Last week it was my birthday, and there were so many fun and beautiful moments to enjoy. But in all honesty, there were also other moments competing for my attention.

This was the week

I had to drive up to Soldotna for a dentist appointment (with all my ladies in tow), and it started snowing while we were up there. Thankfully, I ended up following a snow plow most of the way home and I felt safer with his company.

It is the week

I thanked God profusely, because

after the plow turned off the road

and we were left to drive the last stretch without those flashing lights ahead – we were startled to see a moose crossing the road in front of us. Slushy roads, thick fog, no time to brake and thankfully he cleared our lane before we did.

This is the week

Ethan woke up sick, headed to work (some things must be done!) then came home early and headed to bed for the rest of the day.

That was the day (Friday)

I spent texting friends and veterinarians in an effort to help one of our chickens who seemed to be in respiratory distress. A flurry of Google searches began making their way into the world:

Respiratory distress in chickens

Checking a chickens crop

How to clear a crop

Is my chicken egg bound

How to fix an egg bound hen

Between Ethan getting sick and trying to figure out chicken issues, I slipped out of the house for a quick post-birthday lunch with friends. Although I had spent the morning in a bit of chaotic uncertainty, it felt good to sit with friends. We chatted and laughed and ate good food and I felt rich that I had friends to celebrate with.

Afterward, I made my way to the store for Epsom salts, because apparently if you soak an egg bound hen in warm water with Epsom salts it will help her to pass the egg.

Hmm.

I couldn’t find any plain Epsom salts so I came home with some froufrou smelling coconut oil concoction, and as we mixed it into the warm water I rationalized, “Well, at least she’ll smell good, right?!”

In spite of all our efforts, Betty passed that evening.

8:38 pm

And since we had company, Rosalina kept the news to herself until afterward because she didn’t want to spoil the festive feel of having family over.

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

I love to play the piano. I’ve been playing for over 25 years now, and the delight is still there. I’ve heard that if you can play piano, finding your way to the different keys and chords, the visual of those correlations help you to play other instruments as well. It’s easier to see what goes together when everything is clearly marked with black and white hues evenly spaced to cue the names of each key.

In a lot of ways, I find that life is quite similar. We have our lovely days. The light moments that are joyful, or plain. The simplicity of rhythms and seasons uninterrupted by sadness or tragedy are easily represented by the abundance of white keys across the board. But we also have those darker moments – trials, frustrations, grief – and somehow they become interspersed throughout our lives until each light and darkly colored moment becomes very much like the keyboard on a piano. With some intentionality, those keys and chords can be combined into songs. Depending on the song, or the fingers poised above the piano, it can even be beautiful.

I am learning to take all my everyday moments, wrap them in prayer, and present them to God with thanks. And I’m discovering God is a skillful composer. Somehow he manages to weave these seemingly unrelated moments into melodies and I am in awe. What a lovely song this life can be.

Originally posted December 18, 2022