October Open Spaces Vol. 20.10

 

Open Spaces

Vol.: 20.10

October 30, 2020

By John W. Vander Velden

 

Where does the time go? It seems that as my years add up to an intimidating quantity, months pass at an alarming rate. Wasn’t it August just yesterday? No, John, it was not. It wasn’t September either.

The summer of 2020 is just a memory. For some, not the most pleasant memory, but a memory all the same. A month into autumn and my world is racing toward the year’s ending. For Jackie and me, and for many of you as well, we will long remember THIS year.

Yet, when we have at last passed the COVID-19 crisis, and we will, I hope that each of us will have memories of the good things that came our way in spite of it. Yes, we like most of you, have had to change our plans because of the pandemic. But those changes offered different experiences we would never have considered before.

As I had mentioned in other newsletters, work’s obligations and safety considerations, have forced us to stay “close to home”. But staying close to home does not mean we did not live. A trip to a state park that had long been put off, is one example. We have gone to restaurants that have, in our opinion, taken seriously the need of social distancing. We attend our church services. No, we did not “hole up” in our basement since March!

Of course we grow weary of wearing our masks. But because we willingly do our part we WILL continue to do so. The discomfort is a small price to pay as we, all of us TOGTHER, face the dangers the disease brings.

If I say any single thing of importance within these few words...let it be that we...all of us...are in this crisis TOGETHER! And if we all do OUR part...take responsibility for ourselves, and take the actions that CAN help those around us...we will...TOGETHER...overcome the COVID obstacle.

Whether we like it or not, friends, we are interconnected. Perhaps it is time we act like it.

Time to step off my soap box...

For a bit of writing news. I have finished the first pass of the first review of the manuscript of the book I am preparing for publication. That’s a mouth full isn’t it? The book tentatively titled, House on the Lake’s Shore, is well underway, but the finish line is many laps ahead of me.

Am I pleased with the story, so far? Much more satisfied than I expected to be. Fact is, I felt concerned that I would find the story lacking in some major area. I had never written a draft where I knew...beforehand...both ends of the tale. I feared that I would fail creating a worthwhile story filling in the middle, so to speak. But reading through the draft twice has eased those fears...for now.

Even so my mind is rushing ahead creating plotlines for future stories. I hope my brain can shift back and forth between projects. I believe it can.

Though revisions fill most of my writing time, being so near the end of another draft temps me. I add a few pages each week to that story, Severed Ties, a standalone novel.

So you can see I am moving forward on my writing front, and am hopeful that you, my reading friends, will be satisfied when at last House on the Lake’s Shore is published. The third book, which falls within the Misty Creek Saga, is my primary focus at this time, and it is the project to which I give the most energy.

It seems that once again I have run long. So my friends, let me leave you with just a few additional words. Because we know the absolute power of GOD. Because we know that JESUS saves us. Because we know the HOLY SPIRIT is always near. We are able to live with confidence...today...and all the tomorrows that are before us. Let that, even in these unsettling times, bring us stability and strength to face EVERYTHING that lies ahead.

May GOD bless you and yours,

John

 

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Soil in My Blood

 

Soil in My Blood                    

By John W. Vander Velden

 

This is the fourth crop Justin has raised on my farm, yet it feels odd when I climb into the combine cab. I accept the training seat, or buddy seat, or whatever you call the extra place all newer combines have within their cabs. He asked if I wanted to drive the massive machine. Perhaps there was a day I would have gratefully taken the controls.

That day has passed.

It’s not that I couldn’t, with a bit of coaching, manage tolerably, but rather I recognize the quantum leap of technology that has found its way into harvesting equipment since my machine. Perhaps it’s my age, for my years at the controls are in my rearview mirror, and that’s OK.

But after more than forty years at the helm of one combine or another, it feels odd being a spectator. Though I recognize it is the natural way of things...yes, I MENTALLY understand...yet I feel unbalanced a bit as I watch the grand machine devour acres.

Though I might feel out of place sitting next to the controller of the machine, I do not yearn for the life-clock to be turned back. No, I have had my time and I have freely passed the baton to my nephew...perhaps gladly even. For me it is a joy to see the quality of farmer I have entrusted the soil that my parents gave their all to acquire. The farm where I too poured out more than sweat without complaint...for I also have given blood and the largest part of my life to those few acres.

I suspect that Justin too feels much the same about the personal investment DEMANDED upon anyone that is brave enough, or fool enough, to pick up the chalice and tread through mud, or dust, through long days of heat and cold, and willing to continue long after the sun has gone to its rest. Farming is a life commitment. It is not something that can be explained. It is impossible to understand until you have twenty or more years in the seat of tractors or harvesters. It is a life unimaginable by those that drive by on US Highway 6. It is a life very different that the one that those that envied me at the task I had chosen, believe. It is a life I have never regretted.

Farming is HARD.

Yes, I have turned over Sunrise Acres, my parent’s farm, and the two farms I added to it, to Justin. But my mind is filled with the memories of all the years I served the land. I will never forget the GREAT years. I will try not to remember the awful ones. The years of attempting to survive, and doing so by the skin on my teeth. The times when I was certain I had failed, destroyed by low prices, or unforgiving weather, or my errors of my decisions.

In the end I came out on top. Reached a place I never expected. In the end I succeeded, might even say I prospered. The good outweighed the bad only because I, as my parents before me, didn’t give up. There is something to be said for persevering.

So now I write books. And though I have yet to put together my story...my personal battle with weeds, weather, difficult to work land, with cattle, with cantankerous feeding equipment, my cracked hands, and throbbing feet. Stories of how I have fought mud and equipment breakdowns. I have been changed by the experiences that farming has thrown my direction. Perhaps one day I will write that story...but not now.

You see I may be an author, but I will always have soil in my blood!  

(617 Words) 10-23-2020

The Gift of a New Day

 

The Gift of a New Day

By John W. Vander velden

 

I observed the sky painted in its glory this morning. The day does not always break in such colorful magnificence, and too seldom I take the time to notice. Even this morning with the many, many things on my agenda, I could have easily done what most morning I have done, hastily push forward not giving the day’s birth a moment’s notice.

But on this particular morning I understood that there are times when it is best to put both feet on the brakes, stop, and force myself to take the time. To take the time to step out in the cool morning. To wander the backyard, stepping on the dewy grass and the leaves shed by our hardwoods that are scattered all about. To gaze with wonder at the colors, the shifting hues of blues, brilliant oranges, and the pale golds that boldly filled the eastern skies.

I was reminded that each morning’s sky is unique...like no other. Taking the time I studied the clouds, their rims set ablaze by the sun, yet to rise. I accepted THIS gift spread before me and promised myself that, on other mornings, I would stand...watch...wait...absorb the wonderful moments of early day.

This morning, as I stood beneath the maple tree that had yet refused to release the bulk of its leaves, my eyes became damp. Aware of the magnificence that surrounded, and once more I KNEW the importance of the gift I had been given...A new day!

Continually driven to do what I can, to make each parcel of time I have been allotted, of value, I sometime forget the value of the time GOD has given. Charging forward as if each day was a footrace. I must DO this or that. Yes, I have been granted gifts which I should not squander. Talents GOD would wish me to use to their fullest. Sometimes that is a heavy burden. But I feel driven to push forward SO hard that I forget to take the time to accept the quiet and almost invisible realities presented me. The laughter of children, my dog’s devotion, my wife’s respect, and my GOD’s presentation of a new day.

None of the things I do will leave long lasting impressions. Yet I strive to make the world, GOD’s world, a little better place. That task, for me, is formidable. I am no more than the single drip of water in a cave that carries with it just a minute particle of sediment that I will add to the slowly growing formations, stalactite or stalagmite. Confident that my tiny addition goes unnoticed, only the smallest part of something much larger. Yet if that is the case then I will be satisfied.

Surely all those thoughts and so much more passed through my mind as I stood...shivering...in my back yard this morning. But for a few brief moments...for a small sliver of my life...I stopped the race...caught my breath as I stood in awe and accepted GOD’s gift of this new day... 

(533 Words) 10-14-2020

 

Living Beneath the Shadow of COVID

 

Living Beneath the Shadow of COVID         

By John W. Vander Velden

 

What have you learned during these difficult months we have lived beneath the shadow 
of Covid-19.

That was the question that was asked of church leaders of my denomination. Though some that know me might be surprised that John would be found among those in that category, yet in truth I am. So when I was asked this very important question I responded with the following words.

 

1^st in the general scope of things, I have been reminded that things can suddenly change in ways unexpected. I did not imagine that something as Covid-19 could so dramatically change the world as I knew it. And I saw how it could change the lives of each of us―my family and myself included. Since I am retired from my lifelong career and worked to accomplish much of what I do at home, my life changed less than others. But I witnessed the change in the patterns of what might have been normal evaporate. I learned that life can go on―if we share the burden. For it was obvious some faced a much more difficult scenario than others.

2^nd I learned it is important that someone remind those around us that Covid-19 is a temporary situation. To be a source of realistic optimism. For the unknown is frightening. I learned that the tension of fear is exhausting. I have observed how the frustration of these unknown times feeds anger, and that too often rage is directed at anyone handy. I have observed that anger seems to be as contagious as the virus which causes the unwanted changes in the first place.

3^rd I learned that we must learn new ways to serve our LORD and SAVIOR. That worship is more than a place. That it is MY obligation to care MORE for others in ways I had not thought of before. That I am OBLIGATED to reach out in new ways. That even within the framework of social distancing things can be done and MUST.

4^th I have come to believe that someone or something must bridge the divide that has torn society into bitter factions. That US AGAINST YOU accomplishes nothing. That we must do our best to be a calming voice within the storm of rhetoric driven by fear and anger. And until a louder voice than mine becomes bold enough to remind our neighbors and all those around our country, that WE ARE IN THIS TOGETHER, it falls on my shoulders to speak those words.

Hopefully friends you find something within these ramblings that might be helpful.

Blessings,

John

I put these few words together last summer, yet they remain true. The months since have only reinforced those things I have learned, as I continue to live, always in consideration of others. For we are responsible for more than ourselves, and our actions...each one...affect so many others.

So I await until the moment comes that Covid-19 is no more than a memory, knowing that if we stand together it will be sooner than later. But if we become selfish and headstrong, abandoning the small things that each of can do, then it will likely take much longer.

So I remember the words of Tom Hanks... “Wash your hands, practice social distancing, and wear a mask, it really isn’t complicated.” And thank you Tom for what each of us must do really isn’t complicated at all.

(577 Words) 10-2-2020