Bee, I agree....It will truely be the saddest day ever. I know I for one will be saddened...to see the shock and fear on the faces of friends and family. Altho...I know in my heart...I am ready...willing...and waiting....I dont look forward to the day my friends and family members will be in shock. I have tried to tell many people of the GLORY He has for us...and have been shunned...it breaks my heart...but all I can do is pray for them.
I don't exactly know HOW this will all work, but I think we won't have to feel that loss or sadness on the day. We will be with our King in Heaven where there is no suffering or pain.
The sadness, loss and pity that we have is here and now, so that we can share and act and pray for the lost.
My Dad is most likely among them as he has never shown a bit of interest in anything eternal. He has shown up in a church a time or two, but his beliefs are a mystery to us all. Now that I see him on the steps of eternity it makes you feel so helpless and sad.
My sisters SO and his mom who is currently in the hospital with heart problems are in the same boat. I know my sis has shared her faith with her SO, but he is just disinterested. He was raised by an alcoholic man who drank himself to death while he professed Catholicism and his mom was raised in a non-mainstream religion and was not involved even with that one. Mostly I feel I can only pray for some openness to share.
The sadness and pain are all for THIS place and day.
I'm not sure we will be protected from loss and pain at the beginning of eternity. I don't have time to look it up, but there is the mention of Him "wiping every tear from our eyes" ... So there may be tears before that point? And it clearly says that even those saved can "suffer loss" of rewards if their works turn out to be wood, hay, and stubble.
So at the edge of heaven, I think it's possible.
On another note, sometimes when people see themselves at the end of their lives, they are more open to the gospel. It's worth bringing it up? Sometimes they seem to prefer discussing it with a stranger too, I've seen.
With Dad at least it is very hard to accomplish. When he is in his lucid state he could care less and most of the time he literally doesn't know night from day.
The Bible states He is not willing that any should perish...which I feel implies there will be many that do and, though He wishes it were not so, it is known already about their minds and hearts. If God can accept this, I know I have to do so also.
I have many siblings that deny God and it will be hard to see them realize they were mistaken. I also know there will be much joy at that time as well about the many who did accept Jesus as their Salvation and joy about Him finally claiming His Kingdom.
If my children were lost, I might feel differently as that day approaches....I might feel despair as I watch them waste their time on the things of this world. I wouldn't rest each day until they agreed to examine their lives and the message of salvation that is in place for them.
For now, I like to think of Heaven like the game of Sorry. When all my little pieces are safely at Home, I will be content and feel as if I have won.
I'm so excited, out of my 3 hens, and 1 pullet, I know that 3 of them are laying! I had been going to let one of the hens at the farm go broody if I could, but changed my mind. If I did that, there would be just one hen in w/the rooster, and figured that would be kind of rough on her. So instead, I'm going to see if I can get Henrietta to go broody. If so, I'll take Roxi out to the farm once I get my chickens all set up properly. Then, if I let one of the hens go broody, Ralph will still have 2 girls. I'm hoping to build up my flock this year, both at home and at the farm. I'm not sure yet how many hens I want.
It warmed up today and rained. So, almost all of the snow is gone! And since it got so warm, I took the blankets off my horses. Now, I'm hoping they're OK. The temp is dropping, and the wind is blowing. I HATE not having all of my animals at one place. But, I'm hoping that in a couple of years at the most, we can look for our own "farm". Then, I won't have that problem.
Update on work, and getting the stalls cleaned fast enough.
Both the boss and her daughter did some stall cleaning. And they learned what I've known for months, w/the fine shavings and how deep she likes the bedding, it's hard to clean the stalls. Plus, the bedding is extremely heavy. I had suggested a mix of the fine and coarse shavings b4, but she didn't want to go for it. Instead, she decided to get some of the coarse shavings, and switch at least some of the horses over. (There's 5 horses right now)
2 weeks ago, I took all the shavings out of one stall, and put them in other stalls. Then, I took the coarse shavings and stuck them in the stall as deep as she wanted them. Then on the following Monday, I did the same to another stall. Shortly after that, one of the other stalls that she wanted changed needed shavings. And, there was just no way I could fit any more shavings in the other stalls. So, I took a bag of the coarse shavings and put them down. The difference in time was amazing. So, that made 2 stalls w/coarse, 2 w/fine, and 1 w/a mix. I decided to try the mix in the other stalls w/the fine shavings.
Today, it took me 73 minutes to clean the stalls. The stall that took the longest, 20 minutes, is one of the stalls w/the coarse shavings in it. The rest of the stalls took UNDER 15 minutes. And since she wants the stalls cleaned in 15 minutes or less, I'm going w/the mix! And if she doesn't like it, she can fire me. I no longer care. I am going to talk to her on Monday and tell her that I'm finding the mix works the best, so we'll see. This is the fastest I've gotten them done all winter long, so I don't think she'll object too much.
NB and her horse update
So far, the NB hasn't upset me too much. In fact, she may actually come in handy. She's willing to do stuff around the farm, and since RU is having an operation, it will hopefully make less for me to do.
The other day, she was working w/her horse in the RP. I watched for a couple of minutes w/out her realizing I was there. And I saw that her horse, while it will kind of go thru the motions, has no respect for her at all. So I walked over, asked if there was a reason she was letting her horse in her space, only to find out that she didn't know she was. She was using a lead rope to encourage movement from him, and while I prefer a rope 14' long w/a leather popper on the one end, I made do w/that. I gave her a free mini lesson. She couldn't believe the difference. And, as I was telling her things and she was watching her horse, she could see exactly what I was talking about. If he had a middle finger, he would have been giving me the bird. She is interested in learning more, and RU told her that both KN and I are very good in the RP and w/body language, so we'll see. I'd love to have several people willing to pay me to teach them how to do foundation work w/their horse. It would pay more than my job, and not be as hard on me. So, we'll see.
Update on farm work
There's a ton of stuff that I need to do b4 I can split the herd. Since the snow was pretty much all gone yesterday, I started. One thing I want to do is clean the pasture. So, between yesterday and today, I got some of it done. I also talked to RU about the fencing. Some of the fencing in "my" field is not the greatest. Plus, my field is right next to the road. (It's not big, around here, most places don't have large pastures for the horses unless you're willing to pay several hundred a month. My field is less than 1 acre) So, once the pasture is cleaned, I'll be working on the fence. I'll also be putting down some grass seed, and fencing off that part. Once that's done, I'll be splitting the herd! There will still be more work to be done, but this is, IMO, the most important thing to do. The chickens will be given a new pen and a new house in my field. I'll be cleaning my field frequently, and the manure pile will be near the chickens. That way, I'm hoping they'll eat a ton of flies. If not, maybe I'll get a couple of ducks. Time will tell.
Update at home
Tomorrow, I'll be getting my green house all cleaned out. I'm hoping to get seeds started next week. I'll also be calling fish and game. I've had a ground hog make a ton of holes in there. Not really what I want in my green house. So I'll call up to find out what I can legally do since I live in a residential area. I'm also hoping to FINALLY finish cleaning out my garden. Then, I can get the new fence up soon, and pile all the leaves in it. They won't decompose as much as they would have if I had gotten this done over the fall, but it will help. Once that's all done, I'll be working on cleaning my whole yard. Hopefully, by the time summer roles around, my yard will FINALLY look nice.