A Cryptic Post

To the person I'm posting this for: you know who you are. To everyone else: have fun speculating exactly what this post is supposed to mean.

Lux Venit

Today is the first day of winter. The darkest day of the year. The last few years I have taken a few moments to wax philosophical on the solstice. This is the moment to celebrate the light breaking into the darkness. We thought all hope was lost. It kept getting darker every day. Until the solstice. The "turnaround" day. Hope! The light is coming!

I just read a book by Jessica Prentice, New Moon Feast. I don't agree with everything she writes in this book, but what she says about Christians celebrating the solstice seems to hit the mark:

Christmas has become secular and commodified, but this was not always the case. In the traditional Christian calendar, the Moon of Long Nights corresponded to the period of Advent, which means "coming." Advent was a time of penitence, abstinence, and prayer. For those of the Christian faith, the period of long nights is about the expectation of a miracle: the coming of the light. It is not an accident that Christ's Mass - the celebration of the birth of the Son of God - corresponds to the winter solstice - the rebirth of the Sun.

She makes the point that since the arrival of electric lights, this season has become one of hurry and busyness. But in the old days, it would have been a time of slow, quiet reflection. Long nights with no light means more time literally in the dark! Imagine complete darkness with perhaps only the moonlight to see by. Can you imagine the pent-up expectation for light? And what comes along three to four days after the solstice? We celebrate Christ's birth - the light has come. Daylight returns and we can see clearly again. I love it.

One of the classic Christmas cd's in my collection is the first Micheal W. Smith Christmas recording (ok, so it was a cassette tape when I first heard it. Now I have the CD!) The song "Lux Venit" was included on it - translation from Latin:

Lux venit: "the light has come"
Sursum corda: "look upwards hearts"


Lux Venit Lyrics

The solstice is a time to celebrate that even in our darkest hour, God heard our cries and sent a shining light into our darkness - Jesus Christ. Look upwards hearts. The light has come.

SOTP!

This one has me cracking up tonight. Happy solstice!

Meat Freezer Solstice

This morning was the first dawn after our Meat Freezer Solstice. Allow me to describe to you the contents of our meat freezer yesterday morning: one big bag of medicinal herbs, two freezer bags of turkey backs and wing tips (for making broth), one small bag of duck hearts (for making ???), and 2 pounds of tough, teeth-challenging ground beef. That freezer was never so empty. We finally got our first batch of meat for the season yesterday afternoon: pork.

I went through a time when I wasn't sure pork was o.k. to eat. Back in the good (really) old days, God commanded the Israelites not to eat pork, and I figure there was probably a pretty good reason for that. But as time went on, I weakened. When I first went on my low-carb diet, breakfast became the greatest sticking point: what's eggs for breakfast every morning without bacon? And aside from bacon, how about some sausage? You can see how the weakening process began.

So when we had a chance to buy some pork from a reputable local farmer, I got right in line. I like to hear what they feed the animals, because I think at least part of the problem with hogs is, they will eat literally anything. There are some things that I would just rather not have animals that I eat, eating themselves, if you know what I mean. Personally, I think we found a really good source of pork.

So yesterday afternoon I drove home with a trunk full of locally-raised frozen pork for my pitiful little forlorn freezer. That freezer still is not even a fraction of the way full, but it will only get fuller as the season progresses. Next up will be the chickens we raised for meat, and maybe a turkey or two. Then in another month we'll have beef and lamb. Before you know it, our freezer will be packed full, and we'll be ready for a long season of good eatin'. The tide has turned. Isn't this how holidays get started?

Happy Birthday Beanie Jeanie

It's my daughter's birthday today. She was born four years ago today at the end of four hellish days of kidney stone pain for me. But hey, that's not important, who cares about that! It's HER day, not mine! After just four years of living, she has become a connoisseur of fine ponies. You probably didn't know that this is a picture of Rainbow Dash. See, you are just as ignorant on ponies as I am. I didn't know either until I just now looked it up on Google images. Happy birthday daughter! (note: of course she can't read this, but I will tell her about it.)

I also wanted to post a link to a milk article. "Scientists breed cows that give skimmed milk". This "progressive" feat is nutso. The article says scientists have found a cow that gives skimmed milk, then talks about the properties of its butter. Huh? What butter? Skimmed milk means no cream. Butter comes from cream, yes? Hopefully this won't "catch on". Milk comes with fat because you need the fat to properly utilize the natural vitamins A and D that are also (hopefully) in milk. So this new cow is actually a step backward in nutritional science.

I haven't posted much lately because I have been so busy. But I have been able to get some reading done while at my boys' ball practices. I've been reading Nina Planck and Wendell Berry. Both good authors. Maybe I'll write some more about them sometime in the future. In the meantime, pick up a copy of Planck's Real Food at your library. Great "food" for thought.

Mom

Happy Mother's Day! I've written a few things now and then about how special my mother is: like here and here. Last year I posted a great Mother's Day poem. Now I'd like to write about one thing my mom always did as I was growing up that I think was wonderful, although at the time I didn't realize it. She was always so enthusiastic about babies, and children in general. We would see a family with a new baby and she would look at my dad and we all knew what her next words were going to be: "Oh Bill, we need a new baby!" As a teenager, the cool thing to do was to roll my eyes, which I'm sure I did a few times. But now that I am older I can see how lovely it was that she was always so overjoyed when it came to babies. Each one is a special welcome little person, in need of our love and extra attention. It is so sad that this joy is sorely lacking in today's culture. There are couples who choose on purpose to not have any children because of the stress, work, and time they entail. Well...I guess they're right about the stress, work, and time part; but they obviously don't understand the dividends that having children can bring. Being the generally lazy person that I am, I credit my mother with developing within me a love for children that helped me see past all that hard work. Mom: my children and I thank and salute you.
Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: "Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all." Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Give her the reward she has earned, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate. Proverbs 31:28-31

Merry Easter.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Conversation overheard in our house this morning:
"Today's Grandma's birthday!"
"Should we make her a cake? She always makes cakes for us!"

We love you, Mom!

Happy New Year!

Happy Winter Solstice!

Happy winter solstice! I have really come to love this day a little more each year. I know it plays a role in some pagan traditions, but the solstice is an actual natural, physical event, created by God. Nothing pagan about it, unless you choose to make it that way, like everything else. The word "solstice" refers to the sun standing still, because for the few days surrounding the solstice, it appears that the sun is not moving in one direction or another each day. What I appreciate is the fact that even though the coldest days of winter are yet to come (unless you consider last year - last year, the coldest days of the season were before the solstice - weird!), the amount of total daylight begins increasing after today. And once light begins increasing, spring is on its way! Spring is my absolute favorite time of year. I love spring! That is why I love the solstice.

Can you imagine if you didn't know that spring would eventually come, and you got to today, the shortest day of the year? You might think that the sun would keep going in the direction it is going and eventually darkness and absolute cold would settle on the earth. When the sun started moving back north again - all of a sudden you would have hope. This is the kind of thing we should all remember in our "darkest hour" (I just shifted into preaching mode, in case you didn't notice). One of my favorite songs says "The darkest hour is just before the dawn".

I love the winter solstice. It rekindles my hope for spring on the earth, and it helps me to remember the hope that is in my heart. Even during dark times.

What Can Separate You?
by Babbie Mason and Donna Douglas

His love reached from the heavens
To the far ends of the earth.
To give you life forever,
He left no stone unturned.
And before the birth of time,
Jesus had you on his mind.
So you never need to question his concern.

So what can separate you from
the precious love of God?
Who could ever come against
His strong and perfect love?
So when you're in the valley
And your nights are cold and lonely,
The darkest hour is just before the dawn.
Remember nothing can separate you from
God's love.

He numbers each and every star
And calls them all by name.
He counts them one by one
And sees that they are still in place.
If he cares for every star
Then he sees right where you are.
You can trust you'll never fall from his embrace.

So what can separate you from
the precious love of God?
Who could ever come against
His strong and perfect love?
So when you're in the valley
And your nights are cold and lonely,
The darkest hour is just before the dawn.
Remember nothing can separate you,
neither pain nor sorrow,
not today and not tomorrow,
nothing past or nothing present,
nothing future,
nothing ever!

Remember, nothing can separate you from
the precious love of God!
Remember nothing could ever come against
His strong and perfect love!
So when you're in the valley,
And your nights are cold and lonely,
The darkest hour is just before the dawn!
Remember nothing, absolutely nothing,
Oh remember nothing, can separate you from
God's love.