Essays
-
Here O My Lord I See Thee Face to Face
This is a guest post from my husband, Brian. Brian works casual call as a nurse and does the majority of the work involved in taking care of our land and animals. In his free time, Brian enjoys planting trees, building things (like this incredible chicken coop), and singing hymns. We’ve been married for 14 years, and I’m happy to call him my husband. *** Here, O my Lord, I see thee face to face;Here would I touch and handle things unseen,Here grasp with firmer hand th’eternal grace,And all my weariness upon thee lean. For the second week in a row I’ve chosen a hymn written by Horatius Bonar. And…
-
Upon a Life
This is a guest post from my husband, Brian. Brian works casual call as a nurse and does the majority of the work involved in taking care of our land and animals. In his free time, Brian enjoys planting trees, building things (like this incredible chicken coop), and singing hymns. We’ve been married for 14 years, and I’m happy to call him my husband. *** Upon a life I have not lived, upon a death I did not die,Another’s life, another’s death, I stake my whole eternity. Although I mentioned my love for the hymnal in my first post, I don’t think you’ll find this hymn in any hymnal, unless…
-
Bonding Through Work Instead of Play
Maremmas are incredible dogs. They’re smart, funny, and affectionate. They know their herd (in our case, our family, our cat Rex, and a growing flock of chickens) and they know how to guard their herd. They won’t do anything they don’t want to do, or rather, anything they don’t see as their job to do. They can be stubborn and sweet, obedient and obnoxious. In short, we love our Maremma, our “little” Luna. I noticed something different about training Luna from what I could remember about training the dog my family owned growing up, a Springer Spaniel named Daisy. Daisy lived a full and happy life, digging up rocks in…
-
Abide with Me
This is a guest post from my husband, Brian. Brian works casual call as a nurse and does the majority of the work involved in taking care of our land and animals. In his free time, Brian enjoys planting trees, building things (like this incredible chicken coop), and singing hymns. We’ve been married for 14 years, and I’m happy to call him my husband. *** Change and decay in all around I see,O, Thou who changest not, abide with me. I’ve worked in a nursing home for the past 15 years. Recently, especially while at work, this hymn has been on my mind. It uses evening as a metaphor to…
-
Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence
This is a guest post from my husband, Brian. Brian works casual call as a nurse and does the majority of the work involved in taking care of our land and animals. In his free time, Brian enjoys planting trees, building things (like this incredible chicken coop), and singing hymns. We’ve been married for 14 years, and I’m happy to call him my husband. *** Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs A few years ago we did a short family presentation in which we each brought our favorite book. I brought a hymnal. The fact that 1,700 years worth of songs are filtered down to the best 700 or so and…