June Open Spaces

 

Open Spaces

Vol. 21.6

By John Vander Velden

June 25, 2021

 

Friends there are so many things I take for granted. During the wee hours of Monday, I was reminded just how much I depend upon the electricity delivered to my home and the farm as well, when I awoke in pitch darkness. It had stormed off and on through the night, but it was near 2 AM when the sound of the rain pelting the roof and window while the wind roared woke us.

Time for us to head for the basement.

I knew as soon as my brain caught up with my feet that our electricity was out. It was the darkness...pitch dark. Now don’t get me wrong I haven’t needed a night light for more than sixty years, but on typical nights there is sufficient light bouncing off the dresser mirror and the walls to prevent me from stumbling. For though the security light is some yards away, with eyes adjusted to “night vision”, if that is a proper description, it might seem dark, but it’s not DARK!

The intense wind passed and now armed with flashlight and a LED camp lantern (we no longer go camping, but the lamp is a gem) we returned to our bed.

But the lack of functioning light switches is only one of things we take for granted which had abandoned our beck and call. The most significant other thing is having running water. It takes power to pump the water to our faucets. It takes power to pump the water out of the basement too. We have a battery backup sump pump so for some hours that problem was covered, that is if you could ignore the annoying alarm each time the battery pump was called to operate. And of course the A/C was on sabbatical, and a rain storm was not the time to raise the windows.  

Then at 2:30 my phone rang. And rang. And rang. I stumbled through the darkness again only half awake to hear some machine tell me that the power was out in Walkerton and what was I planning to do about it.  You see our church has an emergency monitoring system, and I am the contact point. My fogged mind absorbed most of the significance of the computer created message. I pushed #1 which meant “I would do nothing”. And returned to my rest.

The battery sub pump screamed again.

None of these things are, for us so unusual. The power blinks off often and hardly noticed, except all the clock flash their annoyance. But a storm some years ago left us disconnected for five days. That event was the stimulus for the purchase of a small generator that was tugged out from storage Monday morning at first light.

A emergency generator is just that, and I guess I took for granted it would work and did not praise the machine when it fired on the third pull.

With the water pump energized and half the house electrified we were fine, and the continual roar of the little machine only reinforced all the things I juggled that most often operated unnoticed. Reminding me how my world normally clicks forward so efficiently.

Midafternoon the power came back and with a sigh my world returned to its unobtrusive normal. Then I only had to deal with the limbs and felled trees....

Yet I am blessed for through it all, our home and other structures went unscathed. It is my hope that life’s storms have not overcome you. That perhaps you have, like Jackie and I, only been reminded of the things we all take for granted. That the reminding has been only an annoyance, and if the storms rumbled through your neighborhood that God’s hand protected you and yours.

Now for just a bit of writer news. The editorial revise proceeds, and I HAVE finished Part two (about halfway through the book). Yaaaaaaaaaa! With COVID’s restrictions loosening, I have become bold enough to open the possibilities of in person events. Yaaaaaaa, again! My visits with area public libraries seem promising for the possible scheduling of events in the months ahead. Two book store stops Tuesday offered some contact info so that too is a step in the right direction.

So I remain optimistic. Feeling certain, given time, this third book of the series will be completed. Also believing that before fall I might be able to come face to face with the people that make this part of my life’s journey worthwhile.

Running long once again I will wrap up this newsletter with these words. God is love, and love is the strongest force in the universe. I ask that you do your best to tap into that force, to love those whose lives you share. Those in your immediate circle and those your circle touches. Know kindness is never wasted. Compassion heals the broken. Caring make us human.

God bless you today and every day,

John 

     Looking for a copy? Check out these links.

https://www.amazon.com/Misty-Creek-John-Vander-Velden/dp/1641110651

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/misty-creek-john-w-vander-velden/1127857944

https://www.amazon.com/Elizabeths-Journey-Sequel-Misty-Creek/dp/1641115319

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/elizabeths-journey-john-vander-velden/1135154629

  

May Open Spaces

 

Open Spaces

Vol. 21.5

May 21, 2021

 

May is the month when spring seems to finally get fully engaged. Things are
growing and the world is filled with something my mother called the new green. Life surrounds us daily.

Though news tells us that this pandemic we have endured is reducing its hold on us, I am reminded, not gently, that it has not left our day to day lives. Last month we lost an acquaintance, a step-son to a dear friend, to the disease. This month COVID’s cold fingers have struck a member of my own family. Many, including myself, had diligently prayed for the recovery of a niece. For eleven days she suffered and at last passed from our realm to the next.

We, as a family, must now deal with a new hole torn into our lives, a brilliant point of light separated from us too soon. Sadly it is an event that occurs far too often. It is important to remember that with each loss, be it COVID, Cancer, a traffic fatality, or any other cause, touches roughly the lives of their families, their friends, and all who knew them. The numbers of those devastated is far greater than the quantity listed.

So as we continue in this season of rebirth, let us appreciate those that share our space...our lives. Let us respect the fragility of their existence. Let us see opportunities to help secure their protection in ways we can. Is it not an act of love to do so? Would turning our back upon doing the little things, which could have cascading effects upon others, not be acts of selfishness?

That is why I am vaccinated. Yes, it offers me protection, but it is a small thing I can do that could help others...protect others. It is why I, in most cases, yet continue to wear my mask, just as I have for all these months. I do so for two reasons. One: maybe it offers some health benefit. Two: I believe strongly in the power of example.

I do not see the mask as a sign of submission, but a symbol of caring about others...a symbol of love. I wear a mask to remind the world that COVID has not simply vanished...it is too soon to be forgotten.

In my family, as in so many others, we will NEVER forget COVID and the price it extracts...the price it can demand.

I apologize to you today for what some might believe is simply a rant. But I write these words thirteen hours after news reached my ears of our family’s tragedy. It is a wound fresh, the blood yet flows.

Yet I try to remain optimistic, surely Patti would hope I would remain so. I have confidence that though COVID remains, for now, it is not a forever curse. So I eagerly await for the bane of this pandemic to end.

Friends I believe it will.

Now for some lighter news. I continue on the revise of the third book in the Misty Creek series. At present the greatest hindrance is finding the time. I have at last come to a point where things seem to be moving forward more smoothly. Though I have yet to reach the mid-point of the manuscript I feel that the four months spent has not been wasted. For the first time since I began this revision I feel confident in the endeavor,

Friends I have run long again, so I will bring this installment to a close. It is my prayer that you and your loved ones are well. That this season of new life offers grand opportunities and new experiences. May God, the Master and Controller of all things keep you safe until we meet.

Blessings,

John

Looking for a copy? Check out these links.

https://www.amazon.com/Misty-Creek-John-Vander-Velden/dp/1641110651

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/misty-creek-john-w-vander-velden/1127857944

https://www.amazon.com/Elizabeths-Journey-Sequel-Misty-Creek/dp/1641115319

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/elizabeths-journey-john-vander-velden/1135154629

Just Not Today

 

Just Not Today

By John Vander Velden

This week has had its own flavor. I suppose every week does. There are weeks of our lives that are sweet. Some that leave a sour taste, and others that carry a bitterness. One thing is for certain, for us that stay connected to the life around us, things are rarely bland for long.

But in our family we have been walking on eggshells for several days. Sending our prayers of concern and love heavenward. Hoping that somehow the tide would turn, that the waves that sweep along the life of someone we loved would place her safely on our shore. These past days have been tense. And on Thursday the week’s flavor resembled the bile that none care to taste.

With each passing week, we watch as COVID’s reach is trimmed a tiny bit. Yet the virus strikes and leaves devastation in its wake. Illness comes most often unexpected, certainly unwanted. Even the best efforts to keep it outside our door are not always effective. Perhaps it will, before this pandemic ends, roughly touch every family.

It has touched ours.

It has left its mark that cannot be erased by those that continue on.

Confusion is not the emotion I feel with the passing, of one of the sparkling lights, of Jackie’s family. The past week, it seemed, we stood as if watching a train moving passed, coveting the bits of news...hoping for one turn in in a better direction. But it seemed the train was bound for a different station than we would have chosen. She reached that platform Thursday evening.

Comforted that her destination was not some void of emptiness. She was a woman of faith. Faith in her family. Faith in herself. But in the end faith in her God and the promises He had made her. Many do not understand the power of faith. The strength found there.

But knowing her present existence does not eliminate our present pain. For you see all those that knew her...all those that loved her...are held separate from the warmth and love she had provided us. Confidence in her ultimate home does not relieve the suffering of those closest...those whose lives were bound most securely with hers. Those who, must create a new everyday.... Their lives have been upended, torn to shreds, with little physically to show for the pain they suffer. Parting’s pain is real. Loss is something no one yearns to be part of their...long...lonely...empty days.

How do those closest move onward with the bitter taste so strong and fresh?

One day at a time.

Faith helps. But God understands that faith does not eliminate the pain of the broken human connection. God understands our needs...our hopes...our wants. Loss’s pain is real! Tears are not the indication of faith’s lacking...they are the signs of the depth of loves existence.

Jesus’ words...Blessed are those that morn, for they will be comforted, once left me confused. But I have, over the years, learned a few things. We are unable to morn what we have not lost...and we cannot lose what we did not have.

Those whose hearts have been broken by this tragedy. Those that knew Patti best. Those whose lives she had touched. Her husband, her children, her brother, her co-workers, her close family, we will one day know we were indeed blessed because we have the reason to morn...the blessing of sharing this world for a time with an amazing person.

One day we will understand how blessed we are.

Just not today.

(594 Words) 5-22-2021

   

Sun, Water, and Soil

 

Sun, Water, and Soil

By John W. Vander Velden

 

Any farmer will tell you that all plants need three things to thrive...The right amount of sunshine, sufficient water, and good soil.

It is not so different for each of us. We grow stronger bathed by the light of God’s love. Nourished by caring family and friends, and planted in a place we will always feel safe, a place called home.

We all need...sun...water...and soil.

The fortunate have been blessed with an abundance of these three things, but sadly it is not a situation that describes everyone’s life. Too many face shattered homes and abandonment. Too many are denied a place that feels safe. Too many are cut off from or not loved by family. And sadly too many never have learned about the warmth of God...his love for them...his nearness to them...the hope that only God can give.

There is a question each of should ask ourselves.

How can they possibly thrive for they are not provided with the three things each of us must have...sun...water...soil?

(173 Words) 3-16-2021

April Open Spaces Vol. 21.4

 

Open Spaces

Vol. 21.4

April 24, 2021

 

April showers bring May flowers is a phrase we have heard since our grade school days. There are so many ways to interpret those five words. Of course we, as children, took the phrase literally, perhaps we still do. And it, in of itself, is accurate. Early spring rains are needed for the glory of the season to arrive. But if I were to look deeper, I can see that those five words are important guides for other seasons, for other situations.

I can imagine a child yearning to play outdoors. The cold bitter days of winter are behind and warmer temperatures are coming. Yet this child stares out the rain streaked window feeling trapped indoors, unable to run barefoot in the greening grass, longing for the full spring to arrive.

The springtime of that child’s dreams.

For winter’s snow might have been glorious in December and January, but by mid-February the gray days and frozen fingers had lost most of their appeal. March came and it brought the promise of a long winter’s ending, and April, well it excites with its promises.

Yet now this child feels trapped by...the rains of April.

So I will remind us all of what I see as a deeper meaning of April showers bring May flowers. We are to be patient for grander things are coming. For each of us have faced, and many of you are continuing to face, times of stress, times of disappointment, times of pain. It is easy to believe that those rainy day times will never end. That the flowers will not bloom, that the May of our lives will never arrive.

Do not be discouraged.

Have faith that God has something better than dark rainy April days ahead for you. Sunny times of May might seem far off but it draws nearer with each day. Courage friends...and patience too, yet have confidence, for it is coming.

So what has this writer been doing these April days? There always are many things that demand my attention. The lawn for one. The lawns I care for had become quite lush and a little too tall when I hacked them back the first time last week. I also spent some time cleaning up the farm yard following the tree trimmers earlier in the month. Life goes on. Now that Jackie and I are fully vaccinated we had intended to drive south and visit Nick this April. Changes in Jackie’s work requirements at the pharmacy have pushed those plans back a bit. How far back remains unknown. Of course, when I can, I sit down at THIS keyboard and tap out words strung together. The revision of the third book in the Misty Creek Series continues. Hope to have some time to work on that project when I finish this one. You can see I do not have to deal with boredom considering the projects on my list.

I’m nearing 500 words on this newsletter so I will wrap things up.

It is our hope that your April was a GREAT month, and that you look forward to May and all the colors of spring it will bring. That God has kept you safe and well and will continue to do so until we have the opportunity to meet.

Take care,

God bless you and your family,

John

March Open Spaces

 

Open Spaces

Vol. 21.3

By John W. Vander Velden

 

3-26-2021

 

Friends,

Another month nears its conclusion. The days of March have rushed by and April looms very near.

As does Easter.

What does the holiday mean to you? I think each of us needs to ask ourselves that question...the meaning of Easter. My life, during this Lenten season, has been too busy to have spent forty days of self-examination, likely yours has as well. But it would have been good for me to do so. To look at myself a little deeper and focus a little harder on my own relationship with the divine.

But my memories of Easter are as old as I and as varied as the man that sits today at this particular keyboard. Memories of my childhood, of sunny Sunday’s and snowy ones as well. Of family, large and loud. Of Church services with overflowing sanctuaries.

That doesn’t happen so much anymore.

I remember one particular Easter season...the one of my confirmation. Those memories have dimmed little in the fifty-six years that have passed. I remember other Easters, of other families, of other significance. These days I miss most the Easters of my son’s youth. The reflection of the day’s magnificence in his eyes. Yes, Easter means a great deal to me. Not only the day on the calendar, or the memories, or the Church services, but what Easter means...

It is my hope that Easter carries such a significance to you as well...

 

Now for just a bit of writing news.

I will be renaming the book on which I am currently working. I’ll hold my title ideas “close to the vest” for now. Nearly two months into this editorial revise finds me struggling. I plod onward page by page hoping to find a balance soon. All I can tell you is that this set of revisions will take more time than I had originally anticipated. Is that good or bad? Time, friends, will tell. Fact is I never intended to write a third book in the Misty Creek series, or at least not this third book. Perhaps that is why I labor so diligently. I must make this volume worthy of my reader’s expectations. That’s a high bar and I am not certain I have the skills to clear that altitude.

I find there are times I am not completely pleased with the changes I have made. But, I remind myself, the book is a work in progress. So I take one bite and chew on it until it seems little more than mush, then go on to the next. I hope to finish Part 1 next week, and then push forward...always forward.

I have no idea when it will be finished, so stay tuned.

So I will close today with just a few final words.

God keep you and yours safe...today...tomorrow...and always. And I wish you a blessed Easter and a fantastic spring. 

 

John

 

Thirty-Two

 

Thirty-Two

 

By John W. Vander Velden 

Each person has moments when their lives change dramatically. Some are anticipated events that bring expected results. But most often, even in changes we have longed to occur, there are some surprises along the way. 

I guess I had given up hope, before I met her. I had reached acceptance of myself and my life as a single person. Coming to that point was a slow drawn out process. But I had. I recognized that I had to respect myself, and enjoy my life as it was. Reaching that destination, I TRUSTED that God had placed me in the life I had been given, and must go forward without attempting to force my existence into another form. 

That’s when the unexpected happened. 

I believe the most wonderful events are the unexpected surprises that “knock your socks off”. I met Jackie by chance at my youngest brother’s wedding. Truthfully not a bad place to start an acquaintance. That was a beginning, it was not some storybook kind of tale you might view on a Hallmark Channel. It was a start of two very human people…meeting…getting to know one another…realizing our commonalities… understanding our differences, and growing closer. 

You see, when I gave up looking for love…love found me… 

On a snowy Saturday some years later, my life changed…dramatically. Many of those changes were expected…some were not. How could a thirty-seven year old man be so unprepared? Perhaps because he WAS thirty-seven. Every road has some bumps but with time, patience, experience, and love, we have managed to smooth out the way substantially. 

When we look forward at a time period, the years seem to stretch far into the distance, but when we look back…well things look differently. We certainly would not have considered ourselves youngsters on that Saturday. Yet now thirty-two years later when I look back, it is hard not to see how young and naïve we were. 

Yet what an adventure we began that day. The places we have gone, the things we have seen, the experiences along the way. A child born, raised, and sent out on his own wings. Challenges met. Crisis averted. Loved ones lost. We shared joys. We shared tears. We shared grand achievements. We stood together in our failures. The binding grows stronger with each year. The time we have in common greater than the before…for her, and nearly equal for me. 

Love is a verb! 

But the energy required for love to grow has, with time, diminished. Perhaps it is the shared history, but I believe our love is tied to our undying mutual respect for one another. An honest acceptance of the other’s strengths and weaknesses. Reaching the point where the other…“the better half’s”… needs exceed our own. 

Each day, is for me, another gift that I have been blessed to share with the one person…the only person…I long to spend those hours with...Jackie. 

Thirty- two years ago I willingly joined a team…a team of two. For a time it was a team of three, but it’s just the two of us again. No, we are not alone in the world. No, there are many that hold special portions of our lives. But when the lights go out and when the sun rises again, it is just us…the two of us. And has been for thirty-two wonderful years… 

3-16-2021 (563 Words)