Bittersweet Farm

Bittersweet Farm

In the Pocket of My Pink Jacket

Filed Under: Current Thoughts

I went to refill my coffee cup at Panera this morning. A woman was there rooting through her large bag, which she had set on the counter along with her pastries and enough coffees for what appeared to be a small office staff. She was talking on her cell phone. Waiting to refill my mug, I was a captive audience.

“I don’t have them – . I’m sure I don’t have them,” she was saying. “Are you sure you didn’t use them last?” “Wait, I remember. They’re in the zipper pocket of my pink jacket. It’s hanging in the hall closet. If they’re not there call me back.”

I saw a brief opening and slipped my mug under the spout and filled it with black coffee. I made my way back to my computer to write, imagining her husband late for work, looking for the car keys, rooting through the hall closet for the pink jacket with the zipper pocket.

Steam spiraled up from my mug and I got to thinking. To make life work is a combination of a lot of little stuff. Find the keys, take out the trash, pay the bills, pay the bills some more, find the stuff you lost, wash it, clean it, put it away, get it out, use it again, fix it, insure it, store it, well – you know.

Days become weeks, weeks become months. Seasons and pass into seasons and years into years and you can stay so busy with all that little stuff that you just don’t take time for things that are really important, like listening. Maybe there is no better way to show someone that you love them than to listen to them. That is one of my goals in life. I want to learn to be a better listener.

Listen with my ears.
Listen with my eyes.
Listen with my posture.
Listen with my heart.

So far I’ve mostly been working on talking. When I’m not talking I like to write. I’m closing in on forty-eight years of talking. I want to spend the next half-century learning to be a really good listener. That way the people I love will know it and I will know them.

I want them to have memories of me listening with my ears and my eyes and my heart not just tossing the keys to them while I am on the way in and they are on the way out.

Ken Pierpont
Brook Place
Hinsdale, Illinois
October 17, 2006

Long Thoughts on a Short Autumn Day

Filed Under: Current Thoughts

It’s October. Locust leaves fell like snow from the trees yesterday. The furnace kicked on last night. Just before drifting into sleep I meditated on one of the beautiful “harvest passages” of the Bible:

“In past generations he allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways. Yet he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.” (Act 14:16-17 ESV)

It’s that time of the year again.

I often write on the brevity of autumn as an analogy of life. Our lives are swift as a sunset, brief as an autumn day and it is a good idea to keep that in mind. Good things happen when we pray what I like to call the “Prayer of Moses” “Teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts to wisdom.” (Psalm 90:12)

This time of the year is time for reflection. One of the things to think about is the swift-passing of the years. When I think of that I realize that I cannot afford waste time.

Your life is too short to wait to live. How rude and thoughtless to squander the Father’s good gifts.

Your life is too short to wait to love. Love you wife, your husband, you children, your parents, your grandparents, your neighbor, your enemy while you can. It will only be a few days and we won’t have them to love anymore. (Hebrews 12:7)

Your life is too short to nurse your hurts or curse your circumstances. Life is to short to withhold forgiveness. Life is too short, don’t waste it in bitterness. “.. forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake – ” (Ephesians 4:32)

Your life is too short for to carry the burden of past sin. Allow evil to be unrestrained in your life will destroy you, cripple you, deform you and damage relationships that are dear to you.

Your life is too short for empty things. Satan will be happy to ruin your life with things that seem innocent but are not your best use of time.

Your life is too short to keep the gospel to yourself – Love people, tell people, invite people to Jesus. You don’t know how long you have. Who are you loving right now? Who are you telling right now? Who are you praying for right now?

When the furnace kicks on in the night this week –
When you see the birds forming and going south –
When you see the farmers hurrying to the grain elevator like squirrels to their tree –
When you see the leaves blowing down and the trees becoming bare –
– Remember one of the most powerful and oft repeated lessons in the Bible –

Life is short. Sun is setting, leaves are falling – . Do it now. Our lives are as swift as a sunset and brief as an autumn day.

For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night. You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning: in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers. (Psa 90:4-6 ESV)

O LORD, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am! Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath! Selah. Surely a man goes about as a shadow! Surely for nothing they are in turmoil; man heaps up wealth and does not know who will gather! “And now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in you. (Psa 39:4-7 ESV)

Ken Pierpont
Brook Place
Hinsdale, Illinois
October 9, 2006

Aurora Borealis

Filed Under: Current Thoughts

On November 8th, 1991 there was a rare display of the aurora borealis in the cold, clear sky over our farmhouse in south central Ohio. I missed it because at that very moment our sixth child, a boy we named Daniel, was coming into the world. I will always consider that phenomenon a special sign from the Lord for good in Daniel’s life. The rare beauty of God’s magnificent creation exploded in the sky the very moment that our son Daniel was born.

When the last of autumn’s glory blows along the ground and bare branches jut into the gray November sky we will celebrate Daniel’s fifteenth birthday. About five years after his birth we moved further north from Ohio to Michigan. I have spoken in the Upper Peninsula and in northern Michigan and lived in Michigan for years but I have still managed to miss the rare and beautiful heavenly lights.

[Read more…] about Aurora Borealis

The View from Duck Point

Filed Under: Circuit-Riding, Current Thoughts

This is the drive away from the cottage where we are staying for the Eternal Impact Summit.

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This is the view from the house on Duck Point. This is one of the quietest and most beautiful places I have ever been. I wake up ever morining with a profound sense of the kindness and goodness of God. From this point it is a run of a little more than four miles around Wolf Lake. Every step is like a postcard picture.

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The Clock is Running

Filed Under: Current Thoughts

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Between services yesterday I was lured out into the cloudless, cool autumn afternoon. All four of my sons were there in the yard. We played football. I am the all-time quarterback. Wes, the youngest, pairs with Kyle, the oldest. Chuk, the fleet, teams with Daniel, the rising star. It was an aerial display. Every play was a passing play. I am sure I tossed more touchdown passes than any pro quarterback in the nation yesterday. Everybody scored over and over again.

That’s when I had a really bad idea. [Read more…] about The Clock is Running

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