Chimes in the Night

Last night I experienced something that I never before had.  As I stepped out into the drive during the ice storm, I listened while icy, crackling music played in the trees above. The eeriness increased as the wind caused the music to circle the entire house while veiled in the darkness of night. It was beautiful. As I looked at the house, there was the only light; golden light streaming out through the windows. It was such an enjoyable few minutes. I attempt to write a prose about it here:


Chimes In the Night

A clattering in the giant maples and poplars overhead.
Ice falls from the blackness of sky this night.
As the winds begin in the south
Icy fingers touch each other, gently at first, creating chimes in the night.

I whirl, peering into black nothingness as
shiver of clacking branches circles to the east then north and west;
Chiming out their frozen, evening music.

Settled in the belly of a clearing of wood,
the tiny house stands, dwarfed by these towering musicians.
Like a large candled lantern, the light
tumbles from its portals;
creating a shining, golden carpet of welcome.

I stand for a time, listening to the icicles
forming and thickening on the twigs above me.
A rush of wind starts the symphony anew.

Frozen droplets rain down upon my head and face;
A shudder of chill runs through my core;

The streaming carpet welcomes me back
to the cozy lantern of what we call
Home.

Freezing Rain

Thankfully the temps. were in the 20s this morning so perhaps we're through the worst of that cold snap. It's now raining on the Hill. I worked for a couple hours at a small office up the road and on my way home I noticed the rain was freezing onto the windshield immediately.

When I opened the door this afternoon Sturm went outside and "did his thing" without a leash for the first time (actually, second time, Syd has let him out once on his own). Ruger took the reins and proceeded to "roll" Sturm a few times. They play very hard. It appears that Ruger's jaw is unhinged in this picture, and look at the whites of his EYES! How funny.

After we came in they wouldn't leave me alone and I finally opened the door again for them to go out. This time though it was REALLY raining and I wasn't standing out there in it, so we're in.

It's time to get some supper ready. Last night I made beef stew and raisin bran muffins, which we love. Both are such warming, comfort foods. I look forward to Syd being home and the darkness closing in around the house. Praise the Lord for a warm home and a loving husband. I praise Him that Mom and other family are safe in their homes, and so nearby. We have so much to be thankful for!

If you come up tonight, mind the snowy road. I came up in 2 wheel drive though, so you should have no trouble. Thanks for visiting. Next time I'll try not to be so busy and we can chat longer.

At the Edge of the Forest

Purple shadows swirl, as if folded into a topping of mounded cream. Tree stalks, some standing straight, others leaning, appear as frosted cinnamon sticks proceeding from a mug of winter cheer.  

Here is where the forest begins. 

A simple cabin welcomes hikers as they step beneath the portal of the wood's ceiling. Evergreens, heavily laden with crusted snow, have eased our otherwise cumbersome way. Here we can walk freely, stepping over the occasional branch blown down by a stiff north wind.  The way winds down and down,  toward the east side of the hill. Where the sugarbush begins our steps become more deliberate and laborious. The sun has founds its way between the branches, warming the snow-face in daytime and freezing it to a smooth icing at night. This afternoon proves frigid and we step up onto the crust, testing its strength. For a time it holds us fast but intermittently a weak spot is discovered and the labor begins anew. How the trees have grown since coming here as a child. The forest has spread and widened, overtaking what was once open grassland. In younger days I would hike through these woods, making my way to the top of Darling Hill from my grandfather's house, below the Titus field.

These narrow roads; muddy in Spring, solid in Summer; fragrant in Autumn and challenging in Winter; they've carried many a traveler over the years, leading them from one end of this stretch of forest to the other. A trail crosses here. It leads from the village to Flagpole Hill. Always, this parcel has been open for those who wish to tramp through. We stop at the place where my brother's former cabin stood. Old boards and remains lay beneath the mounded snow. Several a weary and lonesome traveler spent their nights here. My brother attested to this as he would enter the cabin, already inhabited by a stranger. Other times a note would be left; scratched on a piece of scrap paper or birch bark, "thanks for the warm place to sleep" or "I was here - to escape the rainy night." These are the things I remember as I stand amongst the snowy trees.

The Bible says that all things "wax old". Buildings decay and crumble. People age and eventually pass into eternity.  Memories wax old also. I hold so many memories of this place, as does my mother before me. Hiking through these trails bring the thoughts to life again. Here is where I found my first morel mushroom. We gathered water at this spring which my brother dug in the earth and lined with rocks. My friends who would vist, marveled at snowshoeing "so far from any houses". It was all "home" to me and these woods were a safe place to be. 

Life is full of changes. The only thing that stays the same is God and the Word of God. I have had the priviledge of "coming home again", but it is a different  place than it used to be. I'm thankful for this walk through the forest, to hear the laughter and voices in my memory of those happy, bygone days.

As a christian, I now know that this world is not my home. I have an eternal home waiting for me in heaven. There we will leave behind the dirt and dust of these earthly paths and walk on streets of pure gold. We will not eat of Darling Hill's duchess apples, though delicious, but will eat of the tree that bears twelve manner of fruit. As pleasant as this earth is, my natural mind just can't fathom the beauty that awaits me in my heavenly home! 

I leave the forest now, with a new spring in my step, refreshed by both old and new thoughts. The delicate snowflakes are falling and resting on my lashes. Here is the "new" cabin; I have reached the edge of the forest and step out from under the woods' canopy into the light and it remins me of  a verse in Proverbs 4:18, "But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day."

Snow Days

We are experiencing another snowy day - two in a row! The rains came this morning and froze onto everything. Before I left for work I decided to take the dogs out for a walk. It was still quite dark and we took off up Darling Hill Road. Sturm is still on a leash and did he take me for a WALK! It was more like a RUN! I don't know how a creature with 9 inch legs can move so fast. We have a little haulter for him and he pulls like a sled dog, trying to keep up with Ruger. It's so funny. Normally I don't like to have to leash the dogs on the hill, but we're trying to be sure Sturm is very used to being with us and listening to our commands, coming home the same way each time, etc. before we let him run off. He is so bold and inquisitive, I can imagine he'll get off on rabbit and squirrel trails quite easily. I thought no dog could love the snow as much as a lab, but Sturm equals Ruger's enthusiasm, perhaps surpasses it! Yesterday he leaped through the mounding snow and dug down with his nose, throwing snow in the air. He has no hair and tiny little feet - you'd think he'd freeze in a minute, but he really enjoys it.

Here are a few pics from our noon walk. We just got back from Mom's house and I figured they needed a little exercise before being shut up in the house again. As you can see, they got exercise!

 first comes the face-off

 Uh, oh - Here he comes!

 Okay Ruger, say "aaawwrrrgh!"

 Now Sturm, say "aaawwrrrgh!"

 Snow's a-flyin'

okay, "Retreat!"

You can't hear the snarling and growling going on here. I pretty much had to just keep snapping pictures and hope something happened when the camera went off. As you can see, Sturm's not afraid of Ruger. It was a good time in the snow.  It's nice because the temperatures are still low 30s, so not cold yet. There's a lull in the snow right now but it's supposed to continue till midnight. I love snow days. Though I have to work, it's right here in town, so that's nice.

Warm Thoughts on a Cold Day

Hello friends, As you can see I changed the format again - back to a more "normal" one. It's not exactly a winter scene but the colors are warm and might help to chase away the chill around us, reminding us of the days when we can walk through the fields of grass, pluck a piece of timothy and chew its end, extracting the soft flesh and juice from within. I look forward to timothy grass and clover nectar again. We barely have snow on our ground right now and yesterday I saw a small flock of robins fly in front of me. I'd like to think this means Spring, but they likely are a group of procrastinators, enjoying the first of the feeders being put back out on folk's porches!  Whatever the winter brings we will "rejoice and be glad in it".  

I have had more people come into the post office talking about "climate change". Do they not watch the news and the weather stats?  In 1996, last weekend, it was in the fifties.  And in 1958 (I think) we had very warm temps on that same weekend.  How short our memories are.  Our earth goes in cycles and the Lord has His hand on the whole thing.

This post will not be a long one but I wanted to keep in touch with everyone while I sit and sip my morning coffee.  Syd is off to work, lunch prep stuff put away and things are quiet in the house except for two dogs wrestling behind me. Oh the noises they make; growling and "snuffing" and an occasional "yip" from Ruger when Sturm bites his ear or lip too hard.  At twelve pounds, Sturm likes to think he's the boss but when it comes right down to it, not so. The other night the little one got out and took off down the road. Syd said, "Ruger, go get Sturm". He went down to him, barked a few times, turned and ran toward the house and Sturm was right on his heels - and through the door they came!

So, I am enjoying this quiet morning and getting ready to read for a while. The Spirit has been leading me and teaching me more about love toward Him. Yesterday I began thinking about how easy it is to get "caught up" in the technicalities of our salvation. By this I simply mean, the FACT that we've asked the Lord to save us, therefore He has; and the obligation we have toward Him because we are His children. There's nothing at all wrong with these things, but sometimes I wonder if they overshadow the fact of my need of being thankful for WHAT I've been forgiven of.  I received forgiveness for all my sin! - every sin I had done and every sin I will ever commit. It is so easy to get the cart before the horse in our christian lives. In the past I've gone about, doing good deeds and trying to be a good witness, dutifully reading my Bible and listening to good music. These are wonderful things, but I have caught myself focusing on the "legal" part of my salvation but forgetting to dwell on the "love" part. Perhaps others have not struggled with this, but I have, and I'm so thankful that the Lord is leading my heart through these scriptures that are helping me get my mind turned back to focusing on loving him, and not so much on my service and self. John 7:37, 38 say, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink...out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." The following verse says that this is speaking about the "Spirit". The Holy Spirit will pour out of us when we thirst for and "drink" of the Lord. Like the woman who washed the Lord Jesus' feet with her tears and wiped them with the hairs of her head; I want to remember how much I have been forgiven for!

I'll go now. I hope you have a wonderful day. Come to the hill again. The road is not too icy and Syd keeps it plowed and sanded well.

Go to the Deeps

Go to the deeps of God's  promise;
There's wideness of meaning untold
in the promises given His people,
and the treasures they ever unfold!

Yesterday afternoon our church family studied about the ministry of the Holy Spirit in a believer's life. When Jesus left this earth He promised to send a Comforter who would teach us and guide us into all truth. God's Word will never pass away and it has never been able to be destroyed because it is a living book; the actual word of God.  His promises will EVER UNFOLD, as the chorus above states. The Holy Spirit is the one who teaches us the truths contained in the Bible.

I am afraid of caves. I do not know whether it is the fact that they are underground, dark, or perhaps it's just the closed in space that bothers me. My brother, Kim, however simply loves to let himself down through a hole in the earth and crawl around to see where the tunnel will lead. He has convinced me once to go in with him. Once we left the first open space and crawled on hands and knees down a seven or eight foot tunnel, we stood up and could hop up into an open room, not high enough to actually stand but obviously many others had visited here there were several half-used candles to prove so. I actually enjoyed the fact that I got to visit that place. Had I only stayed on the other side of the sod, on the surface of the ground, I would not have known anything about what was down below its depths.

Our pastor posed a question yesterday to the effect that perhaps many christians do not even realize the constant involvement of the Holy Spirit's ministry on our lives. I read today out of I Thessalonians 5:23 which says "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit, soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." This set my mind and heart to thinking on the depths of God and it brought to mind another verse from Romans 11:33 "O, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgements, and His ways past finding out!" The Bible says that God will "search us out" if we ask Him to (Psalm 139:23,24). He sanctifies us deeply, clear down into our soul (the dim regions of our personality that we cannot get at, nor develop). As we ask God to search us, He sanctifies (sets us apart) us too. Every little area of our "depths" need to be opened up to Him.

We are not to be leaving impressions of ourselves with others. We need to be leaving the impression that the Holy Spirit is having unhindered way "because the last abyss of his nature has been satisfied by Jesus. The only impression left by such a life is that of the strong, calm sanity that Our Lord gives to those who have been intimate with him." (a quote from O. Chambers)

Let's take some time to go to the deeps of God's promise today.

Exhaustless Love

The Lord has been leading me through the gospels in my daily reading of His Word. Recently we have started a new series in our Sunday School class. It is called Keeping God's Commandments. As  most would guess, we began by looking into Exodus 20 and studying the 10 Commandments, the Law, given to the nation of Israel.

The children and I talked about the fact that the 10 commandments were given to show people that no one is able to keep the Law perfectly; "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23).  The New Testament tells us that the Law "was our schoolmaster, to bring us unto Christ."  When Jesus came to this earth He came to "fulfill the Law" (and ultimately to die on the cross for man's sin). Jesus was the only one who was able to keep the Law perfectly. He was the spotless Lamb (chosen from the foundation of the world) who would be slain to take away the sin of the world.  When asked what the greatest commandment was, Jesus boiled the 10 commandments down to two; to love the Lord thy God with ALL (heart, soul and might)-which encompasses the first four of the 10 commandments;  and to love thy neighbor as thyself- which sums up the last six of the commandments.
Oh, how much is contained in those two commandments!  What it all boils down to is "love".  God IS love, and His love is truly exhaustless.  The longer I study it and think upon it, the more I realize that, as the author of love, only He can produce it in me!

On Sunday afternoon our pastor taught on the Beatitudes from Matthew 5 (and Luke 6). I am so used to reading them from Matthew that I forgot how they are worded in the gospel of Luke, where I was reading yesterday.  Woven throughout the fabric of the beatitudes are many threads of love.  Pastor was explaining that though these words were written to show the Jews of that day that they had broken God's law and therefore needed a savior, people reading it today can also see that Jesus came to "fill out" (fulfill) the Old Testament law.  Once a person trusts Jesus as their savior, He will begin to produce these things in us. In the end of Luke 7 Jesus is present at the home of Simon the Pharisee.  While they ate an unchaste woman came with an alabaster box of ointment. With the tears that she was weeping she washed Jesus' feet, wiped them with the hairs of her head and anointed his feet with the precious ointment! Simon was disgusted by the fact that she was a sinful woman and Jesus knew his thoughts. The words that follow have been precious to me since they first sunk into my heart years ago. Jesus posed the question about two debtors, one owed the creditor more money than the other. They were both forgiven their debt because they had nothing wherewith to pay. He asked, "which of them will love him most?" Simon judged rightly when he answered, "I suppose, he to whom he forgave most".  Jesus then used this woman's works to show to Simon how much she had been forgiven. Simon could only understand her love for the Lord by seeing her outward actions. Simon had not given Jesus water to wash his feet, nor had he given him a kiss upon entering his house. He did not anoint Jesus' head with oil. The woman, who knew she had much to be forgiven for, loved Jesus so much that she washed his feet with tears and wiped them with her hair. She kissed his feet and anointed them with expensive ointment. Her works showed her faith in the one who could forgive her sins, and Jesus did so. Luke 7:47 says that "Her sins which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much; but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little." When  the Lord sent this woman away, he said, "thy faith hath saved thee". Her faith that Jesus was the savior brought her to Christ, but her works showed the love she had for Him.

Through the years and at different levels of spiritual growth the Lord has reminded me of just what it means to love Him with all my heart, soul, mind and strength. His love is beyond understanding and yet He wants us to come to Him as one to whom "much has been forgiven".  Any christian has had MUCH forgiven but the problem seems to lie in how much we recognize just what we have been forgiven for!  The words, "but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little" can't mean that some have been forgiven for just a little sin, as any believer has been forgiven for EVERY sin. I won't try to pretend to understand exactly what the Lord meant there, but in context it seems to point to the recognition of just what we have been forgiven for. In my own life there was great sin, perhaps not greater than others, but sin is sin. I ask myself again, just how thankful am I that Jesus took away that enormous amount of sin?  Are my works and my love for my Lord showing that great forgiveness?
Do I wash Jesus' feet with my tears and wipe them with the hairs of my head? Do I bring precious ointment, my time, devotion and attentions, and kiss His feet daily?

Much has been forgiven me. I want to more steadily "love much".  I pray this for every born again believer who is reading. It is only a short time, it seems, before the Lord will be bringing this earth, as we know it, to a close. Great changes are ahead for the earth and the time that we have to serve Him here and to show our love to others is limited. Once we rise from our precious time with the Lord we go out to a world who needs to be forgiven also. Loving my neighbor as myself is another lesson that God is patiently trying to teach me. Lord, please show me how loving others is a natural extension of loving you with all I have.

I leave you today with only these partial thoughts; perhaps haphazard and a bit scattered. I pray that the Lord will pull these truths into my heart and keep them there, not let them filter out amongst the various happenings of the day.  Thanks for visiting Darling Hill this morning. The snow is gently falling and we begin another day with Him.