Nancy

Feeling Grape-ful

November 17, 2016 by Nancy 16 Comments

Even when grapes aren’t on my grocery list it seems I always come home from the store with some. I can’t resist those beautiful green or red orbs, now usually packaged in easy-to-grab cellophane bags.

And is there any other fruit more…well, fruitful? Grapes are not only a delicious, nutritious snack for school kids and dieters, they are used to make jam, jelly, juice, raisins, vinegar, grape seed oil and, of course—wine! In fact, 71% of all grapes grown are used to make wine, and the United States is fifth in in the world in grape production, behind Spain, France, Italy and Turkey. (If you somehow missed seeing the episode of “I Love Lucy” where Lucy visits a winery in Italy and learns to stomp grapes, find it on YouTube. It’s always good for a laugh!)

In this season of nostalgia and gratitude, however, I’ve discovered yet another purpose for grapes. No doubt you, like me, have friends and acquaintances going through difficult times this season—or maybe the person suffering is you. Two people I know have recently been diagnosed with breast cancer. A wonderful couple in our community lost a son to addiction in spite of every effort to save him. Natural and manmade disasters fill evening news reports and newspapers.

In light of all this, I want to be more aware of the blessings I have been given—and to focus anew not on what I don’t have, but on what I do. This is where the grapes come in. While sitting quietly with a small bowl of grapes next to my favorite reading chair, I decided to let each grape I plucked from the bunch represent a blessing that came my way this year. Taste and see that the Lord is good…we read in Psalm 34:8. Oh how His goodness became apparent to me as I acknowledged one blessing after another…all while enjoying the fruit of the vine.

On every bunch of grapes there will be a few vacant stems. Maybe a bird ate that grape or it was sorted out of the bunch for some reason. I let the empty stems represent blessings that didn’t come my way, but went to someone else instead. Maybe to one of the people that I know is hurting. And so I was even grateful for the missing grapes.

Grapes nourish us, but then so does gratitude. It’s said a grateful heart is in itself a prayer. I hope you can join me in being grape-ful this season. Taste and see!

This blog post first appeared as a column in The Country Register, Nov-Dec 2016.

Embracing Change

November 4, 2016 by Nancy 7 Comments

We had an unusually warm and snow-less October here in Colorado, but we know a change—it is a coming! And it may happen suddenly. For now we bask in the golden hue the sunlight casts this time of year. We may grab a sweater when we leave the house, just in case, but we may leave in sandals, too!

Once the cold and snow come, those of us having fallen in love with the balmier days of fall may find the change catches us a bit by surprise. But then change always does, doesn’t it?

The dear older people I meet with in The Hope of Glory Bible study have taught me so much about change. The longer we live the more change we have to accept. Dealing with the monumental changes most of them have seen—the loss of a family home, a spouse, or a child—is never easy. Change changes us, there’s no doubt about it. But what I’ve observed in them is that change can also bring us closer to God, even if it’s a change we never would have chosen.

Our changing world and the discouraging political situation in which we find our country don’t go unnoticed or undiscussed in these groups of elders. But eventually one of them will say, “Whatever happens, God is in control.” That settles the discussion and we go on to more productive topics.

Change is inevitable, but it isn’t to be feared when we realize that all change—including whatever happens in the upcoming election—is orchestrated by the God who loves us. Wisdom and power are his. He changes times and seasons… (Daniel 2:20-21). And regardless of how we respond to the changes around us, it is the change within us that He values most. Having sent the Holy Spirit to indwell us, He daily works to change our hearts to be more forgiving, more trusting, and more like His own.

Whatever changes the coming season brings, we can rest in the knowledge that God does not change like shifting shadows (James 1:17). The sun may disappear a bit earlier each evening, but God is still in control of its rising and setting, and by His hand He changes all things according to His will.

Happy Halloween?

October 30, 2016 by Nancy 14 Comments

I’m a happy Halloweener, meaning I’m okay with the fun, wholesome aspects of the holiday. I love seeing a little girl (or several) dressed as Elsa from “Frozen” and all the Batman and Superman imitators. I love the smiles on children’s faces when you guess who they are pretending to be—and I understand that it’s fun to be someone you aren’t for a couple of hours. It’s also fun to come home with a bag of candy—especially the chocolate morsels!

Otherwise, I really don’t care for Halloween.

The basis for my dislike is that evil gets plenty of publicity on the nightly news without our dedicating a holiday to it. The world seems to get scarier by the minute, and it seems no excuse is necessary for people to behave horribly and terrorize others. So no, I don’t like the creepy, spooky, demonic aspects of this holiday.

Yes, I know it has deep-seeded roots, all the way back to a Celtic festival. And I know it was once known as All Hallows Eve, the night before the religious observance of All Saints Day, a reverent remembrance of the dead and the saints who have gone before us. And who doesn’t applaud the optimism of Charlie Brown waiting for the Giant Pumpkin to arrive?

However, the reverence is mostly gone, the Giant Pumpkin hasn’t shown up, and it says something about our society that Halloween is now the second largest revenue producing holiday—just barely behind Christmas. How must that make Thanksgiving and Valentine’s Day feel? Gratitude and love aren’t as important as jack-o-lanterns, spider webs, and haunted houses?

So I wish my readers a HAPPY Halloween. No witches, walking dead people, zombies, chainsaw murderers and the like. No maligning or torturing of black cats. Just a chance to build community by giving some safely packaged candy to your neighbor kids and by connecting with their parents in a positive way. And finally, a feeling of relief when you turn out the lights and head to bed to rest up for the next holiday that might scare the socks off you. Election Day!

HAPPY Halloween!

Life on the Cusp

October 19, 2016 by Nancy 16 Comments

The leaves are falling and swirling across the lawns and streets, gathering in gutters and along curbs. It won’t be long before the snowflakes are falling instead, creating a restorative blanket of fresh, white snow to cover up all that’s dingy. We are on the cusp of a new season.

I’m familiar with life on the cusp. Cusp is defined as: a transitional point or time, as between two astrological signs. I was born on January 20—on the cusp between the astrological signs Capricorn and Aquarius. I take direction for my life from the Creator, not from the creation, so I don’t pay much attention to astrological forecasts. But if there’s some truth to the characteristics attributed to each sign in the zodiac that may explain why I sometimes feel like the organized and stable Capricorn and sometimes like the curious and creative Aquarian! I live life on the cusp.

We are also on the cusp of a new reality in the United States of America. With the presidential election less than a month away, emotions, fears, and speculations have never been higher. Dear friends and family members on opposite sides of the political spectrum, and possibly with vastly different world views, almost innately know to avoid one another in these tense, contentious days. When all’s said and done, we will still want the people we cherish to feel comfortable in our presence. Of that I’m sure.

Yet are we, as some say, on the cusp of the death or the rebirth of this great nation? Is our amazing experiment in democracy and freedom over, or will we remember what made us exceptional in the first place and choose to return to the values and beliefs which gave birth to liberty? Only time will tell, but of one thing I am completely confident. Whatever happens, God will still be sovereign. He will still hear His people when we cry out to Him. He will still lavish His love, mercy, and grace upon those willing to ask and to receive.

As I think about living life on the cusp, I’m reminded of a portion of the Prayer of St. Patrick: Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left…It’s this reality that allows me to live life on the cusp with eternal peace in my heart. I pray the same for you.

Pet Chronicles

August 29, 2016 by Nancy 20 Comments

How we love our pets. I don’t know if it was the expression on my face or the tears welling up in my eyes that tipped off the total stranger sitting in the waiting room with her dog. I just know that as I was leaving the vet’s office after dropping off my cat Beau for surgery, she leaped up to give me a hug, and soon I was crying on her shoulder sobbing, “It’s just so hard to leave him here.”

Beau had a gross looking sore on one of his hind feet. The vet wisely decided the best plan of action was to amputate his toe and send the whole mess to the lab for evaluation. The test came back positive for a low grade cancer, so taking the toe was the right decision and gives him a good chance at survival. Still, as I dropped him off that morning you would have thought I was the one having an amputation.

My concern for Beau started me thinking about all the pets I have loved in my lifetime. I remember each one so clearly because each one still occupies a place in my heart. You, too?

The first dog I can remember was a brown and white spotted, mid-sized mutt named Sally. She had the brightest brown eyes, the pinkest tongue, and the curliest tail you’ll ever see—and I loved her so much. Sally was just one more of the playmates my sisters and I had when we played hopscotch or jumped rope. She was always with us and always up for a romp. Over the years we also had a collie named Prince, a cocker named Prissy, and a cat named Cocomo. How I remember each one.

As a newlywed in the sixties my first “baby” was a miniature dachshund named Sebastian. This is the dog I dressed up in baby clothes while awaiting the birth of my first son because he weighed seven pounds and I thought I could practice on him! He’s also the dog that was so jealous once the baby came that he lifted his leg all around the bottom of the changing-table skirt I had painstakingly made. In so many ways Sebastian was just too smart to be a dog, but he was funny and affectionate and my heart still leaps whenever I see a mini-dachshund.

Two more dogs followed. Gorgeous light golden retrievers named Lady and Lad. Lad was Lady’s puppy. She gave birth to 11 puppies, but I was on the phone with the vet after 10 had been born and he told me to bring her in for a check-up. I called her and she obeyed, dropping puppy number eleven out on his head.

I have a feeling that was Lad, because as one vet said, “He’s about as bright as a billiard ball!” Lady was brighter, however, and both dogs were loyal and lovable. They were my jogging partners during a difficult time in my life. After Lady and Lad, I haven’t had the heart to get another dog. The holes they left just seem too large to fill.

Naively, I thought cats might be less of an emotional investment. Wrong. My son Tim convinced me to adopt a calico cat we named Callie. Next we adopted two kittens I named Kate and Allie after my favorite TV sitcom at the time. After a trip to the vet, we had to change Allie’s name to Al because she was a he! When Kate escaped one night and didn’t make it home, she was replaced by Betsy—a calico barn cat whose meow was stuck in her throat. We had Al and Betsy for 14 years and losing them was heartbreaking.

So it took almost a year before we adopted Molly, a sweet grayish cat we’ve had for 12 years now. I read an article that said a single cat might become depressed, so a few months later we adopted Beau. That’s when Molly really became depressed! Unlike Al and Betsy who curled up together daily, these two cats barely tolerate one another, but both are wonderful companions.

I think we grieve the loss of our pets so deeply when they go because they are so much a part of our daily lives. They need us, and we need them. In fact, I can’t imagine my life without a clever, comforting, entertaining cat in it. One adage reads, “Every life has nine cats.” Husband beware. It looks like I’m only up to seven. Two more to go to secure my crazy cat lady status!

I give myself permission to love my pets as I do because they, too, are God’s creatures given to us to care for and enjoy. Psalm 36:6 says, O Lord, you preserve both man and beast. Psalm 150:6 reads, Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Our pets have breath. Dare we believe they also have souls and will greet us in heaven? Theologians may disagree, but I’ll just wait and see. Meanwhile, I’ll just love on the two I have. Or do they have me?

In the Company of Goats

July 18, 2016 by Nancy 10 Comments

I can’t think of a more exhilarating way to spend a warm summer’s day than in the company of goats. Until recently my only experience with a goat was as a child. For a while my family had a goat we unimaginatively named Billy. I think he was on loan from a larger farm as my father liked to expose my sisters and me to different animals. We thought Billy was entertaining and fun, but after he ate 12 blooms off my mother’s prized geranium plant, he was sent packing!

Recently I met many more goats when I took “The Goat Cheese Making Class” from The Goat Cheese Lady, Lindsey Aparicio, at her family’s farm in Penrose, CO (www.thegoatcheeselady.com). Not only did my three friends and I learn how to make three varieties of goat cheese, we used the milk we had milked from the goats that morning! We also learned all about the goats and the workings of the farm, then enjoyed a wonderful brunch that included the bread and goat cheese we made ourselves, the eggs we collected from the hens, and a fresh green salad. Gourmet chefs eat your hearts out. This simple, homemade repast was one of the best meals any of us ever had!

Memories of the day are all sprinkled with sun, laughter, and the gentle bleatings of goats of all sizes. Did I mention we got to help herd a bunch of young goats from their pen to an open pasture? Hilarious. Driving home I realized there is much to be learned by spending a day in the company of goats.

First, be willing to greet people you don’t know yet. The gentle calls of the goats when we first got out of our car began the relationships that became much more intimate when we learned to coax milk from their udders. I won’t say we became bosom buddies, but we sure got closer!

Second, know who to trust and then trust completely. When we were milking the goats, Lindsey cautiously held their back legs because our hands were strange to them and they might react and step in the milk. But when Lindsey or her son André were milking the goats, they totally relaxed. They knew who to trust.

Third, remember that giving and receiving are intrinsically connected. As the female goats willingly gave their life-giving milk they got sweet feed to munch. They also enjoyed the relief that came from being milked, as any lactating mom will attest. Giving and receiving. Both are blessings.

And lastly, if a gate opens, run through it! My friends and I were a bit tired at the end of the day. After all, herding goats wasn’t a normal daily activity for any of us. But we were so glad we had leapt at the opportunity. Just like those darling and daring baby goats.