At Home in Wyoming

Pausing for Technical Difficulties...

This painting of an elk bugling was taken going upstairs at the Irma (for those of you unfamiliar with the Irma, it is the hotel that Buffalo Bill built and named after his daughter).

For those of you who have been wondering where on earth I have been, I wanted to let you know that I am taking a brief pause  in blogging because I am tired of using old pictures plus I got some kind of wild hair to paint my library burgundy.  I have already spilled burgundy paint on the white carpet, and broken a beveled glass mirror so the project is not going well, but I am adopting a motto from England...'Keep calm and carry on'. 

I will have my camera back by the end of next week, and will be back to blogging by the end of next week or the beginning of the following week.  See you then!  DLB

 

Least Said, Soonest Mended

This picture was taken at Newton Lake during Fall of last year.  I am about three weeks away from getting my camera back...I have missed taking pictures!

In the last few weeks I have been on the receiving end of an apology, and boy do I owe one to someone...so I have been thinking about the right and wrong way to say 'I'm sorry'.  I have come to the conclusion that the worst way to apologize is to use the word BUT in the apology.  

When I received the apology, the person that apologized said that she was sorry, but then proceeded to justify what she did in such a manner that by the end of it, well... what was said to me was worse than what she had originally apologized for.  I felt like I needed an apology...for the apology!  

Now it is my turn to offer an apology to someone.  I was in the wrong.  I told someone off, but good!  I said things that needed to be said, but the manner in which I said them was inexcusable.  I knew I was in the wrong the minute the words came flying out of my mouth.

I rehearsed in my mind what I intended to say to this person...that I was sorry BUT...and proceeded to rationalize what I said and why I said it.  It came to me that by doing that I was making the apology about me, when it should have been all about the person that I had wronged.  Now, I am not saying that I cannot explain at a calmer time why I had the meltdown, I am just saying that I think that when you are saying you are sincerely sorry for something, the apology should stand alone.  Period.  No ifs, ands and BUTS about it!

There is an old saying that 'the least said, the soonest mended'.  I think that when it comes to an apology, those are words to remember...better yet, put that saying into practice as a general rule, and you will have to spend a lot less time offering apologies for what has come flying out of your mouth!  DLB 

Wilt Thou Be Made Whole?

 You've read the passage many times, but I have been thinking a lot about the man with the infirmity described in John chapter 5.  He was lying by the sheep pool waiting for the angel to trouble the water so that he could be dunked into it and healed.

Jesus walked by and saw him, and knew that he had been a long time 'in that case', and asked him this curious question...

 "WILT THOU BE MADE WHOLE?"

Now why would He ask that?  Of course the man wanted to be made whole.  Didn't he?  At first read it seemed kind of a silly question.  But, one thing I know about Jesus, and that is that He never minced words.  EVERYTHING that he said was for a purpose, and it pierced straight to the soul.  So why did He ask that guy if he wanted to be healed, especially since He knew the answer to the question anyway.

But when I thought about it, I realized that He did not ask the man if he wanted to be made whole because He needed an answer to the question, but rather He asked it so the man would have to make a choice...did he, or did he not want to be made whole?

Lying by a sheep pool with an infirmity doesn't sound like a whole lot of fun, but maybe there were some advantages.  I am sure that there was some kind of fellowship with the others that were hanging around there, the Bible says in verse 3 that there was a great multitude of the impotent by the pool.  Misery loves company, and I am sure that there was some pretty riveting gossip going back and forth, and camaraderie of sorts from the regulars.  Plus, maybe he was professing that he wanted to be made well, but in reality lying by the pool may have been easier than going out and getting a job...who knows what was in this guy's heart?  

Jesus knew.  And He must have known that there was some reason that the man with the infirmity was ambivalent in regard to his healing, so He asked him if this was what he wanted.  Did he want to be made whole?  Jesus was asking him to clarify this...to choose.

I think that the reason I have been thinking about this so much is because I am a lot like the guy with the infirmity.  I don't have a physical infirmity, but I have recurring sins in my life that I have never really dealt with.  Oh...I confess them to God, and ask for His help in dealing with them, but I have never really surrendered them.  Why?  Probably because I don't want to give them up, or I enjoy them, or maybe I don't think that they are all that big compared to the sin of murder, for instance.  God doesn't see it that way at all, and I don't in my mind, but in my heart I probably do.  The saying goes that the biggest reason for sin is the middle letter 'I'.  Jesus is telling me in this passage that I am confessing with my mouth that I need deliverance from certain sins, but in my heart I am holding them close.  So He is asking me,

"WILT THOU BE MADE WHOLE?"

He wants me to make a choice.  Do I really want to be made whole, or do I want to go along the way I have been...thinking that I will deal with this tomorrow.  When my father-in-law was told that he had only two months left to live, he told me that I had no idea how short a lifetime really is.  Tomorrow may never come, time eventually runs out.  So again, the question...

"WILT THOU BE MADE WHOLE?"

It is way past time for me to deal with sin in my life.  The hour is now.  And if I don't?  The wages of sin eventually lead to death, but look again at verse 3.  The man with the infirmity was lying there with 'a great multitude of impotent folk'.  Also, in verse 7 the guy with the infirmity was described as the 'impotent man'.  I looked up the definition of impotent, and the definition is disabled, unable to perform action.  Synonyms are ineffectual, incompetent, incapable, inept.

Just as a physical infirmity can hinder you, how much more so can a sin infirmity render you ineffectual in your Christian walk.   Surrender ain't for cowards, but at some point you gotta make the choice to die to self.  Which is why Jesus asks me, and you...

"WILT THOU BE MADE WHOLE?"

  

Mmmmm, Hot Chocolate!

 In the interest of full disclosure, the pictures for the next few weeks will be from albums over the past year because my trusty camera bit the dust.  I am going to have to send it off to be repaired...in the meantime, I am going to fill in with 'blast from the past' pictures.  This picture of Trigger was taken last December.  He knows that he is not supposed to be on the furniture, but he must have thought that I was safely downstairs so he settled himself down for a little nap...

I just heard that the 'high' for tonight is going to be 19 degrees, which will be a virtual heat wave compared to the cold that we have had over the past few days.  I kept watching the weather channel yesterday...and it didn't budge much past 12 degrees during the day.  I think we had between two to four inches of snow.  Big, thick and heavy wet snow.

My husband was working out in the cold and the snow on Friday, and when he got home he said that he had been thinking all day about having a cup of hot chocolate.  I rummaged around the pantry for a sleeve of instant hot chocolate, and came up empty handed BUT I did have some Hershey's cocoa and decided to make hot chocolate the old fashioned way...the way my mother used to make it over 50 years ago.

You know, I had forgotten what real hot chocolate tasted like, and smelled like.  I had gotten used to the quick and easy stuff that tastes like warmed over chocolate milk...but it really only takes a few minutes to make the real stuff, the good stuff...which is made that much better with a dollop of marshmallow and some whipped cream.  

The recipe is:  1/2 cup sugar, 1/4 cup Hershey's Cocoa, a dash of salt (my sister says not to forget the salt because it brings out the flavor of the chocolate), 1/3 cup of hot water, 4 cups of milk and 3/4 tsp. vanilla extract.

Mix sugar, cocoa and salt in saucepan; stir in water.   Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture boils; boil and stir 2 minutes.  Stir in milk and heat but DO NOT BOIL.  Remove from heat and add the vanilla.

This will make 6 servings.  There is also a microwave recipe on the box for single servings.

Hopefully it won't be this cold that much longer, and we can enjoy Fall.  But until then I plan to settle in with a good book and some real hot chocolate!  DLB

 

Welcome Home

Opening my front door, I saw that Fall packed up and left town early.  It seems that in Cody, at least, Winter has moved back in!  I just listened to the weather forecast through the weekend, and it sounds like we had better get used to it...

I saw the strangest thing yesterday.  I was next to the old library turning on to Main Street, and I saw the tree on the corner shed its leaves...still green...all at once.  It was raining green leaves.  And I looked up and down the street and saw that all of the corner trees on Main Street were doing the same thing. 

I thought to myself 'now there is something that you don't see everyday' so I pulled over and watched.  In the space of about an hour all of those trees lost every one of their green leaves.  It is almost as if they got a taste of the cold and the snow and decided that they were out of here, packed up and left!

My husband noticed the same thing across town.  He said that it was probably because those trees are not indigenous to this country, so they couldn't stand up to an early taste of winter, which is not (sorry to say) an uncommon thing here.  I noticed that the aspen trees still have all of their leaves.  But all of the corner trees on Main Street are now completely bare.

Do you suppose that is the way that we are, when we find ourselves out of the center of the will of God for our lives?  It could be due to sin, or just plain old rebellion and wanting our way instead of God's...but when I am not where I am supposed to be with God I am just like those poor trees.  I may seem fine when life is balmy and good, but a cold blast of trouble shows me that I cannot handle life on my own.  Suddenly I see that my way is the wrong way, and God's way is ALWAYS the right way.  When I am in the center of God's will the cruel blast of cold may still come, but God gives me the strength to handle it.  I can keep my leaves!

Jeremiah 17:7-9 reads:

"Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is.

For he shall be as the tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit."

Just as a tree should be indigenous to its native area, we as Christians need to be indigenous to the center of the will of God for our lives.  We can stray outside of our region, and maybe seem to be ok for a while.  But I have found...and this is a lesson hard learned...that you will never flourish unless you stand where God puts you.  Sin brings pleasure for a season...but woe to you when the season is over and winter arrives! 

Thankfully, we have a God that does not despise a broken and contrite heart.  If you are a Christian, getting back to where you are supposed to be with God is as simple as only Jesus Christ can make it.  Repent, and go back to where you belong by obeying God. I have found that He is always there to welcome you home!  DLB 

 

 

 

 

Soup, Anyone?

I apologize in advance for the blurry picture of antelope running...mule deer almost stop and pose for pictures, but antelope seem to be more skittish.  I wanted to include this picture for my eastern readers that have never seen antelope in the wild...

It sounds like our string of beautiful days is coming to an end...the breeze outside is getting more insistent and the sky is darkening.  I heard that there is a storm advisory in Yellowstone, and snow showers are not impossible today in Cody.  Which means it will be a good day for soup!

I am not so good at New Year's resolutions, but come Fall I try to think of something new to add to my life.  It probably stems from that 'back-to-school' mentality...Fall means a new start because change is in the air.  So I started thinking about what I could do this next year that would be fun, or enriching, or both.  And this Fall I decided that I would become a better cook, and I am going to start with soup.

I never cook soup.  I usually just get a can of something, heat it up and we have soup.  But last year I read the autobiography of Julia Child about her life in France, and went to the movie Julie & Julia a few weeks ago.  It was fascinating to see how the art of cooking completely changed two lives...cooking became their passion.

So in honor of Julia Child, I am going to make homemade soup once a week.  Not French soup, not gourmet soup, just plain old American soup or chowder.  It should be fun to go to the library and get recipes, and have a soup pot where I can use all those leftover bits and pieces of carrots and onions, instead of letting them become moldy in the refrigerator.  This resolution may actually become a lesson in frugality...using every last bit of something.

I am not expecting that making soup once a week will change my life in a big way...I don't like cooking all that much, which is probably why I am not very good at it.  I am looking for smaller rewards...like the smell of soup cooking when I come in the door, and being able to offer my husband something for lunch that doesn't come from a can.  Something nourishing.  Something good.

Sometimes there are big things in your life that you want to change, but can't.  Maybe you don't have the will, or the change would involve someone in your family who is not yet willing to change.  BUT I have found that small changes can enrich your life while the tough things are being worked out.  Small changes can add joy.  Simple things like resolving to meet with a friend for a cup of coffee once a month, or writing one letter a month to a friend or family member that you have lost touch with, or taking a daily walk through a park...or even making a pot of soup.  The possibilities are endless.

Soup, anyone?  DLB

 

 

 

Daydreaming

The lower Southfork on a beautiful September day...

I have been spending a lot of time the past few weeks sitting by the river, or rocking back and forth in my porch swing, enjoying the beautiful Fall weather.  I take books, I thumb through magazines...but mostly I just, well...spend time daydreaming.

I was reading an article lately about the restoration of the gardens of Thomas Jefferson at Monticello.  It seems that he was a compulsive  note taker and sketcher.  Whatever was on his mind he recorded it, especially in regard to his massive gardens.  You would have thought that the notes would have been a help to the restoration, but in fact they were almost a hindrance.  It seems that Jefferson had many ideas and daydreams, and while he recorded his ideas, it was hard for the researchers to separate the actual gardens from the gardens of his daydreams. 

I remember reading somewhere in the Bible about God saying that his people were perishing for lack of vision...sorry I can't recall the exact text or context, but the words 'perish for lack of vision' stuck with me.  Jefferson had vision...he shot high.  If only a small portion of his daydreams were realized, think of all that he accomplished.  He was the author of the Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom.  He was founder of the University of Virginia, ambassador and Secretary of State, Vice President and President of the United States.  He was instrumental in obtaining the Louisiana Territory, and getting Congress to fund the Lewis and Clark Expedition.  He was a self taught architect, a horticulturist, and an inventor (did you know that he invented the first copy machine, the dumbwaiter, some sort of plow, automatic doors...the list goes on and on).  And yet, only a portion of his daydreams were actually realized.

It seems to me that in order for Jefferson to accomplish all that he accomplished in his lifetime, he would have had to set aside time to think...to ponder...to pray.  He took the time to daydream.

So let's not feel guilty about sitting watching the river flow when there is so much to do, or spending time rocking in the rocking chair or porch swing...daydreaming is important business!  Just look at what it did for Thomas Jefferson!  DLB

 

 

Take The Time!

This picture was taken this morning on the SouthFork, about 10 miles or so out of Cody. 

If there is ever a time of year to stop and sit in a lawn chair, or go fishing, or read a book in a porch swing...it is the month of September.  The air feels like velvet on your cheek, the days are warm and the nights are cool. The foliage is just beginning to get a hint of yellow mixed in with the green of summer, and at least around here the tourists are starting to go home and peace is beginning to take root again.   BUT...

Winter is about 15 minutes away, and there is so much to do!  The crack in the window needs fixed, the corn needs to be put down in the freezer, and the lawn needs a good soaking to get it through the winter.  That leak in the hot water heater either needs to be fixed or replaced, the storm windows need to be cleaned and stacked and I need to plant grass seed where the dogs tore up the lawn.  At this time of year the chores stack up like junk mail in the mailbox, and all I can think is 'hurry, hurry...winter will be here before you know it'!  BUT...

The air is like velvet and the fishing hole beckons.  Let's try to squeeze in enough enjoyment of the last few weeks of good weather while we can.  If we don't, we will regret it all winter!  DLB

 

Grace for Grace

 

Once the leaves change outside I start decorating for Fall inside.  I can't help myself...every fireplace and buffet and dresser starts sporting Fall leaves, and as my husband says, it becomes Fall until you puke!

I was reading in the book of John yesterday, and hit on one of my favorite passages...

"And of his fulness have we all received, and grace for grace." (John 1:16)

Isn't that beautiful...but then I started thinking, what does it actually mean?  Since I'm not a Bible scholar, I went to the dictionary and looked up the word 'grace'.  I found that in this passage grace is used as a noun, the definition being mercy and forgiveness.  Synonyms are benevolence, charity, compassion, favor, forbearance, generosity, good will, goodness, kindness, leniency, love, pardon, reprieve and tenderness.

All of those above definitions pertain to character attributes of Jesus, do they not?  But then, I also found that grace is a verb.  The definition of grace as a verb is to beautify, embellish.  Synonyms for this are to adorn, bedeck, crown, decorate, dignify, enhance, ornament, SET OFF.

I remembered reading about a woman that had lots of necklaces, and she mostly just threw them jumbled up into a drawer.  But one necklace her husband had given her to mark a special day in their marriage.  That necklace was very important to her, and she put it tenderly in a exquisite box.  The box adorned or enhanced the necklace...it SET IT OFF.

Now look at this scripture again.

"And of his fulness we have all received, and grace for grace." (John 1:16)

Do you suppose that maybe grace is used as a noun in the first part, and a verb in the second part?  In other words, the first grace (noun) is the attributes of Jesus, but the second grace (verb) is our responsibility to adorn the gospel of Christ by our lives and actions.  Do our lives adorn, bedeck, crown, enhance...SET Off the beauty of the gospel?  Or do our lives reflect the antonym of grace (the verb), which means to disgrace or uglify the truth of the gospel?

I am ashamed to say that often my life is the antonym of the verb grace...I am prone to disgrace the gospel.

If you are like me in this respect, take heart!  Jesus said,

"...for without me ye can do nothing." (John 15:5).

I cannot conjure up...all on my...a life that adorns the gospel of Christ, but the Bible says Jesus is more than willing to help me in this pursuit.  All we have to do is ask Him to point out where we are failing, and to give us the strength to succeed. 

May my highest goal and desire be to live a life that adorns the gospel, rather than become a disgrace to it.  DLB

 

Storms of Life

It was a beautiful day, and I was enjoying the sun on my face, the sounds of the cattle in the pasture and the time with my husband, who was fixing fence.  Then, on the horizon, a storm started to brew.  

I began to get a little bit anxious.  Should I run those library books to the truck to keep dry?  What about the wind...would it blow the papers around that I was reading?  I decided to pack them up.  Should we make a run for it, because the truck was quite a way down the field from us.  I kept watching those clouds with increasing anxiety.

Guess what!  The storm blew around us, the sun came back out and all was calm.

When I look at this picture, it reminds me of all the time in my life that I have wasted by anxiety.  When I thought about it, probably 2% of the stuff I fretted and worried about over the years ever actually came to pass.  Triggered by fear, I wondered exactly how many hours of my life I trashed by worrying over the other 98%!  If I had a magic calculator to figure it out, I'm sure that the number of wasted hours would be staggering.  

Jesus said,

"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you:  not as the world giveth, give I unto you.  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." (John 14:27)

He also said,

"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself.  Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." (Matthew 6:33-34).

So I guess the choice is mine, and yours.  Focus on the cloud ahead, fret, worry and fear.  Waste the minutes of our lives...OR focus on Jesus...and find peace.

"And he saith unto them, "Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith." Then he arose, rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm."  (Matthew 8:26)

Great calm.  I can use a little bit more of that in my life...what about you? DLB