The Bee Lesson

After morning prayer I went out into the garden, hoping to catch a small breeze. It is August in Arizona, truly the dog days of summer. Eighty degrees this morning at 6 a.m. I sat and noticed that the bees were up early too. Doing their best to pollinate every last Okra bloom. I sat and watched them going about their business, doing what bees do.

Really it was a form of meditation, watching them.....and there is one thing I thought about as I kept watching.

They don't have to set an alarm to get up.
 
They don't decide they aren't going to work a certain day.
 
They just rise with the light and go, without question or thought.

And do.

What a lesson I can learn from them about residing in Christ. I tend to wrestle and war with my emotions with every decision. Everything becomes big. Stress rises within me. I lose the peace.

Jesus was kind of like those bees the garden. He got up at first light, and went about doing good. He did what His Father had created Him to do, and He did it perfectly. And my own lesson here, the one Jesus tries everyday to teach me, is that I can do the same.

I can get up and just rest in Jesus, knowing that He is willing and able to carry out the work He would have me do. And perfectly. All I have to do is take the first step, and keep walking along the path He wants me to walk that day.

And instead of striving..........I can just be.

Like the bees.....and Jesus.

"Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth" Psalms 46:10

"Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS." Matthew 11:29

"And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:7

Counting the gifts once again......Thankful for the bee lesson today......a great day yesterday......moments where I forget to strive and live instead.....new shoes......physical health......a connection made once again with old friends......technology that makes spreading the Word into all the earth possible......froth on my steaming cup of coffee......fresh batch of library books coming.....#933-944

Change a comin......

The relentless heat has tired us all out, even the birds. The desert is waiting for change, waiting to be relieved from the oppressive grip of summer which will surely come, it always does. Just not when we're ready. In the desert, you live by its rules, not your own. But there are ever so slight whispers of it nonetheless.

This morning I sat outside and there was a breeze and it was bearable. Enjoyable. I sat there thanking the Lord for moments of peace and time off after a challenging work week. The garden yielded a beautiful watermelon yesterday. When I think that this patch of green was a patch of dirt not too long ago, I think of what God does with our lives, that is when we let Him.

Elaine is off to Texas for a few days for a cherished and much anticipated visit with her Aunt Billie Ruth and her cousin Sandra. Billie Ruth is 88 years young, still active doing tours for local historical buildings and spending hours in the library doing genealogy research for others.

I have been alone with Elaine's Mom and it has been interesting. She keeps asking where Elaine is, and I keep giving the same answer. We are both learning steps to a new dance, neither one is us sure of the steps. But so far, so good. The hygiene issue is ongoing though, and I never thought I would be thankful for the absence of the sense of smell, but at times like this it does come in handy.

Work is stressful right now, and though I have a few days off now, work looms large on Thursday. The biggest challenge? How can I glorify the Lord in a place where I am fearful and anxious?

I feel it sapping my emotional, mental, and creative strength, nipping at my heels even when I am not there. And even though I am so very thankful for this time off that replenishes, Thursday feels like a steamroller and each day brings me closer to its flattening shadow.

Yet, when I think of all that the Lord has brought me through there from my very first day until now, and how He has been with me with every step, it humbles me greatly.

This will be my seventeenth year there, and while there have been countless anxiety ridden moments and nights where I have tossed and turned with worry, there have also been countless victories, and God has brought me some wonderful friends I would never have met otherwise. Friends who I know will be with me for life.

All along, each worry and fear has been calmed and tempered by His gracious Spirit who has been with me every moment, and with me still. Somehow He always keeps the wave from engulfing me totally and until such time as I am able to walk out the door for good, I want to be faithful with what He has given me.

The only possible way is by leaning on Him. Totally.

And to keep a count of all the good, and there is much that is..........cool morning breezes, whispers of rain that hit my window, fresh melon from the garden, Elaine being able to make this trip, that my niece loves her new school, a wonderful Birthday, telephone conversations with friends and family that always lift spirits, fresh batch of books via Amazon, His daily grace raining down even when I don't deserve it, words that somehow come together, time off........always grateful for that. #922-932

Multitudes on Monday

I love that we started out in a garden.......And I also love that Mary mistook Jesus for the gardener when she first saw him after He rose again. Somehow the garden holds great significance for God and for us. I don't think it is any accident that it was also a garden where He suffered either.

There is something supernatural about a little patch of earth. Something of Heaven. I always feel closer to God next to the earth. I love how you can make a garden anywhere. You don't have to have a lot of space and you don't even have to live in a part of the world where the weather is cooperative or mild. No matter if the dirt is like clay, you can buy good dirt where plants will thrive.

And then, there are all the wonderful analogies about seeds, planting, and harvest the Bible uses. It just seems right to have a little place where you can sit and meditate on all these things......and here is the magic part. It can even happen on a little window sill of a 16th floor apartment, that's the beauty of it.

My illustrious friend puts in gardens and landscaping and watering systems the way others arrange furniture....I always tell her she missed her calling, then again maybe she didn't. She has build a little oasis right here in the desert. A place where all but the very hardiest refuse to grow. Who would think to do it?

Dreamers, and life-givers, and gardeners that's who......people who don't mind getting a little dirt under their fingernails, people who love the seeing results, people who love to see things grow, and someone who loves to bring something out of nothing......who coaxes a green shoot out of a small seed.

Bringing life out of something dormant.

Someone who doesn't see the impossible, but someone who has a vision and carries it out, who says, "I could plant a garden there....."

Kinda like God did once upon a time.

Blessings in number.......#867-877

A new place to dream........tomatoes coming......promise of new life in the desert......evenings to eat outside.....days that are warm, but not too warm yet.......friends to sit and dream with.......family that binds us all together......good hard work that gives satisfaction.......gathering with the saints in worship, one more Sunday.....answered prayer for my brother

Thoughts

Make it your goal to live a quiet life, minding your own business and working with your hands, just as we instructed you before. 1 Thessalonians 4:11

There is something divine about the simplistic beauty of doing tasks around the house......around the yard. There are times when everything you set out to do seems thwarted by some sinister being you can't see, and then there are those times where everything flows and there is a rhythm in it. One task leads to another and there is supreme satistaction that comes when a task is complete. A peacefulness.

That was today.

I wonder about the time when I will no longer be able to "do." I think that Jesus will come back before then but I really don't know. The way the world is going, I don't think He can keep from coming down and straightening this mess out for very much longer. But that's just me. I wonder about the "full number" the Bible talks about. I picture Jesus on His throne in His Nikes just waiting for that magic number to come up, and Him coming down here faster than a lightning bolt.

I wonder about the trumpet blast. I wonder if I will really be ready or if he will catch me off-guard. Every now and then I go to a movie on a Sunday, and I sincerely hope He doesn't come back on one of those times. I have just enough Baptist in me not to want that to happen.

Funny the thoughts that float around in this little 'ole mind of mine.

That's me today, just thinkin thoughts and writing them down.......

And it was very good.

Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so. God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

noun /ˈnərCHər/ 
1.The process of caring for and encouraging the growth or development of someone or something
- the nurture of ethics and integrity

verb /ˈnərCHər/ 
1.Care for and encourage the growth or development of

I was thinking about the word and process of nuturing this morning when I went out to collect the daily offering of okra from the garden. What is it that makes this one little task so satisfying? Because I was there in the beginning. I saw the little seeds when they came in the mail. The little seedlings even had to be taken on a vacation when they first came up. They were coddled, protected, nutured.....and even so some didn't make it. That made me sad.....I had invested in them.

They had attached themselves to me in a way, or I had attached myself to them.

The ones that did make it were tenderly transferred to the ground that stood ready to recieve.......all spring and part of the summer we waited......watered......spoke encouraging words to.

Oh, the excitement when they began to grow taller and straighter......almost as if to defy the odds, their small heads reaching for the sun......soon they were strong enough to withstand the elements of wind and the pounding summer rain.

The whole process gave me a sensitivity for those who depend on their crops for survival. Those who look to the skies to study their signs and signals; who read the Farmer's Almanac and study the weather report. The heartbreak of the ruined crops. I was upset over a few little plants, but imagine someone watching their livelihood dry up?

Now as tall as me, they have been producing like crazy for the past 3 months. Sometimes I just go out there and sit. I swear you can almost watch them grow. These plants have been one of the most satisfying joys of this long hot summer.

In the beginning God created.........and then He nurtured. I am so glad He didn't stop at the creating part. I am so glad He didn't create us and back away.

Well, our work here is done......hope they make it.
He knew it wouldn't work with plants or people.

And I am so glad.

The Desert Speaks

For the LORD’s portion is His people;

Jacob is the place of His inheritance.

“He found him in a desert land

And in the wasteland, a howling wilderness;

He encircled him, He instructed him,

He kept him as the apple of His eye.

Deuteronomy 32:9,10

Monday was a tough day......It was a day where months, actually years of stress caught up and culminated in words that have been bottled up far too long. It had to be said......and she had to get out. So we went.....fast. Destination: Anywhere but there. Caregivers of the very demanding understand this need to escape.

Who knows whether the words stuck. They were probably forgotten within 10 minutes.That is the thing with Alzheimers, you never know what sticks and what doesn't. She is not at the stage where she would be in danger alone......yet, although that will come. So we went.

No one tells you. The rules change daily. What is okay one day is met with anger and denial the next. A day trip was necessary, crucial.....sanity was precariously balanced on the edge of a very fine line.

Grabbing my camera I said, "Let's go to Globe, they have old buildings and it's not too far away."

And God gave one of His unexpected little surprises, well actually two. A call came on her cell while we were driving around......cousin Sandra, two states away. A welcome voice from someone who understands the situation and everyone involved. Healing balm for a hurting heart.

Driving along I saw some pretty plants and a sign that said, "Botanical Gardens." We stopped and found a neat surprise there, a place called  Besh Ba Gowah "Place of Metal" Archaeological Park. The name is referring to the mining that took place there. It was an old Salado pueblo ruins that had been excavated and partially reconstructed.

We paid our 4 dollars and were invited to watch the 15 minute video, which we skipped. My camera was itching in my hands....God gave a gift......Sometimes He speaks in desert blooms. It was like He was saying.........."This is for you........."

and so is this........

This one reminded me of a fire-cracker.....

As we walked through, we heard the Spirit speak in birdsong.....saw the glory of Him in the blooms that even thorns do not prevent.....

heard His whisper on the breeze,

Telling us all the while that He loved us and longed to give us rest......

In His Presence......

it was very good.

Thank you, my friend. I am so glad you insisted we get away.

You knew how much I wanted a camera day.  

It was one of those God things that it turned out like it did.

News from my little corner

Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. James 1:2-4

What's going on in your little corner of the world? No doubt many things. Someone may ask you how you are, and you reply......"Fine." But you know you aren't. You know when someone is asking in passing....that they don't really want to know. But then there are those that when they ask, they look into your eyes and you know.....you really know, they really do care.

Sometimes all it takes is just the right person to ask and the dam breaks.

We all have things going on in our lives. Sometimes it really helps to hear about other's struggles and joys. It gets our mind off ourselves. So what is going on in your corner? Here is a little snippet of what is going on in mine:

An answered prayer from yesterday......My brother had a good talk with his boss, with whom he has had a very hard time lately. The talk was fruitful and ended well.

Old computer went where old computers go when they die. New computer came yesterday and now we have a HUGE monitor and very fast Internet. WOW, I must force myself to stay off of it!

Car went in to shop and what was supposed to be free warranty work turned into a broken belt which will cost over $500.00 count it all joy! I have a credit card I can use! All in all, it was a day that was a blessing. Elaine went with me and we made a day of it! As full time caregiver, she enjoyed the day of freedom and I am glad she spent it with me.

I am enjoying my new camera, though each day I learn more of what I don't know about the technical aspects of photography. I am also struggling with the Canon computer software. Got it to work last night, but all the pictures ended up on my desktop. I guess I saved it there inadvertantly??? I don't remember saving them there!

Elaine's garden is doing well. It is yielding fresh spinach like mad, and the tomatoes are exploding. Okra is coming up and so is the squash. I cooked a mountain of spinach night before last, and though a whole kettle didn't yield much, it was delicious! We also enjoyed some of our generous neighbor's home grown zucchini last night. Thanks, Bob and Eileen for sharing!

This morning as I made my way across the parking lot at work, the cat who I feed regularly as part of our spay and neuter program at Intel was meowing at me from under a shrub. She was very scared and upset. Her feeding station is all the way on the other side of the building. And it is a big factory. The landscapers must have been here. I have no idea how to get her back to where she belongs. I must leave her to her own cat resourcefulness in getting there.

Most of all, I continue to rejoice in God our Savior, for " in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us." I can't imagine walking through life without His help!

Enough about me........How are things in your corner of the world? Please drop me a line or send me a prayer request and I will be happy to pray for you.

Wading through Job......

“A word was secretly brought to me, my ears caught a whisper of it. Amid disquieting dreams in the night, when deep sleep falls on people, fear and trembling seized me and made all my bones shake. A spirit glided past my face, and the hair on my body stood on end. It stopped, but I could not tell what it was. A form stood before my eyes, and I heard a hushed voice: Job 4:12-16

I wonder, what would the ancient trees of Gethsemane tell us if they could talk.........there are whisperings there I believe even now, sometimes I imagine how it would be there in the twilight of evening. There where Jesus prayed, disciples dreamed in slumber, Angels comforted, and Satan hovered over it all.
And when it was all over.....Jesus rose again, spirit, body, soul.....death was swallowed up in victory

When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” 1 Corinthians 15:54

I am wading through Job now. I am going slow so that I don't miss anything. I have read it and listened to it many times, but I somehow missed this verse. It reminded me of something out of Charles Dickens and the Ghost of Christmas past. Sometimes the Bible surprises me.....

Lesson by the sea

That day Jesus went out of the house and was sitting by the sea.........

........And large crowds gathered to Him, so He got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd was standing on the beach. And He spoke many things to them in parables, saying, "Behold, the sower went out to sow; and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up.

"Others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil. "But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. "Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out.

And others fell on the good soil and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear." Matthew 13:1-9

If you have ever planted a garden, you know the importance of getting all the elements right. Way before you plant the seed, you meticulously mix the soil. You add everything you think it needs, just the right balance of every chemical component you can think of that might help turn seeds into plants. You plant the seeds.....you water, you pray for sun, then rain, you go out every morning and if you are like my friend, you speak encouraging words to them....

Then, magically the first green shoot appears and you feel an exultant joy, you are the proud parent of a little sprout! They really do begin to feel a bit like your children! But here is what every farmer or gardener knows. Sometimes no matter what you do, they don't make it. I know this feeling of helplessness. I recently babysat some little sprouts while the master gardener was gone. I took it personally when some of them died. I asked myself, "What did I do wrong?' "What could I have done to save them?"  

Sometimes we beat ourselves up because we think we could have done more, said something different, but the truth is, we can only lead them to the living water, we can't make them drink.

There is not one thing more Jesus can do to save us. I think when He went out into the wilderness for that forty day test, He was thinking of us. He was already praying for those who would accept His message joyfully, but He also knew not everyone would.

"Listen carefully: Unless a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, dead to the world, it is never any more than a grain of wheat. But if it is buried, it sprouts and reproduces itself many times over. In the same way, anyone who holds on to life just as it is destroys that life. But if you let it go, reckless in your love, you'll have it forever, real and eternal.' The Message

all photos from publicdomainpictures.net

My walk in the woods

July in the desert and everyone is dreaming of the cool breezes that left in early May....heat is everywhere and there is no escaping it. I go out to pray and my mind tells me 6:00 should be bearable, but its not.

My mind wanders, I pace inside like a caged animal.
I go to the secret place where He resides, My own Living water that springs eternal.

Lord, I ache for green, and air that carries the scent of pine, and the spray of surf pounding on the shore. Be my walk in the woods, the little stream that I long to sit by and write, my thoughts and the ones you give me....

Be that porch that I dream of, the one with three steps up.....surrounded by hydrangeas of violet and blue, and the wind chimes gently revealing Your wind, Your voice.

I am in another garden today, the one that resides in the Spring of His Word. I am there watching green leaves toss against a canopy of blue from a hammock that swings in the playful air.

My heart is greatly refreshed.

A bird calls and another answers across the yard and I am filled with the peace that passes understanding.
Help me remember God, that You are always more than enough. Help me to remember, like Paul to be grateful for chains, and help me to remember also that my small chains of inconvenience are nothing compared to the chains that bind others.

None of them are any match for Your strength!

Thank You for being more than I can ever ask or think.

"I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength." Philippians 4:12,13

Meeting God in a garden

"Kiss of the sun for pardon. Song of the birds for mirth. You're closer to God's heart in a garden than any place else on earth." -- Dorothy Frances Gurney

It is good to be able to find a quiet corner of the yard in the mornings. I used to do this when I had a garden and I miss it. I would go and the outdoor stray cat would follow me, her white patches turning blissfully brown as she gleefully rolled in the freshly tilled earth. She was happy to share her territory with me.

Sometimes I felt I could actually hear the plants grow, reaching for the sun. If I got very close, at eye level with the plants I was aware of a whole new universe. I would see the dew drops, and the small bugs crawling in their world, unaware of me and the bigger world surrounding them.

God placed us here lovingly and called it good long ago....

I keenly felt a closeness with my Grandparents there, I have heard all their stories, them trying to scratch out a living from the hard North Dakota soil. How they came home one day to a flash flood, my Grandma desperately gathering chicks up in her apron and bringing them in to try and save them. Tunnels from the house to the barn in the bitter cold of winter so that my Grandpa and Aunt could milk the cows....And saying goodbye to all their animals, each one named, when they left for a better life in California.

They left behind a little grave holding their child Annie, fatally shot by a foster child at aged two. The boy ran away and they never found him. I can't imagine their sorrow. They made it out West, not without difficulty. They started over, pressed on and made a very good life. And their gardens always flourished

They have been reunited with their Annie for many years now, but I remember by being here with them in my quiet moments, I honor their memory and press on.....

"Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed." Genesis 2:8

Eternity in our hearts

Stairway at Butchart Gardens

Living with eternity always in mind changes our perspective on everything else that happens in this life. This is the great challenge, to keep this fixed always in the backdrop of our hearts and minds. In this way, nothing can totally devastate us as it would if we didn't have this hope.

Everything around us, however difficult or bleak the circumstance may be, continues to be colored with this one idea, this one thought. This is not all there is..... Sometimes we feel as if we have one foot in this world and one in the next and we feel the weight of it when life gets to be too much. Some would say that living like that would taint this life, as someone who goes around with one ear closed, half paying attention to everything around them, but really it turns the volume up. Everything somehow seems more brilliant, more vibrant and alive, like a deaf or blind person who has just got their senses for the first time.

Paul felt the weight of eternity too......

For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; Philippians 1:21-23

There is no going around it. We will constantly seek more in this life, because we know instinctively that there is more....He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. Ecclesiastes 3:11

What do you think? Does knowing we have eternity make you sometimes want to give up on this life? Or does it make it easier to go on?

Random thoughts.....

Did you ever notice that you only get irritated at seeing a police car when you are speeding? That little accusing voice usually rises to the surface when I am late for work. I think: "Now why do they have to be here now?? Yet, how glad I would be if one showed up when I needed one! Kind of like when God is whispering in our minds to do a certain thing we know will be uncomfortable or difficult. Asking forgiveness, praying for someone who has wronged us.....We rise up, thinking of reasons why not...."Well, he said, but they...." And God waits patiently for us to see His side of things.

Why did God start us out in a garden and not someplace that looked like Wallstreet? Broadway? Maybe because He knew it would be easier to find Him there. Maybe He knew it would remind us of where we came from....dust. There is a little saying about gardens that I find to be true, "We are nearer to God's heart in a garden than anyplace else on earth." Go here for full poem.

It is easy to feel the breath of God when you are close to growing things. The morning dew reminds us of the manna that fell in the wilderness....God's provision in the desert. Dealing with stubborn weeds that threaten to choke out the life that we have so carefully cultivated reminds us of the stubborn sins that so easily rob us of sweet communion with God.

My grandfather loved growing things. Though he died of stomach cancer when I was around two, I feel very close to him. Everyone says that he had a very kind spirit, and he loved his garden...and his God very much.

My one and only memory of him is holding me in his arms next to the grape arbor. I remember a white trellis and little green grapes. I hold it close against my heart. His favorite hymn was "In the Garden" I imagine him walking with God in the cool of the evening, even now. Someday Grandpa, I will be walking with you. I can't wait to meet you....