New Every Morning

This is the view that welcomes me as I step out my back door for my morning runs.  The sky is vast with nothing between me and the Sierra but foothills that transition the valley to majestic mountains.  One lone palm tree stands like a sentinal at the end of the fields overseeing the little rolling hills which were at one time relatively untouched by man. This month we have lived on this ranch 26 years with those hills only changing from brown to green  with the passing seasons and the rotation of the cattle to different grazing pastures. In the spring migrating geese and other waterfowl would land in the lowland ponds formed by the winter rains to rest and feed on the empty silage fields. Coyotes, foxes, bobcats and even a mountain lion have wandered and hunted those hills.  I  have often ran along coyotes out scouting  for their breakfast. But times are changing...the agricultural machines have been eating up the land for big-money-producing crops of walnuts, almonds and grapes.With the new drip line systems they can now use the hills they could not irrigate in the past. According to  http://www.bluediamond.com, 40 acres can produce up 80 thousand pounds of nuts! Day after day big heavy equipment with huge forks have dug deeply into the ground ripping the fallow ground up. After months of ground preparation there are now thousands of acres with rows of newly planted trees. It makes me sad to see this change. The longer I lived here the less I wanted it to change. But change, both good and bad, is a necessary part of life that makes us grow.  There are some things that are beautiful because they do change like sunrises and sunsets.  In fact, no two are alike. Every breath we take, every day of life needs to be different or we die.  And with each, God supplies enough strength, love and mercy.  I have a hard time changing...I struggle with bad habits and poor choices, sometimes I wonder if I will ever change in to the likeness of God. But each sunrise brings the hope of change. Solomon said, " This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the Lords's mercies that we are not consummed, because his compasions fail not.  They are new every morning:  great is thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, saith my soul;  therefore will I hope in Him." Lamentations 3:21-24