by Joanne Wiklund
April’s here and we’re hoping the snow stays gone. By “we” I mean both me and the robin who visited me. Yesterday when I went out to the mailbox, I noticed three big dead dried worms on the cement near the garage door. When I noticed the first robin I’ve seen this year, I hustled over to the front windows to get a good look. She was on a mission for food, I guess. She walked all the way from the middle of the yard over to the cement driveway, headed right for where I saw those dead worms. Maybe dried worms are as appealing as dried tomatoes when there’s no fresh ones available?
My dad tormented us when we were little kids at home. When we got so excited seeing the first robins in the Spring, he always reminded us that if we took a salt shaker and sprinkled a little salt on the robin’s tail, the robin would stand still and let us pick her up. We watched him shift his chair so he could see his little children trying to sneak up, salt shaker in hand, on the first robins to appear. What fun it must have been for him to see just how close we could get to the robins and the postures we went through trying to pour salt on their tails. I remember being indignant when I realized we were just entertaining him, and the robins could feel or hear us getting close. It was impossible. But Dad was disabled and walking, let alone running was nearly impossible for him and he spent a lot of time sitting. Watching us move like that must have been something he enjoyed and chuckled a little about. I remember watching him take devastating falls at times through our lives together. But he always got back up and I don’t remember him ever breaking a bone. Lots of skin left on cement, though.
Determination is something that we kids all inherited from Dad, I think. Being determined to treat others well, to enjoy life, to endure hardships, to stay together, help each other. I’ve said before, our parents weren’t perfect, but they were determined that we all would have good lives. It’s a good thing to know you have people who have your back. But knowing that God has our back is so important, also. Being alone has sometimes been difficult for me. I enjoy people who laugh a lot, at funny things, not other people. You know, funny ha ha not funny peculiar. I still subscribe to Reader’s Digest and Guideposts because while they present strange and unusual circumstance people get into, the editors still understand how important humor is.
So when the day gets to you and it’s only 9 a.m. find a way to laugh, even at something you’ve done. Being yourself at all costs is sometimes hilarious. We discover things about ourselves that we have been unaware of. Keep watch. There may be a clown in your house after all. Feel free to laugh at and accept that clown as someone close to your heart and God’s heart most of all.
Hebrews 10:23 “Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)”
Psalm 71:9,18 “Cast me not off in the time of old age: forsake me not when my strength faileth. Now also when I am old and greyheaded, O God, forsake me not; until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come.”
Galatians 6:9 “And let us not be weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”