A Peaceful Scene

A few weeks ago the farmer across the road brought his cattle back from summer pasture to graze the remnants of the cropped field. There is something about watching cattle graze that is terrifically calming. They mosey along with head down, peacefully munching up whatever the combines unintentionally scattered. Once in a while one of them starts to amble away, and pretty soon the majority of them are travelling in a line behind the leader. Then they all settle down again in a new spot.

One interesting thing about this herd this year, is that there is a little coterie of 8 purebread Black Angus that were in the pens together earlier, and formed their own little hierarchy. These eight stick together and shun the "motley" newcomers, preferring their own company, and their comfortable, predictable "pecking order" that was established early on.

I find it so peaceful to sit knitting or doing some handsewing by the front window, looking up now and then at this lovely scene.

Jim designed our landscape in such a way that we have colour throughout the year. In the early spring the Larch are fresh green, and the tulips bloom. The Forsythia add bright yellow and the Muckle Plum sports beautiful pink blossoms. Summer time our landscape is covered with flowers, but in the Fall, we rely on the Asters, the High Bush Cranberries, the Amur Maple, the Burning Bush to give that spark of colour. This Fall we had a very heavy frost early in October, and the leaves all froze on the trees and bushes before they had a chance to colour up. The result was a very dull landscape, as you can see in

these two photos, taken at the same time of year, comparing last year's colour of the Tower Poplar at the end of our drive with this year's dullness. Very disappointing.

This month a lovely young couple in our church is getting married. I have the honor of playing string music for their wedding, and I'll use my viola, with its rich tones. Yesterday I got around to making a present for them, a "marriage banner" from a pattern that I've had for several years but never used. It was actually just a drawing, but since it is quite simple, it wasn't hard to translate into reality.

I made it quite small, just 8 1/2" x 13 1/2", so they can hang it perhaps by the shelf where they keep their devotional books. Not too big so that it's intrusive, but will fit into a little corner somewhere. I always think it's pretty "iffy" to choose something decorative for someone else's home.

The colours, except for the candles themselves, are all different from the pattern's suggestions. And the original had words on it. Rather than clutter it up with words, I printed out an explanation of the symbolism, as follows:

"TWO SHALL BECOME ONE 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two but one flesh.' Mark 10:7-8

This marriage banner portrays the union of two lives, blended in matrimony, becoming one with the Creator of that holy union.

The two pure white candles represent the lives of two pure(ified) children of God. The two distinct flames, representing the separate natures of man and woman, fuse into the greater, more richly-coloured flame, signify that the two have become one in Christ, and that their lives are enriched by the blending of the two. The circle encompassing the flames represents the eternal nature of married love as ordained by God. The deep purple background shows that the two are royal children of the King, our Creator. The small rings across the bottom of the banner represent the outward sign of the inward love, the wedding rings. The fact that there are three rings shows that you are not alone in your marriage--God is there with you. Three rings also symbolize the Trinity.

God bless you richly, P. and K. as you enter this union of your lives in Christ."

One thing remains to be done: the three bronze coloured rings need to be hung from the bottom hem of the banner.