Who Knows Where The Time Goes

It was 50 years ago, in 1968 that our lives changed dramatically.  We were married June 30th of that year after we graduated from Golden Valley Lutheran College, significant in so many ways, but not the only event that occurred for us.  It was a time of change for our country, for the world.  It is the year that Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy were both murdered.  It was a tumultuous time.

And here were are 50 years later.  The legacy of King and Kennedy live on and still shape us so many years later.  Who knows where the time goes........

And here we are, 50 years later and soon to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary.  We are no longer the 20 and 22 year old kids who stood before family and friends saying "I do".  We are seasoned people in the autumn season of our lives.  Who knows where the time goes............

We can all look at events in our lives and question the passing of time. Whether births, deaths, graduations, marriages, we hold them dear and ponder.  Our son Kevin would have been 39 on June 1st.  He died when a virus attacked his heart causing congestive heart failure.  It has been 13 1/2 years since that early morning phone call waking us.  His then toddler son will soon be 16 now.  Who knows where the time goes...............

It feels like our grands were just born and yet we are watching them walk into college and high school doors, with the youngest two leaving single digit birthdays behind.  Who knows where the time goes............

Joel and I are now in our 7th decade of life.  We both are healthier than we were in our early 60's but we cannot look in the mirror without pondering where we are now.  Who knows where the time goes...........

It is no secret that we cannot hold time back.  No matter how many wrinkle creams, fad diets, exercise regimes, or surgeries people invest in to look and feel young.....we cannot hold time back.  We can only hold gently each sunrise and sunset, using the hours in-between to live a life worth living, embracing what is important, letting go of that which is not.

What do we hold precious?  What dreams do we still have tucked in the corner of our hearts?  What do we fill the hours between sunrise and sunset with?  Can we embrace the mundane and the precious, enjoying what makes up our lives.....because.......truly........who know where the time goes!

Saturday's Scribbles

The sun is shining today and the temperatures are, well, they are dang cold!  We are using the fireplace, cranking up the furnace and I'm bundling up in sweats and wool socks.  Hello...........  Tomorrow we are getting snow again.   Six to eight inches are forecast for our area.  Seriously, this is so wrong.  Just where has Spring gone?

I expect we all have at one time or another been looking for Spring to arrive!  Spring filled with flowers and warm temperatures, and Spring filled with a change of circumstances, all of us eager to leave a winter season behind.

Our oldest daughter mentioned to me recently a time when she was in college and could not afford to go on a "Spring break".  A couple of her friends came to stay with us and we decided to have our own Florida experience.  It was winter, but we cranked up the heat, decorated our grandfather clock to look lie a palm tree, added a few "tropical" foods and decorations and put on summer clothes.  We could not change her circumstances, but did the best to create fun and joy right where we were.  Creating spring in the midst of winter.

Guess we need to do the same here in the Midwest.  Keeping our joy on while dealing with yet more snow.  Keeping our joy on while in the midst of unwelcome circumstances.  God is in the midst of our winter seasons.  He brings sunshine to our days and SONshine to our circumstances.....He reminds us that victory is ours.!  We live in hope for better days.  Spring is coming

A Funeral, Two Weddings, and A Baby

Yesterday we arrived home after being gone for 8 days.  It was good to get back and settle in, while at the same time also noticing that our home seemed so quiet and empty of family voices.

Last Sunday morning we left early for Minnesota, first going to worship with our son Mark and grandson Noah at their awesome church.  So satisfying for a thirsty soul.  After lunch we headed east to Stillwater MN for our great-niece's wedding.  Katie is my sister Jan's granddaughter and my nephew Bob's girl.  It was a chilly day and the wedding service and reception was on the top of the Stillwater library.  Even with the need for coats it was a lovely venue for a wedding with a view of the Mississippi River.

A beautiful view with the Mississippi

River speckled by boats in the distance

Bride Katie with dad Bob

We spent the night at a hotel in Hudson, another great little river town, having brunch the next morning with family at a nice local cafe and bakery.  We headed north soon after,but first we made our way over to another town to watch a treasure run in cross country at a local golf course. Fun! Tuesday I stuck around the farm and later was able to see another treasure play soccer, while Joel went on a 22 mile bike ride on a great trail connected to his home town.  Then he went to the visitation of a Dahlen family friend who had died.  Bob S. had one request before his death, that Joel officiate at his funeral, so Wednesday morning we went to Joel's home church.  My husband has a gift in this area, and it was a beautiful service.

We had plans to head home Thursday to get ready for the next wedding by Red Wing MN. (Another river town), but the grands talked us into staying, although it did not take much encouragement!  So Thursday Joel went riding on another trail and I continued observing the harvest going on outside. There is something beautiful and so right about the work being done, the fields changing as the crops yield their bounty, the farmer focused on the task at hand....covered in corn dust as he stops in for a quick meal.

Friday morning we headed back to Joel's home town for a few hours.  Saturday we all took off for the wedding and arrived 4 plus hours later at our hotel in Red Wing.  Beautiful little town, with great history and of course they are well known for their Red Wing Pottery and Red Wing shoes/boots.  We shared a hotel room with our daughter and her treasures.....they were great roomies!

Another beautiful wedding. this one set out on a farm~ an open venue with chickens, sheep, and one affectionate cat joining in on the celebration.  The pews were out on the grass overlooking a field and hills.....It was lovely and the weather cooperated.  My brother Todd not only saw his oldest daughter being married, but celebrated that same day the birth of his first grandchild, a boy. His other daughter, who was to be in the wedding, was in the hospital instead birthing her first child. An amazing day all around!

Some of the wedding guests

Heather and Dan

As I look back on the past week, I cannot help but reflect on life and on death.  Two couples making a commitment to each other "til death do us part".  A funeral where we celebrated a life while grieving a loss through death.  And a new baby coming into this world in the midst of his Auntie's wedding plans. A little boy, precious to his parents and so many others, with a life full of adventures ahead of him. Time marches on, as we can attest to this past week.

In this season of our life, while looking with clarity at what is eventually to come, the last week has us in deep discussion.  We ask ourselves, what do we desire, what adventures lay ahead for us, what challenges?  Life can be complicated and often, so is death. There are those mundane days that make us restless, and those action packed days that make us long for the mundane.  Breathing in and breathing out, this journey called life.

Walking this journey called life

It was a good week with family and friends.  Celebrations of many kinds, with tears of joy and tears of sadness, our quota of hugs well met.  Filled with memories we step back into our daily living and give thanks for a life well lived, two marriages starting, and a new life beginning.  We give thanks for each sunrise. All and all it was a good week.

Sunrise

Sunrise

Walking The Land

There is something about the West that has always drawn me.  It is not just because my husband wears cowboy boots, vests, denim shirts, and a great Stetson hat.  No, it is much more.  I love the way the land presents itself.....both barren and beautiful at the same time.  We have lived out west in Utah, New Mexico and Montana and I lived as a child in South Dakota so we are familiar with western landscapes. Each place had it's own beauty to offer.  After returning from Montana to the Minnesota in 1983 we mourned the loss of living in the West for a long time.  It was not just the people, even though they were great.  It was not just the mountains and their majestic beauty, since we did not live near the Rockies.  It was the land.  The history embedded in the land. The pioneer spirit is there ~~independent, rugged, persevering.  We have only been back to visit Montana one time, mostly due to my past health issues, but memories are held close to our hearts.

I am attracted to places like The Pioneer Woman's BLOG, not for the recipes, but for her stories and photos of their life in Oklahoma.  I find it all intriguing.  Wide open spaces, hard work, and a satisfied life.  At least that is how I see it.  Joel and I both like the West.  If we believed in reincarnation, we would be thinking we were once pioneers out west, but since we do not, I think that maybe the beauty of the West, the history the land holds, and our good memories are what pull us in.  I expect it is one of the reasons we liked Gold Canyon AZ so much.  It certainly would not be due to it being near Phoenix.  Gold Canyon sits on the edge, nestled between the Superstition Mountains and the suburbs of that over populated desert city.  There is a rugged beauty to be found there in the green desert.

The land out West draws us.  There are also other places the land calls to us,  but in different ways.  Joel's childhood home and land is familiar and holds history.  In fact we will be buried in the cemetery next to the church where he grew up.  Just a quarter mile from the home farm seventeen Dahlens are buried, so far.  The lakes, rolling hills, and farm fields  where Joel spent his whole childhood bring forth an emotional response.  We are also drawn to the land and front porch of one of our families.  A porch that gives us a view of the flat fields and roads for miles, bringing us a sense of peace and quiet.  Far from town, it holds generations of history that you can sense deep in your soul.  I am grateful that our three treasures there will have that history for themselves and can look back at who walked the land before them.

In our years of moving, the 22 plus moves we have experienced around the country and overseas to the Philippines, our children missed out on putting down any deep roots, and so did we.  But as adults they have each found a place for themselves.....a land where they left footprints that brings them peace and a sense of "here is where we belong".  After a few years of "wandering" they walked the land God gave them and put down roots. They are living out God's purpose for their lives on their own soil and we are so grateful for that.

Do you feel drawn to your own land, a land you have walked on where you held the soil in your hands? Many have done so.  One blogger friend shares amazing photographs of the beauty surrounding her from their home in rural Wisconsin.  Another shares the stunning view she has from her home of a proud towering mountain in Washington state.  Another speaks of their home in the mountains of California. Yet another, city life, vibrant and alive to her.  Each place is as unique as the people who share their stories.  Each one says...."we have come home"......

I cannot express fully the connections between the land, God, and our own need for roots, but as I read Christie Purifoy's book, "Roots and Sky" and as I have read the comments on her blog, this need for roots in a land God has provided resonates with so many people.  This is beyond the desire for roots in the eternal.  It is the need to be able to "walk the land" and know that you know that you know where you belong here on earth.  I believe that sometimes we choose the land and sometimes the land chooses us.

Do you know what my hope and prayer is for each of you, for all of us who desire to walk the land?
That we have found or will find our own place to walk during our journey on earth, where we have dug deep into the soil, put down roots and feel at rest.  A place where our dreams and God's purpose for our life have united together to create the peace and quiet our souls longed for.  A place where we realize "we have come home".

Seasons

Today, even with or maybe because of temperatures in the low seventies, you can sense Fall has arrived.  It did not come according to man's calendar,, but according to nature's schedule.

The air has lost the density of summer, seeming to heighten the sounds and smells.  Often there is a faint odor of wood smoke and leaves are starting to grace the ground, rustling with movement.  At the end of our block a harvested oat field is now a gathering place for more geese than I can count.  I imagine they are making travel plans, talking about what 4 star hotels to stay at along the way! Seasons come and seasons go as a reminder that life is about moving forward.  Still, I would love to drag out Fall.  It is my favorite time of year.

In the midst of taking in all that Autumn offers, I have been porch sitting while pondering where I find myself.  Another infection requiring drugs that abuse as much as help.  Pain that has my pink tennies anticipating but not experiencing walks along the river.  Restless nights brought on by complaining joints and nerve endings.   Even though it has only been a couple of days, these familiar and unwelcome guests have left me spent.  I so dislike the return of old symptoms.

Autumn is another matter entirely.  I love the return of Fall.  Watching squirrels gather acorns.  Stopping to lift my eyes as geese fly overhead.  If they are low enough you can hear their wings beat in rhythm.  Trees are starting to share their leaves with the dry ground cover.  From our house we hear the crowds cheer the home team on in football.  And the colors?  Oh how I love the colors ~ rusts, browns, oranges, and deep reds that paint the landscape.  I am so grateful that God blessed us with the Fall season here in our corner of the world.

 God takes the heat of summer and transforms it into a brilliant season of harvest.  So it is with circumstances that entrap us in our lives. Not everything that comes to us is welcome.  Not everything we experience is beautiful.  Our own personal seasons of heat can be very trying, but God can take our intense seasons and turn them into harvest blessings as we keep our eyes on Him.  He meets us where we are at, transforms and heals us, and blesses us beyond what we can ask or think.   He brings the Harvest into our lives.

New Beginnings

Yesterday was the first day of Spring.  It was also my 65th birthday~ a big one for me in more ways than one.  It has given me pause to see this number come to light.  I certainly can't ignore it, as medicare has inundated me with stuff for the past three months!  Avoidance ~ maybe because it seems like such a huge milestone, and I felt discouraged every time I was reminded that I was aging.  Then I remembered that just five years ago I just wanted to make it to 60, so I decided to take a more positive approach as I walk with Jesus through this season of my life.  This season that feels more like Spring than Winter.

Not so long ago, I was fighting Lyme Disease as it wrecked havoc in my body.  That is dead and gone now thanks to the power of Jesus.  Three years ago at this time I was having surgery for uterine cancer.  I am still cancer free and believe I will stay that way!  I used to be homebound, but no longer!  I have also dealt with PTS due to childhood abuse memories, but God promises,  "I will give you back your health and heal your wounds" (Jeremiah 30:17).  I am not where I want to be~I have not arrived,  but I have left and I am on my way thanks to Jesus and His power that lives in me.  "It is for freedom that Christ set us free...."(Gal. 5:1)

When I think of Spring I think of new life!  Birds return, nesting as they prepare for babies...trees, bushes, and flowers blooming, replacing the drab grays of winter with bright colors.  New life coming to our broken bodies as Jesus wraps His healing arms around us.  I love that Easter is set in the spring, as it reminds us of the new life given to us when Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead.  He made all things new.

Another definition of Spring for me?  A new beginning!  In the midst of winter in the Midwest it seems like nothing will survive the cold and snow.  But under the frozen ground, nature waits.  As the temperatures rise and the snow melts, signs of life appear once again.  Every green thing begins to bud, daffodils and crocus push through the earth, and tulips boldly declare their beauty.  New beginnings over and over again, year after year.  Just like what Jesus offers us~ Forgiveness and healing over and over again...we are set free like the plants that come forth....... New beginnings!

Walking with Jesus in the last year has changed our lives in ways we never thought imaginable.  My  husband has been ordained for 33 years, but preaching long before that.   After three years on disability from Lyme Disease, he was blessed one year ago this past January with overnight healing and is able to serve in ministry again.  Our eyes were opened to what is available and my own journey with healing began. Slowly, sometimes taking two steps forward and sometimes taking two steps backwards, I am on the road to health and I will never stop walking that road until I reach my destination.  Healing from Lyme damage, PTS, and more.   "It is for freedom that Christ set us free..." 

Spring....when the earth lets go of winter and nature is set free for new beginnings and new life! 

Salvation~ when humans let go of their past, are set free, and new beginnings bring new life! 

Healing~ when we are made whole and set free for new beginnings!

"It is for freedom that Christ set us free. 

Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves

 be burdened again

 by a yoke of bondage(slavery)."

Galatians 5:1

 

I am linking up with Bonnie over at  Faith Barista Jam and her word prompt for this week ~ Spring!

To Everything There Is A Season

My husband, as a pastor, has helped people grieving the loss of their loved ones for over 35 years. He has stood by the bedside of many as they took their last breath and has officiated at over 265 funerals during his ministry.  As his wife, I have been privileged to be a support to him.  We know that death is a part of living.......we will all come to that day when we leave our earthly bodies and join the Lord and those we love in Heaven.  Knowing that we will see those we love again somehow eases the pain just a bit when someone we love dies. We grieve with hope during these seasons of mourning.

My husband has also been privileged to baptise close to 200 babies during this time and present them to our Lord. There is a sense of hope with each new life beginning as the parents present their child to God.  Years of love and growing far beyond our vision.  A season of joy.

Saturday...........

Our friends welcomed their first grandson into the world.  He was born weighing only 4lbs 9oz.,  having arrived a month early.  This little guy is completely healthy and  has melted the hearts of his grandparents and loved ones. A new life beginning. A season of joy.

Sunday.............

The end of December we went to a family gathering at my brother and his fiance Jeannie's home where we met Jeannie's parents.  We spent a few hours with them, enjoying their company.  We spoke of seeing them again at Todd and Jeannie's wedding next summer~ they were so excited............and then Sunday the unexpected happened.  Jeannie's mom died suddenly from a heart attack.  The vibrant life of a woman well-loved ended.  So shocking.  So heartwrenching.  So sad for those who call her mom, grandma, sister, friend.  A season of mourning.

 Birth brings us into the world and death removes us from the world.  It is what takes place between those two major events that tells the world who we are.  Our birth and our death are the bookends of what we call our life journey.  There are no guarantees that we will live a long life, because living in a fallen world makes life unpredictable, fragile, and precious. Yes, every moment is precious.

I have been reading Ann Voskamp's book One Thousand Gifts and linking up with her on Mondays HERE. I am truly learning to appreciate those special and ordinary moments that make life a blessing as I keep my journal close by to write my list of gifts in.  Today, as I think about these two bookends of life beginning and life ending I want to share with you what I am grateful for.  I am so grateful for the first breath our friend's grandson too as he entered the world.  The  promises that come with the birth of a new baby.  The pictures shared across the miles in just a click,  so we could share in the joy.   As I remember the time we visited with Jeannie's parents, I remember the twinkle in her mother's eye as she teased me in the kitchen.  I am also grateful for the time Joel and I spent with them privately.  I am grateful I was able to see the deep love Jeannie and her mom have for each other.  There easy mother-daughter connection.  

Lord, help me remember to cherish the moments we have........see the beauty in the ordinary...and breathe in the essence of those that surround us with their love.  To everything there is a season.