Tag Archives: jesus

New Year Reflections: The Year of Being Gracious

Posted on by
Reply

Well, Well, Well. 2026 Has certainly started off with a bang. I am already late for the first post of the year, and we are working on our 3rd snow day in a row off school and there is not a cloud in the sky. My chickens have not left the coop in weeks. They hate the snow. The rabbits and rats need cleaning. We have been hosting most of the holidays, and although we maintained throughout the season, for some reason our house fell apart in the last few days. There are empty boxes and doo dads and whatzits galore. Clean up has started, but it’s going to take a hot second.

Somehow, my #wordoftheyear seems grossly appropriate in light of the first week of January. We’ve had some strong feelings circulating around — things just seemed so “heavy” for a few family members. Let’s back track for a minute, though. Last year, 2025 was the year of “growth”. I failed again. I think. I couldn’t even remember what my word was… had to look it up. Our garden failed again. We made it through some milestones, but did we grow? I’m not sure. Realistically, I’m sure we did… but in a way that we focused on and purposed? Who knows anymore. So, it’s time for a new start.

Which brings us around to this year. 2026. I have reached the stage in my life where I am old enough to no longer be cool, yet old enough to not care if I am. We are grandparents. We are now “grandma’s house” where you go to visit rather than live. We will likely be empty nesters this year, as the youngest goes off to post secondary education. We are seeking to step aside a little and let the next generation begin to shine. I’m not as tech savvy as I used to be. I can’t keep up like I used to. My eyes are a little weaker and I am moving a little slower. Things are quieter. And that’s okay.

I have discovered that the next generation is so in tune with their mental health… and yet are struggling still. There is a fragility among them. And I am not sure if it is a good or a bad thing. I’ve noticed that, especially since Covid years, people are more apt to say “no”. Rules of etiquette are wavering in the light of self preservation. Again, I can’t decide if this is good or bad. I’m caught in the world between “tsk tsking” the worship leader for wearing his baseball cap up front, and smiling at the little kid dancing down the aisles during candlelight service. I’m struggling to be kind at the grocery store to the young cashier, and fighting with online services who don’t have real people to call when there is a mix up — and there is always a mix up!

They are coming…don’t you worry!

In a world of A.I. and Amazon, I’m stuck with only a few tabs open — where others can flit between screens faster than I can Google how. I’m struggling, too, in the sandwich generation of keeping the peace. Although I see that according to the internet… I am even too old for that definition! And yes, I still use three dots to declare a break in thought! Yet, it’s not all doom and gloom. We’re not dead yet! We are going to try the garden — again. The spring chick orders have just come out… and you know I’ve looked at it! We are figuring out if we want to add goats and meat birds to Itsnotta farm. There are still pallets sitting in my (albeit snow covered) driveway. I want to learn how to refinish furniture this year. I need to clean and purge. I need to start doing Yoga again. Thirty years of marriage in 2026! That deserves a getaway, doesn’t it?

The grandbabies will come to the house and make us smile at all their new discoveries. We’ll have to ask for help now for things. We might do less while still doing more. Most of all, we will have to learn to be kind. Not to be stick-in-the-muds. To still try. To do it with wisdom, instead of narrow mindedness. To try and understand where the young moms are at in this fast paced society of constant change. Where the men who don’t know how to be men are at when the world is giving them conflicting views. Where the generation who has had everything handed to them still don’t know how to “adult”. And do it with a whole lot of grace. Originally, that was my word: grace. Although, with a bit of time, it’s merged from grace to gracious. That’s what I need to be in 2026. I love the internet’s overview:

“Gracious” means kind,courteous,and pleasant,showing politeness and good manners, often extending to others in a generous way, like a gracious host or a gracious acceptance of a compliment;

It can also describe a life of comfort and elegance (“gracious living”) *YES* or be used as an old-fashioned exclamation of surprise (e.g., “Good gracious!”).

Essentially, it implies charm, generosity of spirit, and thoughtful consideration, especially towards those in a lower position or in difficult situations.

Key Meanings:

  • Kind & Courteous: Friendly, polite, and showing good manners, even in tough spots.
  • Elegant & Comfortable: Suggests a lifestyle of luxury, ease, and good taste (e.g., “a gracious home”). *GOALS*
  • Merciful & Benevolent: Showing compassion or favour, often used for divine beings (“our gracious King”).
  • Exclamation: “Good gracious!” expresses surprise or mild shock.

So, there ya have it. 2026’s # wordoftheyear is “Gracious”… with the goal of embodying all of the above! Will you keep me accountable? Will you comment when posts come out that are not so gracious?! Focus. Focus. For now, though, I have to clean up my house! (lifestyle of luxury and ease, remember?) And hope that the family will be a little gracious to me for letting it get this way! Happy New Year, beloveds! See you soon…

A 6 Week Look at Advent: FREE!

Posted on by
Reply

Greetings! Welcome back! Well… I hinted at it on my socials, but likely didn’t promote it as well as I should… but we have an exciting few weeks coming! It’s time for another collection of blogs centered around a single topic!! Yes, we are going to spend the next few weeks with a “theme”. We’re going to dive in together to another Advent Season with a slightly angled series of posts. Honestly, a purely selfish move on my part: one because I’m finding posts hard these days and need direction, and two, because we’re going to run the series in our small group and thought, “Hey, I’m doing the prep work anyway, why not follow the theme?”

So here we go! Now, you will know that mittonmusings.com has done several Advent posts in the past (go ahead, search ’em up if you wish!) and I promise not to deviate from the style you know and love from me, but hold on to your hats as we dive in to a little study together. As I said, I take no credit. Since you know I am {ahem} frugal, I needed to find the cheapest study to plan from. And free is the cheapest, so it’s the one I searched for and found. However, I don’t want to be accused of not giving credit, so I’m going to link the full online book HERE so that I can give the credit where credit is do. Of course, it will be my own musings about what I learn, so take what you will from it all! Happy studying!

Now. Normally, I would not be thinking about Christmas yet. Good grief, we’ve just had a time change, leaves are still on the ground, and we’ve barely hit November… but I’m taking the bull by the horns and jumping in early. So, let’s prepare for the Christmas season together, shall we?!

As many of you know, creatures are my thing. They have been for years and years. I am sure my mother went out of her mind every time I brought home another “pet”. The newly hatched ducklings I brought home from school for the weekend (without her permission), the injured birds and frog collections every summer. The caterpillars I tried to raise into moths. The ant farm in my top dresser drawer (which was just a pickle jar where I threw random ants in in hopes they would survive). Then came the various aquariums. Cats were also on the list. Then as my own family grew, we started with the attempts at breeding show cats (it didn’t work). Then the youngest became quite successful at her side hustle breeding domestic rats. (Yes, they are a thing, yes people keep rats as pets, yes, we did well at it). And now, here we are at Itsnottafarm with a flock of chickens and the hopes of pet goats.

Along the way, I’ve learned a little about genetics. Genealogies are important when you are breeding livestock… or show quality pets. Colour links, pedigrees, family trees, behaviour, “stock”. Now that we’re out here among the farmers, I see auctions and cow shows and goat shows and qualities of eggs and meat and all that agricultural stuff. Believe me, it’s a whole other world with its own learning curve!

This little guy looks just like his dad!

And then, of course, I am at the age where my own brood is growing. Our grand baby is going to be one year old soon! Time flies! That, too, is a whole other world — when your kids have kids. Or start talking at you late at night about their worlds. About real world issues and family dynamics and friends and parties and “adulting”. In some sense, I’m not ready for it. Yet, time has a way of thrusting such things upon you, and you get pushed into it ready or not.

So. What on earth did that little rant have to do with our Advent Study? Well. Lesson one begins with the genealogy of Christ in Matthew 1. A long list of names showing baby Jesus’ “pedigree” if you will. His earthly genetic make up. Proof of His existence. Our first lesson draws us to look to the past before we can look at the future. Like a good working border collie, a puppy’s history will give us a glimpse into what his future will look like. A fast runner? A smart, obedient dog from good bloodlines? A fancy rat with black eyes and a curly coat? Those genetics are the ones you want to carry on.

But here’s the kicker. Matthew includes some interesting details in baby Jesus’ genetic analysis. Our book breaks it up into: Title, descendants and structure. For time sake, we’ll simply make a few conclusions. The title of Jesus’ name, His claim as Messiah, the Chosen one, indicates that He has fulfilled the Promise of the ancient covenants. He was not just a lowly baby: He was the promised King. Then, unlike our prized pedigrees in agriculture, Jesus’ line of descendants includes a mixed bag of people. Some “black sheep”, shall we say? Respected Jewish prophets, yes, but shady characters, Gentiles and Heaven forbid, women! And what does that show us? He came at Christmas for all of us! Even if you think you don’t make the cut… you are worthy!! And His family tree is evidence of that. Finally, the structure adds an interesting twist. Did you notice it was split into 14, 14, 14 generations? No, me neither. Thanks to studying, this unique inclusion of certain name drops, helps us see how Jesus came for a purpose, and what His work was here on earth. He came to save us. The ultimate task.

So there you have it. I know we only scratched the surface, but perhaps it will spark you to further study, or simply a “muse” for the week. A glimpse into the future by looking a little bit at the past. Start that conversation about it with someone. Is it too early to talk about Christmas? The big box stores don’t think so, so why should we? Check back in with us here again, my friend (or sign up and get it in your inbox!) for next week’s look at Advent – with a twist! 🙂

Sounds of a Silent Saturday

Posted on by
Reply

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.