It was a good week. We welcomed spring with several mini snowstorms, and little bits of warm and friendly weather, a rollercoaster weather week. Tagged lots of calves, shipped a load of yearlings, baked lots of bread, sold lots of eggs, trained pups, and in general enjoyed a brief slow down before things pick back up. Searched for pasqueflowers, but no luck there yet. I did, however, find a snow-roller on a walk with the dogs.
Life’s a whirlwind. Embrace the whirlwind!
“The whole world is a series of miracles, but we’re so used to them we call them ordinary things.”
Hans Christian Andersen
Romans 1:20 talks about how God’s divine attributes are clearly perceived in His creation design. If you want to see miracles, just look at the beauty of this earth! Creation just sings that there is a God who created all that we see and loves what He created! Few things convince me of this more than the joy God’s furred and feathered creatures bring to His humans, the deep love that can be shared between a human and an animal and yes, I believe it is reciprocal. I think animals have way more to their minds than we give them credit for, much more capacity for emotion and connection. It goes beyond instinct. And I believe that this intellect and intuition is something that brings glory to the Creator! God didn’t need to create any of what He created, and He sure didn’t need to create a human-animal connection that is so joy-giving. Yet what He created He looked at and “saw that it was good.” Isn’t it amazing that He did what He did? That He has created a world that can bring so much joy and goodness and pleasure? Because He didn’t need to.
The delight and peace I feel with my animals is one of those ordinary joys that really is anything but ordinary.
Mud. Animal antics. Homemade bread. Baskets and baskets of eggs. More mud! Feeding cows. Puppy mischief. Live calves. A good save. More mud. New chicks. It was a good week.
“The whole world is a series of miracles, but we’re so used to them we call them ordinary things.”
Hans Christian Andersen
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how easy it is to count our trials instead of our blessings. Rather than dwelling on what is “true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, excellent, and praiseworthy,” (Philippians 4:8) we focus in on everything that is exactly not those things. Rather than looking at the lilies of the field and the birds of the air and seeing God’s providence for them and so trusting in His providence for us (Matthew 6:26-30), we look at the ways we feel that God is giving us the short end of the stick.
May I never grow calloused to God’s simple blessings. Reminders of His kindness. Miracles found in the most mundane of places. Ordinary joys.
“A quiet and modest life brings more joy than a pursuit of success bound with constant unrest.” ~Albert Einstein
Song Dog Journal 