Wild Wonderful Wednesday

On this 5th Wednesday we are indeed going wild. Everyone has a bounty of wilderness just outside their door, and it is no different for us. Even if you live in the city, you can find some pretty wild stuff if you open your eyes. Come with us today into our backyard and marvel at what God has made. 

This year we have had full Fall color - even now at the end of November. Our cherry tree is blazing into the winter, giving us a wonderful view to the canal in the background. This is the backdrop of our little bit of the wild. Look down. Look up. Look further away and close by. God has blessed us with all sorts of wonders to enjoy. 

Although it is now colder and we haven’t seen them for some time, we can generally run across some slugs crawling along our terrace and even up the window. In Dutch they are called ‘naked snails’ for obvious reasons. We also have plenty of clothed snails in the yard. 

As we walk further into the yard - stepping very high at the moment because my lawnmower broke down and the grass is quite high - we come across several mole hills. Although we are not too happy with the hills all over the yard (it makes mowing the lawn quite a challenge), it is intriguing to wonder about all the life going on just under the surface. We have only once seen one of these little guys. 

Along the sides of our yard are long stretches of hedge. The one side is a very thorny hedge, in Dutch called ‘May thorn’ (hawthorn in English). Even now there is a constant flurry of little birds flitting in and out, crumbling about with one another, chirping and screeching. We can enjoy these birds from the living room as well, since they also live in the holly tree growing in the neighbors driveway, next to our drive. 

At the back of our yard, outside our hedge and next to the canal, I pile all of the cuttings from the year. The hedge cutting, and cuttings from the trees in the yard (we have a cherry tree and a walnut tree, as well as several other bushes and trees I am not familiar with). In these piles of cuttings live various other critters. In the past we have found hedgehogs roaming the yard and even living in our garage. 

We regularly hear fox in the evening, with their identifiable screeching cry, as if someone were out along the canal I pain. In the summer we hear the frogs calling all night long. If we are up early enough in the morning, we might even see the fox (I have seen him twice) as well as a marten (weasel). The marten’s are endangered, so you cannot dop anything to keep them away, even though they chew through the hoses of your car - one of their favorite places to hide. 

Sitting in the dining room looking out over the yard we can watch the pigeons and blackbirds sitting in the cherry tree. Both of them like to ‘cook’ the cherries in the summer. They pick a hole I various cherries and let it begin to rot. Then they can return later and eat the juice they have created. We compete with the for the cherries. But usually, if we leave them the higher branches, they leave us the lower ones. 

We have also see quail and even a pheasant sitting in the yard under the cherry tree. The quail have wondered across the yard with their young. But they have to be quite careful, since we have various good hunting cats in the street and neighborhood. The dogs have never been able to do any damage, but the cats know their way around a hunting field. 

If we continue through the gate at the end of the yard and walk out to the canal, we can enjoy all of the other water fowl available for perusal: geese of all sizes, ducks, swans and heron. All make their home for a time along this water, disregarding in general the bikes riding by and even ignoring most of the dog owners tied to their animals pulling them along the walkway. 

I haven’t even talked of the various insects and spiders, worms and crawly things the can be found all around the house (sometimes in the house). It is truly amazing what we can see when we open our eyes. I am always thankful for how wonderfully God has made everything. Look around you. Tell me - what do you find? 

The song of God

It never gets old. Sometimes hearing the same song again and again, or singing the same song time after time, grinds on your nerves. But this never gets old. Some of our songs speak of what I mean: All creatures of our God and King, The spacious firmament on high, This is my Father’s world.

At the Men’s Retreat this month we went on a walk in the woods. I was walking with Jeremy, who is blind. I simply gave a running commentary on what we were walking by, what we were feeling. A cathedral of majestic trees looming over our heads, or a bustle of bright blowing birch dancing across the path, a babbling brook down in the valley or a crag of a rock jutting out as a sentinel over the trees below. And as we walked, we shared the beauty of how God cares for us, how mighty he is, the joy that he brings to our lives and how we can continue walking in the Light. 

God’s song is everywhere in His creation and it is thrilling to stop and listen and then to sing along. This month has also meant several times of singing together with God’s family, as I mentioned last time. The group from Liége that comes on the first Wednesday of the month thrills my heart. Although we still struggle to speak in words with one another in conversations, the words we use to speak to one another in song are so very clear. God is King, we are His and together we will continue in His love and grace.

That was the song this past weekend as well as we gathered with a group in a park in Aachen, Germany. Last year we met for the first time here, in a small museum in the park. When we asked again this year if it would be possible to use the facility, they told us it was not possible as they were preparing an exhibition – but we could use the gardens. So God provided beautiful weather, we all brought our voices and hearts, and we shared God’s words of love with one another – and anyone walking by in the park.

It is thriliing to be singing His song in our lives, singing in harmony or in unison, sometimes softly, sometimes in full voice. What God has created – and is creating – is simply wonderful!

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.                     Colossians 3:1-4