The view north from the little farmhouse we call Bittersweet
I slept well last night. Our little farmhouse was warm but not too warm. A good night’s sleep is a gift God gives to those he loves, I remember the Psalmist writing. Last night I needed and wanted an uninterrupted night of good sleep and got it.
For, lo, he giveth his beloved sleep. (Psalm 127 KJV)
A mid-December day begins. It’s already the thirteenth. That is only ten days until Christmas Eve, Eve. (I know, you like to call it Christmas Adam, don’t you?) It’s just a Dozen Days until Christmas and only eleven until Christmas Eve, which is on the Lord’s Day this year so we will have a beautiful Sunday Evening Service and it will be well-attended.
This morning I’ll meet a pastor friend for coffee and fellowship. We will exchange encouragement and ideas. We will bounce our plans off each other, but mostly we are just friends and neighbors who like coffee.
So at this festive and holy time of the year, with the great season of peace, goodwill, generosity, and gospel singing and telling upon us, it should be a good day.
And they say the sun will shine all day and I have not had to get out the snow plow yet this season. If I do need to plow around Christmas I won’t be sad. If I don’t need to plow until April I won’t be sad. Either way, I won’t be sad. If I have to plow once or twice a month until spring I’m not going to complain, because (please don’t tell anyone), I have as much fun with my little all-wheel-drive John Deer and plow set up as a seven-year-old with a new remote-control race car on Christmas morning.
It’s good to be able to draw fresh cold air into your lungs, enjoy yellow sunshine on a winter day, or watch the snow cover the land with a vast layer of billowy white.
Winter discourages undesirables and undesirable things from populating the region, but a wise man leans into it for what it’s worth and takes what it gives from the good hand of Providence.
They ask me what I want for Christmas. I do have things I like, I sincerely want peace on earth, I’d love to help others see what I see about Jesus and his love, and if the Lord would send another Barred Owl into the woods across the road to hoot while the Coyotes howl on winter nights, I would be a happy man. But I do plan to be a happy man no matter what falls or doesn’t, no matter what hoots or howls, no matter what the good hand of God provides.
I have a friend who, when someone says, “How are you doing?” always answers, “I’m rejoicing…” I don’t always say that, but it is usually true.
On this good winter day I’m rejoicing.
Bittersweet Farm | Mid-December 2023
