Sunset Thirty.

 Sunset-Thirty.

 

It is not quite 70 degrees outside, but it has been a very pleasant day around here. Coolish, but comfortable. No one should gripe when the wind is not blowing a bloom of dust our way, but we might truly need to be praying for rain. Nothing is going to grow without some moisture. Deep sigh.

 

A mail truck came up the road this morning and the young lady was taking a picture of Lake Wichita. She did not understand why there were open places out in the middle that were not frozen. Skip McBride could probably tell her the scientific reasons why the center of the lake held warmer water, but she seemed satisfied to know that it was warmer in the middle than at the edges. Go figure.

 

Had some roasted Brussel sprouts with fall squash and white onions for din-upper this evening. Put a blob of butter in there after removing them from the oven, but it didn’t seem as if the butter melted enough to make a difference. Still pretty good eating.

 

Had some instant coffee this morning that was definitely not decaf. Sitting here hoping that sleep will happen anyway. Only drank one cup, so there’s that. The spiced chai latte is good, but the coffee was a bit better—probably just because coffee is so good anyway! Grew up drinking coffee from the time my granddad made it for me on the mornings that he went to the sheep barn and brought lambs inside to be warmed up on the oven door. If they are not dried and warmed up, their little ears get frozen and parts fall off. Can happen to any critter in a Texas cold snap, but little calves and lambs get the worst of it. The ewes or cows don’t settle back down over their babies to warm them. Not sure why it is that way, but many a calf has perished in cold weather births.

 

My friend Barbara Matthews posted pictures of herself and her husband celebrating their 60^th wedding anniversary. Sweetest little grandbaby in some of those pictures! And some good memory makers for the years ahead. May God bless them with many more years together.

 

Today was thinking about a class with a professor out at MSU when the old woman was much younger. He spoke of how Americans are so set on the value of the individual rather than the majority. It struck me at the time that the men and women who settled this country HAD to be individualists. Our relatives in Britain and other countries were not exactly cheering us on for our families or anything other than whatever benefit we could have been to them. British colonies were supposed to benefit the home country without any regard to the cost to individuals. But life doesn’t really work that way. Thinking about the battles that Joshua saw and the work of God that showed the Israelites where the hand of God led them. They fought as individuals, but it was in order to help their tribe, their nation, their people. It has been very much that way in this country. Men (and women) fought the battles and helped each other recover, but it was for their fellow soldiers, the homes, their nation. Being an individualist has been a good thing in this nation. We try—just TRY—to keep justice, but it is not always just perfect—far from it in some instances. But at least we try. And recognizing God’s place in our lives is the first right step in any endeavor. May our thoughts and actions be according to His will.

 

Rest well, my friends. You are loved.