Winter day on the slough

First day in the water with the new canoe. Boys and their toys.

This WeNoNah Advantage is such a fun boat to fool around in. Light, fast, fairly responsive and very easy to in and out.

We have had a glorious two weeks of warm and sunny at the farm. Lots of dirt moving and now, coming up this week, we will be going to a neighbours farm to lift his prunings and bring them over for planting in our renovation areas. February and March will be very busy months.

Happy days

A happy day, indeed. Today I drove seven hundred and fifty klicks round trip to swap my Clipper Tripper canoe for a Wenonah Advantage. I hate to see the Clipper go but it was just too big to single hand and have fun with at the same time. I believe there were a dozen or more times last year when I wanted to get out on the water and didn't because of the hassle of going solo in a boat not designed for one.

The fellow who traded with me was looking for a canoe that he could get out in with his family and his solo didn't fill the bill. We both came out ahead, though given the relative values of the two boats, if bought new, I likely got the better deal. I can hardly wait for spring and being able to get out on the lake!

I've spent a good bit of time this week reflecting on gratitude.

When I started taking the Education for Ministry program, offered through our church, three and a half years ago I was quite intimidated by the strength of faith that most of the participants displayed. In comparison to them I felt that my faith, especially the ways it displayed itself outwardly, was shallow and ill formed. A fairly ego based view of me/them.

I have been blessed recently with the realization that recognition of the Holy Spirit working through others has little to do with those others and much to do with the Spirit. This realization has allowed me to see the organic nature of the Spirit working in and through all of us in our group and to appreciate how singular a force it is.

My feelings of gratitude at being a part of this small manifestation of God at work is quite overwhelming. There are no small blessings.

Today is St.Valentine's Day. It is pretty much a Hallmark day, but today I enjoyed, during my drive, thinking of all those whom I have been privileged to love or be loved by. I especially think of Jessie and Alley, who, notwithstanding having me as their primary role model, are mostly vibrant and mostly joyous and largely lacking of fear. To be loved by such as them is indeed a blessing.

kedging off

Well, last night at St. George we finished a five session, five week study of chapter one of the Gospel of Mark.

I don't know how many times over the years I have read this book of the bible, more than a dozen, for sure, yet in all those readings I have never appreciated how artfully structured and how full of the good news that first chapter is.

I guess that this is at the heart of learning: new realizations, new understandings, new pathways into the future.

Mark remains my favorite New Testament book and I am happy to be able to say that I read it with more pleasure now than I did when it was my favorite six weeks ago.

The farm is teaching me new lessons also. The joy of filling holes and low spots in the fields over the past month has changed to a daily struggle to get material from the dirt stockpile to the field without bogging down the gator, and then divesting myself of equanimity and dignity in my struggles with slick sloppy mud as I, all to frequently, practice my retrieval techniques.

That would be OK if it were the extent of my mud troubles. It is remarkable just how much of a mess I was able to make while digging an excavator out of a field that I knew going into I shouldn't. When I used to sail we called the technique, kedging. Dig a hole then bury the anchor (with an excavator, the bucket) and laboriously drag yourself out. Big disturbances of the field, the dike and the serenity that is most often my companion in my work. That would be something of a metaphor for life, I guess...

Enough of this, its time to go and fall into a good book.

opening doors

What a glorious week at the farm! Temperatures up to twelve degrees and sunny skies. How good does it get during February? I'd have to say just about this good.

Pruning of the vines is well underway at the farm. Once they are done I'll finish filling holes and leveling some of the dips in the fields prior to infill planting. It is starting to get busy...

EfM tonight is a continuation of our study of twentieth century theologians. I appreciate the call that these scholars feel to study God, but find their efforts quite beyond me. I suspect that this is mostly because of their writings being the fruit of many years, even decades, of education and deep thinking, all of which is then synthesised into a ten or twelve page presentation in the course material.

I listen to a preacher called Chuck Swindoll on the local Christian radio station at 1:30 most days and find his translation of the message of the New Testament into our world most refreshing. One of these days I'll probably go to his web site and find that he embraces within his faith many positions that I don't agree with, but for now I am enjoying his ministry.

This is an interesting point, being drawn to those with whom we agree and turning away from those with whom we don't.

On the weekend I found myself in conversation with a person who thought that same-sex marriage was wrong. My mental reaction was immediate and the argumentative neurons were firing pretty quickly. Fortunately I put the brakes on my tongue and thought about how my companion had phrased the position I was about to react to. Having thought it out for a few moments I came to the conclusion that, though I didn't agree with this position, I wasn't offended by the way in which it was offered and, having already made my position clear, I didn't have to argue further. Interestingly I have replayed the conversation since and it may be shaping some parts of my position. Now, if only I can repeat this in other conversational areas, I may just enter that realm where civil discourse is the norm.

Well, the timer has run and that's the call to dinner. Later.