The Carpenter of Nazareth

In Nazareth, the narrow road,
That tires the feet and steals the breath,
Passes the place where once abode
The Carpenter of Nazareth.

And up and down the dusty way
The village folk would often wend;
And on the bench, beside Him, lay
Their broken things for Him to mend.

The maiden with the doll she broke,
The woman with the broken chair,
The man with broken plough, or yoke,
Said, "Can you mend it, Carpenter?"

And each received the thing he sought,
In yoke, or plough, or chair, or doll;
The broken thing which each had brought
Returned again a perfect whole.

So, up the hill the long years through,
With heavy step and wistful eye,
The burdened souls their way pursue,
Uttering each the plaintive cry:

"O Carpenter of Nazareth,
This heart, that's broken past repair,
This life, that's shattered nigh to death,
Oh can You mend them Carpenter?"

And by His kind and ready hand,
His own sweet life is woven through
Our broken lives, until they stand
A New Creation--"all things new."

-George Blair

A Passion for Nature

"For all their differences, nature provides walkers of every sort a common thrill of adventure, a flash of wilderness that binds them together."

-Donald Worster

Omnivore's Delimma

"Corn covers a multitude of sins."

-Allan Nation

Harvests' Hands

As we till our fields they look so worn and bare
We see a snow on the horizon to bring us what is pure
And with it comes reflection on Harvests' Hands-both bitter and sweet
Our bitter fruit we will cast away in the melting of our snow
For the melting snow has brought to us promise, of a fresh new harvest.
Because we have learned from yester years and held onto what is dear,
In the midst of our new harvest will come, new fruits sweet and clear.

Chef in the Making!

Yesterday I went to the store, and stuff literally leaped off the shelves and into my shopping cart. I came back with more parsley then even an army could use! I still am not sure what to do with all that parsley, I meant to grab basil.

My shopping adventure must be what it's like when a chef sets foot in a grocery store, except I'm sure they buy the right stuff the first time. In my defense, "I'm a chef in the making!"

With some of my yummy ingredients, I made an exquisite pesto, by dumping ingredients into my trusty blender. That pesto made some pretty good sandwiches yesterday and enhanced my homemade pizza today!

Yes, cooking is going to be part of this amazing summer! Jenni, you must admit my pesto was way better than rotten potatoes and weevil infested pasta from cooking adventures in the past!

The Day My Heart Skipped a Few Beats...

Today I heard the words no one wants to hear from their bank: "Your accounts have already been zeroed out." My mouth fell open and I said, "No I had three-thousand dollars in there last week. You must be mistaken!" My heart skipped a few beats and it only began again when the teller realized she had made a mistake. She had been looking at my sister-in-law's account that she had closed last summer when their family moved to Texas. Boy am I glad my money was still there!!!!

Truths that are Portable-

Emerson pleaded, "Give me truths: for I am weary of the surfaces." Emerson like us all sought for truth and wanted something more than surface truths. Too often we realize we have been looking for truth among the inane and superficial things in life. The greatest truths aren't found among what we devote the largest amounts of our time to.

Elder Neal A. Maxwell said, "it isn't only the morticians who will have a vocational crisis in the next world. We all will if we fail to take the time to develop attributes that are eternal and portable!" When all other truths become obsolete; the truths of the gospel, and the attributes of Christ will remain firm and portable. These truths and attributes we must seek; for they are what will bring us happiness!

Home Burial

He saw her from the bottom of the stairs
Before she saw him. She was starting down,
Looking back over her shoulder at some fear.
She took a doubtful step and then undid it
To raise herself and look again. He spoke
Advancing toward her: "what is it you see
From up there always?-for I want to know."
She turned and sank upon her skirts at that,
And her face changed from terrified to dull.
He said to gain time: "What is it you see?"
Mounting until she cowered under him.
"I will find out now-you must tell me, dear."
She, in her place, refused him any help,
With the least stiffening of her neck and silence.
She let him look, sure that he wouldn't see,
Blind creatures; and awhile he didn't see.
But at last he murmured, "Oh," and again, "Oh."

What is it-what?" she said.

"Just that I see."

"You don't," she challenged. "Tell me what it is."


-Robert Frost

Are We All Guilty By Association?

Here is something to think about: It is the female mosquito that sucks your blood, but if a male mosquito is seen flying around your head, he is just as likely to meet an untimely death. Why is that? It is quite simple really...they are guilty by association! If it weren't for the male mosquito the females wouldn't continue to populate the earth and there by suck your blood to feed their babies. What a sad lot! How guilty are you by association?

Forgotten—

Alone in a barren field,
No thought given to our yield.
Many think—we’re not worth a lot!
So, alone and forgotten we stand—
With a beauty all our own!
A lone tree in the wilderness—
With a supernal splendor all our own;
And a yield a hundred fold!

Place of Knowing

Look—there’s my palace of gold,
With a flying carpet all its’ own!
Feel the magic of this place?
It’s my place of knowing!

I’ll be a teacher one day—a writer the next.
All my inventions will be grand!
And as numerous as the sand—
In my place of knowing!

Then comes the beating of a drum—
To ruin all my fun!
I no longer own my fortress,
Nor the carpet all its’ own.

‘Twas a game of yester years,
Lost in reality!
Now—I know not what I’ll be.
For, a place of knowing exists not for me!

Bare Feet in a Blizzard

I love snow when it comes upto your hip and it swallows your shoes! I got to run up those steps barefoot saturday night, because I lost my shoes in the snow coming up the drive and was unable to find them. Okay, so I found them; but I had no hope of keeping them on in that much snow!

• This picture was taken Sunday morning when we were in the process of digging ourselves out.

Nebraska Sun

Sometimes we are a lone tree, of an abandoned landscape.

Survival

My sister and I found ourselves cruising the town with our mother the other day. I must say it was quite the adventure we had! We stopped counting the red lights our mother ran...partly because we couldn't count that high and because we knew that by knowing such a figure it wouldn't increase our chances at survival! -No worries though...we all survived, to tell our tale!!

Italy???

I hear Italy calling from a far and I am now accepting charitable donations. What can I say, my best ideas come from my grandma! It's a good thing she has allowed me to take up residence in her basement this semester because this means less begging for contributions to fund my excrusion!

Free Will

Free Will= something a man gives up when he marries. That's what someone from church told me anyways. Perhaps someone outside of Chadron could enlighten me?!

Counting Time

‘Tis human nature to count the time.
We measure it with all of life’s little trinkets.
With our time pieces tracking the hours, days, and years,
Never stopping to count what is dear.
Our gems never count the number of our laughs,
Or the weight of all our tears.
They don’t separate life’s great lessons from all of our routines.
Instead our little gadgets shrink our view,
And keep us from reflecting.
For the clocks we hear ticking, only tell us there isn’t time.
So we miss the riches in our life,
Because we’re too busy counting time.