In God’S Awesome Creation

In

God’s

Awesome

Creation

FAITH ARMITAGE

Copyright © 2014 Faith Armitage.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Scripture from New Revised Standard Version Life Application Bible World Bible Publishers, Inc., 1989 Copyright by Faith Armitage, 2011

ISBN: 978-1-4624-0926-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4624-0927-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014904718

Inspiring Voices rev. date: 03/21/2014

Contents

Morning Comes

Gooster

Sweetie Pie

Babies Swim?

Baa

Which Came First?

Henry

Remarkable Feathers

I Remember When

Sleep Tight

God With Us

Waste Not Want Not

Life’s Patterns

Flaxen Fiber

You Want Me To Do What?

Ugly/Useful/Beautiful

Look Out–Tree On Right

Fly Away Home

Yummy–Bees

Smells Wonderful

Everything But The Squeal

He Got Them

Time For Fun

It’s A What?

Mr. Mom

What’s Your Job?

Soil Or Dirt Or Clay

Snags

Your Roots

Sun Today, Storm Tomorrow

Seed Germs Are Good

Everyone One Step Back

Man Made Verses Nature Made

Do Not Disturb: Resting

Smoked – Salted

Dried–Pickled–Rooted

Well Preserved

Fat? Soap?

Can You See It?

Hand–Made Fun

Slithery Snakes

Stubborn

Visible Or Not

Natures’ Color

Kids– The Human Kind

Building For The Future

About the Author

F or more than thirty years I lived a double life. By day, I dressed in a long skirt, fichu, and bonnet, and worked on an eighteenth century living farm museum. By night I wore sweats or shorts and sneakers. Of course it came across to the public as a somewhat idyllic life as long as they could peek and not depend upon that kind of situation to survive. You couldn’t pay me enough to actually live like that. I do enjoy spinning as long as I don’t have to make all my clothes in that manner. I enjoyed making a rye straw hat, but it took 75 hours of painstaking labor. Thankfully, today we don’t have to use what we grow for survival; however I still appreciate my shower and modern convenie nces.

The farm was always a place where I could more easily see God. I found myself coming onto the farm in the morning and pausing to look around and see what was happening, whatever the weather. The farm had a different feeling when it was stormy, cold, hot, or sunny. Time slowed down and the real world and its’ many problems receded. I knew God was there. Somehow for me it has always been easier to find God outside in his creation. Farm life was hard, but close to nature and God. He is seen not only in the scenery, but in the animals, plants and insects and people. If I was stressed that morning, I could relax and pause to thank God and ask for his presence. At the end of a busy day I could say I saw God today when. . . .

These are some stories and thoughts about my adventure and how I grew, matured and experienced God. I often prayed when I thought of a person who needed prayer or when I saw a situation which brought to mind a friend or family member. I would suggest that you pray too as you read through my adventures and your thoughts bring someone to your mind

Morning Comes

E ach day begins with the rooster. Of course they crow morning, noon and night but that is one of the first things you will hear in the morning, a rooster crowing. Psalm 118: 24 says; This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. I love to start the day with this verse no matter what the weather. It just makes me feel good. We are ready to begin. Let’s go down on the farm.

Gooster

G ooster was born on the farm. His parents were rather ditsy. They laid eggs and sat on them for a while but to hatch a goose out required four weeks. In all the time we had these geese, I remember them sitting the required time only once. When they deserted the eggs, we put them under a chicken who was broody, ready to sit on eggs.

Of course a goose egg is much larger than a chicken egg so the hen was only able to hatch out one egg. Each egg must be turned several times a day so that the entire egg is kept at the right temperature at all times. A small chicken turning a large goose egg several times a day takes a considerable amount of strength and patience.

She hatched Gooster. We always put the baby bird in a cage with Mom after they were born, so that predators couldn’t bother them. Gooster grew apace. Soon he was too large to fit in the small cage so we moved them to a larger ground pen. Now everyone could see him. He still fit under Mom chicken for warmth and protection, but it was a sacrifice on her part to cover him. Of course that made no difference to her. Gooster was her child.

She began to teach him to scratch and eat. Again it was difficult because geese have webbed feet for swimming and their bills are made for scooping, not pecking. She was undaunted. She trained him well.

Now, what has been happening with the ditsy geese? Well they didn’t notice much at first but when we put Gooster in the ground pen, they found him. They said to each other, That is not a chicken but a goose like us. So they watched while Mom chicken trained him.

As he grew he became too large for the pen on the ground and he had grown some adult feathers, so during the day we let Mom chicken and Gooster out. He still hung with her and she still raised him as she knew how. At night they still had to go in the cage to be safe but the arrangement worked well. Soon the biological parents became more and more pushy.

One day it was time. Gooster knew he was a goose and said good-bye to Mom chicken and off he went with his biological parents. Mom chicken had done her job. The next year it became time for the female goose to lay eggs again. The three geese had hung around together for the year but geese mate for life. So when it was time to lay eggs, Gooster had to leave them for a while.

Where was he to go? Well he went back to Mom chicken who by now had another family of chickens. He protected those chickens like he was the dad. And he protected Mom chicken. After the egg hatching season, back he went to the geese parents. For as long as we had him he followed this pattern. Finally someone took Gooster home and introduced him to other geese so that he could find a mate as well. There was a happy ending for all.

Reflection: God is like that. He never gives up on us. He is always with us. We might feel uncomfortable or leave because we are not exactly like him or we do something wrong or sin. We are free to come back to him. When we ask for his forgiveness and really mean it, he will forgive. Of course it is more difficult for us to forgive ourselves sometimes. We are free to explore our world as well. God will be with us while we do. We can do that as long as we know God is there. In Matthew 10: 29-31 it says: Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted. So do not be afraid; you are of more value than sparrows. Gooster was left alone by his parents, and he eventually left the farm. We leave places or people, or people leave us but we are so valuable to God that He sent his only Son to die for us. Nothing we do can shake God’s love for each of us. He will not leave us. He has promised to be with us and he will not break that promise.

Try it! Make or buy a goose quill pen. A quill pen is a writing instrument made from a large bird’s wing feather. Find a can of sand and put in the oven for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Take the sand out of the oven and stick the feathers in it. Keep them there until the sand cools. Now the feather is ready to cut. Use a sharp knife and shape like a pen. Learn calligraphy