The parched earth of last summer will be thanking Mother Nature for the delivery of yet another huge load of moisture. The trees are gilded with a layer of ice which still clings this morning. No wind though; we are lucky here. The sun not yet visible but apparent because it is now light will soon work its way through all of that moisture and melt the encasement around the tree limbs. A sunny day would be magnificent, the light shining through the encased limbs absolutely majestic but it is God's world and He designed it that way. The wondrous sights around us are a marvel to behold especially as we approach Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday when we celebrate once again the Risen Lord. The pain of Friday is replaced by the joy of Easter.
Another day in snowy Canada. The piles still standing proudly telling of a long winter with a summer waiting in the wings. Our spring is short here and Mud Season has not yet begun. It is cold today but climbing quickly. Just 1 degree celsius when I awoke and now 3 degrees celsius. Melting has begun once again. I do so love winter though. I love its long nights and its beautiful cover of snow that stretches as far as my eyes can see. We are blessed in Canada with all of these seasons. Listening to my Psalms CD first thing. It is truly amazing how the Old Testament told us so much about the Messiah to come; it was God's message of hope and hope was delivered. We have been blessed these 2000 years plus with the word of God brought to us by Jesus. This time of trial and it repeats every year was both catastrophic and wondrous. A gift of hope when fear has stalked our world as it does right now. The fear is fed by mis-information and greed. We must move past all of that greed; that incredible desire for money then wasted on huge non-environmental dwellings and private travel which is destroying our planet. The world deserves better.
Yesterday I worked away on the Siderfin book and I am now on page 47 and there are now nine more hits which I mostly found yesterday by a quick glance back in time. They were mostly remarriages where a Siderfin husband had died and the widow remarried. I am wanting to complete this major task as it leads me through the 1600s the most difficult time in the Siderfin family in some ways because lines are disappearing and I need to prove that they are. Amazing that such a large family at the end of the 1500s and beginning of the 1600s dwindles down to just one male line with several female lines into the future. I look at my own family though and all Blake lines disappear in my generation although I do have cousins in England still carrying the Blake surname with its roots in Andover, Hampshire and some still live in that area.
Today I continue with that Siderfin Research and some contemplation on what will be in the next Kipp Newsletter for the 1st of May and the H11 Newsletter which will be just one issue for this year (not published) unless Russia gets out of Ukraine. Then I will feel that the peoples of Ukraine who read my Newsletter will have time for such frivolity. Right now they are defending their very lives and those of their families against the Russian aggressor. The promise of Peter the Great for a better Russia, a Russia that is part of the world in which they dwell has been torn asunder. His desire to be like France long ago forgotten it would appear. A more educated and world conscious Russia that treasured their role in the world as the largest land mass and a leader not a vicious murderer of their neighbour that was the dream of Peter the Great. Glory to Ukraine. Prayers for Ukraine as always.
Still somewhat foggy looking out there and the humidity is 100% but the high will be 9 degrees celsius. Sun is expected. Another glorious day in God's World.
The Lent without borders email today asks us to reflect on what you are waiting for in life now at this moment in time. There are several reflections but this one is something that I feel every day that I awake. "This is the day that the Lord hath made" tends to be in my mind when I awake each day and I wonder at 77.5 years what is my place in this world? I think it is to carry on with the life work that I selected on my retirement sixteen years ago. That was to work on the ancient documents of the Church (ancient to me as they are from the 15th, 16th, 17th (and more recent) centuries and tell the story of the end of people's lives in many cases. They tell the story of what is important in their life and in those centuries God was front and centre as He should be along with the sacrifice that Jesus made to bring us the Good News and the two new commandments. Most importantly, the commandment to love thy neighbour as thy self. So I do try to follow those teachings in my own small world. But the world is not small and the need is so very great for us to do that - if we all did as God commanded then that uplifted plain of peace could be ours.
Thank you again for the wonderful set of emails from PWRDF this Lenten season.
On to breakfast.
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