Life Goes On
- Life Goes On, Life on the Farm, notes from the farm, Spiritual Disciplines, The Presence of God, Uncategorized
“Come”
” Come.” You are calling out to me, Jesus, “Come.” How often I have heard it in the recesses of my mind. “Come.” But it doesn’t ring out above the other voices, those loud and demanding voices. Yours is soft and gentle, and I have to stop and listen carefully to hear it: “Come.” Instead, I listen to the call that demands productivity: “Get it done, now.” Rather than lying in bed and listening to that still, small voice first thing in the morning, I sleep in until Judd awakes, and then dash to get dressed, make the bed, and get the coffee pot going. And you say “Come.”…
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Ah!! I Remember . . .
Fifty years of God’s faithfulness in our marriage brings a reflection on Trust. A particular hymn we occasionally sing in church never fails to stir my heart with memories of gratefulness, joy, and amazement. At Philadelphia College of Bible we sang “Great is Thy Faithfulness”at every chapel meeting. I remember hurrying from my room, down five flights of stairs to the old chapel. Yes, my bed was made, everything picked up and neat. This was the time the dorm mom would visit every room for a room- check. Your bed better be made, and you had best be out of the room and down in chapel, or you would receive…
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A House by the Side of the Road
A house on a farm in Kansas? Can actually touch the world? Or is it the world touching the farm? The answer is: Yes . . . both! Today we sat around the old oak dining-room table and ate sandwiches with a family from Ukraine. Earlier in the morning we breakfasted around the same table with overnight guests from Georgia, USA. Meanwhile, grandchildren and our children pass by our dining room window: Dan on his daily prayer walk; Elsie on her bike, off to clean for an elderly woman down Kitten Creek Road; the three younger boys watering all the newly planted trees around our home. Out our kitchen window…
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A Wedding in the Walnut Grove
A wedding! The third grandchild ( third child of Dan and Nancy) is now creating a new limb to our family tree. Lillian and Shiloh’s story goes back ten or eleven years ago when the Brock and Swihart family first met. Even then, it seems, there were sparks. But little did they express that interest until just a few months ago. What joy it was to celebrate their wedding with them. Lillian carried flowers that she had grown in her garden; we shared cherry pie that she and her friends had baked; and the couple drove off in a vehicle that Shiloh and his friends had “constructed.” Creativity abounds in this…
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Re-Collecting in the Pasture
Today I needed to walk the old familiar trail in the pasture again.The thoughts and feelings swirling in my mind and heart were and are disconcerting. Thirty-eight years ago, this pasture was new to me. My body was younger. I was filled with anticipation of what could be, Things in the world were . . . just different. Yes, we were on a down-swing in our culture, but there was hope of changing it. Yesterday we were young, God was with us, we could carry out the vision under God’s direction. We were a community with one heart. Today, we are not so young. Our community living here is of…
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Our Life in the Country
According to the resident expert this is a lavender Australorp (ROOSTER!!!). Sometimes life in the country takes “true grit.” My new replacement hen crowed today. OOps. He was guaranteed to be a hen. Now, my granddaughter, Lillian, tells me the other “hen” is a rooster, also. And why do I have a replacement in the first place? This is the sad part. According to the trail cam we also have a mother fox with three kits. This mom decided she needed to feed her babes, and my wonderful, dear old hens were the dinner. The night before a raccoon had decimated my friendly ducks. I became an “empty nester” in just a…