Cool, Still Air of Evening Equals Calm for the moment

Whew.

Mondays always start slowly for me. I don't know why it is hard for me to jump up running on Mondays, but it is.

I drank coffee, made the little girls a bite of breakfast, drank some more coffee, let the big kids make their own breakfast, took care of a couple of phone calls and business emails, milked Coco, made a big jar of green tea and then headed to West Virginia to pick up the lamb chops, leg of lamb and lamb stew meat. Well. At least that was my plan until I had to encourage the goats to come back to our property and then work on a gate. Then I headed over the mountain to West Virginia.

Working on the farm is satisfying when I get to bring back a delicious harvest. I made a delivery of part of the lamb, then headed on home to put the rest in our freezer. The weed eater grabbed me. Then the pile of hay by the potato patch lured me in. I mulched potatoes, weeded the garlic and mowed down several rows of weeds.

The cool of the evening felt great on my skin and the hard work made my muscles feel useful. I threw a package of frozen chopped up rooster in a pot with some water and whole wheat macaroni. Rose added some salsa and cheese when the macaroni was cooked so at least we had a fairly easy fast food option for supper. Beats Hamburger Helper! I wanted salad with it, but the salad needs at least one more week to grow. Thomas worked on whacking down some brush in the gulch and Patrick moved many more loads of manure and hay from the barnyard to the garden. Nora and Rose gathered eggs and Maggie washed clothes and gathered goats.

Everything is green and lush. Especially the weeds! Seeing all the new life springing forth made me think of one of my many favorite Andrew Peterson songs, Invisible God. The trees on the mountain road to Lewisburg are fully leafed out and the mountain laurel decorates the side of the road. Up high the dogwood still blooms and all of it points me to the lovely, wonderful creator of that art.

"I give you praise, Oh great, invisible God.

For the moon in the space of a dark night,

for the smile on a face in the sunlight,

I give you praise oh great, invisible God.

...

And oh, I long to see your face, invisible, invisible God.

All the works that you have made are clearly seen and plain as day

So mighty, and tender

O Lord let me remember, that I see you everywhere,

invisible God

...

Your power eternal, your nature divine

All creation tells the tale that love is real and so alive

I feel you, I hear you,

Great God, unseen I see you in the long cold death that the winter brings

and the sweet resurrection

Spring."

You will have to look up the song and hear the whole thing if you are interested. It is lovely, as per the norm for Mr. Peterson. Something in his lyrics and music touches me deeply, and makes me thankful that he captures so much of what I feel in his songs.

Life. Somehow the bigness and wonder of it all makes me thankful. Even for the weeds! At least for today. But I say that with a chuckle, knowing that in a few weeks I probably won't be nearly so enthused about warmth and weeds and mowing and weed eating!!!