Day 10

Today I went to my first town meeting! It was entirely different than anything I’ve attended before, and provided quite a delightful taste of rural New England. Apparently this is the way it’s done here; the majority of significant town business is settled in one day, by a legislature formed by whatever town residents show up. The dress code was whatever was warm enough for a brisk March day—and for most people that meant jeans, overalls, well-worn hoodies, and a few biker jackets. The moderator was a tall fellow with long grey hair and a beard, which he combed out preparatory to taking his official office.

The town business was conducted in proper meeting format, with motions and seconds and ballots, but the discussion about the individual articles was carried on in plain English, such as you would hear at the counter of the one and only local store. When the people were discussing a motion regarding the budget for road maintenance, someone in the back called out, “Does that leave enough for fuel for Frankie?” And Frankie, who is evidently one of the two snowplow drivers, expressed his opinions on that topic and also his concern that his two trucks are both about twenty years old and have needed some repairs. But, he assured us, he has a couple of backup trucks (one of which is twenty-four years old, but “they still run pretty good”) so the townspeople need not fear.

It was a new experience to be among a group of craggy, self-sufficient people, who spoke and voted quite consistently according to common sense. Looking around, I saw a number of war veterans, several local farmers, and lots of people whom I haven’t met, but whose lined faces and calloused hands testified to the fact that they knew a thing or two about hard work. It felt like the scene of Norman Rockwell’s painting, The Freedom of Speech. Or, as one of our fellow townspeople expressed it afterwards, it was like being back in the 19^th century, an expression of true democracy, and an opportunity for everyone to be “a legislator for a day.” And that made me realize what a beautiful thing it is to live in a country where such freedom is still protected.

Day 9

Ah, I saw so many beautiful things in a short time on Day 9! We spent the evening visiting with a dear family, and the whole evening was beautiful. There were the windows full of little heads as we pulled into the driveway. There was the “log cabin” playhouse constructed under the stairwell for them to play in, with lots of handholds and footholds so they could climb all the way up to the beams supporting the floor above. There was the baby swing suspended from the ceiling right by the kitchen area. The little girl ladling apple bread batter into loaf pans—she made the batter all by herself and my, was it tasty! There was the way that the little children played together and loved on the baby. The diagram that one of the boys had drawn of how to build a fire “the way that Daddy does it.” The delight on the faces of the parents as they interacted with their children, and the obvious respect and love that the children had for their parents, and the parents for one another.

I left that home thinking how rich they are, rich not in earthly things but in God’s best gifts, of love, and joy, and peace, with God and with one another. They are a living demonstration of the verse that “It is the blessing of the Lord that makes rich, and He adds no sorrow to it.” (Proverbs 10:22). Or as the New Testament reminds us, “Godliness with contentment is great gain.” (1Timothy 6:6)

Day 8

Remember how I said that March is possibly one of the most uncongenial months of the year in New England? That’s because March tends to be characterized by a wavering between winter and spring, so that neither is fully here and the battle tends to leave the world drenched in mud, slush, mud, rain, and more mud.

But yesterday (Day 8) reminded me what a beautiful thing March can still be. It felt a little bit like when spring came to Narnia. A warm (yes, truly WARM) wind was blowing, and under its influence, rivulets of water began to run everywhere. Off the roofs, beside (or across) the roads, through the ruts in the mud, everywhere, water began its chuckling little song. I couldn’t resist driving with my windows down for a while, even though this meant being vulnerable to the sprays of water cast up by my car and passing trucks, as we charged through the great puddles on the road. Even though I came rather close to getting stuck on our road (it’s a dirt road which quickly develops muddy ruts deep enough to cause your car to bottom out, and it’s impossible to drive without being pulled into a slithering pattern back and forth across the road), I found that I could actually forgive March for being March. It was just so beautiful to remember that a world of warmth and growth and vibrant life will soon be here in place of the frozen, almost silent, landscape.

Day 7

Well, my beautiful thing for today is actually something that I enjoy most every day that I work, but today seemed an especially good day to mention it. My Mom, always thoughtful, has taken to unlocking one of the doors and turning the light on for me as a signal when I come home, and at the same time she lets the dog out to greet me. It’s a little thing (it means I save all of 5 seconds fumbling for my key), but it’s a little gesture of love that I look forward to every time I drive up the driveway coming home from work. And by letting the dog out, she ensures that my welcome home begins well before she lays eyes on me. There’s something so heart-warming about being enthusiastically greeted—and the dog is such a good example of love and delight. Saying hello to people never gets old for him—especially for the people whom he sees the most, which is the opposite of how we humans tend to be.

So it’s a very beautiful sight to me to see the light go on, and to see the furry little fellow tearing out to see me. Often he greets me right at my car door, his lips pulled back in a “smile” (you’d think it was a snarl if you didn’t know better), and his tail wagging as though it’s about to be disassociated from his body. But even that’s not as good as my parents’ welcome. I come home from taking care of people who have suffered abuse, neglect, and many other forms of lovelessness, and realize that my life has just been crammed with people who love me. And above all that—indeed, as the source of all that—is the love of God, unchanging, perfect, and forever! I am one awfully blessed young woman!

Day 6

As I drove home from work tonight, a brilliant moon sent a cascade of milky light over the frozen winter landscape. There are few things that make me feel restful like the sight of moonlight upon snowy fields. I think part of the reason is that moonlight reduces the world to light and shadow, highlighting the most important features by reducing the distractions of color and detail and texture. During the day, the light causes your attention to be drawn to a thousand different details in the world around you, but at night, the darkness focuses your eye on the light itself.

Focus is a beautiful thing. Just now I glanced at something which suddenly brought a foolish old dream, neatly and purposefully tucked away, roaring to life again. Suddenly I felt rather inclined to mope, because the rainbow colors that always embellish our dreams are far more dazzling than the plain lights and shadows of real life. But then I realized that the work of my real life, the “next thing” that God has given me to do, is in itself a beautiful thing, lending focus and purpose to my life. It may not be dazzling, but at least it is substantial, and can have a lasting positive impact on the world around me. The fact that God has given it to me, instantly renders it value far beyond anything He hasn’t given me. So I can let go of the castles in the air, and focus instead on the brick and mortar that are in my hands, which have been given to me to build something beautiful to God’s glory.

Day 5

Well, I saw a number of beautiful things today, but the beautiful thing I want to write about is the last thing I saw before leaving the kitchen tonight—clean countertops and a dishrack and dishwasher piled astonishingly high with clean dishes. That sight was the culmination of my day today, a day full of happy (and thankfully, successful) experimentation in the kitchen, the satisfaction of doing a job I was made for, and the happy faces around the table as we shared a meal with a local couple. I am so thankful for the hundreds of pounds of good vegetables stored from our garden last year, with which I was cooking all day, the rich variety of spices and flavors, the privilege of good health to be able to cook, and the fact that I am able to love a job that has to be done perpetually! And best of all, I’m thankful for the love that seasons every dish of vegetables (Proverbs 15:17), as we enjoy together God’s bounty to us! It’s like a Thanksgiving feast every day!

Day 4

I saw many beautiful things today, because I was with God’s beautiful people. And they are beautiful, you know, and getting more so every day they walk with the Lord and are changed to be more like Jesus Christ. It’s funny how easy it is to notice the warts and the wrinkles and the sharp edges, until we gather together to concentrate on the Lord Jesus. Then, all humbled together before Him, we look at one another with new love, and say, with Christ as He is depicted in Psalm 16:3, “As for the saints who are in the earth, they are the majestic ones in whom is all my delight.”

Wow, I am thankful for my brothers and sisters in Christ! There is no one else with whom I have so much in common, and with whom there is such mutual understanding. This evening we went to visit a nearby church for their evening service, and when people I’d never even met stood up to give testimony of the Lord’s goodness to them, there was an instant connection between us, a sense of, “Yes, that’s the same Shepherd I know, alright!”

And I smiled with the knowledge that I get to spend all of eternity with these people! Then we will all be made perfect like the Lord Jesus, and we will rejoice together in the same Lord Who loved us and bought us with His blood from every tribe and tongue and kindred and nation (and background, and social ranking, and economic status, and vocation, and education, and all the other things that stratify us on earth.) The only thing more beautiful that I can think of, is the Face of the Lord Himself, and the fact that we’ll be in perfect communion with Him too, in that day!