Bells are ringing...

Lent begins tomorrow. This is a good time of year because it calls us back to our roots. We have the chance to contemplate who we really are—dirty rags and all. We see ourselves in the light of who God is and how far we fall short. It is a brief walk between Ash Wednesday and Easter, but it is a time when we can renew our worship of Him who has made right our relationship with The Eternal One.

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My cousins bequeathed us with a bell. It is quite sophisticated, really. It has become our school day reminder of what time of the day it is. Since my poohs did not seem to be cottoning to their own alarm clocks, it now goes off at 6:30 each morning. It is the kind that is used in a school, and it can be set to go off every hour—it is LOUD. Right now it rings at 7:00 to let the children know that I want them in the kitchen. It sounds again at 8:00 as a reminder that they should be sitting down with their books. At 11:30 it sends out a warning that if they are too late to join the crew in the kitchen, the best of the leftovers might be gone, so they better hurry on down. 3:30 says that if they are still doing school, it is time to put the books back into the filing cabinet. At 4:30 the chore bell rings, and 9:00 means they need to go hibernate in their rooms with a good book.

The children have been threatening it. They mumble things about its having an accident in the dead of the night. However, I’m finding it rather delightful. The family is arriving at the kitchen in the morning with out the use of a cattle prod! (Just joking.) I’m no longer responsible to let them know that they have forgotten to watch the time and that something is required of them NOW. I’m not sure how long this bell will continue to ring out its daily song, but right now I have no reason to turn it off.

I hope it does not have an accident in the night…

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Snowflake is looking for someone to play “mouse” with him. He drops his little, orange, fuzzy mouse at my feet. I pick it up and toss it so that it bounces off something, and he scampers to catch it. Then he returns to me to drop it off again. Would anyone be willing to entertain him for me?

Thoughts from my Big Green Chair

Psalm 71:19 “Your righteousness reaches to the skies, O God, you who have done great things. Who, O God, is like you?”

No one is like you. Your terrifying wrath and your motherly gentleness, your requirement for perfection and your glorious forgiveness—these are things no one else has like you. We worship You in love, in fear, in awe, and in thankfulness.


Your righteousness reaches to the skies, O God.