Meeting Monday

This morning my alarm clock went off at 4:30am. Slowly my eyes and mind were able to muster enough alertness for me to attempt my Bible reading and memorization. At 5:00am I took the plunge out of my warm bed and proceeded with my workday routine of getting dressed, making breakfast, and preparing a lunch. Before I left for work at 5:45am I had a little free time and almost considered updating my status on facebook to express how tired I was after a weekend of camping; and how dearly I wished I could have slept some more. But my mind was still too numb to artfully express the thought; and my disposition was still so longing for the wrong side of the bed which I had awoken on, that I was unable to construct any sort of positive conclusion.

So with my cell phone lighting the ground before my feet ― I stepped outside to meet the 28° windchilled pre-dawn twilight.

As usual I arrived at work a little early. So I just sat in my truck and waited for the arrival of my coworkers and the keys which unlock the door to the employee time-card.

The one-hour-and-ten-minute-slow clock on my truck soon read "4:54", and yet none of my coworkers had arrived. It was a Monday morning though, so I didn't think too much of their tardiness. So I waited some more. And some more. And some more still.

I waited until 6:30am and besides the arrival and departure of a truck driver, no one else ever showed up. For some reason never in any way communicated to me, this was a no-work day. So I returned home with the first glimpse of the eastern sunlight shining through my truck's rear window. Once I got home and had climbed back into my warm bed I discovered something awful...
I was now fully awake.

Now warm and with a due smile on my face, I can tell of these circumstances.  I smile because it is funny; and because I am glad that I was able to learn a lesson from all of this. Despite my worrying and my dreading of the coming work day; my work day never came to be. Many worries in life are this way. We can spend hours fussing about any great number of things which will never happen. We should instead trust in God, and let come what may.


Time for a nap. :)

BONSAI

Two of the things I brought up with me from Kansas are my little bonsai-trees-to-be.

Bonsai Redbud

They are not actually bonsai yet. I need to let them grow until winter, and then prune their roots while they are dormant.

Bonsai Oak

I grew this guy from an acorn which fell from one of our oak trees in Kansas.

They may look small now, but just you wait…. Actually, I am hoping they always look small.

Getting use to my surroundings

One of the things I have always enjoyed is long and rejuvenating walks. Evening walks are best because the humidity and temperatures are low, and the colors are amazing. All my life I have lived in cities; so I would try to take my walks to the edge of town, a quiet park, or along some train tracks.The funny thing is that usually I spent half of my time just getting to a place like that where I could enjoy my walk. Things are different now though. Now for the first time in my life I live in the country! I need only walk to the end of my driveway to find myself on a beautifully scenic country road. I have already gone on several nice long walks since moving one and a half weeks ago. I would like to share some images from the walk I took yesterday evening.

Looking down the road…

One thing I love about this part of Minnesota, is that it contains a healthy amount of open spaces and pastures. This makes it a lot easier for me to adjust after spending most of my life in Kansas.

I still can’t believe I live here…

I think this view will look nice come fall.

Daisies along the fence

Sunset view from Steam Boat Road

Freshly planted power poles

I am not extremely thrilled that there are signs of civilization being installed in the pasture down the road. But the sunset’s colors were so superb that it was hard to not enjoy the view.

A final look at the day’s final colors

One of the horses grazing (I’m not sure which one)

And these are only the views from a short walk down my road... This is such a wonderful place to live!