It will do

Into middle autumn now, where the flaming leaves drop like a curtain to carpet the damp ground. With the sun on our backs and at times in our eyes, we took advantage of a windless and perfect autumn day. Armed with secateurs, a long-handled tree trimmer, and a bush saw, we set out to give a short back and sides to the trees drooping into our drive. Especially the graceful larch, which has been here since before we were, almost forty years ago now.

Up and down sometimes precariously-positioned ladders, stretching to trim and saw limbs away before they could do any damage. The result is a successful short back and sides done by amateurs. But it’ll do.

For years, I was barber to our three boys. I could wield those clippers – just like cutting grass. Though the result was probably amateurish. Fortunately, I got away with it. And saved a small fortune.

Life often dishes up challenges that we are not expert at dealing with. I am facing one or two at the moment which make me feel inadequate and fearful of failure. But with God’s help, I can do it. Trusting in him to guide. The result may not be professional, but it will do.

Repetitive strain...

A few weeks ago, the farmer spread the manure over the field. Today, in the winter sunshine, he is back. His tractor pulls the plough up and down, up and down, tediously repetitive and slow. But one furrow at a time, the field is being transformed from the tired green of root-bound weeds and grass into the rich brown of freshly-turned soil. One furrow at a time. 

There is a rhythm in the farmer’s life, a repetitive rhythm. Tedious or comforting in its predictability? Depends on one’s point of view, on one’s state of mind, on one’s focus.

Monday, Monday. It can sound like a lament, or like a celebration. I confess that today, having tackled a tax miscalculation and preparing to wade into another insurance confusion for Mom, the refrain was more lament than celebration. But then as I sat in the window and watched the steady progress of the farmer’s plough, there was a shift in my thoughts. 

This is the day the Lord has made. I am up and healthy, blessed with loved ones and blessed with choices. The boundaries for me have fallen in pleasant places. Peaceful places. Places where I am free to roam. I will rejoice and be glad in this day, Monday, as I prepare to get my head around the intricacies of insurance. 

The farmer presses on until the whole field is ploughed. With God’s help, I will press on, too.

Irritating Beauty

It’s a gorgeous summer day – warm enough to consider donning a pair of shorts and getting out there in the garden and getting some real work done. The flowers are lovely just now – rose bushes loaded with fragrant blooms, various spiky yellow and purple bushes scatter around the garden and of course my favourite, the sweet peas are blooming their sweet smelling heads off. 

I’m not even out there yet but already I am sneezing, violent sneezes as my body rejects the pollen in the air. 

Why are things of such beauty such a trial for so many of us?

I’ve just been reading a verse from Philippians. ‘...whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praise-worthy – think about such things.’ 

When I really breathe that deep into my spirit, I find myself expelling petty thoughts, jealousies, and criticisms. I believe it is almost automatic – that if I can focus on such positive and encouraging thoughts, then I will ‘sneeze’ out the negative and critical meannesses which can weasel their way into my thinking. 

The trick is to make it a habit to think about such things.

I’m off to sneeze my way round the garden, thinking noble thoughts. With God’s help.

Rabbits

Rabbits

Month with an R in it. My mother-in-law, apparently, always said ‘Rabbits’ on the first day of a month with an R in it. Strange, the customs we pick up and carry on. She was born and raised in Shanghai, so does that mean it was a Chinese custom, or a family tradition or just a joke between sisters?

Tomorrow will be Groundhog Day, made famous by the rather irritating film of the same name. How these odd customs ever got started is a mystery.

Some days feel like Groundhog Day the movie, though. Sometimes when a task is particularly tedious you feel like you’re continually reworking the same ground. 

Maybe there’s an element of truth in the concept of Groundhog Day the movie, in that life is an opportunity to grow. Wiser perhaps. More like God, hopefully. Less selfish and sinful, less stressed out and anxious. Less driven. More willing to stop and smell the roses, listen to a child laugh, a bird sing.

And because God is so merciful and gracious, we get more than one chance. If we’ve blown it, we just need to pick ourselves up, brush ourselves off, and rededicate ourselves to going forward again. 

And with God’s help, little by little perhaps, we will be changed.

Takes the tedium out of the Groundhog Day concept. There’s a challenge there. To go for it, right til the final breath.

That’s what I’m aiming to do.

Rabbits.