Cast the Net Far and Wide

                                         DISCOUNTED BY MAN, A TOOL IN GOD’S HAND             It was not your usual audience.  To my right, an elderly man sat crumpled in a wheelchair, his eyes closed and his head drooped over one shoulder.  Towards the front, a lady sat wringing her hands, and softly moaning, “Where am I?  Please help me.”  Others sat smiling vacantly, lost in their own thoughts.             A group of us were visiting a chronic care residence.  I was leading the sing-song.  We had already done “Daisy, Daisy”, “Frere Jacques” and several others.             A group member whispered to me,” See that lady over ther...

BY STILL WATERS             COPYRIGHT Frances K. Van Mil Some people think of life’s opportune happenings as coincidence.  I prefer to relate them to the hand of God. For instance; Coincidence #1:             My husband and I had just moved to Elliot Lake, leaving our two children out west, just two days after our daughter’s high school graduation.  Although I know we had to plan for our retirement and allow our children to go on with their lives, I went through all the sadness and grieving of a double empty nest experience.             One morning, I awoke at the unaccustomed hour of 5 am. Restless, I pushed on the television set.  Could this be real?  There was my beautiful daughter talking about her college.             Seeing her...

                                                                                      THE SINGING LESSON               “This is NOT a democracy!”               So thundered my new singing instructor at my first lesson –such a nice, kind, sensitive gentleman, but a teensy bit scary at this moment.               “You have to do what I tell you, if you want to succeed!” On...

                        MORE THAN JUST A FARM HAND     copyright Frances K. Van Mil Published in The Upper Room (“Cherished”), Jan.-Apr. & Earthkeeping Ontario, September, 2000.             “No! Not that way! You twirl them like this, see?” Stifling the tears that sprang to my eyed, I tried again to execute just the right twist of the wrist to twirl the cucumber vines onto the strings to my stepson’s satisfaction.  When I, a kindergarten teacher, married a widowed market gardener, I had to adjust to country life.  I felt incompetent in picking cucumbers and selling cauliflower.  I sensed pressure from neighbours, customers, church and family to be something that I was never meant to be: the perfect farm wife.  A well-meaning neighbor, knowing money was in short supply, brought me a chicken and informed me that I would have ...

                                          THE WATER JARS SPEAK…             Never before had I had such weird Job-like sores on my legs: two raised welts encircled two raw and red linings, giving the appearance of uncooked cookies each with a cherry inside.  As well, I had an appointment with a specialist about some gastrointestinal troubles.  I was planning how I would co-ordinate my specialist appointment with a trip to the emergency department, both at the same hospital, when my morning devotional reading from the Bible began to drift across my mind:               I had been reading the Gospel of John, Chapter 2, in which the Lord Jesus was asked by His mother to solve the problem of a shortage of wine at a wedding feast.  “Do whatever He tells you, ”she instructe...

                                           IN TIMES LIKE THESE The piano couldn’t have been louder.  The strident chords tumbled down the keyboard like an earthquake as the choir rehearsed the tumultuous intro to Sunday’s hymn: “And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars And nation shall rise against nation And kingdom against kingdom; (crash, boom, hands pounding the piano) And there shall be famine, pestilences and earthquakes” – (sli –i-i-ide, boom, final resounding crash). And then the gentle, refreshing song, now full of meaning, accompanied more softly: In times like these, you need a Savior, In times like these, you need an anchor; Be very sure, be very sure Your anchor holds and grips the solid Rock. This Rock is Jesus – yes, He’s the One. This Rock is Jesus – the only One; Be very sure, be very sure Your anchor holds and grips ...

                                                  IF ONLY YOU KNEW                                                        (To a Wasp)             O Wasp on my kitchen window, you struggle to get out.  You see the sky, the clouds piled high like fluffy meringue, and press hard against the window, thinking your own wasp-logic best.  I stand nearby, trying to guide you into a jar of flowers so that I may free you. ...