Looking for Goodness
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| Turtledoves on the back steps this morning. |
This might be a long post, because it has been a long day.
As you can see, we've had snow, and it's beautiful, and it's deep enough that it needs to cleared from walkways and driveways.
When it snows, the birds have a harder time finding food, so my feeders have been busy all day. For a while there were hundreds of red-winged black birds taking their turns at the feeders. I knew their favorite feeder was empty because they left what was left for the cardinals and juncos, chickadees, downy woodpeckers, and red-bellied woodpeckers.
Deer are more brave on snowy days as well, and they made their way across the prairie south of our home.
The wind was low today, which made it much more pleasant to be shoveling snow, which I did for several hours today. Since I'm getting older, I go slowly, lift less, and enjoy the view while I push the snow away. This evening I have that lovely tiredness that comes from physical work. I'm grateful.
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| An evening photo of some of the work done today. |
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Physical labor helps to ease the despair coming from the state of our politics right now. I had all that time outdoors getting a wider horizon. Seeing my labor made a difference. It's a small difference. It impacts few people. But nevertheless, it made a difference, and for once, instead of resenting one more task at the end of the day, I actually was glad to clean the kitchen and light candles after supper. It felt like meaningful labor, even though I know it will soon be undone.
I have a framed quote next to my sink where I will see it often, and the words ring true today.
not health but getting well,
not being but becoming,
not rest but exercise.
We are not now what we shall be,
but we are on the way.
The process is not finished, but it is actively going on.
This is not the goal but it is the right road.
At present, everything does not gleam and sparkle, but everything is being cleansed.
---Martin Luther
So often I want to be gleaming and sparkling instead of being cleansed, but this framed wisdom beside my sink reminds me that the process may be the healing thing I'm looking for.
Are you tired of reading yet? If so, feel free to move on to something else. I just have one more thing that came up in my reading today.
One thing that has really struck me about these times politically is how some of those who are very rich seem to see no humanity in those who have less than them. They don't protect the poor. They benefit from the ways they take away aid and agency, becoming richer from the very things that take safety and the ability to make a living from those who have little.
My reading for today was from 1 Timothy 6, instructing Timothy in leadership. The first instruction is personal:
Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness.
The second instruction was how to instruct the rich:
As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches but rather on God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life.
The life that really is life. Isn't that what we all want? And what if...just what if our President and his lackeys could just for four years follow those instructions for the rich? What if I could?
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