Wondrous Cross

When I survey the wondrous cross

On which the Prince of glory died,

My richest gain I count but loss,

And pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbit it, Lord, that I should boast,

Save in the death of Christ, my God;

All the vain things that charm me most--

I sacrifice them to His blood.

See, from His head, His hands, His feet,

Sorrow and love flow mingled down;

Did e'er such love and sorrow meet,

Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

Were the whole realm of nature mine,

That were a present far too small:

Love so amazing, so divine,

Demands my soul, my life, my all.

-Isaac Watts

According to Dictionary.com, survey means "look carefully and thoroughly at (someone or something)." It's not a hurried glance. It's not a hasty, "Yep, I believe Jesus died for me." This old hymn implies wonder. Awe. Lingering. A deep stirring of the soul. A reaching out to grasp the reality of this incredible love expressed in sacrifice.

Sometimes the busyness of "living the life" consumes us. The universe-shaking event that makes it all possible becomes almost cliché. And yet it's only as we kneel at that rough, blood-stained tree that Christianity gains true meaning and power.

When was the last time you surveyed the wondrous cross?

  

The End

Whew, it didn't occur to me that posting something every day would be such a difficult goal to achieve. Remind me to avoid setting blogging time constraints for myself in future.

Here's a lightning look at the rest of this week: Rolling over the grid after a long day in PE. This view evokes happy sighs every time anyone on the farm returns home from town. Talk about being blessed!

Traditional Sabbath morning breakfast. It would be a strange Sabbath on the farm that didn't include waffles.

Not the greatest picture, but it gives you somewhat of an idea of what our 7 km drive to the highway this morning was like. Think rain, mud, skidding, and sliding. Thanks to some nifty driving on Grampa's part, the tractor was not disturbed from its repose in the shed.

Children's story time at church. That little monkey kneeling right in front of me was quite the quizzy one!

Well, that's it! A week on the farm. I hope you appreciate all the effort and internet expended in posting all these pictures. Okay, I'm kidding. It's been fun!



Of Walks and Hand Washing

Since Tuesday decided I didn't have time for blogging, I'm going to have to tack it onto Wednesday. And just for fun, I'll give you Wednesday first.

The whole world seemed to glow today! The wind took a vacation, the sun beamed extra-generously, and temperatures soared to t-shirt wearing levels. Predictions of ominous weather have been rumbling from the weather forecast, so I snatched this opportunity to get some hand washing done.

Most of our water comes from a borehole, and it's very brackish. White or delicate clothes go brown and yucky if you wash them in the machine. So we have to hand wash a lot of things in rain water (which collects in the big green tank you can sort of see out the window). Once filtered, that's also our drinking water.

And this is the view I look out on while I'm standing there scrubbing. See the little white island way out there in the ocean? That's what gave this farm its name--Island View!

And now for yesterday. Ashlie, Kyle, and I went for a walk, taking pictures along the way for a project Ashlie's doing. She kindly let me have some of them. My almost-daily afternoon walk with Ash has got to be one of my favorite parts of each day. We tramp down the "Forest Road" (so named because of the thick bush), up the hill next to the game fence, and then sit talking for a while by the grid at the top. Sometimes we even watch the sunset from up there. The view is just awesome!

Anyway, here's a few pictures. See the tall fence on the left? That's the border between Island View and the game farm next door. We often see zebra, wildebeest, and all sorts of other neat animals on our walks.

So we got a little side-tracked. The doggie's name is Toffe. And just so you know, he's the sweetest, cutest little dog that ever wagged a tail!

And here's our spot at the top of the hill. It's probably my favorite spot on the whole farm!

Sorry we didn't think to take a picture of the view. You feel like you can see forever from up there!

Phew, well there it is, two days in one. And I'm off to enjoy another dark, siren-less, traffic noise-less night. Ahh, you just can't beat life in the country.

Tale of a Monday

Well today sort of squeezed out of my grasp. Mondays have a bad habit of doing that. So I'm afraid I don't have anything farmy to blog about. I spent most of the day staring intently at (and sometimes through) a computer screen. And since that's about all I did, I may as well show you my "work station." I sit here in the mornings and copyedit. I migrate with the sun into the living room after lunch, though. You never want to be too far from the sun in winter.

I also spend a considerable amount of time waiting for web pages to load. Cell-phone internet dishes out lessons on patience without discretion. Especially when you come from Korea, land of the world's speediest (I think) internet. But I'm not complaining. It's helped me realize that the internet is actually not essential to maintaining life.

To make a topical about-face, I also had a really neat answer to prayer today! Unfortunately I can't tell you what I prayed for, but it was just a little thing. And God gave me just what I asked for! I love it when He gives such special evidences of His interest in the little things that matter to us. You sort of expect Him to take care of the big things. But somehow knowing that the God of the universe heard your little prayer, and took the time to reassure your heart of His care, sends thrills right down to your fingertips. He is GOOD!



Of Muck And Reservoirs

So I thought I'd deviate from profound musings for a bit and give you a peek into a week (no rhyme intended!) of life - on a farm - in Africa. Today's adventure: cleaning a reservoir! We had some friends visiting, and of course we couldn't just leave them out, so two of them got down in the muck with the boys. Since I appointed myself photographer, I couldn't exactly get mucky myself. Above you can see our luxurious mode of transportation.



This was before it got really icky. Scooping out the last bit of water with buckets.


 

Who needs TV when you've got mucky reservoirs being cleaned?




Down to the yucky stuff.




The "gunk" that used to live at the bottom of the reservoir. Now our showers won't be green anymore!  

So yeah. That was Sunday. If I can find enough interesting photographic opportunities, I'll show you Monday. And Tuesday. And Wednesday. And so on. As for now, my eyelids are fighting gravity.





Adventures in Sabbath School

I had so much fun yesterday! I haven't spent as much quality time with a pair of scissors since cutting out a gazillion butterflies and flowers with Emily in September 2009. But yesterday  found me cutting out crowns and clouds, gluing "jewels," and coloring in animals, all in preparation for the Sabbath School class I taught today. I almost went outside and dug up a pile of sand, but in the end I decided the negatives of carting a bucket of sand to church outweighed the positives of the illustration.

Toting my arsenal of craft materials, I arrived at church this morning and found myself in charge of two bright-faced eager-eyed first graders. The chubby little girl's pony tail danced with her mouth when she talked. Which was pretty much non-stop. I don't think I managed to insert more than three sentences into her stream of "Can I tell you something?"s. The little boy was quieter, but his mischievous eyes and crooked grin tugged at my heart right away.

I won't bore you with a minute-by-minute description of my time with these two cuties. But I want to share two things that struck me: the trusting innocence and delighted enthusiasm of little children.

The trusting innocence of these two children amazed me. Since I live so far away from church and town, I don't have much opportunity to get to know everyone at church. Probably all these kids know about me is "the lady that sings up front in church." And yet not five minutes into the lesson they were answering questions, participating in activities, and "telling me something" as if they'd known me for years.  There was no doubt, no skepticism, no wariness. You're the fill-in teacher? Okay! I was implicitly trusted and believed.

Delighted enthusiasm. I love this fact about children! Their excitement reaches astronomical proportions over the simplest things. Everything is a game, an adventure, great fun. I still grin as I remember their excited nods, waving hands, and sparkling eyes when I asked if they were ready to listen to the story. (Of course, it was more like "Are you ready for the STORY?!?!?!") I asked them to close their eyes and imagine what heaven will be like. Their little eyelids pinched shut and their noses wrinkled in their effort to picture the scene I was describing. When I pulled out their shiny cardstock crowns, they laughed and accompanied their leaping feet with vigorous hand-clapping. When I told them to search the room for the paper animals I'd hidden away, they dashed around like hyperactive kittens, squealing with each new discovery. They enthusiastically threw their hearts into every activity.

Children are invaluably precious gems! I completely enjoyed the company of my two little students. What they don't know, though, is that they weren't the only ones who learned something. All day I've been reminded:

Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. ~Matthew 18:3 

Connecting

"Melissa!"

"Huh?" Wrenching my nose out of my latest book, I looked up at Kyle with what must have been a very blank expression. He rolled his eyes and selected another rusk to drown in his tea.

I hadn't heard a word he'd said.

I grin as I remember that moment. It's laughable how I (and other bookworms I know) can become so oblivious to everything but ink on a page. But, amusing as it may be, it reminds me of something I don't want to be--detached.

A big lesson I've learned over the past several months is the value of people, and the importance of truly connecting with others. And when I say "connecting," I don't mean sitting around a TV, or chatting about the weather.

I mean things like sharing thoughts and concerns. Working through conflicts. Genuine interest in each other. Praying together. Laughing together. Playing together.

A meaningful relationship requires work: Looking outside of yourself, and taking the time to do the things that will bless the other person; laying down your interests and needs to meet theirs. It takes courage to do that--courage, whole-heartedness, and divine enabling. But I think it's what Jesus meant when He commanded us to love others like He loves us.

Let me tell you, though, the rewards are amazing! I can't tell you how many times my heart has ached with joy as my family has joined hands to pray, collapsed together with laughter, or raced around the living room in a riotous game of blind man's bluff.

Next to Jesus, these people--my family and friends--are my most precious treasures. They mean more to me than a good book ever could. And I'm so thankful for all God's proddings to reorganize my priorities, and put them first!