Thursday, January 28, 2021

His faithfulness

  "Today there are fewer places to discover, and the real adventure is to stay at home." G.K. Chesterton

 The LORD's faithfulness overflows the simplicity of daily living here in my comfortable home. These days we are living in seem dark with the events that surround our nation and the world, both before us and behind us. Yet, The LORD is His people's shield, He is their refuge, and He is their strong tower. I read this in His Word and I believe it.

I walk in the wintry afternoon, and on especially cold and damp days I wear the hand knitted hat of natural cream that I spun from the wool of my flock of sheep at least twenty-five years ago. I remember those days of being a shepherdess with great joy, the lessons learned from that experience are garnered in my mind to be recalled for later days like these. Those spring days of lambing season, that special sound a mother ewe gives to her newborn lamb, going outside in the evening to sit in the pasture while watching those growing lambs frolic- "feeling good all under"- the smell of the straw in the barn and the sheep's wool, and how my sheep "knew" my voice apart from stranger's voices. But there were also the days when the wild dogs got into the pasture and chewed the bottoms of pregnant ewes, and the vigilant care of watching for parasites and foot rot that will weaken the health and life of your flock, and yes even the culling which eventually must come.

During my afternoon walks I hear the birdsongs clear and sweet even in this season of winter, they have no worries or anxieties.

Every day I awaken and I praise Him for His goodness and grace. He is abundant in mercy and I will declare this as long as I have breath. I chose to make homemaking my life's work, a choice I made over thirty-eight years ago. It is a most rewarding life work. But I am also a full- fledged warrior, a praying warrior. My armour is sure, my heart is guarded, I will not back down until "His kingdom come, His will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven." 

a chickadee

 I have taken to afternoon walks in the fields along the side of the woodlands. Today I carried along a small pair of binoculars hoping to c...