Our She Neighbor

Cold Winter has settled in, made herself at home here at Fair Haven.  She is most welcomed by a warm fire and attentive heart.  We watch her, and she performs for us.  She brings us winter birds, pelicans, and seagulls, an occasional snow that falls with something of the grace of infinitesimal butterflies lighting on our acres.  Soft and quiet, her snow is and is always welcome for a short stay.  Winter pushes our bar quite a bit higher, forcing us to brace up with will and wool to face her, hike with her, walk in her stillness and the cold of her mornings.  Winter is like an old, bony, she neighbor whose translucent hands and milky eyes comfort you as she hands you a cup of hot chocolate.  

   

Fully Full Glass

The glass window is clearly a gift. It opens to us the world while holding it at bay.  It allows us to see winter, its glory, and beauty, without having to experience its special effects.  Seeing is its own experience without troubling ourselves with experiencing what we are seeing.  It is the ultimate video game, playing in nature without actually being in nature.  How differently, difficult our life would be if to see nature we had to go outside.  What a gloriously clear gift is glass, allowing us to see why we should be thankful.  I would say our glass is full, fully full.   

        

Pelican Praise

We have a love affair with the Pelicans.  My wife told me what she was reading about the Pelicans and why ours are the prettiest.  Ours would be the American Pelican; 100 or so come every winter to spend it with us.  We are overjoyed when they arrive and often talk to them as they glide beautifully by day and night like His Parade of Glory.  They have become our Thanksgiving Parade, moving us in ways only big white pelicans can move you.  Right!  We’d never heard of the parade or dreamed we would be “moved” by it until they showed up in our front windows.  Now, we are some of their biggest fans.  In our old, ancient hearts, we’re BFFs.  Pelicans doing God’s work in our hearts, delighting us in the Lord.    

   

 

Standing With Lesser King George II

Oh, the precious winter months and the fires that warm us through them.  Being warmed by fire can be a part of a great awakening, of the cosmic kindness of all things working together for good.  The earth, and sun, and all stars and humans are on a great stage, and God is our audience.  What act shall we perform as our time on stage grows short?  An act of worship-filled thanksgiving seems too small as we sit by a warming fire.  Who, oh yes, Who could in Their wildest imagination, dream up fire and put it in wood? Our great King could and did, and like the much lesser king George II, we rise before Him and call him Blessed, for fire’s Hallelujah Chorus warms our old bones to stand on stage and perform for Him.  

 

Sabbath's 25 Herons

The world in solemn stillness lay.  It is just light, grey, and cold, the earth, the river, and the sky are all the same cold color.  When I awoke, the moon shone bright upon the earth, giving light to the cold.  We had near 25 herons overnight by our shore and now I can see them very slowly, one and then another, fly away to mornings somewhere else.  It is Sabbath morning and we will join the pilgrims around the globe moving to worship together.  I can feel the swelling faith, as millions uncounted rise to join all nature (and herons) in manifold witness and declare, “This is the day the Lord hath made.  Let us rejoice and be glad in it.”  But for now, the world in solemn stillness lay.  

What's left of our Sabbath Herons waiting to fly away.

 

His Cold Child's Thoughts

Well the snow has laid hold of the earth and will not relinquish it like the mighty struggle we wage for faith.  Our heart, that dull, sedimentary, stone heart, we labor to fan to flame that which lies cold beneath the skin like the earth beneath the snow.  We beat our body to enslave it to faith as violently we take His kingdom of salvation.  Who has faith and has not found it often frozen like the pure white snow, its beauty there lies until we seek to cloak ourselves in it and find there is no warmth from its blanket.  The faith that soared while sitting by the fire and watching Him snow the earth in purest white now lays cold as the ashes that fill my hearth.  But Christ in God does not take on my feelings as to mount His defense.  He is true and His salvation assured even when I lay spent at the very gate.  He stands inside the gate knowing full well that I also, inside the gate, I, His cold child, lay wrapped in His loving, warm arms.

  Thoughts on Matthew 11:12 

A barge pulls itself up river as the snow begins to fall.

 

Ok God, You're On!!!

Sitting quietly by the fire, drinking coffee, eagerly waiting on the promised snow.  Snow brings out the kid in every Southerner.  We rarely get it, so when we do, it is a special event.  We prep for it, buy all the milk, bread, and bananas, rent several good movies, plan homemade soups, fill our wood boxes, and turn off our alarm clocks.  We then sit and wait for the big event.  Last evening, I sat down, looked out at the setting sun, and said aloud, “Ok, God, I’m ready for the big event.  You’re on!!!”  I always watch the sunrise and sunset.  This is how Southerners feel about snow.  We know He has a storehouse full of the stuff (Job 38), and occasionally, He shares several inches with us.  It brings such a peaceful and sincere quiet to our world.  “Ok, God, we’re ready for the big event!  You’re on!!!”