Tag Archives: learning

The Journey of Patience: Lessons from Maple Syrup

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Whew! Where has the time gone? This weekend was fun… but it flew by! What did I do Saturday? Oh yeah… groceries, laundry. No time for clean up. Normal, everyday weekend things that simply eat up your time. Yet Sunday was funday! Which leads to this week’s muse. And it’s all about being patient. And it’s about that because I. am. not.

How are you in the patient department? Do you have endless amounts of time to spend waiting….

Spring gave us just a glimpse of warmer weather before winter reared it’s ugly head again… and I got excited. By excited, I mean I dreamt up 101 projects to do on #itsnotta farm. Most of which will not get done. Included in this list, was order baby chicks, and research a maple syrup evaporator. Those did get done. I started my seeds, too. I keep forgetting to check on them though… they likely need watering and bigger pots. Did you hear I ordered more baby chicks?! Right, back to maple syrup. If you recall, we made our first attempt at maple syrup tree tapping last year. We collected a whole whack of sap… and had one miserable boiling day… resulting in about 2 cups of syrup. (You can read about that sticky situation here). The rest of the sap has been sitting in my deep freeze for a year!

The “fancy” redneck evaporator!

So this year… I’m on it. We bought a “fancy” redneck (do those words even go together?!) barrel evaporator and Sunday planned to use the sap up from last year! It was a nice day as spring days go, so we invited the kids and chopped wood. Much to the hubby’s delight, the fire was roaring in said barrel and we were on our way! Syrup, here we come! Alas, we forgot how long sap takes to boil down. It takes a long time. Forever. Even with fancy redneck equipment.

We broke for dinner. Pots and pans were boiling and steaming and we were enjoying the grand baby, the somewhat sunny day, a glass of wine and the camaraderie of family. I waited for the sap to get to the desired “syrup” temperature. It smelled right. It looked the right colour. It tasted right. Still, it wasn’t thickening. Sigh. More waiting. Last year I missed the mark and we sugared out. This year, I don’t know. We bottled the liquid gold … but it’s runny.

So we come full circle, back to my thoughts about patience. My family always complains that I never preheat the oven. Ain’t nobody got time for that. My noodles are al dente. Always. “Just stick that there… it’ll be fine” I say. Have I no patience? It’s a fruit of the spirit, after all… it’s something I should strive for! Just slow down. Wait. It’s easier said than done. I want results!

Photo by Canan YAu015eAR on Pexels.com

(This is kinda how I felt waiting for things to boil down…)

Psalm 37:7 states, “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.” Am I rushed when it comes to waiting on God, too? I see the plans and get sucked in by all the Instagram worthy homesteaders who have all the projects on the go and I fret. I do! Patience truly is a virtue that I must work on. I suppose winter weather and maple syrup is one way of teaching me. I hope I get the point.

And you, my friend? How’s fruit bearing on your tree? Do you loose it occasionally? Are your noodles al dente the same as your attitude with co-workers? A little hard because you didn’t wait for things to soften out? Are your relationships sweet but simply not thick enough because you haven’t allowed time? I don’t know… some days I think I have it all together. Other days my pancakes just get sticky, but lack substance. It’s all a journey, my friend. We shall try out the fire once again soon. This time, I will try and be patient! Then I’ll write about it and we’ll learn together!

Why We Need to Count: Exploring Numbers in Faith and Life

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According to the initial counts, 113.06 million people watched the Super Bowl game this week. That’s a lot of people. Our family was among them. Well… the television was on at least. It is estimated that 500 people are killed by hippos each year. It’s an estimated number because nobody wants to be picking fights with hippos. The number of chickens in the world has more than doubled since 1990. I’m not surprised. Chickens are great. Statistics. The numbers are everywhere… for every thing. A quick Google search can find you the numbers for just about anything you want to know about. I wonder who counts. We have a friend who’s job it is to present sport’s stats to the television hosts. Where do his numbers come from? Is there some kid out on the field who has a marker and a whiteboard and tally marks every play? Or who counts every malaria carrying mosquito out in the jungle? How on earth? It’s where my brain is going this week… who ? Why? Why do we need to know?

Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko on Pexels.com

Markets rise and fall. Corporations have departments full of bean counters just to tell them how their businesses are doing. It seems like everyone needs to know “the numbers” these days. And if the numbers don’t add up? We change, we brainstorm for better programs, better means to an end, better “stats”. We all like to see the numbers add up to our efforts. Unfortunately… churches do the same. And I am not sure it is all good. Now, I appreciate numbers. I understand the reasoning behind gathering statistics… why put effort into something if you get poor results? My scientific brain (and my lazy work ethic and pessimistic outlook) says why work harder than you need to for little or no result? Yet, I can’t help but wonder…. is it right?

Ethically, I suppose there is nothing morally wrong with working towards a program (at church or otherwise) that only generates positive results. Why else would there be marketers who study these things? Is it for dollar signs only? Do churches have a saved soul account? I just found out my favourite farm store is going out of business. A numbers game has forced them to declare bankruptcy. Online shopping strikes again. I’m showing my age here, but what about the little guy who works behind the counter? Yeah, I still go to the check out lady. People over points. I think each person is important to God. He loves us all : uniquely.

Still, I recently read an article that said God does, in fact, care about numbers. Why else would He give the Great commission? “Go into All the world”… we are to tell anyone and everyone. I get that. There are an elect few that will choose the narrow way… but that part is not our job. Our job is to tell our story. On the other hand, the Bible talks about how the shepherd leaves behind the 99 sheep in search for the one (single) sheep who has gone astray. I guess you could say numbers count… but God sees the numbers in individual people. Does that make sense?

Perhaps that doesn’t make sense. Perhaps, the numbers don’t add up, shall we say. Does God care about quality of life? Or quantity? I don’t have an answer. I now have more questions than when I started this post. And I am more confused by my own questions. Good grief! I suppose that’s how it goes sometimes in our spiritual journeys. Sometimes there are more questions than answers. And that’s okay. I’m sure there are statistics about that, too.

I guess the point is this: the Super Bowl is going to get played. People are going to watch. Others are not going to care about anything besides the half time show. Others will care about the coin toss or the colour of Gatorade. The players on their teams are simply going to do the best job they can at playing the game hard to win points. That’s all we can ask of ourselves. Do what you can. Share your story. Help others share their story. Support the community who is trying to serve. Play the game. Let the angel with the whiteboard and tally marks take care of the numbers. I’m pretty sure we can check the score boards later.

Embrace Growth: My Word of the Year for 2025

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Welcome back to another episode of me having no idea what to write about but doing it anyway. I suppose it is time to share with you my word of the year. After all, it’s already pretty much the middle of January and it’s time to start living it out. In case you’re new here, the last few years, instead of making resolutions and plans to change or transform my life into something I am not, I have chosen a #wordoftheyear. It’s a way of making broad, all encompassing goals based on more of a “theme” than a strict hard and fast rule. And so, I have chosen to try again this year.

I thought a little about it over the holidays and wondered what we could plan for this year. Physically, the garden was on the top of the list. We cleared our garden spot and tried last year, but after a two week vacation… weeds took over and our garden plot was reduced to a far gone experiment that utterly failed in my brain, and was not to be resurrected for the rest of the season. We got a few pumpkins, but as any homesteader will tell you, pumpkins can grow in the manure heap with little help. Plant pumpkins in the garden of life. Trust me.

Trust me…plant pumpkins!
Photo by James Wheeler on Pexels.com

Along with the garden thoughts, I feel my personal growth has settled a bit over the last year and a half of being here in our new community. We’ve settled at a new church, the youngest has begun to make some real friends at school, and we are feeling a bit more connected to our surroundings. We can tell you where some of the cool places are to eat and officially can maneuver a few of the “back roads”. We know our space and some of the needs required to flourish here (or at least survive). I’ve had a few employment opportunities and learned some stuff. Our house chores are still on going but we have “moved in”.

We were blessed with our new grand baby and have entered in to that new stage. (EEK!) Friends are starting to travel more and work less and we are beginning to peek at what retirement might look like — okay maybe not retirement, but slowing down and easing into a slower place, less focused on work and more on building legacy and mentorship of the next generation. A few more aches and pains come along with that role. And learning to listen to your limitations has been… challenging.

And so, as I reflect and muse about how we have moved forward in the past year, I look toward 2025 with flourishing in mind. Therefore, my word for 2025 is “GROWTH”. Perhaps a bit common as far as #wordsoftheyears go, but it’s how I feel God will work in us this year. We have settled. We’ve been planted… and now it’s time to grow where we’ve been planted. I’ve been Brave and tried to Refresh and Renew. We failed at making Magic, so it’s time to sit still, be slow, reach for the sun and GROW.

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

You all know what a promoter of forever learning I am…and so Growth seems to be a logical place to start. Seeds have been sown here. It’s time to see some green pop up around those little seeds. I’m not sure we are at the fruit stage yet, but growth is a reasonable goal, don’t you think? Our new grandson will make 100 firsts this year. He will grow. My chick birds have matured into adults and my passion for the pets hasn’t stopped growing… I still want to learn and discover (think baby goats and that new garden!) I want to plan a gallery wall for the house and landscape the pond. The family is maturing and we are moving to empty nest status most of the summers. The hubby and I are moving back to “just us” and learning to juggle that all over again. (I must say the reduced grocery bill is a nice perk, though, with no teenagers to feed all summer!)

Spiritually, growing in Christ is an ongoing goal. At least it should be. I continue to reflect on God’s handy work in nature… I seem to be seeing more sunrises than sunsets these days, so my perspective is changing from party city to country rooster calls (I can’t believe it! I refuse to be a “morning person” I refuse to be a morning person, I refuse to be a morning person….) Perhaps God will grant me new mercies every morning, and I will heed them as growth. Seeds that were planted will grow. I look forward to how God will work in 2025 under the umbrella of my word of the year.

Are you ready to join me on the next adventure? Are you planning on following along in the ups and downs and crazy thoughts in my brain that get posted here on a (relatively) weekly basis? Let’s grow together, friends…Let’s grow together…