It was supposed to be one of those Saturdays where I get up and get moving to get the early start. Well, I got the early start around 4:00 am from Buddy. As much as I love Buddy and so glad that she is here, I don't especially like her little temper tantrums. She was still miffed that I had carried her upstairs when I went to bed instead of letting her stay downstairs and chase a fly. After she sat there for a few minutes giving me the stink eye, she went back downstairs. I went to bed. Sometime during the night she fell asleep on my arm...till about 4:00 am. It started with the meow that signals she is not happy. I petted her she started purring but she did the meow again and when I opened my eyes she was sitting there on my arm with the Buddy Big Eyes stare down. Trapped! If I move my arm she attacks it, if I do nothing there is the remote possibility that she will take a swipe at my face. It wouldn't make a mark because we have those cat paws on her nails but she could bite. Finally, a sliver of a moment of escape presented itself and I was able to free myself and get my glasses on. We did the stare down for a while and then she got bored and left. She came back later and slept at the end of the bed. It took a little bit for me to go back to sleep thus awakening much later than I had planned. So now that easing into the day has presented itself, I will just go with it.
Last night I did my last blackberry picking. Since the fruit has been ripening these past few weeks, I always check for deep purple among the red berries and there seemed to be quite a few ripe berries since I hadn't picked in about three days there beside the driveway. Since it has been warm this week, I waited until about 7:30. After making a good sized dent into the berries by the driveway, I walked down to the front of our property and checked those bushes...most of them were drying up but there were a few big berries to get easily along the side of the road. It has been a successful first berry season for us. I think including the pies I made, we will have picked about twelve or thirteen quarts and most of those have been prepared and frozen for another day. By far this has been our best fruit harvest. We got a few cherries, picked about a basket full of plums and I'm not sure about apples this year.
I attended a memorial service on Thursday. A friend in my Sunday School Class lost her husband a couple of weeks ago and had to wait until "the Texans" could come for the service. Most of his family lives around the Houston area. It was a very simple service, without pomp and circumstance. The family was already sitting at the front of the church. The service was at 5:00, Many came in their work clothes to pay their respects...I'm not talking about suit and ties. Pastor Jeff preached a wonderful service and the son in law gave one of the eulogies. As he spoke his two young children wanted to be on the stage with him and after he had finished the young man of probably six asked his father if he could say something about his grandpa... This little boy took the microphone and said, 'he was very kind.' That my friends is a powerful statement and a legacy that most any would want said of them, they were very kind. Last August as I spent the month here resting and looking at houses, I was astonished and mesmerized by the kindness of God. This past year has been seeing the kindness of God shown through others. I was texting with a Houston friend this week and I expressed the difference I'm seeing in what is chaff and what is really important in the Body of Christ simply from attending a smaller church. She expressed the same thing as she and her husband help a smaller church for the month of July with teaching and music. For those of us who attend or attended a 'mega' church, we know these things deep down but because of size, it's something that we only recognize from time to time with those we do life with sans fog machines and all the bells and whistles. I like fog machines and bells and whistles but it has been good for this soul to return to a simple style and a basic faith and trust in God. After the service I asked my friend and SS teacher if this was basically how most funerals are done in the area...she said yes, simple and to the point. I love that!
Again, the kindness of God in being able to get to a place where I needed to be both physically and spiritually. The beauty of God's creation, well except maybe for the squirrel out back, ok, the squirrel too, speaks to the depth of my being. After such a great study of Genesis in CBS a couple of years back, the verses about time and seasons are becoming more real as I can actually see that take place. I can see this especially with the fruit seasons so far and August 1st, apples from orchards around the area will be ready for the picking and the selling. That will bring in September, when the temps really change unlike in Houston. I do know this, even here with less humidity and feels like temps, the heat affects me. Doesn't zap me of everything like Houston, but it does keep my activities curtailed, outdoor ones. Like picking blackberries...I wish I had the strength and stamina to tolerate it but even then, we are blessed.
No comments:
Post a Comment