Even When We Cannot See

Another encouraging note from the ministry of Ellerslie.com:

"Are we willing to trust our God implicitly, even when we cannot see the end of the story? If our answer is yes, we will watch God turn all that is meant for evil to good; we will see Him restore what has been lost. We may not see the evidence of this miracle immediately. But as we surrender and trust, His power is already at work even when we cannot see it. May we never forget that we serve a God of redemption; a God who delights to turn our mourning into dancing, as we put our hope in Him."
— Eric Ludy

"We wait in hope for the LORD;
He is our help and our shield.
In Him our hearts rejoice,
for we trust in His holy name.
May Your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD,
even as we put our hope in you."

Psalm 33:20-22

Mountain Born

"Old Benj had once said, 'A man must have a care to what he puts in his mind, for when he's alone on a hillside and draws it out, he'll want treasures to be his company, not regrets.'"

What a great point made by children's author Elizabeth Yates in her Newberry Honor book, Mountain Born.

This little book contains some of those treasures, I think. While faith in the God of the Bible is only in the background much of the time, we continually see wonder at His creation while learning lessons both from the beauty and the fallen-ness of it.



"The year had hinges on which it hung, and every hinge had something to do with the sheep; but that was the life on Andrew's farm and the living for his family, and it was right that the sheep should mark it for them."

Old photos: 

• Feeding some of our bottle lambs with Maren. (Apparently I had already found a book I couldn't put down all those years ago!) 

• When young, we had the privilege of learning to process our wool from raw, dirty fleeces to usable, if rough, yarn.

How fun through this book to spend a couple years on a sheep farm once again with delightful, young Peter! The first year is the time when little Peter is just old enough to begin helping with a man's work. A special bottle-lamb gives him much more than a new, wool coat while he grows and learns from his parents and "Old Benj."

"As they drew nearer the cottage, the sound of the spinning wheel came out to meet them, drawing them toward it with its soft whirring croon. Peter thought, as he heard it, that if one could catch the sound of time going by -- days and seasons into years -- it might be like that of the wheel."

Then we skip ahead a few years. The worn coat is getting too small, and the pet lamb is growing older. There are more lessons to be learned in a gentle, yet true-to-life way.

While I admittedly may have shrunk from this book when young because, yes, animals do die... it is dealt with in a gentle, matter-of-fact way, and I can recommend this little book that I recently borrowed from my nephew. I'm sure his parents will begin reading it to him well before he can understand the half of it, which is great! (He already heard Robinson Crusoe!) I am glad he can grow up with stories we never knew of at that age, as well as our old favorites.

There is Truth in It

 

"'I don't understand it. What can there be in a simple little story like that, to make people praise it so?' she said, quite bewildered.

"'There is truth in it, Jo, that's the secret; humor and pathos make it alive, and you have found your style at last. You wrote with no thought of fame or money, and put your heart into it, my daughter...'

"So, taught by love and sorrow, Jo wrote her little stories, and sent them away to make friends for themselves and her, finding it a very charitable world to such humble wanderers; for they were kindly welcomed..."

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

No, I have not seen the new film adaptation of this now-classic story. Rather, after seeing the focus on actor/actress worship among its fans, I recently needed a dose of the real thing to get the "taste out of my mouth." 

The dramatic reading (version 3) free audiobook on Librivox.org was once again a breath of fresh air! 

Elsa and I find ourselves coming back and back to the gentle stories of Louisa May Alcott in times of adrenal fatigue. What makes them so special? I think the above conversation between Jo and her father says it well.

"There is truth in it..."

Winter Blossoms

It's amazing how the exotic blooms on most of my orchids are timed to bloom mid-winter.

The pink orchid opened February 12th when outdoor temps were at least 25 degrees below zero (Fahrenheit).

Winter Garden

 

Even though we kept harvesting kale well after the snow and frosts set in again for 2020, a bit was left in the garden beds.

The rest of our current crop is snow. 

Set Apart

I appreciate regular reminders of the Truth from the ministry of Ellerslie.com.

"As Christian values become more and more socially distasteful in our culture, the pressure to 'give Christianity a makeover' is growing by the day. In order to align our lives and our beliefs with God’s truth, we must make a decision to be set apart from the culture, even at the risk of being socially unacceptable. This doesn’t mean we need to be rude or insensitive to those with different values than ours. But it does mean we have to be willing to swim against the tide and not be swayed by popular opinion. It means we need to build our lives according to God’s pattern, instead of trying to blend God’s pattern with our culture’s values. As Christians, we should be the ones influencing the culture with truth — not the other way around. Now is the time to stand boldly with Jesus."

— Eric Ludy

Sweater Weather 2021

 

Recently Joseph wore his birthday sweater
made by Tante Elsa (an Aran design knit in wool)
while visiting Grandma, who was also wearing
her birthday sweater!

It was 4 degrees Fahrenheit and dropping.
We don't expect to see anything but below-zero
temps for a week at least.

(photo credit: Maren)

To Be Misjudged

One of my volunteer jobs on LibriVox.org is to proof-listen chapters that other readers are recording. 

As I have been involved in many George MacDonald projects since I joined the community, I have worked with some of the same people many times. Devorah is one of the readers who regularly puts in the many months it takes to record a long solo in her spare time from a full-time job. I am grateful that she tackles the MacDonald books with more Scotch Doric than I can handle - and does it in such a beautiful way that (at least we American) listeners can quickly grow accustomed to the unfamiliar vocabulary and often follow the storyline better than if trying to read the print ourselves.

Click here for the free audiobook of Malcolm

Last year Devorah completed recording the book Malcolm (which was abridged by Michael Phillips as The Fisherman's Lady). Now she is working on the sequel - one of my top-three favorite George MacDonald novels.

Here is a bit that jumped out at me from the last chapter I proofed from The Marquis of Lossie. (If the Scotch Doric dialect is too hard to understand when first reading, scroll down to my paraphrase below.)

"It's a sair thing to be misjeedged," said Malcolm to himself as he put the [horse] in her stall; "but it's no more than the Macker o' 's pits up wi' ilka hoor o' the day, an' says na a word. Eh, but God's unco quaiet! Sae lang as he kens till himsel' 'at he's a' richt, he lats fowk think 'at they like -- till he has time to lat them ken better. Lord, mak' clean my hert within me, an' syne I'll care little for ony jeedgement but thine."