Holy Roof

                                                     

          Definitely, the birds needed a new feeding station!  But, alas, after we built a new one, it took them quite a while to not be suspicious of it.  The old one had character and was well used.  It fit the garden.  It wasn't scary.  Even if it had holes in the roof, it was home.  For weeks the birds refused to go near and eat from the new feeder.  Until the fall came the birds stayed away.  As the flowerbeds became bare, one by one, the birds ventured toward the platform to nibble.  Now they are flocking to it each morning.  

          This sure is a picture of us.  We like our habits, our settled life.  No changes for me, thank you.

I like security and safety, no surprises or unexpected change.  The problem is that life just isn't like that.  Wherever do we get stuck off track?  God's goodness and faithful care gets taken for granted, and then we forget the main point of life - Him.  We pay more attention to His gifts than to Him.  Our roof has holes in it.  God knows our heart, He knows our soul.  I think what He wants is for us to see our own heart.  When things are taken away that we depend on, our heart and soul are seen bare and open.  We see the truth about our true desire and our true need for depending on God.  Oh, for a heart that desires God alone!  A heart that depends on the Sovereignty of God.  I am coming to the conclusion that most of the trials we go through in life are to reveal what we really believe about God's Sovereignty.  He is in control, and is never out of control, of each detail of our life.   His desire is that we depend on His great love and care for our lives.  His goodness and plan will bring about His purposes for us.  He wants a holy roof for us!

          And His purpose for us is always good and for our best, right?                                      K.C.

New Life

          Precious new life!  This little cherub, Gage Loyal,  makes number 14 as well as 5 in heaven we are waiting to meet.  He will join his brothers in a flash running around the garden looking for "pillars" (caterpillars), bugs, and pinecones.  Life in the summer garden flies by quickly and then it is autumn again.  Our lives fly by quickly as well, and before you know it there are 14 grandchildren and you wonder, how did that happen!  I was just reading yesterday Psalm 39:4 - 6, "Lord, make me to know my end, and what is the measure of my days, that I may know how frail I am.  Indeed, You have made my days as handbreadths, and my age is as nothing before You; certainly every man at his best state is but vapor.  Surely every man walks about like a shadow; surely they busy themselves in vain; he heaps up riches, and does not know who will gather them."  How we need reminding everyday what is truly important!    

          Lord, help me to "garden" these cherubs and point them to Jesus.  May Your love flow through me so that they see how precious You are, how much You love them, how amazingly awesome You are, and how much joy You are planning for them.  Help me use the days You have given for this very important task.                                                                                                                  K.C.

Dad's Boat

          Dad was an avid fisherman.  I mean AVID.  He was able to retire early so he could go fishing everyday, and he did.  Our freezer was always full of wonderful chinook and salmon, steelhead and crappie.  Dad used his small boat to do amazing things.  He fine tuned his motor to skim over 2 inch rapids and had the other fishermen jealous.  He was followed much of the time to his favorite holes because they wanted to know where he caught the big ones.  Dad usually talked to whoever was in his boat about Jesus.  The older he got, the more he talked, and the bolder he became.

          Isn't that how we should all want to be?  Fishermen that others want to follow toward the Master, our Lord Jesus Christ?   I desire to be good at what God has called me to do, so that by using that platform others will follow Jesus, too.  What is your platform?  Your hobbies and interests?  God is waiting for you to use them for His kingdom.  We make speaking for Jesus a separate activity in our lives.  God desires to go fishing with us so He is always present speaking through us.  

         Dad's boat now sits in our garden near the fort, and the grandchildren play all kinds of things in it.  We just couldn't bear to part with it.   Because, once again, the memories give us great cause to sing the praises of Jesus.                                                                                                          K.C.

Wagon's Precious Haul

         This old wagon hauled around a lot of precious cargo over the years.  That cargo of six has since grown up  and grown older, although it is still precious.  Many memories float through my eyes each time I view this old wagon.  You see, this is not just a wagon; it is a reminder of God's amazing goodness to our family.  Even though this cargo has long ago dismissed this wagon and moved into life, I still look on this wagon with gratefulness.  What opportunity, what privilege, what treasure, what love fills my heart when I look on it!  Young moms, take stock of your wagon.  The years fly by so quickly - fill your heart with memories that cause you to praise the Lord Jesus for His goodness to your family.  When you are filling your heart with these memories, it is much easier to look with eyes of thanksgiving and praise rather than complaining and nagging.  

       So, now we have a new wagon - a Gorilla.  That first cargo has their own precious cargo and do they like to fly around our garden on that Gorilla!  I am making brand new memories, and they don't know it, but they are making memories, too.  When Mema (that is me) is gone to heaven, they will chat around the table about zinging around the garden on the Gorilla.  May Jesus fill their hearts with joy and love and wonderful memories.  And may your heart be filled with memories that you are making, full of joy and grateful love.  Someday this Gorilla will be a relic in the flowerbed, too.  To remind them of God's amazing goodness to them.

Blow upon my Garden

          "... Blow upon my garden, that its spices may flow out.  Let my beloved come to His garden and

                eat its pleasant fruits."     Song of Solomon 4:16                       

          Mmmmmm.  Can you smell that roasted Italian tomato sauce permeating the house with luscious warmth?  From garden to oven, from Cuisenart to freezer bags for the winter, this is one of our favorites.  Spices thoroughly change our blah meals to delightful mouth watering deliciousness.

How many of us ever sit down to eat a bowl of basil or cinnamon?  How about a bowl of pepper or oregano?  Nutmeg or a bowl of Balsamic vinegar?  No, I haven't heard of anyone eating a bowl of spice.  Such valuable and needed elements in our lives, yet needed to be used in the right way.  Spices literally change our food when used properly.  

          Look up the word "spice" in Scripture and you will find amazing thoughts!  Spice, fragrance, perfume;  this item was highly prized in Scripture.  Spices were one of the gifts to Solomon from the Queen of Sheba, and was a feature in the king's storehouses.  It was an ingredient in the anointing oil and fragrant incense used in the Tabernacle.  Spices are listed in Revelation 18 when the merchants of the earth mourn over their loss of merchandise.  In the book of John, Mary anointed Jesus' feet with spikenard, a very expensive fragrant oil.  Jesus' body was wrapped in rich spices before burial.  Throughout history, spices have been highly prized and sought after.  

         Our senses perk up to spices . Picking fresh leaves of basil leave an amazing aroma in the air as well as on your taste buds and fingers.  Our lives take on the flavor of spices we absorb, too.  Jesus said in His Sermon that we are to be the salt of the earth and not to lose our flavor.  And it is our flavor that influences other people around us.  If you are like me, you want people to perk up to the living Christ who lives in you.  It is not me, but Jesus in me, who is the Spice of fragrance and flavor.  So, the more I soak up Jesus and His great grace and love, the more I am able to be spice to people.  

         These are just musings from the garden that make me think about Jesus' great love and His amazing ways!  Which spice do you love?  How do you want to smell to others?                      K.C. 

Sweetpeas Downsized

Overflowing flowerbed of sweetpeas to 4 puny starts.

          Last year the sweet peas were massive!  Such a luxurious bed of multi-colored flowers filled the side of the porch and to the height of 5 feet!  I really enjoyed them.  Thinking that they would 

re-seed themselves even more beautiful this year, I eagerly watched for starts to appear.  And I watched and I watched.  For several months.  Hmmm.  This is all that showed up this year.  What a disappointment!  

          The Lord is reminding me to take joy and pleasure TODAY in His gifts.  Tomorrow may not come or it might be different.  If I live in "the tomorrow", I miss out on "the today".  Even though we are to plan and wisely save for the future, the line is crossed when we constantly are looking for better and bigger and more and more.  It does seem to me that we miss out on a lot of pleasures and a lot of opportunities for praise when we do this.  Today it is the will of our Lord Jesus for us to be grateful and thankful.  I Thessalonians 5:18, "In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus in you."  Let us not miss the joy prepared for us today while we are wishing for tomorrow's bigger joys.  

          Such a simple lesson that we skip over, isn't it?  The sweet peas and other plants in our garden have shown me this same lesson year after year.  One year has a bountiful crop of corn, but next year's is skimpy.  I am focusing on gratefulness to God this summer, looking for small nuances of the meaning of living in joyous thanksgiving.  This "sweet pea lesson" shows me to live in joy TODAY  for joy is a "present" word.                                                                                                       K.C.

Tiny Starts

                                          These tiny starts are going to be luscious full peonies!

                                                        And these small green starts ......

                                                   Are going to be graceful white calla lilies.

           One of the purposes of writing these thoughts on "paper" is to speak to my grandchildren as they grow up.  Right now they are tiny starts and so very adorable and precious.  They melt my heart as they unknowingly reveal their personalities and hearts.  All that is important to them is eating and playing right now.  Their delight is to find raspberries or blueberries on the vines to eat, even though it is November or February!  Or to hunt for "George" (my mom's name for the garden snake).  Or to collect BBs the boys have shed across the pasture and lawn as they play war.  They love Jesus, and He is as real as you or me.   No doubt or worry or trouble clouds their minds for they know they are loved and protected.  But we know they have to grow up and face life.  So we pray and trust Jesus to grow them strong and faithful.

          Even though these 13, with another couple on the way, and 4 in heaven already, are just little starts, God is at work each day "feeding" and nurturing them.  Who knows from these tiny starts, what God will do with their lives?  Their roots underground  are being strengthened and fed with love and faith, discipling and training, mostly through their parents' faithfulness and commitment to Jesus Christ.  One day, and very soon, they will grow up to be beautiful and fruitful, just as God has created them to be.  "How awesome are Your works! ...Come and see the works of God;  He is awesome in His doing toward the sons of men...Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will declare what He has done for my soul."  Psalm 66.  It is God who works for our children and grandchildren, and we declare His glory to the nations!  We pray our grandchildren's great delight, now and forever, will be to worship God and sing praises to His name, to bless His name before all peoples.  "Certainly God has heard me;  He has attended to the voice of my prayer.  Blessed be God, who has not turned away my prayer, nor His mercy from me!"  Psalm 66.   

          So in reality, it is God who is faithfully committed to growing these tiny starts, guiding and directing their paths.  It is His mercy or lovingkindness, His "hesed", that grows our grandchildren to sing His praises.  Our part is to keep our eyes on Jesus.  He will not turn away our prayer.  He will not give us stones for bread.  He will answer.  Our grandchildren will stand and declare, "Come and see what our awesome God has done!"                                                                                          K. C.