"Wind down the chimney!" Jonathan exclaimed drily as we crawled into bed that dark night in the cabin when the electricity was off upstairs because of the electrical work Jonathan was doing.
"How appropriate for Halloween night!"
How dark it was, and what a noise whooshing eerily not far above our heads!
Part of the wall had been torn out that day, and the new wall had not been built yet,
so there was nothing between us and the noise of the whipping mountain air--
with that enormous black spider and grinning jack-o-lanterns right across the road!
I lay there, knowing that I was not afraid, but with the off and on wind carrying on, I could not get to sleep.
It was not frightening, just annoying.
Sometimes there are things in life that aren't exactly frightening, but they sure are annoying!
Huge spiders of worry creep up on us, and jack-o-lanterns of unresolved problems grin mockingly at us at every turn.
Those things disturb our peace--like wind down the chimney on Halloween night!
Not spooky, just miserable.
With our poor little human flashlights, we look inside our chimneys to try to figure out our problems,
what BTU is this problem?
How human we are, in that our peace of mind is often disturbed by the roars and whistles through broken or exposed places, right down into our lives and homes!
We can try ever so hard to mend the problem or the situation, matching BTU's to stovepipe and ductwork, matching solutions to problems, but the wind continues to whoosh.
What about matching promises to our problems?
That night, I climbed out of bed and went downstairs to get my Bible.
I copied verse after verse of special promises the Lord had given me a few days earlier.
(This picture is actually me checking school work, but we'll pretend I'm writing promises in my journal since no one was up to take pictures!)
"How can any good come of this matter?" I had thought with a heavy heart. "Yet You said, 'All things work together for good.'"
Then I saw it, just above my entry of promises--a heavy-hearted note of thoughts I had written in my journal just after Jonathan and most of the children had gone hunting two weeks earlier, while I was feeling suddenly left behind, alone except for Hannah and Crystal who would be working most of the time, and struggling with the "same old, same old," when I would have liked to go to the mountains, too,
where there were trees and crackly leaves underfoot and sunny meadows and adventure.
"Same old, same old," I had written, and that is where I got interrupted.
I looked at that note of loneliness from just a few days earlier, when I knew I couldn't take the cold and the long hours and the crowded tent,
that desire for time in the mountains at a cozy cabin, and I looked around me.
Guess where I was?
At a cozy cabin in the mountains!
True, it was a work project, and the cozy cabin had become half a wreck before too long,
but a picture of a sparrow was sitting right there on the fireplace mantel.
but a picture of a sparrow was sitting right there on the fireplace mantel.
And God was watching over His little brown sparrow!
Or was it a robin?
When He watches over us, it matters not whether we are sparrow or robin or peacock!
His care is all that matters!
True, the only antlered creature I saw was this moosehead on the cabin wall,
and I was still having to teach school and make three meals a day and help Jonathan all we could,
and I was still having to teach school and make three meals a day and help Jonathan all we could,
but every afternoon, the children and I went on little excursions--just like I had dreamed about!
After meals were done and dishes washed and put away, after Jonathan had been helped all we could,
after school lessons were all done, sometimes around 2 or 2:30,
after school lessons were all done, sometimes around 2 or 2:30,
making him three good meals a day,
and stealing kisses every once in a while!
God had heard that little desire of this little mother who misses trees and gets overwhelmed with the hectic life and racket and many animals, etc.
And He gave her what she needed!
Won't He keep His promises for the more important things that weigh us down, too?
So glad God gave you this lovely family time in the mountain cabin. He's such a personal, caring Father!
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