Bittersweet Farm

It’s foggy out on Bittersweet tonight–foggy and warm for a winter night. They say it might get a little weird later, the fog turning into an ice-storm or “wintery mix” accompanied by high winds toward morning. I hope to ride that out from the comfort of my bed or the cozy corner of the upstairs room where I like to write, with a mug of pour-over coffee close at hand.

I love the look of snow when it is falling. Who doesn’t love an innocent covering of snow on the world if the roads are clear and safe. Snow is fine but every day the roads are clear and the temperatures are above normal is one day closer to spring. Each day is getting a little longer now that we’ve passed the winter solstice. The house is quiet tonight. There is a sense of calm before the storm.

Jan Karon says weather is a writer’s friend. In A Mitford Bedside Companion she writes; “I find weather one of the most useful tools ever made available to an author, not to mention poets, whose work absolutely thrives on it. The Mitford novels are full of weather, and would be intolerably weak tea without it.”

What is it that makes us pull a little closer to the radio when the weather report comes on and sink a little deeper into the comfort of our chair. Why it is that when you hear about a storm coming in on the car radio you enjoy the snug comfort of the cabin of your car just a little more?

Tonight’s moon is full, but It doesn’t sound like we will get a good look at it since it will be shrouded in fog and overcast.

What Does God Want Me to Want?

The house is quiet. I’m alone here for a bit. The ladies have gone to town. A couple of the grandchildren, Aspn and Gunnison have been with us for two days, but a few hours ago we saw them off toward home and the house grew quiet. I miss the times when the children were all at home under one roof. I’m not sure how we did it but I miss it. Ten noisy people all under one modest roof. The last place we all lived under one roof was in the Pine Street Parsonage in Fremont, Michigan, a small town in northern Michigan famous as the home of Gerber Baby Food.

Late at night I had a ritual when we lived there. Just before turning in I would stand where the children’s bedroom doors opened into the hall and I would pray for the children. My prayer was simple and came from the deepest part of my soul. “Lord let each of our children love you with all their heart and with all their might all the days of their lives and may they never turn aside from you.”

Now only Hope lives at home and some time later this year she will marry and move away. Bittersweet indeed. Now I usually pray for Lois and then each of the children and grandchildren first thing in the morning. Over all these almost forty years of being a dad my prayer has not changed much.

I pray continually for each of our children and our grandchildren to love the Lord with all their heart and all their souls all their lives. I have no higher ambition for them than that they are Bible-believing, God-fearing, church-going, Christ-honoring, repentant, humble followers of Jesus. I pray that God will strengthen me to be a life-long unbroken example of a man who loves Jesus with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength and never turns aside to the very end of his days.

Sixteen Things to Pray for Your Children

A friend of mine Tom Harmon, a retired Michigan State Trooper and itinerant Bible preacher, prays with his wife Joyce every day for each of his children, these sixteen things.

–Their salvation.
–Their mate.
–That they would fall in love with God’s Word.
–That God would keep them from the evil one.
–That they would have a conscience void of offence before God and man.
–That their character would be more valuable to them than their credentials.
–That they would stand up for what is right even if it means standing alone.
–That they would be kept from the love of money.
–That they would be kept morally pure.
–That they would have the heart of a servant.
–That eternity would burn in their hearts.
–That sin would always be distasteful to them and that they would be broken easily over sin.
–That they would love each other.
–That they would trust God with their parents and not allow rebellion to set in.
–Regardless the hardship, that they may never become bitter against God.
–That our boys would be glad to be boys and our girls glad to be girls.

What is your greatest desire for those you love? What do you pray for them? At the beginning of the year it is a good idea to ask yourself the question; “What does God want me to want?”

Have a good place and a good time to pray. Most of what we need most only God can do and when you need what only God can do, pray.

Bittersweet Farm
January 10, 2020