Bits of Stolen Fluff

At a recent Bible study, a friend shared a story of her young daughter who had taken a pair of scissors and cut up the comforter on her bed.

When my friend discovered the damaged quilt hidden under another blanket, she was not happy! She shook her head in disbelief and asked,”Why? What were you thinking? Why would you cut up your comforter?”

Her daughter responded, “Because I needed the filling inside to make a pillow for my dolly.”

My friend was beyond frustrated as she thought of all the batting she had just down the hall in her craft room! She had an abundance of what her daughter needed! It was just sitting there, ready to be used!

But her daughter never asked.

Instead, she took things in her own hands and did irreparable damage to a comforter.

She was left with a pillow that would not last. It was just a folded handkerchief stuffed with bits of stolen fluff instead of the beautiful, pillow that her mother could have helped her make.

After we had all laughed and commiserated with this mom, I immediately thought of how often we act just like this young daughter.

We see a need, whether real or imaginary and instead of going to our heavenly Father with that need, we take matters in our own hands.

We cut and paste and scheme, leaving behind a trail of damage and hurt and frustration.

Our feeble efforts are never are good or as eternal as the ones we leave to God’s hands.

They are just bits of stolen fluff wrapped in our own devises.

Our Heavenly Father has everything we could ever need.

All we have to do is ask.

A Day Late….

You’ve heard the saying “A day late and a dollar short”.

That is the story of my garden.

But then again, it can’t be the story of my garden because technically, my garden does not yet exist.

I knew – at least in my head – that early spring things need to be in the garden in the early spring. But I think the snow and cold lulled me into a false security, which left me woefully unprepared for the warm weather.

Of course my Amish neighbors were ready. When the sun finally broke through and the grass greened up, they watched their peas and lettuce burst out of the ground. They threw open their cold frames to reveal beautiful cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower plants.

They didn’t worry too much about the current weather, they knew that eventually spring would come.

And they acted accordingly.

Meanwhile, my garden remains untilled, my seed packages are sitting in the basement and my fresh lettuce salads live only in my dreams.

Somehow I lost sight of the fact of tomorrow in the midst of living today.

I forgot that winter doesn’t last forever. Spring happens. Always.

As I busied myself playing catch-up in the garden the last few days, I wondered just what other areas in my life have I been lulled into thinking that things would never change?

Are there relationships that need to be restored?

Forgiveness that needs to be extended?

Bad attitudes that need to be weeded?

Encouragement that should have been given?

Those cold dark season of life won’t last forever.

Let’s plant those seeds and wait.

Spring will come.

Always.

Sowing Bountifully

The garden is finally in.

It isn’t pretty but after a very wet spring, I’m just thankful it’s in the ground.

We should have let the soil dry for 2 or 3 more days – but we didn’t have 2 or 3 more days.

I had 12 hours to get it all planted before it rained again. And again. And again.

Parts of the garden were okay – barely. I planted my row crops there.

Other parts were marginal, in those I covered the seeds with a bag of top soil that we had purchased.

And in the parts that were pretty wet I dug a hole, filled it with the top soil, planted my seedlings and covered with more top soil. And prayed.

It wasn’t ideal.

I’m pretty sure my gardening friends are shaking their heads in disbelief.

But when it’s mid-May and you have no seeds in the ground and another week of intermittent rains in the forecast – you make it work.

At least I gave the seeds a fighting chance. Seeds left in the package will never bear fruit. Ever.

It made me think of the parable of the soils in the gospels.

“A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds ate it up. Some fell on rocky ground, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. Other seeds fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred time more than was sown.” Luke 8:5-8

Can’t you just see that farmer, a large seed bag strapped over his broad shoulders, reaching in for handful after handful of seeds and with wide, sweeping gestures spreading them liberally across his field.

I’m sure he knew that some would never bear fruit. That they would be trampled on or eaten by birds or overcome by thorns. But still he planted.

Why?

Because he knew that some would.

Sow bountifully today dear friends. Sow seeds of kindness and love and forgiveness and grace and peace and redemption.

Sow even if the conditions aren’t ideal.

Sow even if the storms threaten.

Not all will bear fruit.

But some will.

And that makes it worth all the effort.

Broken Fences

b099e3ee-a45d-4f37-90c8-d3cf83e07397 The far back corner of our property has some of the worst fences we own. It’s wooded and overgrown with raspberry thickets and multi-flora roses.

The barbed wire is old and weak. The woven wire is saggy.

We patch and we fix, knowing that what we really need to do is rip the whole thing out and put in new. But it just never makes it to the top of the to-do list.

It’s the weak spot in our defenses.

A few weeks ago a neighbor got a new bull – a noisy, take-charge type – that has let the entire countryside know of his arrival. His arrogant bellowing was a challenge to our cows.

It didn’t take them long to find the weak spot and push their way through. Twice.

A cow round-up gives one ample time to think, and I pondered the profound as I drove the 4 wheel drive through the neighbor’s rainy pasture.

I have personal weak spots.

There are areas in my life where my defenses are low, and I am the most vulnerable.

And it’s at those weak spots that the bellowing of the world will be heard the loudest; that the siren call to see what was on the other side will be the most alluring.

It’s in those vulnerable areas, that I will be tempted to push my way through and wander in areas that I don’t belong, away from the protected pastures that God has prepared for me.

There is no way that I can silence the neighbor’s arrogant bull, and there is no way to silence the call of the world around me.

But I can identify those weak spots.

Use scriptures like barbed wire to protect myself.

And fix that fence.

The Big Picture

My quilt project this year is rather unique.

Normally when I make a quilt block you can see the quilt’s design – Ohio star, log cabin, 9 patch.

But these quilt blocks look odd – almost like a mistake.

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It’s only when you put them together that you see the pattern.

Each individual quilt block becomes a part of the bigger picture.

Stars are formed.

Random squares are joined to make paths and outline.

Each individual block makes sense when it becomes a part of the whole.

So often there are seasons in life that are just like my quilt blocks – on their own they don’t make sense.

They look odd and out of context.

They seem to be a mistake.

We wish we could design them differently – rearrange the situations, change the outcomes, make each one pretty in it’s own way.

But God – the master Designer – saw the big picture.

He knew how the individual parts would come together.

He would make the shadows into stars.

And define them with light.

A perfect plan.

Let There Be Light

800px-Raggio_di_luce_(478959076) My husband recently purchased several LED light bulbs. I didn’t really pay any attention until he replaced the burned out bathroom bulb with one of the new LED ones.

I was surprised by how bright it was!

So bright that the bathroom that I thought was clean now looked dingy and dirty.

It’s amazing what light reveals.

Last fall I spent several days washing all 50 windows in our old farmhouse. It was late afternoon when I finally finished the ten windows in the sun room.

The next morning as I stepped into the room to admire my hard work, I looked to the east and was shocked to see that one of the windows was absolutely filthy.

Then I remembered a phone call that had interrupted my work the day before. In the distraction, I must have forgotten to finish that window.

What was unnoticed in the dusk, was painful highlighted in the full sun of the morning.

It’s amazing what light reveals.

Have you ever lost something in the cavernous depths of the closet?

Stubbed your toe on the bed while answering a child’s cry at midnight, then fumbled finding the door knob in the blackness?

It’s amazing what light reveals.

It both illuminates and exposes.

It can drive away the scary monsters in a toddler’s room at night.

It allows a plant to feed itself with photosynthesis and grow.

It guides ships safely into harbor.

Just a few weeks ago we sat in a dark church on Christmas Eve holding candles and reflecting on the birth of the baby in the manger.

The Light of the World.

“I am the light of the world, whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” John 8:12

Why are we stumbling around in the darkness of unbelief?

Why are we being tossed around by the angry seas of circumstances?

Why are we allowing the monsters of fear, uncertainty, discouragement, and worry scare us?

We have the Light of the World!

Away with the darkness, enough of the night!

Let there be Light!

Photo credit: Raggio di luce

Nothing Planted, Nothing Gained

Seed There were no “ideal conditions” to garden in this year.

Our plan of action was to keep throwing seeds in the ground in hopes that something would grow.

So I sowed abundantly – despite the mud and the weeds and the nasty weather.

If I had veggies for every seed I put in the ground this year I could have started my own farmer’s market.

But many didn’t germinate.

And some of the ones that did were drowned out or overtaken by weeds.

But at least they had a chance to grow.

Unlike the many seeds still in packets that never even got planted, like the herb garden that never got expanded and the new flower bed that didn’t get dug up.

I had every intention of planting them.

But those seeds are still sitting here – at the end of July – with no chance of growing because they were never sown.

This week, as I worked my way through the forest of grass that is my garden, I thought of all the other “seeds” that I have not sown.

The note of encouragement that never got written.

The get well gift that never got delivered.

The offer of help that was never extended.

The word of counsel that wasn’t given.

The time in prayer that wasn’t taken.

The invitation that was never extended.

All those seeds that will never have a chance to produce fruit, because they were never sown.

Good intentions.

Noble thoughts.

Seeds of kindness and love and faith.

All waiting for ideal conditions that never came.

There can be no harvest when the seeds are never planted.

So I ask you – what seeds do you need to sow today?

Tender Transplants

I’ve spent a great deal of time digging in the dirt in the last few weeks.

I’ve divided African violets, re-potted house plants, and transplanted tender seedlings into larger containers.

Tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, cabbage, eggplants, cauliflower.

It’s a slow, meticulous and rather messy job, but it does give one a great deal of time to think.

While my hands were covered in potting soil and I carefully moved the tender root systems from one container to a larger one, it suddenly came to me that I am in a transplanting season in life.

My kids are growing up fast and and leaving. They are being transplanting from our home to homes and apartments of their own.

They’ve outgrown their old lives just as my seedlings have outgrown their pots.

They need more room.

But, unlike my plants, I will not be the one to transplant my children. It’s time for them to do it for themselves.

New jobs, new classes, new friends.

New problems, new responsibilities, new decisions.

On their own.

As I looked down at the tomato seedling in my hand and saw it’s fragile roots, I realized how vital a strong root system is to a plant.

How much more so for my children!

And my momma heart prayed, “Take care of the roots, children!”

Those precious roots that your dad and I have tried to build into your lives.

Roots that will anchor you in the bedrock of strong faith.

Roots that will help you stay strong when the world is storming around you.

Watch those roots!

Tend them carefully.

Water them.

Give them good soil.

Let them grow deep and strong.

Please children, hear your momma’s heart.

Take care of the roots.

Sowing Seeds Part 2

Buddy and I have been watching our flats of seeds very carefully to see any signs of life.

The broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and eggplant came up quickly, followed by the tomatoes.

But the entire flat of peppers remained barren.

There was no change.

A niggling of concern entered my mind.

Another week passed.

No sprouts.

Concern turned to worry as I envisioned an entire year without jalapeno and fresh peppers.

Every day we studied the dirt filled holes searching for any signs of life.

Finally – today – we saw our first tiny sprout.

And then another, and another.

Such a relief.

I was powerless to make those seeds sprout.

I had done all I could do. I planted. I watered. I kept them warm. And I waited.

It’s the waiting that’s hard.

God understands.

He said in Mark 4: 26-29 – “…This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”

“All by itself the soil produces grain.”

I can’t break open each seed and force the spouts out.

I can’t pull each sprout into a stalk or create a head.

I cannot create or ripen one piece of fruit.

But I can plant.

I can prepare the soil.

I can water.

And I can wait.

Because the soil itself will produce the grain.

Everyday we have the opportunity to sow seeds of kindness, of love, of grace, of forgiveness.

But we cannot make those seeds sprout.

Or grow.

Or produce fruit.

Sometimes we want to dig in the soil a little and see if there’s any life. We want to force growth, create change.

But we are powerless.

We plant the seed.

And wait.

Sowing Seeds

I’ve been sowing seeds this week.

Hundreds of seeds.

Seed

Tiny little bits of black, white, or brown.

Tomato, pepper, cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage.

The first of thousands of seeds that I will sow this season – beans, corn, radishes, lettuce, kale….the list goes on and on.

Not every seed will grow.

Of the ones that do – not every one will produce.

Some will be eaten by varmints, ravished by bugs or destroyed by weather.

But still I sow, knowing that some will grow and flourish and bear much fruit.

I sow in faith, believing that in these tiny seeds there is a potential for an abundant harvest.

These aren’t the only seeds we sow in life.

Everyday I have the opportunity to sow seeds of kindness, of love, of grace. Seeds that could have eternal impact. Seeds that could change lives. Seeds that could bring the gospel to hurt and needy people.

Not every seed will sprout.

Not every seed will grow.

But still – I must sow knowing that some will grow and flourish and bear much fruit.

And I must have faith, believing that in each seed of kindness, each seed of love, each seed of grace, there is a potential for an abundant harvest.

Galatians 6:9 “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”