Tag Archives: learning

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…

Back to Blogging: Embracing Imperfection and New Beginnings

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Oh my dear readers! How crazy was my holiday?! Did you even notice that I took a two week hiatus and didn’t write anything? Did you even notice that I missed the last week of Advent, didn’t chat about the Love Candle or greet you for Christmas or New Year’s Eve? Not even a social media “hello”. I am a bad, bad blogger. The algorithms have all gone awry. I thought about a “word of the year” but never truly came up with one yet. I have no excuses.

And so we come back to another year flipped on the calendar. Time passes whether I write or not. Honestly, who really cares about our little life here anyway? Okay, Okay, I am hoping someone does. Or at least this little exercise is in my own best interest to “journal” and think and muse and use as my own creative outlet for some sort of ordering space in my own chaotic brain. If you’re reading this, then, congratulations! You get to come along for the ride as I purge my thoughts for my own mental health. Again, I have no excuses.

The weeks went by in a blur. Grand baby was born. Work. Holidays in the middle of an already hectic week. Travelling. Farm chores. Baby kisses and shoveling chicken poop. How exciting a life I lead. What’s the point? Why write anything here in my little corner of the internet? I’m thinking back to my very first blog posts about niches and why I started mittonmusings in the first place. To learn. To try. It didn’t matter that I didn’t fit in to the typical blogger mode. I am terrible at getting a good photo. I’m not the one snapping selfies in the bathrooms or videoing in the thrift stores. I don’t make good “art” documentaries or farm instructional videos. I’ve never written a book. I don’t even have Tiktok. I can use a filter, but I still need help editing a reel. I am very, very far from perfect.

Sigh. Maybe that’s the point. In this fast paced world of A.I. technology and rapidly changing fads, my {cough} fifty {cough} something person is on the way back down the hill. I am beginning to see the dark side of the mountain and watching the next generation climb to great heights on the other side. My babies are having babies. We are starting to look at retirement funds. I know, age is just a number, and if you’ve been here any length of time, you will know that I am a firm believer in the “never stop learning” motto. An old dog CAN learn new tricks. God never told us we get to retire from life. Jesus had a plan and left a legacy. He made a path for those coming behind to follow. Perhaps it is the same for us in 2025.

I’m a bit sad that I didn’t have the time to sit down over the holidays and reflect properly. I’m a bit disappointed that we didn’t (okay at least I didn’t) have a whole lot of time to “chill” and look introspectively on the past year and the one to come. I should have. The youngest asked if I had a resolution. I don’t. I have a few goals set in mind, but have I come up with a true, real focus for the year, as I have had in the past? No, not yet. My mind is already racing forward to the 17 things that need to get done in the next few days. My new work schedule requires some getting used to, and we are once again, balancing home and the rest of life. Oh no, my friend, time stands still for no one. Every day is a marching on to the next day.

Perhaps that’s what time is teaching me. Perhaps that’s what God wants me to learn. Patience. A life journey is a march onward. Up (and down) the hill. Things gotta get done. Bills get paid, the dishes get done, the babies grow up, and the dog still gets fed. This is where I am. And it is okay.

Come join me on this adventure! (Photo: Pexels)

Welcome to the blog, dear reader. Welcome to the chaos, the times I go AWOL for no apparent reason other than “I didn’t get to it”. Welcome to the journey. I guarantee that we will learn together. We’ll think and muse and become the master of nothing. It’ll be fun. We’ll question verses and try to apply them to life. There will be bad photos, my crazy chicken stories and lots of grand baby gushing. The hubby will likely be the focus of some #itsnottafarm project and will be there for a few laughs, I am sure. HAPPY 2025!

Would you consider following the blog? Click to get an email every week (or at least every post!) and follow along the social channels for other tidbits throughout the week. I really do value your feedback and comments…. and need the encouragement and suggestions to keep this thing going! Please post a comment! Hugs to you all who have supported us this far!