Life's Nuts

There have been many blessings, lessons, and discoveries made while living on the farm over the course of the past month. Here are a few: 
+My OCD comes from my dad: it really does matter if two light switches beside each other are both down when off the lights are off. I also get my onriness from him, if you've ever experienced that side of me. 
+There's an old drawer full of cards, letters, prayers cards and a Bohemian (Czech) prayer book, I stumbled across. Collecting these items and sending letters and cards is something my mom used to do quite regularly. I have a knack for similar happenings and items. 
+My affection for animals often gets the best of me. One evening, we were putting a sow in the farrowing house. I was trying to stay out to keep from getting smelly, having already showered that day. Averting smelling bad was not conducive to helping dad. There was also a kitten who has made its home among the pigs who I'd been trying to tame when I came around. As soon as dad grabbed the kitten and said here, I succumbed to my fear of having to shower again for the chance to hold the kitten. 
+The lifestyle is hard work yet so rewarding. More often than not, you can tell you've accomplished something each day, even if you have to do it again ten hours later, the next day, or in a few weeks. Feeding livestock is a prime example, as is mowing the lawn. The fruits of your labor are not realized instantly, but progress is made steadily. 
+Baby animals warm my heart! I picked up 501 baby chicks on Thursday of last week. While they typically arrive in the mail at the local post office, we ordered from a different hatchery this go around. Thus, I made the trek to Manhattan, with peeping all the way home. Dipping their beaks in water as I took them out of their carriers, I counted them. Before the end of the day, I'd spent a time watching them run around in their new home, their curious eyes exploring, their tiny feet running, often falling over to get right back up and a few being puddle ducks in the water. Part of that time was spent taking pictures, too. 
We've begun a bit a fall calving. A set of twins were born Saturday morning. The mom-cow took to one of the calves. My brother brought the other back to the homestead so we could bottle feed it. He's pretty darn cute, too. 
Sunday night, another sow farrowed - she had 15 piglets. These are my favorite, though pigs smell the worst of the animals on our farm. Before I realized it, I had spent a good forty minutes helping a tiny piglet find a nipple and get some milk, and putting a couple others under the heat lamp to find warmth. 
+While new animals aren't always around this often, I think that is one of the most rewarding things about the farm, for me anyway. 

I've been thinking about this post for awhile. My dad said he wasn't expecting that sow to pig until September 7. Saturday night, I told God it would be neat and a blessing if the piglets were born before I departed. He's given me some tremendous blessings lately. 

I don't know if there is really a point to this post, but I'm sharing none the less. 

I'm off to spent a month volunteering with the Missionaries of Charity. Pray for me. 

Baby Chicks Photoshoot

God's Patience and Our Silent Listening

From another author's blog:

AUGUST 23, 2012

Those Deep Places to which We are Called
There are deep places in the heart.  A vast and unexplored wilderness awaits us there, deep within our innermost being where neither thought nor feeling can penetrate.   The greater portion of the limitless frontiers the Creator has fashioned in the depths of the soul have yet to be glimpsed by humanity.

Those who desire God and dedicate themselves to seeking Him discover the deepest truth about their own existence.   They have the key that unlocks these hidden depths.   Desire alone takes us to this deepest center of our humanity, desire stepping out in faith, urged on by love.  This is because the Trinity dwells in this deepest center.

The Bridegroom dwells waiting for us in our innermost being, longing for us to seek Him, yearning to disclose Himself in irrevocable friendship.  This marks the greatness of our humanity, the fact that our Deliverer waits on us, believes in the goodness with which He fashioned us, and hopes in us unto death.  He who is love would not have it any other way.  The immensity of His tender presence is why it is His love and not our failures that define our lives.

Those who long for silence have been smitten by the Lord.  They hear divine whispers calling them to the profound depths of human existence and they simply cannot deny the One who longs for them any longer.  These beautiful souls gladly fulfill their obligations and duties given them by the bonds of friendship and justice, but they do so longing for a few minutes to devote themselves to seeking their Divine Friend with the whole effort of their soul.

They delight in spending time searching for Him within, in the deep places where He dwells.  Difficult though it might become, their devotion is never tiresome to them.  This is because when exercised even for just a few quickly passing moments, their devotion unleashed is intensely vulnerable to  pure and delicate living flames that do not destroy but catch everything up into beauty.
Posted by Anthony Lilles at 8/23/2012