lunch prep, no fancy backpack. I don’t think we even got up on the first day to see her off on the bus. We’re bad parents. We didn’t even do the back to the college dorm pics that all our peers are posting with their older teens. Our college kid is back, but doesn’t share much… so there’s that. I promise to send him with snacks. No real food or fancy twinkly lights, maybe clean bedding and a towel and soap. Ugh! What have I become, so far from the old days.

So unprepared for back to school this year. Oh well.

In fact, we pulled them out on the first week of school to go on a family holiday. Which was great! A tradition we started a few years ago to get away and re-connect as an extended family (which is growing considerably now). We hung out and stayed up way too late. Despite the very nice weekend, we came home to a devastating loss… three (yes, three!) of my beloved chickens were gone. We are assuming a coyote pack. No signs, no evidence, just three missing bodies. That means we only have three girls left. The dog was with us, which I think was a bad thing, because he is likely a slight deterrent to whatever predators are out there. Three! So sad. Still, this is the risk of free ranging, and I am thankful my sitter is a farm girl, and handled it beautifully. I’m sorry it happened on her watch. Sigh. I spent the rest of the week after returning home researching fencing for pygmy goats. It was therapeutic.

Then there is the house… it’s a mess. I suppose it always is after you go away. I have so many big plans. So little motivation. Not even that…. I have motivation, but I don’t know, time just gets away when you are scrolling Facebook Poultry Groups and goat breeders near me. Don’t tell the hubby… but maybe I am regretting the move to the country…. WAIT. No, I am not. I love it here. The neighbouring farmers are starting to harvest again, the dust is flowing, the days are getting cooler, farm fairs are starting to crop up, apples, pumpkin spice, sunflowers and sunsets on the lake. No, I love it here, it’s just a season I am going through.

A.I generated: I asked it to include PSL… in the headless sweater?! LOL. These are the days we are in, people. A Season of A.I. generated mysteries…. Jesus, take the Wheel!

Why do people say that? Enjoy the season you are in? I get that it’s a God thing too… He designed it for us: to ebb and flow as the seasons of the year do. I had a conversation with God about it the other night. I asked Him to give me something. Some hint about the direction for the next little while. He reminded me to draw close to Him. A time for everything. I’ve talked about it before. I’m just reminding myself to embrace it again. To embrace the changes. To anticipate something new and different. Maybe I need to dye my hair again. I’ve been thinking about getting older lately. Friends and family are retiring… or dying. Harsh as it seems, winter approaches quickly and you must go through that season… until spring and new life starts again. Poetic? Not really. Just reality.

However, I do not want this post to be a downer… I need it to be as much of an encouragement for you as it is for me. This season is lovely. Rosie, in fact. Comfort. Warmth. The storage of a good harvest to make it through the Winter cold. Preparation, perhaps. I need to get back to that one. Alright friends, let’s do this! Let’s put on our woolly sweaters, our Pumpkin spice in hand and smell the sunflowers (which don’t smell really, but you get the picture)! Let the dust of the harvest fly once again, my friends!

And if that self talk wasn’t good enough for you, here’s a few other links to motivate us both:

5 Ways to Pray for your Kids in the Back to School Season

Walking Through the Seasons of Life

Study Ecclesiastes 3

A Time for Everything

If I could Save Time in a Bottle

If I Could Save Time in a Bottle

Posted on by
3

When we first moved out here to rural Ontario, we struggled with getting up early for the school bus. We’re night hawks and that early morning pick up was tough. It continues to be tough, but we are getting used to it. However, once we were up so early… we seemed to have a lot more time. I noticed even after morning coffee and scrolling, I still set about my day with good measures of time. Be that as it may, I continue to struggle with all the things I want to see accomplished. The days are getting longer and there seems to be more daylight, but, man, there never seems to be enough time. I have been meaning to unpack the last few boxes hidden in the basement. I want to tackle some DIY projects. My seeds need to get in some soil in order to be ready for garden planting. Chicks are coming… have to organize bunnies and prep the coop. Even now that I am not working again, there still never seems to be enough time.

Bill Watterson quote from Mary Mott Writes

Now don’t go getting all “holier than thou” and tell me if I prioritized my time… or if I got off social media… or that I’d get done what is important to me… Perhaps all these things are true. I am also trying to be sensitive to my family who prioritizes people instead of tasks. I have to be social they say. Visit. Build relationships. Self care? How about personal hygiene? Housework? Did you know that the average person will spend almost 750 days doing dishes in their lifetime. Our dishwasher is currently dead. I am sure we are going to up that number. We have kids and creatures and gardens and a house; extended family. Church. Community. We live a fifteen minute drive from anything. If I could save time in a bottle… I’d be rich and have more time for … well … time for more.

Ecclesiastes tells us “there is a time for everything…” and we recognize that this is true, but, if you’re like me, you don’t quite understand the time-shift continuum, and often wonder how we fit everything in to our days without getting a bit funky smelling. I found a deep sentiment to explain it:

“When scripture declares that for everything there is a season, this means that the various circumstances we go through in life are not by incident, but orchestrated or allowed by God with great purpose and intentionality.”

biblestudytools.com

We often talk about “seasons” of life. Chunks of reality when it’s understandable that this or that will take up your time. Retirement. Parenthood. Adolescence. We recently took to tapping our forest for sap. Maple syrup making has a very distinct “season”. The conditions must be just right for the sap to flow. Then the process requires filtering, boiling, refining… all at certain temperatures. As with most things in life, to find the “sweet spot” requires time. I heard that perhaps maple syrup making is more of an “art” than “science”. What happens if you don’t measure temperature to exactly 219 degrees (or whatever…) What happens if we don’t collect when the weather is just right? How do we predict the weather accurately anyway? Our syrup won’t work out, I suspect. If it does, our yield won’t be as good. Nature is always a gamble. That’s why the internet is full of “tips and tricks” on homesteading.

We recently set out to try tapping.

Still, let’s go back to that quote. Only God can see our timelines. We can only see a little “blip” in our reality. We are but dust. We only see specific incidents. Google photos and Facebook remind us of “memories” from this day or that day. Compare it to now, “X” years later. Have we changed? Matured? How many friends have died or left or come in to your lives since then? Technology. Politics. War. The price of groceries. Our physical body and space. Change is constant. Time cannot be saved in a bottle.

God sees the bigger picture. He sees our life as a whole. He orchestrated it. As a whole. As a whole with great purpose and intentionality. If I could plan out my life exactly, or set my kids lives on a piece of cardstock, things would look oh so different. If my mother could have set my life on a piece of index card, I wonder what I would have looked like. God has done just that. He knew us before we were born. He has a plan. He also had a plan, and it was thought through and orchestrated brilliantly. He is working with the dips and divets and dives of nature, allowing for art versus science. Yet His yield is perfection.

His yield is Perfect.

Oh beloveds, is this encouraging to you? I hope it is. Perhaps you are in a season where you simply can’t see a way out. Perhaps you are struggling with not enough time. Perhaps there is too much time to fester in your own self doubts. Perhaps you desperately want to use your time wisely but it is just difficult. Society tells you do this, that, the other thing, and you can’t see the forest for the trees. You’re feeling the time crunch of a season in life. God’s got this. There is a time for everything under the sun. Our little speck of dust has meaning, purpose and intention in God’s agenda book. As for me, I gotta go collect some tree sap. Then maybe a nap, or shave my armpits. Maybe tackle the dishes. Be blessed, my beloveds.

Celebrating during Covid-19

Posted on by
4

Welcome to another week of mittonmusings. Things are finally starting to open back up again and life is returning to our “new normal”. That seems like a strange notion to return to, but most of us have never been through a worldwide pandemic, and so we go with whatever the powers that be tell us. Which includes this whole idea of social distancing and isolating ourselves from others — especially the “vulnerable” ones in our society. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am all for safety and am a big believer in following the rules, but I couldn’t help but wonder this week: What will all this isolation do to our sense of celebration?

The middle kid celebrated his birthday this week. We’ve already celebrated two other birthdays in lockdown, and, of course, Father’s Day was this past Sunday. We were supposed to have a graduation, too, at the end of the month. Many of our normal celebratory gatherings and rituals have been cancelled. And yet, I have seen so many creative ways to mark special occasions in spite of lockdown. So, what does one do to mark a memorable day? Why do we do it that way or this way? Does it reflect the people celebrating or is it to mark the celebration itself? It’s interesting to ponder — especially as an introvert. I’m not much for celebrating, and we have a family debate each time a special date rolls around. Please feel free to comment on your thoughts to help the case one way or another. But as for me, I think about things. The reasons we do things — why and how, and then why “that how”? I get it. Humans were created to be social. We need each other and were created for interaction. One look at how Covid-19 has panned out and we see it. Just watch the news for awhile and we will see that we are geared to fight and protest and share joys and sorrows and injustice. Even if it is over zoom or from the balcony ledge. Forget the news… any kindergarten class will show you those things, too.

Photo by cottonbro on Pexels.com

According to Seline Shenoy (The Dream Catcher/ Happiness Project) there are five benefits to celebrating:

  • 1.Cultivating a sense of community: One of the most opportune times to bond with our families and friends is during special occasions.
  • 2. Instilling a sense of meaning and significance to our lives:  Participating in the customary rites (cutting cakes and drinking champagne) instills a sense of reverence and appreciation for the gift of life and connects us to a more omnipotent force.
  • 3. We will create lasting fond memories: The human mind tends to recall memories that carry a high emotional charge to them. When we commemorate a special occasion, we are essentially placing a mental bookmark on an experience, thereby making it easier to remember it in the future.
  • 4. It adds fun and excitement to our lives: Celebrations can be incredibly fun and provides us with the perfect opportunity to engage in the joys of life such dance, song, food, play and laughter. 
  • 5. We take our place in the circle of life: When we commemorate special occasions, we are essentially connecting with our humanity and the commonality that we share with all those who have been long gone before us. We tap into the timelessness of the human spirit when we take the time to pay respect to the important rites of passages that were celebrated by our ancestors in the yester years.

I don’t know if I agree with all of the five reasons, but I suspect sociologists and psychologists have been studying the whole idea for longer than I have, so who’s to argue? Besides, I love a good piece of cake. And my scrapbooks are filled with memories shared, so it must mean something. I think God just wired us that way, so that’s life.

I couldn’t help but find our past week of celebrations a little strange though, considering the times we were in: masked family, no hugging, keeping our distances … can you celebrate without the physical connection? Obviously, you can. We’ve participated in a virtual wedding and drive by birthdays this year. We “celebrated” — but it was strange. Did we miss out on some sort of secret? Or is it simply strange because it wasn’t the way we are used to doing things?

Sigh. I guess this muse has truly been that — a muse. I don’t have any answers this week. No insights or revelations. I’m simply pondering. Would you consider sharing your thoughts in the comments or on my socials this week? I’m curious what you might be thinking. How do you choose to celebrate? Why? Did God instill it in us? How has history played a roll? Or culture, tradition or socio-economic status? And what will it look like going forward from here?!