A New Commission

A distinct delight that these years in Dallas have given me is a weekly art class at Pigment School of the Arts. Though the most of the students are primary students, a few times a week, older students are welcomed – and I am among the oldest. Since 2006, I have enjoyed the camaraderie of painters and potters, and the tutelage of an accomplished artist and teacher.  And I have produced . . . art. 

Now, all my accomplishments are not ready for a prime time exhibition at the Kimball, or Dallas Museums, but I placed a few of my paintings in a recent show that Pigment Hosted. And someone liked a painting!  They wanted to buy it! It was however only on loan to the exhibition, having been promised to Douglas, who is unfailingly supportive.  

(Doesn’t that sound . . . a wee bit cheeky: It was only on loan . . .?)

The subject is a bright red cardinal nestled in snow-laden trees in western Maryland, painted from a photograph that Dave Wolfe snapped. I loved the photo, and felt my picture fell short of conveying the moment Dave recorded. So, in addition to it being promised, I was uncertain of its worth. However, I agreed to reproduce it, for a modest fee.

Because so many of the students attending classes at Pigment are six decades younger than I am, they are transparently kind in assessing my work in the studio.   On a few occasions, they have made especially thoughtful and positive comments. But recently, when one young student learned I had expressed reservations about the painting’s worth, she stopped her art own project and wrote me a note.

I was stunned and deeply touched and remembered how powerful a tonic a few kind words spoken from the heart can be. 

Emboldened by such kindness, I started my first commissioned painting, hopefully reproducing what first attracted someone’s interest – alas, with instructions that I leave out the bird.

Kind words are like honey -- sweet to the soul and healthy for the body. (Proverbs 16:24) 

What Heat?

 

(AP Photo/University Corporation for Atmospheric Research)

Today is sunny, seventy degrees – and gentle breezes. October’s last days in Dallas are worth remarking upon – and remembering. The roses have returned for a colorful farewell appearance; the late summer additions are, however, tired. The bachelor buttons are bending because of the cooler, damper days. And the sun goes down now by eight PM.  It’s not exactly bundling up weather, but it is cooler – and so pleasant. What a difference 20 degrees can make!

 Remembering that heat in all this sunshine, shows how quickly I can forget. As I look over what I have written about weather the past four years, I see several times the weather was more than aggravating – it was scary.  

We are coming up on the anniversary of a storm of literally biblical proportions – Sandy.   By Monday night, October 29, 2012 she came ashore – above Maryland and slamming into New Jersey – Wow . . . Hurricane Sandy has been so off my radar screen! When the news stops covering the troubles, I forget as quickly as I forget the heat when the weather cools.

Do you remember fearing for what she might do? (From Boring to Superstorm)

 I do – I was preparing a lecture on Revelation 7.  And what did the very first verse in Revelation 7 say?

 

After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree.

Knowing our children were in the path of the biggest storm to hit the East Coast in almost two hundred years. I wondered – worried: What if one of those beings drops the corner? After all, in Revelation 6:8 they were given power to destroy one fourth of the earth.  Sandy’s swath was huge and brutal, from New York to the Great Lakes; a newscaster said it would affect one in four Americans, one quarter, of the US population.  

In the Dallas Morning News, today, a story from the AP confirms the scars from Sandy are still deep – thousands of Americans are still trying to fixed their wreck homes, and billions of federal aid hasn’t reached those it was authorized, months ago, to fix.

      Here are ways we can remember and still help, including through the subsequent disasters that have happened in the past year:  Pray & give.

·      Helping People Help People

·      Samaritan’s Purse    

Earlier Blog: Hoping for the Best

Anne Rice: Letting Go of Religion

Anne Rice at home in Palm Springs. Photograph: Dan Tuffs for the Guardian

On a YOUTUBE clip, Anne Rice described a journey from religion to faith in Christ that resonated with my own – being raised in the church, and deciding to leave the church because the world beyond the church was powerfully appealing.  It is time well-spent listening to her well-expressed experience leaving and coming back to faith in Christ. She gets what it means to be saved – looking at the Cross, you are forgiven, and there are no barriers to Him. Christ is inviting you to come back to God. Once you’ve embraced God, your surrender is total. His love is without measure or qualification.   (I am second: Anne Rice)

But a decade later, in an interview on National Public Radio, she said something else:

"For those who care, and I understand if you don't: Today I quit being a Christian. I'm out. I remain committed to Christ as always but not to being 'Christian' or to being part of Christianity. It's simply impossible for me to 'belong' to this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group. For ten years, I've tried. I've failed. I'm an outsider. My conscience will allow nothing else." (NPR Interview)

What happened?

Well, I know what might have happened – when she uses the adjectives like this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous to describe “the group’” aka the church. Evidently, the doctrine and the activism of the Roman Catholic Church’s opposition to homosexual rights – while covering up its own sexual abuses -- convinced her to leave. She said: I found God, but that doesn’t mean I have to be a member of any organized religion.    

I can so relate . . . Organized “religion” -- can be a problem – and it may be the reason some who receive the word of God gladly, wither and fall away. (Matthew 13)  

The church is a mess . . . has been a mess, and until Christ returns, it will be a place for sick people, saved from their own destruction, to recover, and to make themselves useful to others.  Its shepherds are as many and varied as the flocks they tend. Living with sheep – as a sheep – is a picture of church life. None of us are the brightest animal in the realm – we are prone to problems and need tending; the wonder is that Christ bothered with any of us. (John 10:11)

But He did – and Ms Rice surely understands the cost of His care for us – a humiliating death. He gave us a message – and we have a mission. (Matthew 28:19-20) Feeding the hungry, caring for the poor, visiting prisoners, and serving widows is [often] welcomed by the world – until we mention responsibility before a holy God who so loved the world He gave His Son, but hates sin. (Leviticus 19:2; I Peter 1:15-17 KJV)  It is good to know nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ – not so great to hear the seriousness of our sins.

Being delivered from sin’s penalty, Christ’s precious promise to us also comes with warning: “Stop it!” (John 8:1-11) He never added, “Unless you were born that way.”

And that’s our reason for not living differently after He saved us.

We don’t want to hear from folks who can’t get their own act together! Talk about hypocrites!

But, if we rightly see what Christ did on the Cross, as Ms. Rice described, we must let go of what we can’t imagine living without – our little peccadilloes that seem to be just how we’re made.  And we are supposed to do this together . . .

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. James 5:16

Figuring out how to be in a world that seems to be going crazier and crazier, remaining faithful to Christ, and loving others with the love God showed us, when sometimes we are only barely healed ourselves is tricky. (Mark 5:30-34) Figuring it out in a flock of recovering sinners is trickier. Seeing Ms. Rice’s dislike to what the church does reminds me to take my meds before I point out how the world – and you – needs to shape up.  (The Be-attitudes)

Reason for Rejection of Catholic Church

Autumn Weeds: Too Many Words and So Little Wisdom

http://www.worldmag.com/editorialcartoons/

The Chinese are said to have a curse: May you live in interesting times. (Background) These are interesting times indeed – especially since Americans have permitted our government to meet our needs, real and imagined. And it’s dawning on us that the service is pricey and second-rate.   Indeed, some of us wonder if government has now become our master, demanding more of our money than is prudent to pay, given the results. *

Hence, the most recent government shutdown.

Is this just a petulant backlash, or, is it a principled resistance to disastrous debt and income redistribution? Or, is it just business as usual?

Whatever it is,  it’s all confusing and upsetting, made worse by political leaders indulging intemperate language, politicized press coverage, and news of the government’s mining of private information from our electronic correspondence and conversations. It isn’t that the problems are more vitriolic than ever – see who said what about whom in the American Revolution and the Civil War -- it is that they are interminable, because of our technology, often inaccurate, and usually unchallenged or refuted.

Our leaders, on both sides of the aisle, have blown too many opportunities to reform a health care system that has done great things and could do better. How I wish we could have had an open debate on how best to serve those for who we are responsible! (Proverbs 24:11; Luke 10:25-37) But we did not. So, here we are.

The bottom line is TANSTAAFL – and offering “free” insurance to the sickliest, the neediest, and the oldest is a good thing. But insurance doesn’t mean health care. When he preached there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch, I thought my father meant, beware: nobody gives you something for nothing. But to some extent, many of us have all come to believe the government can and should. It can’t – but we

can do better! (NPR: Religious Alternatives to Obamacare)

I keep listening for answers from the White House and the Congress.

You'll find wisdom on the lips of a person of insight, but the shortsighted needs a slap in the face. The wise accumulate knowledge - a true treasure; know-it-alls talk too much - a sheer waste . . . Liars secretly hoard hatred; fools openly spread slander. The more talk, the less truth; the wise measure their words. (Proverbs 10, esp. vv 13,14, 19, emphasis added)

*( See How our High School Graduates Rank internationally, and the state of our roads Decay Despite Stimulus.)

Reform THEIR Entitlements, Not Mine!  

Hurry

Thoughts today stirred from a poem, titled “Hurry.” (Gleaned from a blog,  Sober Boots)

Yesterday, I did not hurry; I spent the whole day putzing and trying to come to terms with the emotions a favorite PBS program generated.

What a gift it was.

To have a day when nothing pressed in, scolding me to “Do this now.”

We stop at the dry cleaners and the grocery store
and the gas station and the green market and
Hurry up honey, I say, hurry hurry,
as she runs along two or three steps behind me
her blue jacket unzipped and her socks rolled down.

Where do I want her to hurry to?

 To her grave?
To mine?

 Where one day she might stand all grown?

Today, when all the errands are finally done, I say to her,
Honey I’m sorry I keep saying Hurry—
you walk ahead of me. You be the mother.

And, Hurry up, she says, over her shoulder, looking
back at me, laughing.

Hurry up now darling, she says,
hurry, hurry, taking the house keys from my hands.

—Marie Howe, The Kingdom Of Ordinary Time

All the memories the poem evoked! For I hurried our kids, and Doug and myself through many days  -- days that dragged through at break neck speed.

But I found a hymn written by Kristyn Getty for her little baby girl that slowed me down – and reminded to pray:

"This world is not as it should be..."; "May my mistakes not hinder you..."; “Father hear my ceaseless prayer == o keep my children and theirs in your care. A Mother's Prayer

Unplugging from a Party Line

Last Tango in Halifax's Characters

The Last Tango in Halifax tells a winsome tale of how two families and their friends get on, when Alan and Celia rekindle a flame, 60 years old.  The writing is excellent. The whole production, terrific! The characters and their peccadilloes are wholly believable; even the rascals are engaging.  A form of religion is in the background, but with no substance, except negative stereotypes and bad language. And by word and deed, they are all doing fine with out God, having given up on Him long ago. 

While the series began with a winsome premise – this last week’s chapter was anything but charming.  It’s a quietly disturbing propaganda piece about life in the post-Christian era.  

If you read a summary of the episodes, thus far, it reads like real people we know.  God knows I’ve walked down a few paths on which the characters are now treading! (See a summary: Last Tango in Halifax.)  But, last night’s episode took my breath away.

They do terrible things to themselves and to each other! I have grown to care about all these people – and what they get themselves into – their pain is so credible. 

It’s what life looks like, when people do what is right in their own eyes – and the depravity seems harmless enough at first. 

Okay – if you are still reading after that word, let me hasten to say, I have loved this show!  Would that I felt so deeply for the real people God has placed so directly in my path.

I am in Chapter 3 of Exodus.  (Bible Study . . . Again) It’s where God commissioned Moses to go to the Israelites first, and tell them God is real, with eyes, ears, and a heart. (Exodus 3:6-7) Then, Moses would get to carry this message to Pharaoh.  Moses was not on board with this plan, however, having made a good life for himself and family in Midian. I can so relate to his hedging!

Too often, I don’t want to unplug from well-done propaganda that says, everybody is doing just fine without God. I look at this story, Last Tango in Halifax, and I can see people are hurting! Habits, hurts and hang-ups can make us crazy, mean or stupid.

But who wants to be a messenger with God’s remedy?  I so get why Moses wanted someone else to go!   

And that means killing off everything connected with that way of death: sexual promiscuity, impurity, lust, doing whatever you feel like whenever you feel like it, and grabbing whatever attracts your fancy . . . It wasn’t long ago that you were doing all that stuff and not knowing any better. But you know better now, so make sure it’s all gone for good: bad temper, irritability, meanness, profanity, dirty talk. (Colossians 3:5-8)

 Alas, I regret unplugging from so well-written and acted a production, that misrepresents the truth. 

"The Devil isn't as conspicuous in society as he once was, Scalia said, because "he got wilier" and now advances his agenda by "getting people not to believe in him or in God."

 

Current Thoughts worth Pondering: Justice Scalia on the Devil and God, among other topics.

  Helping Each Other Out of Our Grave Clothes

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You will have health insurance!

Actually, we aren’t sure what we will have – for what is on paper has never been done in America. It will not be free – or uncomplicated, and it will not be the end of the world, although the Affordable Care Act will change forever how we care for each other in the country. (As did Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and indoor plumbing.)

The November issue of Consumer Reports has an informative article on the new law. (As well as information about long-term health care choices) These folks also have created an online guide:HealthLawHelper.org. 

Seeing the problems inherent in government –run insurance programs, such as Social Security Disability, I believe that the Affordable Care Act may offer help, but it will also bring complications, delays, and inequalities that can frustrate sick people and their loved ones. 

The times in which we live are indeed interesting – reminiscent of what the prophet Isaiah saw. (Isaiah 10)  Whichever side of this divisive issue you stand, please remember your health is a gift, as is your life.  So, too, the length of your days, and your children’s days – even the best insurance program will never add a minute to it.  And pray for your leaders – all of them, even the ones with whom you disagree. (2 Chronicles 7, especially  verse 14)

Backed up Plumbing

 Hello -- Thanks for landing here, alas we've moved -- please visit this site for the new edition:

http://lettinggoandholdingtight.com/precarious-old-plumbing-pipes-peacemaking-lessons-taught/

Bible Study . . . Again

Autumn nears – and I will return to a group of women to study the Bible; this year it’s Exodus. And I am rereading The Gospel According to Moses, by Athol Dickson. All during a time when ancient countries like Egypt, Syria and Israel are current events.

For many years, I thought I knew what Exodus was about because I had seen the Charlton Heston version. When I finally read the book, and moved beyond the flannelgraph story, I learned the connection between Passover and Communion. (No kidding, even though I was “churched,” I had missed the part about why blood, and not wine, is central to relating to God. Hebrews 9:22)

I learned about Israel’s attraction to idols, even in the midst of God’s miracles and Law. They had seen and heard God’s power; they knew what He required – and they still wanted to worship gods of their own imagination – a persistent problem that plagued the Israelites.

And I have learned their problem and mine are quite alike:  I am prone to whine and wander!  Knowing what Scripture says – and does not say – is so important – but sometimes I feel like the Israelites: Manna again?  (So, You Wanna Go Back to Egypt?)

So, why study what I think I know?   

First – because I can. I have the right to learn about my religion. Years ago we met Egyptian Christians studying how we taught English in high schools in the United States, and they were flabbergasted that with all our freedom of religion here, we did not take advantage of it in sharing our faith.

Second – because, again, I can. I still have my wits about me, and the wherewithal to take some time and study what God did, so that I might understand what He is doing. Moreover, I might be able to encourage or be encouraged by other desert-trekkers.  A kind, edifying word can be as refreshing as a cup of cold water.

Third – because I still usually prefer my own way – and I don’t have another forty years to wander in deserts of my own making. (Isaiah 65:2)

But, fourth – I still have questions. And Moses questioned God. Athol Dickson described why some abandon faith:

“ . . . I abandoned my faith because t seemed I had no right to question difficulties, much less expect answers. I had been taught to accept ready made-dogma rather than to personally take my doubts to God.

 . . . God loves a good question.”  (The Gospel According to Moses, p. 17)

Exodus isn’t only about supernatural acts, or commandments that are impossible to keep; it is about real people – whose desert trek to worship their God turned into something nobody anticipated. All of which raises questions.  

So  – I am approaching the study in Exodus, thinking what it must have been like for an “older” woman to leave Egypt, not knowing if she will get to the Promised Land.   Real women had been enslaved in Egypt – they suffered, because of injustice and oppression; because of persecution and personal failure – women contributed their gold for the making of that abominable calf! (Exodus 32)  They whined, complained, and longed for the good old days, right along with their men – teaching their daughters and sons very poor lessons.

I’d like to offer better lessons and be a better companion. (Joel 2:25-27) But, this raises questions -- a bunch of questions.  

On Being Rebuked

Russian President Vladimir Putin (Yuri Kochetkov/REUTERS)

It hurts -- especially when it comes from an adversary. But what really galls is when the rebuke has truth in it, truth we cannot dismiss as just a dig.

It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation. There are big countries and small countries, rich and poor, those with long democratic traditions and those still finding their way to democracy. Their policies differ, too. We are all different, but when we ask for the Lord’s blessings, we must not forget that God created us equal.  (Mr. Putin's Op-Ed NYT)

It stung; it made me mad, and many Representatives and Senators expressed their outrage. Social commentators and comics right away mocked Mr. Putin’s dismissal of the homosexual rights agenda as the a log in his eye. (Matthew 7:3)

But Americans and American Christians should pause and consider that indeed the world is on equal footing before a holy God who is our Creator and Sustainer. (John 1:3; Psalm 145) And nobody has an excuse for any of our conduct.

Americans and American Christians have done exceptional things in our brief history on this continent – and we have done some shameful things. We have fought and died for the well being of others, and we have stood by while others were harmed – worse,  some Americans, claiming to be Christians, have harmed people whom we should have protected. I believe we do very much more good than evil; but even a scintilla of wrongdoing undermines our standing before God.

It hurt to be rebuked by a man who himself is no stranger to strong-arm, cruel machinations – but from whom would we tolerate such demanding words?

God spoke through creation – the Bible, and spelled out the problem to Belshazzar, that described all our problems: we have been weighed, and found wanting. (The Writing on the Wall)

Being exceptional does not impress God; no amount of doing good can fix what we have broken – for what we broke belongs to Another. (Psalm 24)

I am praying our leaders aren’t paying lip-service to God; for America, and all citizens; for Syria and those within her borders and for Russia, and all her citizens. And for that matter, I pray that for thee and me, gentler reader – for it is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (Hebrews 10:31)

Today many of us have a breathing space – let’s not harden our hearts to the truth, even it comes from a man we distrust. We are all equal before God – and I am not sure that’s much to boast about.

 But God's angry displeasure erupts as acts of human mistrust and wrongdoing and lying accumulate, as people try to put a shroud over truth . . . They keep inventing new ways of wrecking lives . . .  (Romans 1:18-31 The Message)

Mr. Putin, whether he understood or not, spoke the truth – Thank God for the Cross!

¹⁵ Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. ¹⁶ But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life. (1 Timothy 1:15-16)

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. 

A Book Review

A Jane Austen Devotional

Although one reviewer called this book pabulum, I say pabulum is a good and necessary source of nutrients for folks at certain ages and stages. Approaching a second run at childhood, I welcome an opportunity to reacquaint myself with characters, their times, and setting, and their conduct -- descriptions that have engaged so many readers for so long.

Its author, Stephanie Woolsey, connects basic living truths in good literature to the Truth by which Christians live. It may displease some readers, but it pleases me for a couple of reasons:

*            The topics in the Table of Contents  -- maybe 100 in all – are the hot buttons with which we struggle, in and out of the church, such as:

·      Evaluating Your Focus 

·      Stirring Up Trouble

·      Developing Self-Control 

·      Letting Go of Worry

·      Justifying Compromise

·      The Art of Good Timing 

·      An Honorable Legacy

*            The compiler first allows the reader a refreshing reminder of Jane Austen’s words, showing  character matters; so do good manners, and healthy thoughts. Then, she offers an easily digestible commentary on the scene or characters so beloved by Miss Austen’s readers. Ms. Woolsey finally anchors her view to a line from Scripture. 

The volume may be as unfussy as a dish of pabulum.  For those of us those who might like an easy way to digest harsh reminders of how silly we can be, and how noble a few are, though, this volume is a good tonic.

Christians who write will enjoy seeing how Jane Austen’s characters and stories edify and entertain without preachy prose.  In Ms. Woolsey’s words:

Jane did her readers a great service when she used the gift that God gave her to touch the world with her writing and wisdom. May each of us do the same with our own talents.

You might like: Jane Austen: Everything Old is New Again

I Remembered!

What is THIS?

When we came back from Maryland, I was overwhelmed to see how well one large pot of flowers had boomed – but I could not for the life of me remember what it was! I had started some flowers from seeds, transplanted others and rejoiced other flowers had simply made it thought the mild winter – what was this lush, flowering plant?

It stumped me for weeks! And nobody else seemed to know, including a couple of friends with gardening skill!

Yesterday, it popped into my head.  A friend had given a baggie full of dried flowers from her garden that she had gotten from her mom!  She had assured me that bachelor buttons were both hardy and prolific, even in Texas summers.

I remember now burying them about an inch into potting soil in a large container, not knowing what exactly to expect -- thinking when I buried them, this might not work.  But I watered a pot of dirt until we left for Maryland in mid June.   And somehow, they survived in the sun and heat with whatever drops of rain that fell in our absence. These are a hardy lot!

This forgetting and remembering made me think of a bit of shared wisdom between a friend and me years ago – “Sometimes, we will not get out of the deserts in which we find ourselves, until we like the taste and feel of sand.”  Now, that may seem as dodgy a bit of wisdom as those dried flowers seemed a possibility of vibrant color in my garden – that insight has helped me, nonetheless.  

I buried the wisdom, watered it with the truth that God inhabits the praises of His people, and I have seen unexpected blessings bloom, in her life, in others and in mine. But I often forget this – as I forgot planting the dried flowers, and their name. I forget that God can bring forth beauty from unexpected, even forgotten places.

But from a desert?

When I became a Christian, I didn’t bargain on desert treks – long periods of grief, fear, troubles, and setbacks; feelings of separation from God and estrangements from loved ones.  Although warned I would make them, I thought I had secured a spot in a safe oasis that would shelter me until . . . whenever. And this is where my friend’s experiences, strength and hope helped me – she told me of her desert trek, invited me to join a praise choir as she and her family were on a brutal journey.

Deserts are scary places – my idea of fun still would never be what some do – exploring and camping in the desert as one couple did in the Tunisian desert. (Paul and Sheryl Shard’ pictures from Distant Shores) They found beauty, wonder and adventure – and some danger. But they made it through, and loved their adventure, even recommending it.  

And I can commend such a walk with God . . . knowing that no desert, either a spiritual or a literal desert, is without hazard, deprivation, and even terror.  But this desert is the one place where God can show us stuff about ourselves we would learn nowhere else. (Deuteronomy 8:2) And this spiritual desert is where we can learn the excellent provisions of His grace that the world’s oases can obscure.

God, help me remember this when I forget so many other things! 

Tunisian Desert DISTANT SHORES

Other People’s Opinions

An early “boomer,” I know that whites must needs be put away today.

. . . [E]ven though the rule was originally enforced by only a few hundred women, over the decades it trickled down to everyone else. By the 1950s, women’s magazines made it clear to middle class America: white clothing came out on Memorial Day and went away on Labor Day. (Why you CAN’T wear white after Labor Day)

No kidding – nobody I knew in Maryland ever wore white after the first Monday in September. Even as a hippie, I put away the white. But in Texas, where weather is hot, hot, hot sometimes until mid October, that rule has some flexibility in it.

But I can’t shake the idea that wearing a white watch, shoes or slacks, or using a white bag is a faux pas.  Me, who managed to ditch much bigger social conventions so that I might be me. Choosing to be hide bounded to silly “rules,” while ignoring God’s Law isn’t an impulse that disappeared when I became a Christian. Other people’s opinions are powerful and personal influencers.

I [still] want to be liked.

In these times when folks are quick to spot my hypocrisy, I need a continuing education class on conduct and conscience.  A blogger* collected several descriptions of how Solomon saw fools, and said as one reads the verses, they should ask: 

• In what ways am I like the fool?

• How can I learn not to be a fool but instead to be wise? *What is a Fool? 
  
  

The first three descriptions from Proverbs 1 follow and remind me I never to old to learn better ways to live  --

·      1:7
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.

·      1:22
“How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple?
How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge?

·      1:32
For the simple are killed by their turning away, and the complacency of fools destroys them.

Be open-minded, but not so open-minded that your brains fall out. 

~Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.

Another rumination on the “End” of Summer  

Another Lesson from the Garden

A Gardening Lesson from the Crepe Myrtles

 

An Unexpected Tutor

For a few minutes this morning, I enjoyed our back porch – something the weather and health has precluded. (I mean, when the air feels hotter than the coffee in my cup, who needs that?) But, this morning, we have been bathed and refreshed by a gentle persistent rain. 

What pleasantly surprised me when I sat down was the change in the row of crepe myrtles along the back fence of the garden. Weeks ago, before our “house arrest,”  they seemed almost barren of blossoms. Since they are mature trees, I wondered if the hot, dry weather were inflicting too much pain on them. But no – they boomed!  And I had missed it because their blossoms are above eye level when I look out the kitchen window.  I may see the new plants that thrive in the heat – but they are not all there is to see in the garden.

Noon is approaching – and the sun’s return is imminent and with it, the hope of being out and about in the garden for long spells ebbs.  But I enjoyed this respite – and the reminder:  hot dry spells help crepe myrtles do well!

And the testing of this day – or the next, which may feel like a desert --  isn’t an excuse for me drying up personally or spiritually.

“Finding comfort in the Lord doesn’t make all the discomfort go away.”* 

Maturity of mind is the capacity to endure uncertainty.
~ John Finley  (An English historian and mathematician)

 Even in old age they will still produce fruit;
    they will remain vital and green.
 They will declare, “The Lord is just!
    He is my rock!
    There is no evil in him!” (Psalm 92:14-15 ~ NLB)

*An apt quote from a favorite blog, and the speaker tied her comment to Psalm 27.