Category Archives: Spiritual Contemplation

Burning Brush in August

Posted on August 13, 2024 by Doc Arnett

Standing close to a burning brush pile on a blazing hot day may make you feel cooler when you walk away, but it’s still a blazing hot day. Continue reading →

Posted in Farming, Metaphysical Reflection, Poetic Contemplations, Poetry, Spiritual Contemplation, Work | Tagged abnormal, abuse, adaptation, brush pile, character, enabler, endurance, escape, fire, heat index, heat stroke, hot, misery, normal, perspective, summer, toxic relationships | Comments Off

Felling the Old Elm

Posted on August 9, 2024 by Doc Arnett

There aren’t many times when a man more needs a bit of luck and the power of prayer than when he uses a chain saw to cut down a big tree. Continue reading →

Posted in Christian Devotions, Christian Living, Poetic Contemplations, Spiritual Contemplation | Tagged chain saw, cutting firewood, danger, dead elm, firewood, luck, old fence, old tree, prayer, risks, sawing old tree | Comments Off

Jesus Puts a Smart-Mouthed Woman in Her Proper Place

Posted on August 7, 2024 by Doc Arnett

Sort of a backwoods retelling of the story of Jesus and the Syrophenician woman. Continue reading →

Posted in Christian Devotions, Christian Living, Humor, Relationships, Spiritual Contemplation | Tagged deliverance, demon, demon possession, healing, heathen, Syrophenician woman, wisdom | Comments Off

Burning the Brush Pile

Posted on August 1, 2024 by Doc Arnett

Sometimes behavior that seems quite strange–like burning brush on a really hot day in July–makes complete sense when we know why. Continue reading →

Posted in Christian Devotions, Christian Living, Farming, Metaphysical Reflection, Relationships, Spiritual Contemplation | Tagged brush pile, burning brush, fire, horses, love, nature, protecting others, protection, strange things, trees, understanding others, wilted leaves | Comments Off

Old Smoke and Cold Coffee

Posted on July 25, 2024 by Doc Arnett

The flavor and smell of a cold cup of strong coffee brings back strong memories of Pap Bazzell. Continue reading →

Posted in Aging, Christian Devotions, Christian Living, Family, Farming, Gardening, Poetic Contemplations, Poetry, Profiles, Relationships, Spiritual Contemplation | Tagged grandfather, hard work, memories, molasses, Pap Bazzell, pipe, pipe smoke, Prince Albert, smoking a pipe, sorghum molasses | Comments Off

Have you ever considered the humility of Jesus’s baptism? Remember, John the Baptist preached a message of repentance for forgiveness of sins. Multitudes came out to John in the wilderness beyond Jerusalem, confessing their sins and being baptized in obedience … Continue reading →

Posted in Christian Devotions, Spiritual Contemplation | Tagged baptism, baptism of Christ, humility, John the Baptist | Comments Off

Kayaking at Wildcat

Posted on July 22, 2024 by Doc Arnett

It is the first day of July in Western Kentucky but it feels more like October:Beautiful blue skies with a few high white clouds,late afternoon temperature in the 70’s,and humidity remarkably low for this time of year. Two of my … Continue reading →

Posted in Christian Living, Exercise, Family, Nature, Poetic Contemplations, Poetry, Relationships, Spiritual Contemplation | Tagged Benjamin Arnett, father and sons, Jeremiah Arnett, kayaking, Kentucky Lake, paddling, Wildcat Creek, Wildcat Landing | Comments Off

The Silence of an Entry Home

Posted on June 27, 2024 by Doc Arnett

Jeremiah has left for a whilelate in a Lord’s Day morning,taking Amos and Isla with him. Misty has taken Miah and tiny Ellisto go over to another daughter-in-law’s house for some professional baby pictures. I am left here alone for … Continue reading →

Posted in Aging, Christian Living, Death & Dying, Family, Poetic Contemplations, Poetry, Relationships, Spiritual Contemplation | Tagged emptiness, grief, loss, Poetry, sadness | Comments Off

Moonrise over Illinois

Posted on June 24, 2024 by Doc Arnett

Driving around St. Louis I notice the view of a nearly full moon rising above the city, the same shade of white as the light clouds caught in evening sun. As I turn south and leave the city behind me, … Continue reading →

Posted in Christian Living, Farming, Metaphysical Reflection, Nature, Poetry, Spiritual Contemplation | Tagged appreciation, beauty of nature, deliberateness, focus, full moon, ignore, Illinois, Missouri, moon, scenery, sunset | Comments Off

Making It Better

Posted on June 21, 2024 by Doc Arnett

I read part of Henry David Thoreau’s “Life on Walden Pond” when I was in high school. One of the things that has always stayed with me from that is his reflection about an axe a neighbor loaned him. He … Continue reading →

Posted in Spiritual Contemplation, Work | Tagged better, improvement, Thoreau, Walden Pond | Comments Off