It isn’t very often I get up before Mr. FixIt. He’s definitely an earlier riser than me, so yesterday was one of those rare mornings when the house is still and quiet as I walked into the kitchen. I made my morning coffee and popped a couple of my made-ahead waffles into the toaster. Soon, the smell of vanilla and cinnamon and coffee gently caressed the air and I nibbled on breakfast as I watched the autumn sun glisten on the lawn out the kitchen window.

I placed my dishes in the sink, slipped on my shoes, and carried my coffee outside to let the kitty out for the day. It is unmistakably fall as the temperature was hovering around forty degrees. As I made my way down the sidewalk, looking for any sign of the frost my friend Joyce had in town, something caught my eye. I looked down and there was a single dandelion clock…the part of the dandelion with the seeds that you blow on and make a wish. It sparkled in the sun like it was encased in little tiny diamonds. It was enchanting. I hurried inside to get my phone to take a photo.

I thought at first we must have had a frost after all, but it was just a very heavy dew…decorating every little strand and hair like nature’s very own Tiffany showcase. I snapped several photos and was dismayed that I couldn’t get in really close. The nice thing about iPhones these days is the high resolution on their cameras so all I had to do was blow the picture up to see the little sparkles.

I went on and let the cat out, giving her some snuggles before she scampered off to explore the Ponderosa. This is the smartest cat. She stays far away from the big road. Cars and trucks scare her and she makes a bee line for the building every time one comes down our side road. I checked what’s left of the plants in the raised beds and garden and we really are at the tail end. I have a few small peppers I can do something with this week. I have some orange slices in the dehydrator so maybe when I pull those out, I can dry some peppers for soups and sauces this winter.

I sat down with my coffee and searched YouTube one last time for instructions on canning apple pie filling. Even after reading several recipes and watching some videos, it wasn’t sitting right with me and I felt I was missing something. I found another homesteading video and there it was. The lady was getting ready to add the ClearGel and happened to mention, “Now, be sure you use the kind of ClearGel you use for cooking and not the instant. Instant won’t work for canning pie filling.” I still had the jar of ClearGel on the coffee table in front of me so I picked it up and, wouldn’t you know it? I have the instant! I didn’t even know there were different kinds. So…Plan B. Or is it C at this point? Who knows?

I could have just canned the apples, but when I went to check them, it was apparent they were really a very soft variety…more of a sauce apple than a baking apple. I knew I would get through all this work and end up with soupy, chunky applesauce. I decided instead to make apple butter. I found a recipe for making apple butter in a slow cooker, so I finished preparing the last of the apples and layered them with a little sugar in a couple of six quart food grade tubs and set them aside for the day to bring the juice out. Then I seasoned them with cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice and added some apple juice and a little brown sugar. I divided the batch and filled both of my slow cookers. I placed them on low and we’ll see what they look like today.

As I sat down to write this last night, I was weary. I keep trying to strike that balance between staying well informed and maintaining my sanity. I swear, it seems like the typical news cycle is twenty-four hours or less anymore, and stories change in rapid succession. I leaned back and closed my eyes and said, “God, I need to you come sit with me for a while. I’m overwhelmed by all that his happening now. What is it you want me to see here?” Then, I listened.

I wasn’t even going to write about the dandelion last night. As a matter of fact, I had forgotten all about those quiet moments in the garden with my coffee early in the morning. Suddenly, I saw that little sparkling orb in the grass in my mind’s eye and heard… “Narrow your focus.” I pulled out my phone and fiddled around with one of the photos till I had it blown up and focused on the tiny little droplets of dew on each tiny little hair of the clock.

He was right. As I narrowed my focus to those little drops of dew, I heard… “I give you this every day. When was the last time you looked for this without stepping on it or rushing by with your nose in the news?” I felt the tension slip away from my shoulders and neck and smiled at this entire universe sitting in a little patch of sunlight on our lawn. How often do I miss this gift?

Yes, the course of our nation is in the balance right now. Decisions are being made, and will be made in the coming weeks and months that will potentially impact our lives for generations to come. And these things are vitally important to stay engaged in and see through. But God also wants us to remember…we are sitting in a tiny little patch of sun in the middle of a massive, unfathomable universe and we really aren’t the ones ultimately in control here. Getting my blood in a boil is not going to change things. Firing off retorts on Facebook is not going to change things. We are too polarized for that now. There’s no convincing either side of the merits of the other. We’ve been manipulated and drawn into a place this country hasn’t seen in decades and I don’t know about you…but I sure don’t feel in control of much of anything this month.

So, I narrow my focus. I do what I can do. I love on people at every opportunity. I create goodness in my kitchen, I create kindness in my heart, and I create peace in my mind by looking in a teeny tiny crystal ball, nestled in the tall, tough grass of autumn.

❤️

“I have not yet reached my goal, and I am not perfect. But Christ has taken hold of me. So I keep on running and struggling to take hold of the prize. My friends, I don’t feel I have already arrived. But I forget what is behind, and I struggle for what is ahead. I run toward the goal, so I can win the prize of being called to heaven. This is the prize God offers because of what Christ Jesus has done. All of us who are mature should think in this same way. And if any of you think differently, God will make it clear to you.”

Philippians 3:12-15 CEV