Rinky-Dink Rink Status

I just wrote a recap of the current status of our ice skating rink for my facebook page as a follow up to the fire-and-ice comments last night.  I decided to copy it here since it sort of says it all….

________________________________

So. Here's the deal.

We spent a good 3-4 hours last Sunday shoveling and re-shoveling and obsessively shoveling (yup, three times) this rather gigantic patch on the lake in front of the house. The ice shone like a mirror spit-shined with Windex, and we felt fairly smug about having such a stellar skating rink just outside our door! COOL!

Then yesterday we ditto-ed that - another 3 hours to get rid of Tuesday's snow, wanting to maintain the ultra-slickness and prevent any snow-crusty-crunchies from forming and thus ruining the near-perfection. Feeling quite industrious and clever after shoveling and re-shoveling and (you guessed it) re-shoveling a third time to get every little fleck, we rested on our laurels thinking, ahhhhh, we are SO AWESOME. We outsmarted the snow-roughening gremlins. (Pride cometh before the fall.)

Of course snow has fallen all day today. There are several more inches on the rink again, with no end in sight. Take note: I am NOT out shoveling. No sireeeee. Huh-uh. I'm getting too old for daily snow-shoveling workouts....seriously.

There's a moral to this story, somewhere. Oh yeah, I remember...we must continually pay our skating dues. EARN those ice-sport privileges. Or maybe there's another moral: stop being so obsessive and let what will be, BE.

It appears THERE WILL BE SNOW - lol.

Fire and Ice

True to typical Mulie adventurous-ness, we tried something new tonight: ice skating after dark…with a campfire on the ice!  Activities included popping popcorn over the fire, roasting marshmallows and making s’mores with gourmet semi-sweet Ghirdelli (the only chocolate I had on hand), and of course SKATING!  We even came up with some ideas for a future nighttime skating party: taper candles stuck in the mini mountain range of snow surrounding the snow-cleared 65x35’ rink, hot spiced cider simmering in a cast iron pot over the fire, and maybe, if the neighbors could tolerate it, some tinkling, wintry music….harp would be nice, I think!

Dependence/Trust

“But if we are not to be proud, clamorous, arrogant persons, what are we to be?  Mousy, cringing, insecure ones? …Christian faith is not neurotic dependency but childlike trust.  We do not have a God who forever indulges our whims but a God whom we trust with our destinies.”

- Eugene Peterson, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction

Frozen Lake at Sunset

"Softly the evening came.
The sun from the western horizon
Like a magician extended his golden wand o'er the landscape;
Trinkling vapors arose; sky and water and forest
Seemed all on fire at the touch
And melted and mingled together."

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Evangeline

Anselm on Understanding

“I do not seek, O Lord, to penetrate thy depths.  I by no means think my intellect equal to them: but I long to understand in some degree thy truth, which my heart believes and loves.  For I do not seek to understand that I may believe, but I believe, that I may understand.”

- Anselm (an eleventh-century English monk)

Oldster and Youngster Skaters

According to my rubberized leg muscles, I must have broken the senior citizen record while ice skating today.  I was out there for HOURS, but what a blast!  I even recovered some old backward-skate moves from my teenage years.  It was exhilarating.

On the other end of the spectrum from my senior- citizen-skater-status, today our grandson Caleb (age 10) had his very first experience on skates.  He practiced diligently with a chair until he’d mastered the skill – all in a single day!  In his words, “This is such a GREAT DAY!  I will never, EVER forget this day – EVER!”  

His younger brother Jordan was happy to slip-and-slide and just hang out without skates.  When asked if he wanted to go to the house to warm up, he said, "I want to stay here as LONG as I possibly can!"  Then way-way down at the let's-indoctrinate-'em level were Josie, age 2, and Ellie, age 9 months. They thrived through their pre-ice-skating lessons on falling, hauling, and crawling - and Ellie even took a nap in the sled.

New Years Day Blessing

I just now read a meaningful “happy-new-year” email from a friend.  Tucked between personal greetings was a paragraph I decided to share here, since I would also like to extend similar blessing over the lives of my own family and friends.

“May this New Year bring you a deeper sense of God’s passion for you – may His design of your beauty, creativity and purpose be something you will fully embrace and delight in this coming year.  May His provisions include abundant grace, wondrous blessings, wild adventures and many new and strengthened friendships.  And may you be granted a glimpse of how you reflect His wisdom, care, joy and love to everyone you meet.”