Bittersweet Farm Journal | March 25, 2021 | Too Late

Visitors. For the last few days we have been enjoying a visit from our daughter Heidi and her two children Keira and Koen. They are delightful little souls. Grandma promised them a trip to the Dollar Store if they picked up all the windfall branches. They went right to work. Now the place looks like a golf course. They left us with a pile of branches to burn and went home. Now our hearts ache for missing them and we talk and laugh and cry remembering their antics and their stories and their little ways. We are so proud of Heidi for the injustice she has endured and the determination she has to be a good mother in spite of the great hardship she has to live with. She is doing a beautiful job with the children. They are delightful, bright little people. If you stop for a minute and pray for the favor of God up her and the children right now, we would be grateful.

Springtime on Bittersweet. Spring came to Bittersweet Farm a few days ago. Official Spring. March 20th. It’s been warm and sunny. Delightful. This evening I was talking to a old friend out on the porch and a deer, making her way through the woods across the road, stopped and looked up at me as if to say, “I haven’t seen you sitting out here for months.” She watched me for a while and then gave me a wide berth and crossed the road fifty yards west of the house.

I walked out to watch the sky and feel the breeze and look out over the fields west of Bittersweet Farm to watch the waning of the day. It brought me to worshipful tears. God has been good. As He promised, season has yielded to season again and spring has come. The tulips and daffodils and crocuses are pushing their way up into the sun. The birds are noisy and busy. Soon the green will creep into the grass. In a few weeks there will be a hint of green in the forest. Maybe some spring I will plant a Dogwood on Bittersweet Farm and in mid-May it will open with bright blossoms just as before the greening of the forest.

Yesterday my associate and I had lunch with a friend, Doc Bracy. Mike Bracy has been a pastor for years and for many years he was the superintendent of the Jackson Christian School. He had some things on his heart ot share and gave us each a book. I think books are my love language.

Doc knows I also love a good story. “Let me tell you a story,” he said. “Years ago our oldest daughter brought me some shelves she wanted me to assemble and hang on her wall. I love to work in my woodworking shop in the basement. I put them on the workbench intending to get to them soon. Time got away from me and I didn’t get to them. They were on the work bench for a few weeks.

During that time we received a terrible phone call no parent ever wants to hear. Our daughter Rebecca was killed in an auto accident. She was only 20 years old. We were very close. She deeply loved God. I took it very, very hard. My faith was challenged. I didn’t know what to do. I tried to comfort the family, but who would comfort me?

Finally, I took some time to get away alone and grieve. I would go to my workshop. I walked down the stairs and over to my workbench and there in the middle of the workbench were the shelves I hadn’t got around to hanging. Now it was too late.”

He looked up and said, “While you still have your daughter, spent time with her. Take her to breakfast. Love her while you can. You don’t know how long you have with her.”

Sacred silence descended on the table for a few moments. I was honored he was willing to open a deep place in his heart to us. “Thank you Doc. Bracey. Thank you for sharing that story with us.”

Bittersweet Farm
March 25, 2021

I found Doc Bracy telling a few stories on a video from 2017. I have included it here to encourage your faith.