BROKEN, WHAT COMES – SONG, November 12, 2025

As Hup walked Gracie along a path, beside a stream where a gathering of willows had apparently been planted by naturalists, he thought about his comings and goings. He preferred calling them naturalists to ‘tree huggers,’ only because he had hugged a tree or two as a boy when he climbed trees and found himself out on limbs – that, and who’s to say that you couldn’t find a naturalist or two among God’s elect? Was not Adam made steward of the garden? Of course, he also brought it to ruin… well…outside  the later Cherubim-protected perimeter… when a greater than Greeley told Adam to ‘Go East, young man. Go East!’ Hup chuckled over that one, causing Gracie to look with seeming understanding. Gracie had an underbite, which presents an occasional show of teeth.

“Winter is past, Gracie,” Hup said as he leaned over and patted her head. Of course, I’m not talking about the actual seasonal changes – the seasons that God set in nature and into motion. Those are set as the tides… the constellations and stars in the sky. As for the seasons I’m talking about? Those I face…  I was married before. She died. I had dogs before I never walked. Yes, I’ve lived years of late fall and winter… hoping that spring would come but those few passed so quickly… and I again was mired in the cold and frost…suffering God’s chastening hand as the north wind blew.”

Gracie sat with obedient love… even a stirring rabbit in the brush didn’t excite her. I thought about the training that Gracie received – hard training. Broken of her flight or fight urge, she sat peacefully… in perfect trust of my command… stay… come… sit. Perfect trust that I would not abuse.