The Big, Big Sky – Conversations with Stella

Posted on by H.J. Hill

I am Stella, Queen of the Olde English Bulldogges. Lady Human, why are you staring out the window?

Me:        I’m looking at the sky.

Stella:    Why are you looking at the sky and not at me?

Me:        The sky is so big. It reminds me how small we are. We need to be reminded of that.

Stella:    Lady Human, are you sad? You don’t feel to me the same as when we laugh together.

Me:        Yes, Stella, I am sad tonight. And I was sad last week, but I think I hid it better.

Stella:    I knew. I didn’t say anything because you didn’t seem to want to talk about it. Are you sad about a human thing?

Me:        Yes. Do you remember when I told you all this morning after breakfast that I was going to church, and that I would see you later?

Stella:    Yes. You say that every week. I don’t know why. I figure church is like the grocery store, someplace you have to go once in a while.

Me:        Well, some of our neighbors here in Texas went to their church this morning and they didn’t come home.

Stella:    Oh. Oh. OH!

Me:        Calm down, Stella girl. Everything will be all right. It doesn’t seem like it, but it will be. This morning at my church, I opened my Bible…

Stella:    That book that smells good like leather.

Me:        Yes. It has very important things in it and it fell open to the 23rd chapter of Jeremiah. The last part of the 24th verse caught my eye. It says, “Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD.”

Stella:    Is that the Great Creator? Is that His book?

Me:        Yes. I believe that with all my heart.

Stella:    I wish I could read.

Me:        Oh, you do, Stella. You all do in your way.

Stella:    And you are looking at the big, big sky because He fills that sky.

Me:        Yes.

Stella:    You feel better now. I sense it.

Me:        Yes, some.

Stella:    I feel better, too, Lady Human. Looking at the Great Creator’s big, big sky with you makes me feel better.

 

 

 

Copyright 2017 H. J. Hill All Rights Reserved.

 

 

 

Why Do Humans Shoot Fire at the Sky? – Conversations with Stella

Posted on by H.J. Hill

I am Stella, Queen Illustrious of the Olde English Bulldogges, still crown-less, but that is not my problem tonight. Tonight, the humans are once again shooting loud, bright fireballs into the sky. Lady Human, what if you blow up the sky? I would not like that.

Me:        No one would. But that won’t happen. Fireworks will not blow up the whole sky. Stop worrying.

Stella:    I am always worried when humans are involved, especially when they are shooting fire. Why do humans do these things?

Me:        There is another celebration tonight. It is the end of the western calendar year, New Year’s Eve.

Stella:    I see. What is a calendar?

Me:        It is one way that humans use to calculate time.

Stella:    So tonight, time ends.

Me:        No, the calculation switches over to a new calendar year and a new month.

Stella:    I see. No, I don’t.

Me:        Let’s just say, humans will use any excuse for a party.

Stella:    So you promise that the sky will not go away tonight.

Me:        I promise. Of course, I am only a human. I am more willing to rely on God that the sky will still be here come sunrise. I am also willing to rely on Him for the sunrise.

Stella:    And He shot the sun into the sky so He knows a whole lot more about shooting fire into the sky than any silly old humans do! Thank you, Lady Human! What a relief! Humans aren’t in charge! Happy Calendar Change!

 

 

Copyright 2016 H.J. Hill All Rights Reserved.

 

 

 

Hey, Sky! Give Me a Drink!

Posted on by H.J. Hill

We have bulldogs that like to play with water, whether from a hose or a squirt bottle, and we have bulldogs that stay away from that sort of frivolity, thank you all the same. A quiet drink lapped from a bowl is just fine for them. They may be willing to tolerate the occasional bath, just don’t make it a habit.

A rain shower came up suddenly while some of the dogs were outside. One wanted to return to the house right away. When I realized it was raining, I found her waiting by the door. She rushed in, glad to have escaped the falling sky water. Still the others didn’t come and I went looking for them.

They were rolling in the gathering water by the chicken run and, when I called, they looked at me with the surprised, disappointed expressions of kids called in for the night after playing on a summer evening. Awwww! Noooo! Not yet!

Well, I wasn’t going to get all wet while they were finishing their fun. It wasn’t cold. There was no lightning. Oh, well. I went back into the house, calculating how many towels would be enough to intercept the dripping from two waterlogged bulldogs.

When I looked out the door again, the stragglers had arrived and, behold, one of them had her head tilted back with her wide open bulldoggy mouth catching a thin stream of rainwater as it cascaded from the valley in the roof.

Of course, before I could swing my camera up and snap a picture, she had stopped. Enough sky water for then.

I would like to drink pure water from a fountain. Not sure about the roof thing. Maybe if it had a strainer. Bulldogs don’t over think joys like drinking rain as it falls from the sky. I need to work on accepting life’s gifts freely as the gifts of God that they are. Not every drink of water needs to be confined to a glass.

 

Copyright 2016 H.J. Hill All Rights Reserved.