Restoring the Giggle Again

As I left court on Friday I was exhausted. My spirit had been tortured waiting and waiting to see the outcome. Then at the end.. the information came that we would be back again on Tuesday. Grandpa had turned to me and said, “Pastor, I can’t come again. I am just too tired.” Others with us said the same thing. We had been through one very long week with no resolve of any sort…. Only a faint hope that help might be possible but it wasn’t to be yet.

That is the way court goes. We will wait.

But what do you do with tired feelings? How do you feel better and feel better soon. I personally don’t have time to take a long holiday to some exotic place – and if I did I would be worrying about what was happening at home anyway?

Reflection…
As I sit here Sunday morning early looking at the last 37 hours since leaving court – I realize that God has begun the restoration process. I would like to share it with you.

On Friday evening we drove around our city to look at the beauty. Tourists pay big dollars to come to see what we have. On top of Armour Hill – a central place that is very high we looked down at the city on one side and the country on the other. There above the sprawling country side was the most beautiful moon we have seen for a while. It was full and with just a tinge of orange as it began its upward journey. The shot on the left will help to see a little – but it is not exactly what we saw. The beauty of our moon takes my breath away.

Next we stopped by the Lock #19 and there growing in a small flower garden was the most amazing group of flowers. It was almost dark and the camera required the flash to capture the image. But even in the fading light the flowers both shone with brilliance. They declared a beauty that was real…nothing phony about this part of the world.

It was at this part of the evening that we met an excited Boxer. This dog did everything he could to come over to my mom’s walker and check it out. He was super friendly. The owner explained that the dog had a “thing” about wheels. Anytime he sees a new apparatus that he doesn’t understand he wants to check it out. Sorry no picture… just lots of wiggle and a little drool from his mouth as he checked out her walker.

When Saturday came I was scheduled to spend a day at the Lang Pioneer Village as the resident Carpenter.(I have written of this earlier) The day was clear and clean. Then clouds came later. There were few people to drop by and it was a quiet village setting –much like it would have been in the 1850s. Literally I was drawn back in time to a place where it was super quiet and so very simple.

I concentrated on making my wooden stool that I set my mind to. It required some chisel work with a mallet. That made noise that crept along each little laneway of the village. Then I paused to let my arms and hands rest. It was then that the new sound caught my attention. The small tap, tap, tap… seemed to come from just outside the Carpenter’s Shop. I thought some one was imitating what I had been doing. I then picked up the mallet and hit the bench three times… that was echoed again with a small knocking not far a way. But this knocking was faster than mine and with more intensity. I laid the mallet down and walked out the large wooden shop doors to the sunshine.

There on the split rail fence was a wood pecker working and looking for bugs. She hopped from rail to rail and pecked furiously in a rapid fire kind of action. The sound of her small beak hitting the long split rail fence pieces sounded like a tiny mallet. The photo shows a little of this small beauty that entertained me so well. I stopped making my stool and simply watched.

For the next part of the scene around me was not recorded on a digital image – but rather in my mind deeply. It was so much fun to see.

Across from the Carpenter’s Shop is a sheep pen… with a small shelter for the Ewes and their two lambs. Some how the lambs escaped from their pen and the Ewes were not happy. There was a bleating going on that was louder and louder. The lambs scurried down the laneway and then stopped to eat the new grass at the side of the lane.

The ladies that work in the different buildings came running in their long dresses (costumes of the 1850s) and they attempted to herd the lambs back to their mamas. These little guys were having a ball on the outside – but the ewes were not happy. As the ladies were herding the lambs back to the pen with the intent to get them in through the gate that mama Ewe was waiting – the frisky little guys jumped back through the split rails that they had escaped from. With a wiggle of their little tails they were home again.

I know these words don’t really show the scene well. I didn’t have the camera. The giggle in me rose and bubbled out all over. This was the old poem again….
"Little Boy Blue, come blow your horn.
The sheep are in the meadow, the cows in the corn.
Where is the little boy that looks after the sheep?
Under the haystack fast asleep."

In a small 37 hour period I have been built back up again. The moon, the flowers, the sound of the river rushing by, the wood pecker and the lambs wiggle of a tail… tickled my soul and I began to giggle again.

Hey – if you are having a rough time… take a look around you… there is a giggle waiting in you to get out. God will provide the most amazing things that simply delight the soul…. And the giggle will come back

~ Pastor Murray Lincoln ~