Christmas come and gone

How was Christmas? I trust that it was a time of reflection on the greatest gift to mankind and enjoyed many warm nights in front of the tree. We tired to do this but life speeds by and the season becomes a blur of cookies (gluten free), parties and several trips to the mega marts and game stores (I will admit I do enjoying going to the Big R though kind of a guys Target). As we start a new year I am trying to put us on track to lead a different life. A life of being an unconscious competent at serving those around me. We watch “Midnight Clear” starring Stephen Baldwin and it will change how you think about what you say to total strangers in the filling station or at the market. When was the last time you said “have a great day” to the unresponsive teen at the checkout who is more concerned about the text message she is typing than her job? Have you taken a minute to help someone with their groceries because they were struggling with their little ones? How about buying a bell ringer a cup of coffee, you know it is cold out there? … I will continue these thoughts late...I am off to tend the fire.

To cut wood and reflections on the year.

Fishing Report: None it was 5 degrees F this morning but the rivers are still open maybe I will go New Year's Eve just to say I went. I may go hunt the wily coyote this week yet, we had a fox in the yard eyeing the chickens earlier this week and the dogs didn't even notice. They have been put on notice and hopefully they will be more alert next time.

I am off to cut wood shortly and hopefully we will get multiple truck loads cut. Thanks to God and my friends for loaning me their trucks on occasion to haul wood. I sold my beloved truck earlier this year. It had 332,000 + miles and was tired and ready to be someone's project. Which it now is.

As I have reflected on this year many things have flowed past on the river of life. We have celebrated many victories in life and mourned a few disappointments. The constant is that God is still on the throne and still reigning. I have realized that the best laid plans and best thought out solutions are never as well thought out or well planned as you think. It is funny how we pray about something and offer up a prayer that is really our idea of a solution. That can be a dangerous trap and I have no answer on how to offer up things other than to lay the problem or opportunity at the feet of God as He sits on the throne.

One of the other concerns that has troubled me this year is the death of the American Family. It seems as though we have forsaken our Grandparents and their parents way of life for a much more complicated and hollow existence. When do we sit on the porch and talk to our friends who just happened stopped by? When was the last time we went for a Sunday Drive with no place in particular to go? Have you made homemade ice cream lately? I was in the EU this fall and they get it. Time is much more consumed like a grand meal and not a burger and fries on the way somewhere else. I wonder why we have become this way. Is it more fun? More exciting? More fulfilling? I don't think it is for our family for some it might be but I don't think we know because we have never lived any other way. I don't know how you live nor do I make any judgment concerning the pace of your life, but for our family we long to slow down at least one day a week but sometimes I wish it was like the life mentioned in I Thessalonians 4:11 which says “and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands”. How quiet have you been this year? I have had a lot of noise in my life this year. Maybe this verse explains why I enjoy cutting wood and fishing so much.