March Musings

What a blustery & cold month this has been in the South Dakota hills! & not too many sunshiny days. Although the calendar says 'Spring', the weather says "NOT"! Elderly man Winter ages much slower here & is a bit capricious this time of year & he shows no sign of going into hibernation any time soon. So, I put out greenery here & there as in the above picture but I know that it is not reality. However, we do wake up from dreams & Spring will come with a gentle push, or, if Elderly man Winter is of a more mercurial temperament, he may need a more directly applied swift kick to the aforesaid temperament. Like a naughty, resisting child, he needs that touch that only Mother Nature can perform & sends him to bed for a nap for several months. 
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ...😴

Days in March can seem to be monotonously the same weather-wise, & my perk-o-later may be a bit sluggish, but, I still like to start Spring cleaning in March. Like sorting out & re-organizing the Pantry, kitchen cupboards, closets, cleaning out the refrigerator (although that's not just for Spring. I hope! 😕). That chore calls for a guessing game sometimes. "What is that?" or "Where did that come from?!" or even "How did that get in here!?! I've been looking everywhere for that!!" or may elicit the announcement, "Hey Mom, we have some Christmas vegetables (or meat, or dessert!) in the fridge!" or in other words, something's green that shouldn't be. & the exclamation that precedes the refrigerator purge & cleanse, upon opening the refrigerator door, "Oh YUK! What is that smell!" followed by, "I don't know, but I think it's alive." One thing we don't lack in this family is humor. Like Mae Ella Ewell in "To Kill A Mockingbird" everyone has 'something to say.' As a matter of fact, my son is compiling a book that he entitled "The Cringe Book", in which he writes the family jokes, & we all sort of play off of each other, even the kids who don't live at home. Here are some examples.

What did one beached whale say to the other beached whale?🤔

Answer: "Long time no sea." 😄

& how about this one.

How does Mr. Ground Beef protect his home?

Answer: He uses a 'Burger-lar Alarm.' 

& all thieves caught on site get the electric skillet!

HAHAHAHAHA! 😂 That last one was from my daughter in Oklahoma! 

We laugh a lot in our family. & you know what the Bible says about a merry heart! 

But, back to March/Spring cleaning, it does get my perk-o-later going because I like clean. & I like organization because order brings peace to the atmosphere of our home. Yours too. It's a real perk to my spirit! I love going to bed after the nightly ritual of tidying everything, & especially, for me, the kitchen. I love to wake up to a clean & 'everything in its place' kitchen. It truly makes me smile at the beginning of the day. Because that's usually the room that my work day begins. I have learned over the years, changing the lyrics to the song, that if you aren't doing what you love, then start loving what you do & then you will be doing what you love!! It's all in the attitude that can be turned into gr-attitude. Gratitude really does change the attitude landscape! & it really broadens the horizons of the daily perks we give ourselves. When we are grateful, we recognize those "He daily loads us with benefits" or perks, that keeps life from being drudgery at anytime. & we also make our own perks. Like how pleasant it is to sit & rock in a rocking chair in the sunny, warm, dining room, taking a little respite from cleaning. Or reading good, edifying books, dancing an irish jig with Candy Cane (my third 'leg') to the song "Wellerman" by Nathan Evans. It is such a fun song for dancing! Such an energetic perk! Then, a quieting perk is grooming & stroking our horse & nestling into his neck & drawing a deep breath. I LOVE the smell of horses, so therapeutic. Also, sitting on the back porch at sunrise, brewing a cup of loose leaf Earl Gray tea, & slowly sipping it, letting the heat warm you all the way down to your toes, or so it seems. stepping into a warm room after being out in the frigid cold long enough to freeze your fingers & nose. There are so many perks we can enjoy if we just pay attention. It's a perk just to give others perks! One of the ways I do that is through cooking.  I love to cook my family's favorite foods. Or just having a time in the afternoon when I light a candle, fix some cheese & crackers or sliced Ambrosia apples & a cookie or a chocolate with a hot cup of tea (ahhhh, tea again!) My youngest daughter & I used to have a Teatime often when she was younger. Sometimes inside, sometimes outside, even snuggled down in a hay fort in the middle of winter. & of course, Dudley our horse was always invited, but he preferred the hay over tea. 🐎

There are just so many perks to fill up every day that if we really put our mind to it, we couldn't keep up with them. As Robert Louis Stevenson says,

"The world is so full of a number of things,  

I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings!"

You know, we don't really have to search for things that are sad, hard, tragic, disappointing, frustrating, scary, horrific or insane. It seems like these things steamroll over us, flattening us to pancake proportions without even waiting for an invitation. But we don't have to let the steamroller give us our identity & stay a pancake. No, we let Jesus be our Savior Spatula & scrape us off the road, breathe His life into us, give us His perception of all of the above crises (& more), & resume our identity in Him by living it out.

"I am crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me. & the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by  faith in  the Son of God who loved me, & gave Himself for me." (Galatians 2:20) & if we need good news, well, there it is. Reading good news is another good perk. As is this...

That is 'Brownie ala Mode' with a cup of hot Chamomile tea, served warm. My taste buds actually cried. 😇 Too many perks for one heart of thankfulness to hold! 

So, every day is the day that the Lord has made & we do rejoice & be glad in them. Even windy, cold, Elderly man Winter days of March.

Here are a few quotes about the month of March:

The motto for March:

"Courage & strength in times of danger".

William Morris

"March 4th"  The only day that is also a sentence. (😊)

"In March you have to take Spring on blind faith." March is a good metaphor for walking by faith!

"March is a homely month because it is mostly MUD." Mostly from melting snow in our neck of the woods. 

"March is a tomboy with tousled hair, a mischievous smile, mud on her shoes, & a laugh in her voice." 

Hal Borland

"Springtime is the land awakening.

The March winds are the morning yawn."

Lewis Grizzard

& my favorite, by L.M. Montgomery,

"March came in that winter like the meekest & mildest of lambs, bringing days that were crisp & golden, & tingling, each followed by a frosty pink twilight, which gradually lost itself in an elfland of moonshine."

March has sometimes gotten a bad reputation because of the high winds, warm & cold, flirting back & forth, & the gray, colorless, landscape. If only we could see the heart that is just underneath all of this, the promise unfulfilled. How many of us could compare our own spiritual landscape with the month of March. An also seemingly, lifeless mass, hopeless & ugly, that goes on & on, the same day over & over, until....

enter, Spring Jesus, who awakens the Sleeping Beauty that is buried in us, with a Holy kiss of Redemption, then appears a tiny sprig of green bursting through the dormant land of our hearts. Life. His life that brings then the leaf, the stalk & the full, fragrant, beautiful flower of identity of Him, to bless us, to bless Him & to bless our world. This then, is the true, the real March.

The month of hope that is really faith. Whether it's of physical or spirit. March. I want to think about that. Kind of....

awesome.

Raintree Perk of the Day:

"If the winter of my heart comes,

Can the Spring of my heart

be far behind?" 

Adapted from Percy Shelley
"When He comes, there will be a

new beginning....."

song by David Edwards