Category Archives: Farming

Praying for Rain on a Lord’s Day Evening

I lie awake
a little past ten,
still praying for rain,
even while watching the lightning Continue reading

Posted in Christian Living, Farming, Gardening, Nature, Poetry, Prayer, Spiritual Contemplation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Theology in a Dry Spell

I pray for a long night
and a following day
of slow, seeping rain Continue reading

Posted in Christian Living, Farming, Gardening, Nature, Poetry, Prayer, Spiritual Contemplation | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Theology in a Dry Spell

Lemonade

I was reminded recently of an old, old truth: When we learn how to turn misfortune into opportunity, we have touched one of the great secrets of victorious living. Over the years, I’ve learned that a tool or machine is like an attitude: sometimes the best way to fix one is to just get a new one. Now, this is not an election-year story of rags to riches or of fame to shame. Just a man and his mower. Well, former mower… Continue reading

Posted in Christian Living, Farming, Gardening, Humor, Spiritual Contemplation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Lemonade

Extenuating Circumstances

Imagine a twenty-ton dandelion, sixty-to-seventy feet tall and with branches extending thirty feet in every direction. That’s what the cottonwood tree is like during its month-long spawn.
Continue reading

Posted in Christian Living, Farming, Humor, Nature, Spiritual Contemplation, Work | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Extenuating Circumstances

A Preparation of Peace

I step out the back door into the pleasant air of morning. A dark blue edge shows in the sky, high and to the east, tracing the form of the passing storm front. The horses look up from the low edge of the paddock. They swing around and head toward me, heads bobbing in fast walk. Continue reading

Posted in Christian Living, Farming, Nature, Relationships, Spiritual Contemplation, Work | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on A Preparation of Peace

A Whisper of Faith

ool air eases in through the window,
something less than a breeze,
just a soft flowing of the night. Continue reading

Posted in Aging, Christian Living, Farming, Gardening, Nature, Poetry, Relationships, Spiritual Contemplation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on A Whisper of Faith

A Strong Wind

Here in the Missouri-Iowa-Nebraska corner of Kansas, it is a rare day that the wind does not blow. Continue reading

Posted in Christian Living, Farming, Nature, Spiritual Contemplation | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on A Strong Wind

After the Storm

but I think
that when we have survived the storm
we ought to be cautious
in noting our inconveniences. Continue reading

Posted in Christian Living, Farming, Nature, Spiritual Contemplation, Work | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on After the Storm

February Dawn

The last crescent of a winter moon gives its glow to the snowy frost along the hill sloping toward the shed. Between the moon and the ridge, elm trees along the fence line stretch the black of their brushy ends against the orange rim of the eastern sky. Continue reading

Posted in Aging, Christian Living, Death & Dying, Farming, Nature, Spiritual Contemplation, Work | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on February Dawn

The Freezing Fog

we must strive in the shadows of clouds
and never allow our seeing to vanquish vision.
Continue reading

Posted in Aging, Christian Living, Death & Dying, Farming, Nature, Relationships, Spiritual Contemplation, Work | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on The Freezing Fog