Category Archives: Provision

What it is like to be going through Empty Nest Syndrome!

I wrote about our present home before.
It was the provision of The Lord fourteen years ago for us and the nine children who still lived at home.
We now have an empty nest!  There are no more fledglings left!  They are grown up and have moved on from their parents.  Yes, it is lonely after all the activity of a full household.  Instead of children running up and down the stairs all I hear is the timbers creaking.
Many of the seven bedrooms are empty.  The heating is turned off in the rooms.  Where there used to be life, chatter, laughter, lights on and essays being written, there is silence and a chill in the air.
There is no one to call to make a cup of tea and have a chat.  There is no news about what friends are up to.
There are no cries of “Who touched my Razor.”  “Where is my toothbrush?” “Who used my hair jell?” “Dinner is ready!” “It is prayer time.  Come down for prayers.”
I do not have to check the rooms to see if everyone is in bed.  My boys and girls slept in peace in their warm beds.  They were always well rested to face all the activity of their young lives.  He gives his beloved sleep.  Psalm 127 v 2
There are five levels of stairs in my home so one had to shout loud.  Even then everyone did not hear the call.
An African man came to visit.  He enjoyed all the buzz in our home.  It reminded him of his own country where there is plenty of activity and noise.
The jam in the cupboard grows mould because there is no one to eat peanut and jam sandwiches.  I throw out vegetables and leftovers in the fridge because there are no hungry boys coming in from football to eat them.
The washing machines are silent.  I would have two washing machines on the go to wash towels and all the jeans and socks.
The house was warmer then with all the bodies in the house.  There was help to keep fires lit and logs cut.  I loved the sound of the Hoover on the landing.  I knew the carpets were getting refreshed.  Now the dust gathers and we don’t see it.  Cobwebs grow on the shutters.
A proverb says “Where there are no cattle the stall is clean but with increase of oxen there is strength.”  There always was help to keep the family going.  The children did their chores.
There are no football bags in the corridor to trip over.  I don’t have to replace many toilet rolls.  There is no smell of burnt toast.  The kitchen sink is not full of dirty saucepans.  All the signs of life are gone.
The grass is beginning to grow in the spring sunshine.  The plant pots need refreshed. Hedgerows need pruned.  The work is too much for two of us.  Reluctantly Brendan and I have agreed to downsize.  We have to leave this Old House that has lovingly protected us and our children for fourteen years.  It has been a shelter from the wind and rain.  It’s gardens provided play areas for our children and their friends and grandchildren,  soil to grow my vegetables, trees to climb and swings to dangle from.
Take a look at this video on YouTube:
Brendan and I and the children have enjoyed many times of tea on the front garden where the morning sun shines.  The children come down one by one to sit with us and enjoy the moment. We enjoyed many barbecues and conversations around camp fires.  It’s hedgerows provided homes for blackbirds, doves, robins and sparrows.  Blossoms on the Laburum, Magnolia and Rhododendron tress signalled spring.
We had champagne on the lawn for our son’s wedding.  That was a great success.  And the birthday parties?
We are moving on before all the spring activity starts and I will be tempted to stay.  We will keep the memories in our hearts.
Thank you God for providing this house in which our family flourished.
video of This Old House by Shaking Stevens With thanks.

How to Heat a Two Hundred Year old House.

Posted in Dreams, My thoughts, Nature, Provision by
This week I got a harvest of wood.  Last summer a friend asked me if I had a wood burning stove.  I told her I had four.  I bought two of the burners very cheaply.  Many people nowadays prefer gas or oil for their heating.  Cutting wood is hard work and wood is in short supply.  I had the workers, all I needed was the wood.
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She told me her neighbour had left stacks of broken logs in her part of the grounds where a few trees had been cleared.  I was delighted with her offer.  My stack of logs needed replenished.  In the autumn I went out to see this new source of wood.  My boys did not have to do the heavy work of cutting down the trees or chainsawing thick trunks.  They pulled out logs from the stack in sizes manageable to carry to the van.  Two days work supplied us with wood we are still using.  The boys chop the wood back in our garden and store it.

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I visited my friend this week to thank her and she said we are welcome anytime.  Brendan and the boys decided to gather in some wood before they returned to university.  It started to rain the day work was to start.  But undeterred Brendan and the boys headed off. The rain stopped.
We had storms recently.  In the middle a Eileen’s garden was a tree that had fallen in the storm.  Brendan and the boys cut it up and now all the tree is in my back garden.
When I moved to our present home which has seven bedrooms, fourteen years ago I was wondering how were we going to heat it.  It is two hundred years old and had some fire places and some oil heating.  To keep us comfortable may be costly.
I had a dream.  In it I saw a stack of wood, a stack of coal and a stack of turf.  I believe God was showing me he would supply the fuel for my big house.  To the back of our home was a small wood that needed cleared for houses to be built.  That was our supply of wood for a few years.
One spring, trees were washed up on a local beach in a big storm.  I discovered it and alerted Brendan.  In no time, with the boys help, we had the van full of wood.
Another friend, who lived in a big estate offered us any fallen trees.  So God supplied the stack of wood, and the turf and coal.  From time to time we bring home turf from Kerry when we return from holiday.  I burn coal only on the cold days.  So I have not had a big bill for fuel in the years we have lived here.
When I had the dream I was reminded of the poem by Padraic Colum.

Old Woman of the Roads

O, to have a little house!
To own the hearth and stool and all!
The heaped up sods against the fire,
The pile of turf against the wall!
To have a clock with weights and chains
And pendulum swinging up and down!
A dresser filled with shining delph,
Speckled and white and blue and brown!
I could be busy all the day
Clearing and sweeping hearth and floor,
And fixing on their shelf again
My white and blue and speckled store!
I could be quiet there at night
Beside the fire and by myself,
Sure of a bed and loth to leave
The ticking clock and the shining delph!
Och! but I’m weary of mist and dark,
And roads where there’s never a house nor bush,
And tired I am of bog and road,
And the crying wind and the lonesome hush!
And I am praying to God on high,
And I am praying Him night and day,
For a little house – a house of my own
Out of the wind’s and the rain’s way.

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When the chilly winds and rain of winter blow, we are cosy in our big house with the home fires burning.  My son said he misses the warm fires when he is away.  I even have a dresser of my own with the Delph.

The Salmon

Posted in Canada, Prayer, Provision by

When Brendan and I were in Seschelt our friend Ivan took us for a drive up along the coast.

We parked near a bay and our host told us he often went fishing there. The salmon were abundant in these waters and one was sure of a catch. What an ideal way to spend an evening in the sunset on his little boat in the bay. This certainly was the good life.

We stopped off at a coffee shop. Some people called over to us and told us “The salmon are running!”
There was a small river flowing nearby. We crossed over to it and sure enough we saw salmon spawning in the shallow waters. What an oppportunity for us!

While Brendan and I rejoiced to see this feature of nature before our eyes, our friend took some video footage. We were all excited as we spent those moments. It was a once in a lifetime experience.

Salmon live their adult life in the waters of the ocean. The Pacific is a big ocean, and millions of salmon return up the many rivers along the Canadian coast in Autumn. There are many types of salmon. The Sockeye is the biggest and most popular salmon caught. Wild bears and eagles have a feeding frenzy when the fish return.

The salmon has one goal, to return to the place where they were born to hatch their young. Once they leave the salt waters and enter the fresh water of the river the salmon stop feeding. They start the hazardous journey upstream over rapids, waterfalls and potholes to get to the shallow water when they can swim no further.

There the female releases her eggs in the sandy water bed and the male fertilises them. The parent salmon work is done. Every ounce of their energy has been used to get to their destination. They die soon afterwards.

We watched as the salmon released their eggs in that Creek. There were queues of fish waiting in the shallows to take their turn to lay their eggs. Perhaps they were not so keen to go forward because they knew their end was near.

Brendan, our friend and I savoured this moment. What is nature saying to us?

As I pondered on this I thought of my own life as a parent. Our goal as parents is to raise our young and help them through the stormy waters that we have passed through and show them the way.

The salmon entering the fresh water begins the journey of dying to self. This is symbolic of the one who decides to follow Jesus as well. He leaves the ocean, which represents the world and enters into the river of The Holy Spirit. Just like the salmon one has to die to self so more of the life of Christ lives in us.

As I get older I realise that on my journey in the river of the Holy Spirit I have had to die many times to my own will. As I trust God ‘s leading in my life I have peace. I can pass what I have learnt on to my children. I do not have to die physically like the salmon, but I have to die to my own will. The following scripture sums up the Christian journey.

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen (Jesus the author and finisher of our faith) since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:7, 16, 18 NIV)

NO FEAR

Posted in Family Friday, Nations, Prayer, Provision by

People have often asked us how we managed to rear our fourteen children. If I was to be anxious or worried about the future I wound not be well. I have learned not to be fearful and be at peace.

Recently I visited my brother to give him a present for his birthday. He works on the farm where I lived as a child. He reminded me of a day we came to visit. I laughed. I remembered it well.

When Brendan and I moved back to live in Co Down I was looking forward to introducing my children to the open spaces of the countryside where I grew up as a child. We drove up to the farm soon after we settled into our new home. All the young children piled out of our van and ran about wanting to explore the farmyard. My brother became very anxious. He was worried about some of them having an accident. The government is always warning the farmers about farm safety. My brother could not get over how easy going we were.

Brendan gathered up all our children and took them for a walk in a field where there was plenty of room for them to let off steam in safety. Brendan and I have learnt to trust God will keep our children safe. In Psalm 91 He gives his angels charge over you so you will not strike your foot against a stone. Jesus tells us not to be afraid. Perfect love casts out fear. As we obey God promises to watch over our going in and out.

Some years ago a family from New Zealand arrived to live in our area. We got to know them. We met up with them and other friends to go for walks. They had four children. Their children were adventurous and had no fear. They climbed on walls, trees, and jumped from great heights. We in this country would be telling our children, “Be careful in case you fall and break a leg.” My husband determined, after seeing the freedom these children had, not to be fearful when our children played.

This last month has been a time of some of my children leaving and others returning. Mary, Hannah and David have returned home after their time in Africa and India. Thank God they are back and looking well. God is faithful. He kept them safe and free from disease.

I remember my son Brendan leaving home to do a world trip after he finished university. That was twenty years ago. His friend’s mother asked me “Are you not afraid for you son going away”. I told her I knew God would look after him because God’ s word promises we are under his daily care. In Psalm 91 says no disaster or disease will come near you.

One morning while my son Brendan was away, I awoke one morning and sat bolt upright on my bed and said the words “My children are not born for misfortune”. This is from Isaiah 66. I was reassured in my spirit that my son would be okay and he would return home safely. Brendan and his friend did some mountain hiking in the Himalayas in Nepal. They needed some water. Brendan drank from the local stream. His friend did the same but suffered terrible tummy upset. I suppose in the rough and tumble of living in our home with a lot of other people, one’s immune system learns to fight off all bugs. After that I learned not to be anxious if any of my family were far away in another country.

If one of my children felt unwell, my husband Brendan and I would pray for him. He would recover with a little tender care and rest. Only if the sickness persisted did I take them to the doctor. My father rang me up one time and asked me “Why are your children never sick”. Other families, he said get colds and flues in the winter. He was amazed.

We even pray for our animals. Brendan had bought a Wolfhound pup. We called it Shadow. He cost a good deal of money. The previous owner sent home a list of food she recommended Brendan should feed the dog. I took one look at the list, fried chicken, eggs, etc and told my husband my children do not even get as good food as she is recommending for a dog. Brendan brought the list to the local pet shop. The man there asked him if this was a human being he was feeding? The shop keeper sent him home with a bag of dog meal.

My husband was away on a trip. It was summer time. My children were playing in the garden with the puppy. They were spraying water on each other. The puppy got caught up in the fun. Later that evening I noticed the puppy was shivering. “Oh no” I thought. “What is Brendan going to say if something happens to the new puppy.” He had invested so much money and would be disappointed if anything happened. I quickly gathered the children together to lay hands on the puppy and pray that God would heal him. Shadow recovered and brought our family much joy in the coming years. He grew big and lived to a ripe old age.

I remember watching a programme on TV around the time we had just moved from Coleraine to Ballynahinch. We had nine children with us. I must have been worried about provision for my children.
The programme was about wild life around the Bramaputra river in Northern India. The biggest animals in the world live there happily. There is room for them all. Water buffalo, elephants, rhinoceros, tigers and leopards roam freely in the rich grasslands along the river. The river often overflows its banks and deposits nutrients to sustain the lush growth. The climate is warm all the time with no harsh winds or cold.

This programme showed a large family of otters feeding on fish in the river. They chomped happily on the abundant supply of fish. After they had gorged themselves they climbed up onto the bank and lay basking in the sun, content with full bellies and safe. A picture of abundant provision. No famine there.

Brendan and I are strong characters and sometimes we jostle for our own space. This programme reassured me there is plenty of space for big characters. I could imagine my children lying happily in their beds safe, well fed and content like the otters. God looks after the animals will he not also care for us. And there would be plenty of provision for my big family with no fear of lack. We could lie down in safety with nothing to disturb us.

Psalm 36 v 6
You care for people and animals alike, O Lord
How precious is your unfailing love. O God.

Angela