I watched a lot of news this year, mostly because I wrote about it. I have no regrets about that, but it is easy to forget why we are here on this earth.

In a sense, the sheep – our flock – is the reason (not the only reason) that we are here. We forgot that for a while, three curious and sweet lambs have reminded us.

Next week, Maria and I will to Vermont to pick up a new load of the newly milled yarn, all from our flock. We lost three sheep last year, we got three new sheep last month.

Taking our yarn to the knitting mill is one of our favorite rituals now.

“Life is this simple,” wrote Thomas Merton, “we are living in a world that is absolutely transparent and the divine is shining through it all the time. This is not just a nice story or a fable. It is true.”

Sometimes, life is just this simple.