And yet, and yet…

In the midst of several difficult posts, I felt like it might be a good thing to shine a little positivity.

One of my favorite online video makers is a channel that goes by the name Old Time Hawkey. In the videos, a man who goes by Fritz shows recipes cooked over a campfire in a Cedar swamp in northern Michigan while with his two dogs, Donnybrook and Kris Draper. The recipes he demonstrates aren’t usually very technically difficult, but between the aesthetics of the places he goes and the calm way he goes about his work, he makes a pretty great short and relaxing video. You can watch some of these videos here: https://www.youtube.com/@OldTimeHawkey. One way to think about him is like a Bob Ross who instead of painting makes a cobbler over a campfire.

Sometimes in the midst of swirling difficult emotions, it is imperative for us to stop, breathe, and enjoy. This is the wonder of God’s creation that we get to participate in it. He lays out the heavens of sparkling stars that shine night in, night out. He illuminates the affection we have for a faithful dog. He sustains the babbling of running streams. He spurs the accomplishment of an accelerated heart beat after exercise. He creates the smell of a delicious cobbler.

Christ knows the frustration that we face in the world, and yet places us in beauty. So today, if you find yourself fighting against the fog and scrabble of difficult emotions, maybe you should make a campfire.

And as Fritz says, Please, enjoy yourselves.

“He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, He has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from beginning to end.” Ecclesiastes 3:11 (ESV)