Out of sorts but not out of grace...

Some days just nibble you to death. Yesterday was that kind of day for me. Nothing major went wrong but I felt like I was skating close to the edge of disaster from morning til night. First Rufus ran away while on his walk with Michael. He is a roamer and when roaming with Barney, they can cover some ground. Diane called just before church to tell us she had him tied up down at the farmhouse. As we walked towards the chapel, she let him loose to come to us and off he went again running pell mell up the hill towards mama’s. Mama was standing in her driveway calling her cats in before she went to church. They raced by her running wide open chasing her cat Ben. If they caught him, they would kill him. Nothing I could do but sit through worship with nerves on edge muttering under my breath, “This is the day the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it.” The dogs came home in the early afternoon, utterly spent. Rufus slept the day away rising only to eat and pee.
All mama has left of her life with daddy on the Georgia farm is her cats. There are only two of the original barn cats left. One kitten survived but all are now neutered and spayed... all except the two maltese grey stray toms and the old orange and white tabby who was here when we came. Her old Barn Bud has been beaten up and injured by these toms so he is terrified to eat with the others. She feeds him outside the barn and sits with him while he eats. My Sunday afternoon nap fell victim to anxiety about Ben. Thank God he came home unfazed by his close brush with my two holy terrors.
Michael had a phone message about his dad. When Gloria checked on him during the night, he had a small facial cut and a bruised hip. Somehow he had managed to get up, tumble and get himself back in his recliner where he sleeps now. He is so unsteady on his feet since the last stroke. Guilt and worry rolled in for a visit as I kept mumbling, “I will rejoice, dammit...”
We decided to go have a date, visit the arboretum and see a movie. We bumped into old friends from another part of North Carolina at the arboretum. They will be coming to the farm June 12 for the gathering of pastoral counselors at our house. World travelers in their retirement, their travels have been curtailed by health issues. The movie, Angels and Demons, was great fun. The theater had stadium seating and rocking chair seats. For two hours we raced around Rome trying to solve the puzzle. As we left the theater, we were headed towards a restaurant for dinner when the phone call came. Tim called to say the cows were out and corralled by a neighbor. So we headed home, arriving just as Tim headed out to check and see where they were. A tree had fallen on the fence line and the teenagers had taken full advantage of the opportunity that presented to run amok. Our fence lines need work but finding the time to overhaul them is difficult. And to add insult to injury, I have chiggers from the hay baling with a line of poison above my right eyebrow. This was the day the Lord made and I had a hard time rejoicing in it.
Michael and I sat on the front porch swing as darkness crept up the mountain side, watching fireflies twinkle, getting the report from Tim about the cows, putting the horses up for the night and nuzzling them for comfort. Finally I was able to say with a whole heart, “This is the day the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it.” Out of sorts but not out of grace. Thanks be to God.