Maple Sugaring - Thoughts

We tapped our trees this past Tuesday, 2/28. It was really amazing. Three of the four taps were actually dripping right away, and in less than 1/2 an hour we could SEE it collecting in the jugs (buckets). I was really psyched and wrote on my facebook page "Somebody come knock some sense into me (or just let me wallow in the wonder of this amazing creation God gave us to enjoy)"

It is just AMAZING to drill holes in your own trees (we did have to buy a drill bit the proper size, $15 for the whole set), stick some spouts in (roughly $2 each - we got 6 and are using 4 at the moment), wash out a bunch of milk jugs (free), cut a hole in them (free unless you cut yourself in which case you'd incur the cost of a bandaid - fortunately I didn't though it came close), and wash out the large cooler to pour it all into (our collection tank) and eventually boil it down (I guess there will be some cost there - how to compute it? not sure.... going to try the old indian method of skimming off the ice in the mornings first to cut down the boiling time - that again is free). And as a result of this, we'll get our own, home-tapped maple syrup. Really, it is amazing. I can't believe we've lived here 10 years (in this house) with these two sugar maples and I'm just now finally trying this out. Too much fun.

Probably what's coolest to me in all of it is that it is part of the amazing and intricate design of God's creation. A friend posted this verse from Psalm 103 the same day we tapped our trees.

Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

I read it and marveled, that this same God, who provides for us such grand things as salvation, healing, mercy, and love .... he also gives us so many "little" things to enjoy on top of all that. We were LISTENING to the sap drip in our milk jugs - and we were marveling, little Constance and I, at it all. To think he gives us those little pleasures - kind of like staring at one's newborn baby or a sunset or listening to the rain in the summer drizzling, or watching the snowflakes fall, or how a butterfly flies, or a cat tracks, or how squirrels open nuts ..... I'm just amazed at God. All this pleasure and wonder from a bunch of dripping trees - and scripture that puts it so into perspective. He is such an awesome God!