Drought Tolerant

 

Words have specific meanings, meanings that communicate ideas, which have consequences, right?

My understanding of some words, however, is not always surefire – sometimes what I want words to mean can override their basic definition.   This also is not without consequences.

For example, drought tolerant on the tag introducing a plant or flower means the plant can tolerate a little more heat and dryness than say, impatiens. Hoping to have an easy to care for garden, one that would not require much effort, in previous years, when I saw drought tolerant—sun tolerant, I interpreted from the description they could live without regular watering.  I read planting instructions with my desires decoding the meaning instead of common-sense gardening instructions:

All plants . . . have drought tolerant potential both from results in trials and what is inherent in the genetics. Remember that Florida drought and Arizona drought are different animals. Dry with drought is different from humid with drought; this terminology is relative to your region, so use caution when using this information.

ALL plants need at least 2 weeks of regular frequent watering to become well established in the landscape, longer for larger pots and shrub lines. NONE . . . will do well watered once at planting and never watered again. (What Some Say – emphasis added)

Such redefinitions have never borne flowers in Maryland or Texas!  But I see an analogy or two flourishing, that caution me.   If relying on my own definitions because I am lazy can wither plants, such habits may wilt even hardy friendships.  Too many plants suffered because what I wanted from them – to flourish without much help from me – was altogether unrealistic.  No friendship does well without watering.  

Following is a simple layout for a garden that will bear fruit. It’s old-fashioned but her gardening advice, gleaned from a favorite quotes’ site, overflows with words whose meaning have great consequences. 

A GARDEN, by Eugenie Prime

For best results, this garden should be planted every day:
Five rows of "P"eas:
Preparedness,
Promptness,
Perseverance,
Politeness,
Prayer.

Three rows of squash:
Squash gossip,
Squash criticism,
Squash indifference.

Five rows of Lettuce:
Let us love one another,
Let us be faithful,
Let us be loyal,
Let us be unselfish,
Let us be truthful.

Three rows of turnips:
Turn up for church,
Turn up with a new idea,
Turn up with the determination to do a better job tomorrow than you did today

                                                                        ~

Kind hearts are the gardens,
Kind thoughts are the roots,
Kind words are the flowers,
Kind deeds are the fruits.

Take care of your garden
And keep out the weeds,
Fill it with sunshine
Kind words and kind deeds.
Longfellow

                                                                          ~

The centre of trouble is not the turbulent appetites -- though they are troublesome enough. The centre of trouble is in the personality of man as a whole, which is self-centred and can only be wholesome and healthy if it is God-centred. ~ William Temple(1881-1944)  

And I have had the empty pots and bedraggled beds to prove it. 

Boston and Bible Study

Yesterday the bible study wound up – it was a nine month inquiry into Revelation; surely this has been a serendipitous use of my time. We went from apprehension about studying what we feared might be too complex or confusing, “end-times,” to being comforted, encouraged and edified no matter how quickly or slowly Christ the LORD returns. In this book, we learned how lost the lost are, and how secure the saved are, for our hope is anchored in HIS character.

His words resound: “Do not be afraid.”

The group Bible study may be done – but I feel like I haven’t wholly grasped it. Revelation is different from any other book in Scripture – to some its message appears hidden or frightening, or inscrutable. But to those who will read and hear, it is filled with [seven] blessings – blessings that meet every need of all the churches to whom John wrote. Its message is so simple a child can understand – as all the children’s leaders so faithfully taught little ones aged 2-5! These kids got it!  

Yet, I struggle to take it all in.

When I look back on what has happened since we began the study: a terrorist attack on September 11, “Sandy,” Newtown Connecticut, wounds, trials and illnesses within our church, and families, ending with another attack at the Boston Marathon, and a tragedy in West, Texas. And now, this morning’s news of murder and mayhem in Boston washes over my heart: What in the world is going on?

Seriously, Barbara?

Weren’t you paying attention?

The bottom line is people who hate God, hate people and want to kill them – for they have believed a lie fomented by God’s enemy and his servants. Christians believe that enemy was defeated at Calvary -- just as the Allied Normandy Invasion in June 1944 broke the back of the Axis. But battles abound – just as they did throughout the months leading up to August of 1945.  And until He returns, we all are on a battlefield.

The horrors have caught many Americans of-guard for we have not endured what other Christians and cultures around the world have endured.

In Revelation 2-3, Christ reveals to John the extent of the battles, internal and external. “Intimidation and persecution” are hallmarks of the spiritual reality that Christ will see us through in the time before His return.   Christ’s promises to those who overcome what He knows we struggle with have never been more precious and essential. The hope and help that God revealed to John on Patmos is as much as a comfort to us today as it was to John. His promises are trustworthy and true.  The point of Revelation is as a movie or picture book of what Matthew meant in his Gospel, 16:18,when he quoted the Lord Jesus Christ:  And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Whew . . .

His promises for reward and retribution in Revelation echo the prophets. Like many their messages, this is filled with condemnation and comfort. It is a picture of the sum of all consequences of individual choices.  We see the result of having things our way.  And we see God’s retribution in His time for His people.    

It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God! (Hebrew 10:31)

Therefore – when information overloads my mind, and horror engulfs my breaking heart, Habakkuk [still] helps:

I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my bones,
and my legs trembled. Yet, I will wait patiently for the day of calamity
 to come on the nation invading us.

Though the fig tree does not bud
 and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails
 and the fields produce no food though there are no sheep in the pen
 and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.

The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
he enables me to tread on the heights. (Habakkuk 3, esp. 17) 

God I believe -- help THOU my unbelief.  

Image source 

Low Information Christians

Both Bill Maher and Rush Limbaugh describe some constituencies as Low Information Voters; skewering people they think are poorly informed about many important issues.   Apparently, there really are voters who pigeonhole candidates and vote on assumptions such as candidates’ physical attractiveness, sex, race or how the names appeared on ballots.  And,

 An analysis concerned with the "puzzling finding" that incumbent legislators in mature democracies charged with corruption are not commonly punished in elections found that less-informed voters were significantly more likely to vote for incumbents accused of corruption than were their better-informed counterparts, presumably because they did not know about the allegations. (Wiki on LIV’s)

Seriously, she asked sheepishly?

I know I am guilty of having projected my aspirations for personal peace and affluence on candidates, some who could never nor, would ever deliver on all they promised.

If I could have been so uninformed about making political choices, how about other choices I’ve made? Like religion.

I am an American, and like 74% of my fellow citizens, I choose “Christian” as my religion. (The Pew Forum Reports) But what [all] Christians believe is not an easy pigeonhole into which to stuff us. If George Barna has accurately sampled us, we disagree on all kinds of things, especially on moral issues.  (Americans and Moral Concerns)  Perhaps this explains why a few prominent American Christians have changed their support for marriage as the union of a man and woman to the support of same sex-marriages?

Many American Christians of all stripes get the message Christ urged about compassion and social justice, and a commendable number practice the conviction that we must love our neighbors as ourselves.  What we might not get is practicing the first part of Christ’s summation of the Law: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and strength. (Matthew 22:36-40)

And unhappily, some Christians who capture the world’s attention are, shall we say, “low-information” Christians. Either they promote God’s compassion, but play down His holiness, or, they wax eloquent on His Judgment, and forget to mention His merciful grace.  Both misuse the Scriptures – perhaps because they don’t read it. (What Americans Think About the Bible) 

Low information Christians are unwittingly – or deliberately – denying others who would follow Christ a level path; they are refusing healing to those who need Christ’s help, and hope. (Hebrew 12:12)

  

So, if given a chance, we must explain that His love and mercy can’t be understood apart from His justice and His wrath.  The hard part about offering the love of God in Christ is that we must not withhold the truth -- the two-pronged truth that

·      God is holy.

·      Humans are broken and we need restoration to our right relationship to God and each other that only God gives – and – we can’t keep indulging the sinful conduct that separated us from Him. Or approve others who do.   

Easter is a great opportunity to pass on the information:  remember the power that raised Christ from the dead, is freely available to any who want out of the dead-ends in which they find themselves.

Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, Bless His holy name.
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits;
Who pardons all your iniquities; Who heals all your disease;
Who redeems your life from the pit;
Who crowns you with loving kindness and compassion;
Who satisfies your years with good things,
So that your youth is renewed like the eagle. (Psalm 103:1-5)

Energizing Our Easter Baskets

Coffee with a Friend

Hi!

I relocated, and update this humble piece and hung it on my new address -- I hope you will visit! https://autumns-garden.com/the-scent-of-christmas/

I Wasn’t Thinking

"Nothing is ever a complete failure; it can always serve as a bad example." Carlson's Consolation (from Murphy's Laws)


In Dallas, the temperature rarely has been cold enough for long enough to burst water pipes. Because we have vacuum breakers on the outdoor hoses, we didn’t worry about them freezing – unlike in Maryland. So with milder temperatures, we forgot you have to removes the hoses from the spigots to make the vacuum breakers function

Now we had a good warning that temps would plummet tonight – in fact if I heard it once I heard it a ga-zillion times: tonight will be the coldest night in 15 years.

So, an hour ago, snugged before the fire, we heard the TV weatherman warn about outside pipes; we looked at each other and swung into action. Doug suited up; I got some pliers. Out he went, and quickly discovered both outdoor faucets had frozen, with the hoses firmly attached. As he wrestled, with disengaging them, a young neighbor came to help.

I guess we will know later if or how much damage our lack of foresight will cost.

This is an uncomfortable reminder of one or two other things I forgot – like giving to the homeless shelters. We give, but on an inconsistent basis. I’ve known about their needs: the Dallas Morning news covers it; so does our church as a part of our urban ministry. Same Kinda Different as Me, a collaborative book by Ron Hall and Denver Moore was a powerful testimony to the pain and redemption of homelessness right in the D/FW area. But I tuned out my conscience’s pings – even last night when I wrote about the coming storms.

That’s really what “I wasn’t thinking” means.

So, I looked up quotes on excuses on my two favorite sites: Christiansquoting.com and Quotegarden.com. I found a few thought provokers:

“He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

“My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure.” - Abraham Lincoln, 1809 - 1865

The person who really wants to do something finds a way; the other person finds an excuse. ~Author Unknown

And oftentimes excusing of a fault
Doth make the fault the worse by the excuse.
~William Shakespeare

I don’t want to forget about what someone from Australia said after reading  yesterday’s blog about the monster cold storm enveloping 2/3 of their country. The writer described a set of storms hitting Australia this week in areas already devastated by floods of biblical proportions. It’s a storm on the scale of Katrina.

Here’s a reminder of how to start helping:
(The Not-For-Profits Reminder)