Peripheral Ponderings

When I was a child, one of my favourite autumn activities involved selecting a juicy red Mackintosh apple and an enticing book, then finding a spot where I could tuck myself away to enjoy them without fear of interruption.   I thought fall the most beautiful season of the year then, and still do today.

In our early teens, my sister and I got up before the break of dawn on Saturdays to work for a neighbour who sold his produce at the Kitchener market.  Later I sold apples at the Burlington Mall market with another farmer.   Markets, with their overflowing abundance,  are such a feast for the senses.  There’s the bright colours of flowers and vegetables and fruits, the  lively bustle of people everywhere, the spar of wits in give and take bargaining.

There was also the September happiness of picking apples in an sun-drenched orchard under clear bright blue skies.  That job supplied my first real income after being home with small children for a number of years.  We strapped on special apple-picking buckets that had canvas on the bottom.  When the apple bucket had been filled, you would waddle down the orchard lanes, unwind the cords wrapped around little hooks, and gently lower the apples into the bins.

The farm was kilometres away from the lake, but we could hear the boom of the foghorn on misty mornings.   Days would begin crisply cool, but as it warmed you would see various articles of worker’s clothing draped over the branches.    Hawks soared overhead in search of unwary little creatures.  Once we saw a little unblinking owl perched deep inside the tree’s shelter.

With the nights turning chilly, it’s time to get back to baking, to savour cinnamon-infused apple crisps and pies.   It’s a joy that includes wonderful memories of days spent outside, of the gratitude and urgency of harvest, of knowing God’s blessing of provision for another year.

“I will make the blind walk a path they don’t know and I will guide them in paths they don’t know.  But I will make darkness before them into light and rough places into level ground.  These things I will do; I won’t abandon them.”  Isaiah 42:16 (CEB)

 

I’ve been thinking about paths lately, as I watch the landscapers prepare a new walkway for our property.  As usual, I am impatient to see the finished work.  But there is so much that has to be done first – days of digging out, laying down a gravel base, compacting between layers, leveling and making smooth before the first stones could be laid down.   If those preparations are skipped, a poor foundation will be laid for this path.  It may look really beautiful, but the integrity of the work will be evident as time goes on.

So I am thankful for the expertise of these men at Second Nature landscape design, for their patience and skill.  And it strikes me that, all over Scripture, God promises to make good paths for us to walk on.   Sometimes I get so frustrated when there seems to be no clear direction when I want to forge ahead now.  When I fret, I forget that God is always at work in my life preparing the way ahead in the design he’s planned – paths of integrity that take time and much unglamorous labour to complete.  This foundational work may be in my heart so that the way becomes clear, or it may be work shaping outside circumstances to prepare the way.  But it, too, is necessary for the transforming of my old nature into a second nature, making rough places plain, making that which is unlovely in my life beautiful to Him.

“The horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea.  The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. Exodus 15: 1-2

Sometimes I think that the best part of a vacation is in remembering it,  re-visiting the good memories of faraway or exotic locations.  Any fears of flying were overcome, there were interesting things to see and do, and you know that it ended well – you arrived safely home.

In the Old Testament book of Exodus, Israel, too, was traveling.  Not on a vacation, but on a freedom march from oppression in Egypt.  When the Egyptians’ grief over the loss of their eldest sons turned to anger, they regretted their haste in getting rid of their former slaves – within days they pursued the  fugitives.  Israel stood in breath-stopping fear at the Red Sea shore, but saw God’s miraculous deliverance as he opened up a dry path through the sea.  It’s a moment that would always be writ large, that lived on in their history as an experience of God’s goodness to them, a glorious truth.

There are extraordinary times, and we cherish them as we would the memories of an amazing holiday.   But God doesn’t let us stay there, because these times are merely signposts on the way to a much more glorious destination.  After their joyous celebration, Israel had to move into the bleak desert, and three days later they were grumbling because the only water they could find was bitter.  They needed to learn that the God who had been able to accomplish the spectacular could also be depended on their basic everyday needs.

I’ve lived through some hazardous and thrilling times, and sometimes I’m tempted to think God is not that interested in my ordinary days.   Still, getting to a destination can include long plodding periods of just putting one foot in front of the other.  In these times my vision is blocked if I linger too long on former glories.  Perhaps instead, as we do with icons on our computer screen, we can focus best on our present work when we know those victories are treasured there in the background.

When we reach new vistas, there are new truths to live out, new battles to be fought.  One day the journey will be done, and we will arrive, like Israel, safely in the Beautiful Land.

I am grateful for the book learning I’ve received, mostly because I found to my great relief that the existential questions I struggled to solve had already been grappled with for centuries, that  I was not alone.   Professors challenged us to temporarily suspend our beliefs so that we could appreciate new perspectives.  This flexibility gave us  freedom to explore, and opened a door to lifelong learning.

When I think of someone “smart,” the image that comes to mind is that of the stereotypical absent-minded professor, surrounded by book-covered desks and chalkboards covered with mathematical formulas.   But as time goes on, you learn to  appreciate that intelligence comes in many forms, and from many different places.  And that it’s often informally acquired, without ever earning a diploma.

Spatial intelligence, the street smart learning that taxi and bus drivers acquire while traveling the streets of a city is a valuable navigating skill.   An avid collector catalogues all his treasures, and is always in pursuit of a coveted item.  Pre-literate storytellers told tales from memory that had been passed down from generation to generation.   There are those with intuitive or instinctual knowledge, and those with mental disabilities who make a vital contribution to society in their unpretentious simplicity.   Children view the world with wide-eyed wonder and are willing to experiment with new ideas.

Being smart is a good goal, but being wise is a better one. “The fear (reverence, respect, awe) of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. (Psalm 111:10).    We can learn from the lives of others in the ancient wisdom literature of Scripture, and from those who are daily placed in our path.   We can learn to apply knowledge in practical daily life, and in our relationships.  We can be aware, use our senses fully in our environment, but also use the “third eye” in witnessing our own internal and external reactions to different situations.

God grants us life in all its abundance, a world in which we can learn every single day.  What a gift!

One of the things I have been most grateful for in my life was the opportunity to be out in the workplace.  Sometimes it was a chance to see behind the scenes, a glimpse into something of what it was like to be an owner of a large bakery, a professor, a doctor,  a farmer, or an engineer.    I could see a wide spectrum of life’s challenges in a day when I would go from providing child care for a toddler to housekeeping duties at the home of octagenarians.  Later it was the opportunity to work with others in ensuring enough inventory for plant production.   In our daily tasks, the work itself molded and shaped us.

The workplace offered opportunity to learn and grow, to learn coping skills from many different people.   There was the company-sponsored Dale Carnegie course that pushed me past the fear of public speaking, the everyday contact with all kinds of people, the opportunity to attend employee seminars.  A personality assessment seminar tagged me as among the “amiable” group.  We value people first and work second, in contrast to the other personalities in my work environment who focused on the job first and people second, such as analytic or driver.  It was helpful to know that when you worked together.

“Amiable”  sounds like a good designation.  You want a good team that’s happy to work together, that complements each other’s strengths.   There are times, however, when there’s no getting around having to make some tough decisions and holding a firm line.  As Lee, our operations manager, once chided when I was trying to keep everyone happy in my job as logistics coordinator:  “This is not a popularity contest!”  Because I like to make people laugh, my retort was “What?  It’s not??”   But Lee was a good man.  He genuinely cared about doing things right, about doing his job well, more than he cared about people liking him.    And often the kindest way to treat people is to be honest in your assessment of a situation, even when it initially may bring difficulties to the surface.  If you are traveling, you want a mechanic who is painstakingly thorough in his assessment of the plane you will be flying on.  If you are responsible for a group, you want to prayerfully consider input when making decisions.

I’m retired now, and any work is now volunteer work.  But every day is still an opportunity to learn how to be kind and caring, honest and courageous.  To do things conscientiously and well.  Life itself is our workplace environment, and our task lifelong.

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward.”  Colossians 3:23