1816 & 2020. What about 2021?

Today, May 1, Dutch Sheets' #GiveHim15 is about new wine and new wineskins. https://dutchsheets.org/index.php/category/gh15/ is his site. He well describes neos wine and kainos wineskins.

As I listened, I was looking outside. It was snowing! Vermont always gets snow in April. My grandmother would plant peas on her April birthday. Mom would say, "Snow on the peas." 

But even for this jaded VT citizen, snow on May 1 is something new. "Eighteen hundred and froze to death" comes to mind. 

https://www.thesocialhistorian.com/eighteen-hundred-and-froze-to-death/#:~:text=The%20summer%20of%201816%20has%20been%20called%20‘the,failures%2C%20killing%20livestock%20and%20creating%20calamitous%20food%20shortages.

A volcanic eruption caused the 1816 chill and calamity. Fast forward to present day. 2020 was its own volcanic eruption. Is there hope through such misery? I believe there is. Looking outside, I see:

1. My peach trees are blossoming. Since they budded, we have had snow and at least 3 hard frosts. They are still blossoming!
2. The maples blossomed, almost two weeks early.
3. This week, all on one day, the ant hills appeared. They weren't there the day before. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, if you count my back yard.

Symbolically, I believe that God is doing something extraordinary for His children, for those who love Him and call on His name.

1. We are being strengthened, made "cold-hardy," like the peach flowers.
2. The ability to reproduce and share sweetness, like the maple flowers, will come quickly. Sooner than you expect!
3. Industry, work and provision will come suddenly. When the conditions are right, innumerable opportunities and growth, even relationships, will overrun you, just like the ant hills.

I will close with a few verses that are speaking to me. Perhaps they will speak to you today, too.

Isaiah 43:18-19. Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.

Psalm 147:16. He giveth snow like wool: he scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes.

Proverbs 6:6-8. Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways and be wise. Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.

Song of Solomon 2:10-13. My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle [dove] is heard in our land; The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.

Blessings,

Mir

Bird feeder faith

I hung my first bird feeder roughly two weeks ago. It was ten days before the first birds came. I was at work and my son and husband saw the first ones. Saturday finally came and I didn’t have to go to work. I was up before dawn. With my coffee and Bible - and probably my time-wasting video game - I positioned myself to watch through the window. It was overcast, the sky lightening in a misty grey horizon. Just when I could clearly see the grass around the feeder, it happened.

THEY CAME!

I watched the chickadees, juncos, squirrels and a male cardinal. Their flitting presence and numerous returns engaged me all the drizzly morning. I may not know everything about birds, but I knew they would come. It’s what they do.

I realized the cardinal had only one eye. Playing one of our frequent philosophical games, my husband joked with me about whether I should feed him, survival of the fittest and all. [See  https://miriamsmindset.blogspot.com entry 4/27/19 and https://miriamsmindset.blogspot.com/search?q=squirrel.] 

He [the bird, not my husband] looked healthy overall. I said that if the little guy could survive an injury like that, he definitely had genetic material that should be passed on. He [my husband, not the bird] knew my answer before I gave it.

Visitors later that day included a female goldfinch and a hairy woodpecker. Today, I also had titmice and some mourning doves. My one eyed friend was also back.

At prayer meeting last night, I received a gradual revelation that this morning condensed into a word for me and perhaps all of us:
•I hung the bird feeder.
•I was certain the birds would come.
•I waited.
•I was certain the birds would come.
•I heard a good report: the birds were coming.
•I had evidence that they would come, but I hadn’t yet seen them.
•I waited.
•When the time was right, I saw the object of my faith.
•I hung the bird feeder in expectation of the joy I would receive.
•And then came my realization: the thing that brought me joy brought nourishment to many!

This "wow" moment has been with me most of the day. I'm waiting to see how I will be able to apply this joy/feeding principle in my human interactions.

I close with some verses for your consideration and joy. Shalom!

Hebrews 11:1

Now faith [pistis] is the substance [hupostasis] of things hoped for [elpizo], the evidence [elegchos] of things not seen.

Luke 12:6-7

Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God?

But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore; ye are of more value than many sparrows.

Luke 12:24

Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse not barn; and God feedeth them: how much more are ye better than fowls?

Matthew 1o:29-31

Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall to the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.

Squirrel Behavior and one more "Tail" of a Squirrel Crossing the Road

Why did the chicken cross the road? To show squirrels it can be done.
     Squirrels. We love to hate them. We hand raise them. We feed them. We try to NOT feed them. We brake for them. Sometimes we brake ON them.
     This week, I witnessed something I've never before seen. 
     I was driving down a road running parallel to our local bicycle path, an asphalt trail separated from the road by about four feet of green belt.
     Suddenly, a squirrel bounded across the road in front of me. It was far enough ahead that it was never in danger. In a flash, it got to the greenbelt. With its distinctive, uncomfortable-looking squirrel walk, it crossed the grass. Then it suddenly bounded across the asphalt of the bike path. At that point, I drove past it.
     I immediately reported my awe to my family. They were appropriately mildly interested. Actually, my husband and I were still discussing the philosophical implications the next day.
     That squirrel manifested a life-saving trepidation of road surfaces. This particular squirrel will never become road pizza. Should it find a mate of similar temperament, its offspring will probably be as road-savvy. This grey creature wasn't particularly fast, but it demonstrated learning capacity.
     That learning capacity stunned me. I wanted to cheer for this smart little creature. Then I ventured into existential questions of the rights of the fittest to survive vs. the need for aberrations to be eliminated. Don't we all want our squirrels to be dumb? Don't we want them to be indecisive in the center of the road so we can't blame ourselves for splattering them? If squirrels like this clever one should be allowed to procreate, what is to stop them from unionizing, from forming thug groups and carjacking us?

     When I was a child, we used to see plenty of red squirrels. By the time I went to college, they had vanished. I haven't seen a live red squirrel since.
     I have decided. That shining example of intelligence is best left to live. Not that its life was ever really in question. I hope it finds a mate and has lots of baby squirrels. Will that intelligence "skip a generation"? 
     I hope it doesn't.