A Dry and Weary Land

It has been a while since I have stopped my body long enough from the busyness of life to allow my mind to really think on things and to reflect on those things.

Summer has come and has started to drift into the very beginning stages of autumn.  There has been a crispness in the air in the mornings that is like a whisper of things to come.  It is not only a pleasant feeling, it is also a refreshment for the mind, the body, and the soul that is weary from the dry and hot summer.

This one has been an extraordinarily dry summer with soil that is cracked and desert-like.  The weeds can not even survive the dryness.   Our yard had not been mowed in almost 2 months.  I hung clothes out on the clothes line for the first time this weekend (because of a reconfigured dog pen vs. backyard which is another story), and they were dry in under 30 minutes.  Dry might be an understatement. 

I saw an aspen tree last week that is already starting to change to light yellow-- one or two crisp mornings, and it is ready.   I think all of creation here in the Valley is ready for autumn.  There is a longing for rain and for the change of seasons. 

There is a thirstiness evident in nature by the cracked soil, the brown, crunchy grass, the lack of flowers and weeds, the sparseness of the trees.  When people are thirsty it is harder to tell.  Our tongues get a little thick, but we will often live with just enough that no one would know how thirsty we really are.    We act like we are quenched, but all the while we are trying to slake the inner thirst of our souls with things that will never satisfy.   Our souls are parched and brown and looking dead.

One thing that is true here in our drought-stricken valley is that when rain comes, the struggling vegetation responds and responds quickly.  We had a rain for almost an hour last week and within two days we had patches of green grass where the brown and crunchy grass had been. 

Our hearts are similar. Just a few drops of the word of God and we notice a softening and a hint of life and beauty.  The living water of Christ is what we should thirst for.  His fountain will provide what we need and will fill our cups until they overflow.  Even in the midst of a physical drought in our surrounding world, our hearts can be healthy and flourishing from the well of life that we have because of Christ.

During this busy and dry summer, I have tried to remember that verse from Psalms about my soul thirsting for the Lord, and I have been asking Him to be my all-- to satisfy me totally.  May I not look at my surroundings or other people or things for satisfaction but only to Him.  He is all I need.  He is the Living Water, and I will never thirst again. 

Psalm 63:1 "O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you;  my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water."

What is your job?

We woke up to a low and loud "MOOOOOOOOOO" the other Sunday morning.    The dogs were barking and the cow was mooing.  We squinted as we tried to open our sleepy eyes and get a glimpse out of the window.  Yep.  It was a cow.   It was actually many cows in our fields far and near.  Most of them were couplets of cows and their calves. 

The rancher who has cattle next to our property has been wanting to put cattle on our land for a year now, but has used other pasture because of the dryness of the grass.  This spring things are green and relatively lush for here.  This Sunday morning was the time for the gates to be opened between the properties and for the cows to have free reign. 

It really is a peaceful and beautiful sight with the black and brown cows on the green hills with the bluish/purplish mountains in the background.   The dogs were beginning to settle down as they realized that the cows couldn't get to them and that all they were doing was eating, and eating, and eating.   There was only one thing that the dogs really hated.   There was a white donkey in the field.  It stuck out like a sore thumb.  He was moseying around eating just like the cows.  The dogs did not appreciate the big white thing in the field.

We watched him and tried to figure out if he had a purpose or if he was just another animal that the rancher had that needed pasture.  He came to the fence and became fast friends with Isabel who was ready with some carrots.  He seemed like a gentle and docile old creature. 

The next time I was at work, I was talking with one of the midwives who lives next to the rancher whose cows we are hosting.  She said that the donkey is about as sweet as they come, and that he is invaluable.

It turns out that the docile donkey does indeed have a job.  His job is to protect those calves.  He keeps the coyotes away from the babies.  She told me that they got him about four years ago and haven't lost a calf since to coyotes. 

What an unlikely hero.   He is a donkey with a mission.  He herds the cows around and keeps the calves from wandering.  He reminds me of each of us.  We are placed in the fields, surrounded by others, with a purpose.  Be alert!  Do your job!  Eat your grass and occasional carrots, but be on the lookout for the coyotes.  Embrace your purpose-- seemingly glamorous or not. 

1 Peter 5:8 "Be self-controlled and alert.  Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour."

Three Days of Community

I was introduced this week to yet another new concept--small town community. Saturday night there was a fundraiser at the school for a family in the valley in deep financial need. The mom has cancer, and they are without medical insurance. Isabel's dance class was invited to dance at the event, and so we planned to go.

As I got in the vicinity of the middle school, I was overwhelmed. There were cars everywhere. There were hundreds of people there. They were there to celebrate knowing this lady and her husband and kids, and to help in whatever way they could. There was a silent auction of things donated from local artists and businesses-- even a big freezer of elk steaks. There was a barbecue dinner and ongoing talent on the stage.

On Sunday, our crew went hiking with some friends of ours, and on the way home we had to stop for some commotion in the highway.   Someone's fence had fallen and their horses were out and in the highway. About five truckloads of people (including our hiking partners who were a few minutes ahead of us) were out in the road corralling the horses and helping them get back into the fence. Things stood still on the busy road until the horses were safely contained.

On Monday night, the PTO for the schools had invited the Harlem Ambassadors to town for a basketball game versus the hometown heroes. We had gotten tickets a couple of weeks ago to support the PTO, and the kids were thrilled to see a few of their teachers play ball. When we arrived at the high school, it was like something from a movie. EVERYONE was there. The team of local heroes included principals, teachers, the sheriff, the owner of the garbage company, the owner of the electric company, the city manager, and about twenty others. Every seat in the gym was packed with standing room only. It was a bit like being in a movie, or taking a step back to simpler times. For a weekend we saw community at its best. People thinking beyond themselves and meeting the needs of others.

Small town life is no utopia. It holds the same pressures and life heartaches, but what a beautiful reminder of how we are to pitch in and be a neighbor. We are to gather in hard times and hold each other up, and in lighter times we play and laugh.

Philippians 2:3-4 "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.  Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others." 

What is that?

The first snake of the season bit the dust last week thanks to yours truly. Yes, it has begun. It has been a beautiful and enjoyable fall, winter, and spring of cool to cold weather. I have loved letting my guard down a bit. Our guards have been back up for the past month or so with warmer weather, but I honestly did not anticipate seeing one of my enemies this soon.

I was driving on our road, perhaps a half of a mile up from the house. All three kids were in the car with me. We all spotted it in the road at about the same time. We drove up pretty close and took a good look. We needed to see if it was a rattler or a bull snake. The head was kind of turned where we couldn't see it, so we looked at the skin and the tail. It was a little hard to tell (we are a bit out of practice since our last rattler was August 25), but the consensus was that it was more likely a rattler than not. The skin was dull and the tail appeared to have rings. I used my signature vehicular snake-acide move and backed up, drove forward and slammed on my brakes when on top of the snake. It worked like a charm. There was no question that the snake had met its demise.

Unfortunately, we were able to now examine him better and realized that he was a bull snake. There are defense mechanisms that this harmless snake uses that are not to its benefit. A bull snake will even pretend to shake its "rattle" and coil up and reshape its head to look triangular. I suppose that that may help in the animal kingdom, but with this human it backfires. There is such a similarity that I couldn't tell in the time of decision. It was a good refresher on the looks of the bull versus the rattler for the beginning of our snaky season.

I was saddened that I had killed what is supposed to be a "good" snake. It did, however, make me stop and think about a life lesson. What am I trying to emulate or imitate? What is it that I think will help me survive but is actually leading me into more danger? Sometimes I think we can get sucked into the world and its glitter and can begin to want to look like others-- in our dress, hair, speech, attitude, lifestyle, and even priorities and drives. It is subtle--- so subtle. Before we know it, we are a bull, but we are looking like a rattler.

We have to be careful who or what we are aspiring to look like. We are clothed with Christ's righteousness if we belong to Him. Our person to be looking more and more like is Jesus. May there be no mistake when others look at us in our everyday life on the road. I hope they don't have to stop and debate- "is she good? is she deadly? what is she?" May there be no question that I am who I am because of Christ and that my life is hidden in Him.

Colossians 3:1-3 "Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God."

Strange? Yes, but I have seen it before.

We have had the privilege of experiencing many, many new and odd things as we have lived our first year on the prairie. This past two weeks have brought with them a new found and wonderful familiarity. For the first time I began experiencing things I had seen before. We have come full circle and are back where we began.

There was a sweet smell in the air when I walked to the mailbox. Then I noticed that some small purple flowers (weeds) are cropping up in the yard just like last year. I have a vase of them in my kitchen window right now thanks to my sweet babies. The fruit trees are budding with deep pink blossoms-- and I know the bees will follow in the next few days. I cleaned out the flower beds and there are things that I planted last year coming back! As I stirred up the soil/manure I remembered the flies. Guess what? They appeared out of nowhere in the next hour!

The twenty plus turkeys have reappeared at exit 87 in the field alongside the interstate. The blue birds are back, and so are the yellowish kind of bird that was Ben's favorite last year. It sings a beautiful melody over and over and over again. The magpies have returned to their favorite bush (we call it the magpie bush of course) just down the road from our house. The mule deer are back, and the white tails have become scarce. The cows are having their babies and we see mom and calf pairs in the fields.

Hold on to your hat (literally)----the spring winds are back. They never totally left, but they are certainly stronger and more frequent. We had a warm and balmy strong wind two days ago and today it is cold as ice cutting through my jacket like a knife. I am confident that they will remain "as long as there is snow on the mountain." And speaking of snow, I was not surprised to have nearly a foot of snow expected today after temperatures in the lower 80s two days ago. We had two or three big snows last year in April and May--- weird but familiar.

The cycle of life has made another revolution and with it comes a new familiarity and appreciation. In a life of many, many unknowns, it is a relief to have "known" things to cling to. I don't know why those weird turkeys like exit 87, but I like that I can be confident that I will see them there.

When I have no idea what is coming or how situations will affect me and those I love, I can cling to the familiar and the known. I can cling to the promises of Christ in scripture. I can cling to Christ himself. He is unchanging as we walk through the changing seasons of life. He is a comfort. He is familiar and amazing. He gives me strength to face the flies, bees, and yes... the snakes that crop up among the purple flowers and beautiful songbirds' melodies.

Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through him who gives me strength."

An Entire Year-- My Boots are Well Worn

It is hard to believe, but we have been in "the valley" for a whole year. March 13 marked one year of country living, and I can report that we are different people than the city slickers who pulled up naively in the moving truck last year.

There are a few hurdles we have had to get over this year that we would not have chosen. It's that way in anyone's life. If we could see the things to come, we would likely lock ourselves inside our houses and never come out. We certainly would not be willing to head out on adventures that involve change. But we have found that change has been a challenging treat for the Cason five.

We are still overwhelmed by the beauty of the mountains, the fiery brilliance of the sunrise, and the diamond-like sparkling blanket of stars in the pitch black night. We all still watch closely for wildlife and see deer, hawks, coyotes, and antelopes almost daily.

Our hope when we moved here was for a new kind of existence-- one that is a little slower, a little more outdoorsy, and a little simpler. I am very aware that a move to the country is not necessary for those changes, but it certainly has helped us. We are better at cooking at home, for example, when forced to do it. Actually, I have found that I am better at lots of things when I am forced to do them. I never dreamed I could shoot a snake, chop a gopher in half, kill mice, bail out 250 gallons of water from an overflowing cistern, haul wood, start a fire, keep a fire going, have pets, mow the grass...... the list goes on and on.

I am sitting at the dining room table now and watching out the window as I type. I see eight pronghorn antelope running. There are two hawks gliding over the fields back and forth up and down like waves on a beach. The serene and the savage are mixed beautifully.

Serene and savage--- that may just sum up the past year. Adapting and yet still awed--- that would be our hope for the next year. There are so many more things to learn and things to learn to enjoy. That rings true of each person's life underneath the mundane and the familiar that seems to trap us in ruts. May we all allow our next year to be an adventure and may our hearts be filled with thankfulness for whatever we face.

Psalm 18:32-35 "It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect. He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me too stand on the heights. He trains my hand for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You give me your shield of victory, and your right hand sustains me."

Reflector on a Stick

On the dirt/gravel road that winds in the country toward our house and not much else, there are small sticks with round reflectors on top spaced out in a seemingly random scattered pattern. I see them everyday as I drive in and out of our driveway, and down the road to civilization.

I realized a bit of the importance of these sticks when driving home on a moonless night. It is quite dark out where we are. I might even say it is pitch black. I know the curves in the road, but the car lights reflecting on the round reflectors on the sticks, lit up the reflectors like a runway making the edges of the road much easier to see. It was very helpful.

Then, I had an evening following a big snow. The plows could not keep up with the snow (especially on our road-- since we are not exactly high priority). The reflectors had been nice in the darkness, but they now became critical to my ability to stay on the road. I could tell now why they were placed where they were. They were on curves, in spots with pretty good sized ditches on the sides of the road, and of course on our fence posts on either side of our driveway. The placement was NOT random-- it was strategic. I relied totally on those sticks with reflectors to get home. The road and landscape was unrecognizable, and I would have had no idea where the road even was without them.

There was one odd thing as I drove, however. I was focusing on the lights when I saw a random light out of the grouping. My brain tried to figure out quickly where the road was going. It turns out that it was a reflector on a electrical pole quite a ways off of the road. Who would do that?!? If the others hadn't been in the right spots, I would've followed that reflector and ended up in the snow-filled ditch and on into a field.

Those silly reflectors had gone from curious, to nice, to necessary for survival. It makes me think of how I handle the truths from the Bible. They are sometimes fine to look at and to think about, and sometimes they are downright helpful like the reflectors in the dark. But, their real purpose in revealed when we are in crisis. When our own faculties and ways to figure out the road are blurred by the storms around us, we have to rely on them for our very survival. Along the way, there may also be random other things that look like the truth that distract us and can easily get us off course.

I have come to love those reflectors and have an appreciation I never had in the summer and fall. In the winter cold and storms, they became precious. I hope I will do the same with the living and active Word of God. It is vital and I often discount that in my day to day journey on the road of life when things are moving along fine. May I rely on the truths of the Bible in the times of ease just as much as in the times of blinding storms.

Hebrews 12:2 "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."

"I never thought I'd live to see the day!"- Clean water!

I find myself often using one of my favorite sayings of my late paternal grandma: "I never thought I'd live to see the day!". It applies to many, many things in our lives, but this past week I used it in the context of water.

We have had water challenges over the past ten months. We have been searching for a solution to the problem and in the meantime have been having a water truck come in weekly and put city water into our cistern.

There is a man in Pueblo who thought he could fix our water. We were skeptical, but his approach was different than the others. We took a leap of faith and agreed for him to do the work. Amazingly, after a sediment filter, a peroxide filter, settling time in the cistern, two carbon filters, and a water softener, our water is colorless and odorless in the house--- amazing. We have a reverse osmosis filter also in the kitchen for drinking water and for the refrigerator and ice maker.

Harland immediately changed the shower head from the low-flow one back to the monster massaging one we had bought before we knew anything. We have been taking admittedly longer than necessary hot showers in the past week. AAAAHHHH!

Now the filters and the system requires maintenance, and the upkeep will have cost, but the ability to use our own well water is fantastic.

Our water filter man, Mark, has been back several times already to tweak the system. The well water was bad at first, but since we haven't used the well much at all since we moved in, the water got worse as the "real" well water came out. It is black and smells horrible from a myriad of minerals and crud. He tweaked, and we are amazed.

We were up Sunday morning getting ready for church, when Harland happened to go to the basement. He was just in time to see the beginnings of water and mud coming into the basement from our dirt crawl space tunnel. He turned the water off from the well and ran outside to check the cistern. The float sensor that tells the system to stop letting water into the cistern because it is full, had not worked and the cistern was full to the top and the excess was running out (kind of like a bathtub overflow drain) onto the freshly dug dirt above the crawl space. SO.... all of the 200 or so excess gallons of water in the cistern were headed for the dirt tunnel and the basement.

It was about 16 degrees outside, so we bundled up and Harland hurried to ciphon it out with a hose. All of our hoses were frozen and of no help---(good lesson on hoses). The next idea would be a small pump-- except that we don't have one---(we will have one soon, by the way). We were down to the only option we knew. We gathered buckets, and he and I bailed out the water one bucket at a time.

It felt like we were on the Biggest Loser in a challenge. We began squatting down and reaching a bucket into the cistern and filling it with water, hoisting it out, and running it out into the yard and emptying it. We tried to spread the water around in different spots so we wouldn't flood the yard. We decided to see it as a nice irrigation plan and one mean workout. Bucket after bucket we lowered the water level. Harland used a giant bucket and I used a little one. Either way, I assure you that the water got heavier with every load.

An hour and 10 minutes later, the level was well below the float, and the water had stopped flowing out. Harland had sweat drops frozen on his face and in his sideburns. We went down to the basement and collapsed onto the rug (which thankfully was spared the mud/water) and just breathed a sigh of relief and had a good laugh. We were sure that there was a Sunday school lesson in it somewhere since we had missed all of Sunday school and were likely to be late to church. Our cup runneth over!

It is a work in progress, and Mark is still tweaking the system, but I can say with confidence that "I never thought I'd live to see the day!". And I can also say that some hard physical work together with your spouse early on a beautiful Sunday morning can be a real unexpected treat.

Romans 15:13 "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."

Stoke that Fire!

There are many things I have learned this winter regarding warmth, fire, wood, and kindling. One of them is the idea of stoking the fire. I had heard the term and knew it involved moving things around with the poker that comes in the fireplace utensil kit.

I did not know, however, the importance of the stoking to keep the fire going. There can be nice hot coals under a smoldering log and, without the proper air flow, there are no flames and not a whole lot of heat. The poker is now my favorite tool--- I use it to make seemingly barely lit logs that have been on the fire for a while turn into a heap of beautiful coals. I bust those logs up with the poker and pile up the coals in the middle of the stove. I can then place a new log on the coals. I leave the stove door cracked to get some good air flow. Within seconds, the new log will burst into flames. I then close the door and let it burn until it too seems to be out and then poke again.

There are days when I feel like the old burnt log. I am smoldering but not really hot. I feel suffocated by the meanness and manipulation that surrounds us. I need a good poke to keep me alive. Then I can become aware of my purpose and can get some air to fuel my fire. I am thankful that the Word of God is that poker in my life. He reminds me of His truths and of His unchanging character. People around us are filled with ill intent and hopeless self-pity and blame, but He does not change like shifting shadows. I am encouraged to not let my fire burn out. Life is hard and people are cruel, but there is a steadfastness in God alone, and He is the flame that keeps the fire going.

So, I will keep the fire burning in my home on this very cold Colorado morning, and I will trust the Lord to keep the fire of faith in my heart. Stoking is a necessary part of the process. May we stir each other up for good in our day to day lives. Keep the fire going. This world is a cold place.

Isaiah 6:5-7 " "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty." Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said," See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sins atoned for."

A New Saying

I remember that my mother had many sayings when I was growing up. The one that stands out to me is: "You butt with your own head". It has proved to be true. I have found that I have a new saying of my own as of late and that I say it often. It applies to just about everything. My phrase is: "It is what it is." There is no need to stress about it or try to work to change it. There are some things about life that simply are what they are.

Yesterday we had to figure out how to hang mirrored doors on the closet if we wanted to have them. The fact that the old farmhouse closet has no standard measurement is just a fact. The floors are uneven and the width is indeed five feet at one spot. It is not five feet, however, at other spots. The closet opening is 80 inches high----on one end. The project of hanging the closet doors might have only been a thirty minute project had the closet been "standard". With the challenges we faced, it was an almost four hour project filled with creativity to make it work. We could have gotten frustrated and irritated, but that would not have changed the closet opening even a fraction of an inch. It is what it is.

There is no need to wish for fast food in the late evening. There is none. It is what it is. Case closed.

We are surrounded by fields. Those fields have field mice. We have mice occasionally in the house (although much less alarming to us than when we first moved in-- still unpleasant). We have cats outside to help catch mice, we keep things clean inside, we seal up every possible entry port from the outside, we set sticky traps. We do all we can to prevent them, but it is what it is.

Ben can be less than motivated when it is time to help me bring in firewood for the day/night. If we don't take the ashes out, bring in wood, take the time to start the fire, and keep it going, we will be cold. It is what it is. If we want to be warm, we will do the work.

That fire keeps the house toasty until it dies out in the middle of the night. The house gets cooler in the night. It is what it is. We cover up with blankets, wear good socks, and keep our bedroom doors open to get as much of the heat as we can.

A couple of weeks ago, there was a critter at the front door with big yucky yellow teeth hissing at our kitties, and I had to decide what to do. It is what it is. It would have done me no good to wish it wasn't there-- instead, just grab the shovel and chop it in half. (It was a gopher, by the way.)

It is a freeing way to think. It is what it is, so what am I going to do with it? How will I handle the challenge at hand? My energy can be used finding a solution or coping with things as they are rather than getting wrapped up in wishing things were different. I feel like this aspect of our move to the country has been one of the many positive changes for me. Roll up your sleeves, grab your work gloves or shovel and deal with it with grace. I feel sure that my kids will find themselves saying my saying when they are grown and chuckling. Oh well, it is what it is.

Matthew 6:27, 34 "Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."