Twenty Five days until Christmas. Wait a minute……how can that be right ! Becky and I made the trek to Springfield yesterday and finished our shopping for this weekend when we will entertain the family. Things worked out better for everyone so we will have a “latethanksgivingandearlyChristmas.” Sometimes you just gotta-do what you gotta-do.

As we drove yesterday we saw flock after flock of geese flying from the north headed south. I love to hear them go over, but like my mother, for some reason it makes me feel lonesome. One of the best places in the country to see geese taking a break from their long flight is Desoto Bend, on the river just south of Blair, NE. My mother was born there in 1904 and may be the reason she was drawn to them the rest of her life.

Those of us who were born and have spent our lives in the Mid-West are drawn to the seasonal things of Mother Nature. It is a vast domain for the natural species who also call the space “home.” The cities of concrete and miles of glass and lights have no “call” to me like the wild geese.

One of the best things I ever read concerning them was a goose that became frozen in the shallow water it was standing in. When the flock began moving and ready for flight, two others realized the plight of the stranded bird and began chipping away at the ice with their bills and freed the bird.

I have often wondered who was the most gratified. The one that took flight with the others or the two who freed it. For it is in helping others that we become closer to the Savior who freed us all.

Essentially Esther