She Considereth a Field

Have you ever prayed so fervently for something that you wanted only to think that He doesn’t hear or care?  To be on your face begging and pleading for that which you desired most? 

I was recently there.  Oh, I had memorized the verses Matt 7:7-11 ”⁷Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:  ⁸For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. 9 Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a  stone?  ¹⁰Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?  ¹¹If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?”   I was so sure that God would answer this little request.

I trusted that my request was for all of the right reasons.  You see, we ran out of oil on during a cold snap and I had enough for oil but not to have it serviced.  I prayed for enough to cover both and then I prayed for the heater to just start working.  I then asked for knowledge on how make it run. 

After researching the owner’s manual, I found how to prime it.  I took out my handy adjustable pliers and struggled with the heater.  After struggling it trying to get the valve, I took a few minutes of whining and went inside to warm my fingers by the fire.  Conviction washed over me.  How I sounded like the Israelites in the wilderness.  Gamble, grumble, and grumble.  I sat and was ashamed.  The night before the oil delivery our wood supply met our needs to keep the house oddly warm. 

My thoughts then went back to my prayers.  Was there thanksgiving in my prayers?  No, I forgot to thank Him for making out wood supply last and for warming the house nicely.  I then looked deeper into my prayer and asked did the answer actually lie somewhere in the following:

NO, SLOW, GROW, GO!  

No, was my request wrong?  I had wanted a miracle to start the furnace or I was ”testing” God to make the furnace work. Slow, was the timing wrong?  I didn’t see where that applied.  If we are wrong, God says grow.  This I could easily see God wanted me to grow, but what?  I knew I needed to look closer not only at the situation, my prayer but at my responses. 

Finally, if the request is right, the timing is right, and we are right, God says Go!  After asking for forgiveness and getting putting my heart and mood back in front of Him, I heard a whisper to check my junk drawer.  There in my collection of various items was a tiny wrench that doesn’t appear to work on anything else but on opening the priming valve on the furnace.  I didn’t know it was even there.  I took out my print out of instructions and tiny wrench and within a minute, there was heat!

So, dear friend, when was the last time God took you through a process with prayer?  During those moments of tears, pain and suffering, remember He does have our good in mind!

My mother says I have been a worrier since birth.  Even growing up, I’ve always been a worrier.  I worried over grades, what my teachers’ thoughts of me, friends’ opinions of me – you name it I worried over it.  Our financial battles and the current economy have brought out the worrier in me.  This past week I have been doing a lot of thinking on discipleship and God’s desire for us to be worry free.

Jesus asked “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?”  Matt 6:27

As our pastor reminded me this week – worry is unnecessary, useless and unchristian.  God doesn’t lie, He promises to meet our needs.  Worrying is a sin of unbelief.  We are like the heathen when we pride in clothes, food and are deeply concerned about them.

I have also forgotten to keep Him.  Too often I become fearful of prosperity gospel, so I don’t take things to God.  I will question why I am asking or won’t ask at all.  I will sit in a rocker of fear and worry, going back and forth on the issue and never moving forward.  Do you try to trudge through without God and work your way through the problem or situation?  I do.  I will cut firewood and drag in logs from the wood lot to the point of pain, just over worry.  I forget to take it His feet and make Him first.

I must also confess that I have fallen in a trap.  I curse, nurse and rehearse my anxiety!  Unfortunately I do disperse anxiety.  How many situations have you been angry over, dwelt on it or relived the incident over and over to anyone who will listen.  Honestly, I have over the past year.

The Lord’s Prayer is our example for worry free living.  We make Him first.  We are focused on today’s daily bread, focus on the now and not worry about what may be in the future.  Have you made a habit putting Christ first and focusing on His kingdom’s priorities instead of your own temporary desires?

I also adopted a saying from Pastor David.  I placed it on a card in my wallet. “Worry is the interest you pay for borrowing tomorrow’s troubles” and “Pray for it before you pay for it!”

The victory garden is growing.  Most of the marigolds have fallen victims to slugs and snails.  I have been out there peeling them off, killing them with salt and disposing of them in the garbage.  Tomatoes in the area have fallen victim to the same fungus that caused the potato famine in Ireland over a century ago.  Luckily none of my plants have been hit with it.  I inspect the stems and have not found any of the rot thankfully.  With all of the rain, I thought for sure there would be a few less tomato plants.

Several of the zucchini and cucumbers have flowers and veggies. The celery bunches are growing taller and stronger.  I look forward to adding my garden fresh celery to soups and stuffing in the fall.  Kale is growing in nicely and I can almost smell the kale soup simmering on the burner.  I have already enjoyed a mint tea.  Until last week New England has been cool and rainy.  Several of us have asked if Rhode Island has become the new Seattle.

I was pleased to find wild black caps along the road.  Matthew and I feasted on them one evening when he stopped by for a visit.  How I have missed the chats with the kids.  Our evening teas outside when we would watch the water fowl and fire flies now seem so far ago.  Now, I enjoy the evening solitude with a good book.

One nice surprise was the hot peppers and nasturtium.  I decided to plant them in hanging baskets.  The hot peppers have flourished in the warm sun and their little fruits add a decorative touch.  The nasturtium is pretty with the trumpet flowers tumbling down.  I have already enjoyed them in a salad this year.  As I did research on a 1700 colonel garden, there was a neat Red Bee Balm Sorbet that I can’t wait to try and promise to share.

Did you miss me? I must confess I have thought about logging in here at the Blog may times.  Often I will be busy with a gardening or household task and see the word forming in my head.  Unfortunately, I have not made myself sit and share with my friends.  During May and June I had a bunch of excused.  I was always too busy because of the grand baby (now, I didn’t get to see him until June, but I had photos to save, publish, print and assemble in a book!)  Then it was Matthew’s graduation.  I then did truly have a good excuse because I was negligent on my spring cleaning and had to crisis clean before the graduation.  Then I packed Miss Elizabeth off for a month visit with grandma.  Of course with an empty house Gary and I had to reconnect as a couple, because it had been years since he and I were alone together and surely we wouldn’t know how to “get along as a couple without our children!” 

You see where I am going, my long line of excuses.  Truthfully, I have welcomed this period of silence to recharge and re-balance my life.  As much as I try to balance work, family, friends and God – someone or something falls to the way side.  I forgot part of the balance is also caring for me.  Exercise had been an occasional activity when I was nudged into feeling too fat or a lazy bum.  I lost my balance in scheduling and was merely putting out the fires of my “to do” list.

God – this period I have turned off the TV for days and stacked up my books.  From Piper to Driscoll, The Works of Spurgeon to You Matter More Than You Think or even simple greedily devouring the Word of God, I have filled my evening with reading about Him and how to live for Him.

Self – The old airplane announcement of putting on your oxygen mask on first and then help others is true with real life.  As busy mommies, we NEED to care for ourselves.  Schedule that doctor appointment, quiet pampering times and even a “mommy play date” with a dear friend.  How can we care for our families when we are scrambling to even brush our hair and teeth?? 

Spouse – as I said, Gary and I realized that this is what it will be like when Lizzy goes off to college and you know what…. We actually still can talk to each other about other things besides the kids, grand baby, work and adult obligations.  After all these years, he is still a great guy.  I’m glad he has decided to keep around. LOL!

Family & friends – reconnect, share, and enjoy the daily ins and outs of their day.  Sometimes it isn’t always about cooking the meal; it is about going to the living room and enjoying the company.  That’s what Martha needed reminding of by Jesus and so did I.

Work - unfortunately I am a workaholic and need daily intervention!  I have and will continue to set my alarm to turn off the computer at 5ish and LEAVE the office.  I found that I needed to not only prioritize but ask for help and share with co-workers.  There may be occasional days that I have a report that needs extra work, but those have been fewer.

And what about you, my friends?  Has the lazy days of summer recharged you and given you a new prospective of the coming school year?  Please share.

     Truthfully, I have never cared if the traditional family holiday dinner was exactly on the holiday.  Golly, keep the sound of exasperation down!  Most of my family was employed in the medical field or from blended families.  Holidays, even Christmas, were the “holiday” when we were all gathered together, even if it was the fo9llowing weekend.  In our family, it was the Saturday before Easter Sunday when we could celebrate together this year.

Oh the smells of ham and bread baking as I rolled my luggage inside my parent’s.  I loved the squeals of the nieces and nephews when they realized “Aunt Crazy!”  That was my nickname from the kids for many years because I am the aunt to teach all the disgusting things to them – like hunting for worms to tease the girls, teach the babies how to touch their tongue to their nose or be outside blowing bubbles.

Unfortunately the family holidays are becoming one of the few times that an entire family will sit together for a meal.  In some homes even the holiday meals are sadly disappearing.  The television, over committed families and even absentee parents are leaving the family members just nourishing their bodies and not their heart and soul.  Mothers or fathers are rushing to feed the children after work and before a sport or music lesson.  There is no connecting as a family in some households.  Sadly prayer is slipping to the wayside as the value meals are be handed to the back of the car.

What does it mean for the generations to come?  God is systematically being stripped from the schools, government and workplace and we are outraged but are our busy schedules quietly replacing His time in our life?  Not that we are purposely neglecting God, but because our busyness traps us into an endless crazy cycle of “things to do!”   To us, each job as important as the other and we collapse at the end of the night barely thanking god.

How do you preserve the family dinner in your home?  How do you connect with your family and create that respite at the table from the busy day?  Is there a nightly game of “High/Low?”  “High/Low” and “What did you do for others “ are dinner time questions we ask each child.  To each question the kids gladly share and give examples of their day and we bring the kids back to His table. 

Well, we didn’t exactly hit the road, we were on the rails. Good Friday was day of excitement. Lizzy was off, but I did need to tie up issues for work and finishing packing. We were leaving until late, but I neglected to take time to nap and rest. If I could have I would have driven the train. After years flying and taking the train only to Boston, our trip to New York seemed different. We rushed to the train station to what, to wait. There weren’t the security lines to check every bag, no lines at the ticket counter, peaceful. I was nervous with the group of college students who were loud and swearing, but thankful they were headed northbound and we were southbound.

I was lucky enough to have found 2 round trip tickets for $200. (Better than greyhound! I marveled of how quickly we moved across the state. Each station had it’s own feel. Providence was the modern 21^st century station, West Kingston felt like early 20^th century and the station began getting the city feeling as we neared Penn Station.

I have always enjoyed the train. Not as cramped as the planes have become and we were able to meet people from many walks of life. As our night journey crawled along I enjoyed the theater seat views of varying landscapes. There were the factories and mills from years past either in ruins or rehabilitated into condos and shops. Ss we silently slunk through the boroughs of the city; I loved to see the different building’s character and architecture. I wondered about the people who inhabited them as I saw the blue light glow of their television sets.

Penn Station would not have been my choice of places to spend the night. The station was a tired and older city train station. It was a haven for the homeless on a freezing night. I was once a well seasoned traveler, but was very nervous and wouldn’t let my nine year old leave my side.

We met grandparents headed south for Easter with their grandchildren, a young Amish couple off to start a new life in a new community and a group of young writers who were joyfully debating the finer qualities of sit-coms and what was so important to be written to make their “baby” a someday Grammy winning show.

I must confess my favorite part was as we were in upstate New York and could see springtime on the farms. The tractors plowing for another growing season, live stock grazing on the hills and laundry flapping in the wind were all reminders of my childhood years growing up in the country. I should confess the seats were comfortable. We could lift the foot rest and recline for a nap, but pulling into the Syracuse station brought me the most joy. It was the first day of our vacation!

Apparently the First Lady and I were doing the same thing this week, we were both working on our victory gardens. I can almost imagine she and the girls talking about what they want to harvest from the garden. Maybe even see the excitement of the first family taking their seedling and placing them in the ground on a warm sunny day. While it is still cool here in New England, I can only plan and clear a future bed. I feel the excitement of gardening when the sun is warm and the birds are chirping, yes, my fingers itch to dig!

The Victory Garden were also referred to as “Gardens for Victory” during World War II. My grandparents were very poor before and during the war. There was a large field in back of the house for crops like corn, potatoes and squash that needed room to grown and there had to be a lot of the plants grown. In the front of the house my grandmother grew tomatoes, cantaloupes, peas and beans. I remember during canning season the stories of how tough times were, how they would depend on game that was hunted, canned preserves, butchered farm animals and a tightening of the belt. My grandfather would say a joking grace of “3 potatoes for 4 of us, thank God there ain’t no more of us!”, much to the eye rolling of my grandmother but that was the time that their economy was bad and a family of 6 needed to garden to survive. It was their garden that was the biggest nutritional support.

Victory gardens were everywhere in the WWII era. City blocks, small town homes, White House lawns, schools. I think container gardening got it’s roots from it, but it is a much cooler name of “container gardening” than “victory gardening”. Since we moved to the smaller property from the large yard last year, but are finances are tighter, I am looking at every spare section of the yard to consider where to place a garden. MSN had a recent piece on building a raised bed,
http://realestate.msn.com/listarticle.aspx?cp-documentid=18630998 , which was a neat start for under $200. Not having that amount of money to spare, I read the piece and thought of how I can economize it to fit my needs. I disregarded the lumber. New England has field stone all over, careful not to take it from a neighbor’s property line or 100s of year old stone fence, but I chose what was around. I thought of naturalizing it by using field stone as my boarder wall. I do like the galvanized mesh on the bottom to keep out moles and other digging critters and decided that I may use the PVC to drape over a netting to keep out birds. I am currently checking the local stone and grave companies for planting mix to fill. I am not as lucky to find $25 bulk soil, but hopefully I will come close.

I will not have the White House gardeners at my disposal, so being realistic in my garden size and work that I can put into it is a great consideration. Truth be told, I would have EVERY possible veggie, fruit and herb. Time to manage that sort of garden~ not so much. So as I sat with my seed catalogs, I looked realistically at what and where I could plant. Google your local 4-H or garden pro to find what grows best and when is the best time to plant. Here in New England planting seedling is best done after the first full moon of May.

The garden outside my kitchen door will have tomatoes, celery, peppers, mints and herbs (such as basil, oregano, parsley, thyme and kale). A few years ago my son had cleared a section which pumpkins and cucumbers have a space to grow, although I must confess that last year I found that plants it the name “bush” like tomatoes, cucumbers, beans and peppers were easier in my container pots and may just keep that little patch for Lizzy’s pumpkins.

Over by the fence, I will continue to use it to trellis the climbers and vines. I think I will plant some sweet corn over there, but after that few meals of corn, I will use the stalks as free Autumn decoration. In other window containers I have found that lettuces, other herbs mixes like rosemary, chives and sage have done well. The smell of rosemary in the summer air as the breeze blows into the house….YUM!

So, all of this is being done by a person who was born with a trowel in her mouth. What about the first timer? Local libraries are always a great start, our wonderful WWW is loaded with a wealth of information (where were we before it?), several of the seed companies also have gardener tips, but the best I have found is my local cooperative extension. My local one at the University of Rhode Island has a toll free number to call for questions or to request fact sheets on vegetables.

There will be time, some money laid out for the gardens and work, but when I consider are my food prices aren’t as high during the summer thru fall and the pleasure I get from it. The joy of a growing garden always makes me smile, even if it isn’t mine. I also like the fact that I can plant an organic vegetable for pennies and not spend dollars in the market.

For further reference..

www.parkseed.com
www.seedsofchange.com (a great organic seed company)
www.burpee.com
www.victoryseeds.com

Happy Spring!

Despite the unseasonably warm weather today the night is freezing cold. As I was walked outside to take out the garbage I glanced up to dark, clear crystal skies. The twinkling stars on the velvet dark blue-black sky are one of my favorite sites. I can just sit there and watch the sky for hours, always have. I was one of the kids not afraid of the dark, sleeping outside under the stars while my siblings slept in the tent. I stood there lost in the beauty and the distant howl of a coyote woke me up from my other world dreaming. I mused that yes it still is winter for a few more days.

I thought back at the past several months of long winter nights. There were some VERY cold nights that I prayed for God to keep us warm, others that I cried missing my recent turn adult children and some that I spent hours keeping busy to just pass the lonely winter nights. Yes, there were two other people in the house but before Gary got up for work at 10:45 and after Lizzy went to bed at 8:00pm, I was quite alone.

My thinking back at the past few months had be reflecting on what did I spent time doing. Did my hours of quiet bring honor to him? What about the shows I may have watched, were they godly? The time on the internet, could any of it be in question? My reflection became quite a soul searcher. I did have hours of knitting blankets, socks , hats and shawls. There were several great Christian books that I read, but when I looked really deep (I mean honestly)…there where hours that were spent that were not God centered. I found that websites like face book and pogo ate up time in mindless playing. Some of the shows that I watched had examples of how not to be a Christian wife. My first and immediate excuse was I have been depressed. I will not cling to that excuse. My quiet long winter night reflection was a loving conviction of spirit to be a good steward of my time not only during the day but at all times.

I can not get back those hours, I can only ask for God’s forgiveness and be more mindful of my future spring evenings. I think I will continue knitting making socks, but I am challenging myself to remove the mindless TV watching. Unfortunately I always need some sort of noise going, so I think I will have the local Christian radio or a Christian pod cast going. The thought of total silence is scaring me. As the evenings get warmer I want will test my free time activity through this verse and ensure that I am using even my long quiet nights for Him.

Philippians 4:8 (New King James Version)

8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.

This weekend has been a lovely one on the pond. I have seen a pair of swans, a pair of Canadian geese and a pair of mallard ducks. I can’t wait to see what comes next! The young kids on our road will be down on our dock feeding the new babies learning to swim behind their parents. Neighbor children shedding their coats and hats in the yard and then having to bring the bundle the next day to the bus stop to return any found clothing items to the rightful owner.

Neighbors coming out of their cottages during the day to remove the debris from the winter storms. A friendly smile and wave as one drives by will become part of the daily greeting. Gone are the days of running out to the cold car or when coming home running into their homes to get out of the cold. No, just as the plants seem to be coming out, so are the neighbors here on the shores.

As we returned home from church, I noticed one of our older neighbors cleaning out his flower beds. Such care he gives to 12 by 24 foot beds. Right now there are brown bare spots with a skeleton of a bush here and there, but in summer, oh how he has become an artist at transforming his yard to a beautiful explosion of scents and colors. I immediately wanted to pick up my own rake and start pulling away the protecting leaves off my beds. To see if there are any signs of life coming out of the ground. A sprig of mint, a bunch of chives, the baby leaves of my tulips or lily of the valley. Yes, spring fever has hit me too.

I pulled my seed catalogues and plant books out. After a bit of searching, I finally located my garden planner and went to work with all sorts of ideas from planting my veggies, putting in new wildflowers and rehabbing the ferns and hostas from 2 years of neglect. I heard that small voice whisper this passage.

Hosea 10:12 (NIV)
12 Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the LORD, until he comes and showers righteousness on you.

How our Lord is the master gardener in every season. Sowing and reaping, nourishing and weeding, that is our Father’s tasks everyday. We are reminded of his great works at the birth of a baby, splendor of nature and the quiet voice in the still of nature. I think our Father in Heaven gets spring fever too. He is working in the soil of his children’s lives, waiting to see the bursting of spiritual growth and planting seeds in our lives so that we may share them with others.

How are you showing signs of spring in you life? Are you sharing seeds of faith? Preparing the field for mission work? Not sure where to start and thinking there is only dead ground around you? Spend some time today with the Master Gardener and seek Him for a few tips.

I work 40+ hours a week, have a husband, 4 kids, cook, clean, garden, crochet, knit and sew, but I am no super mom.

No that title is saved for the moms who truly “do it all”. My house has clean days and there are messy days (like now.) There are days that I could nap all day and nights that I am up in a cold sweat over an important bill that I forgot to send out.

Over the years I have made the same resolution over and over – to become organized. The first few days of the year are filled with research, testing and trialing the latest organization systems. I’ve card filed, note booked and used computerized systems like palm pilots, alarms and data link.

What I have found over the years is that there is no golden organization system that works for everyone. Sometimes you have to take pieces of a few different systems and see how they’ll work for you.

I carry a data runner notebook which fits in my purse and briefcase. On the wall in my office I have a Flylady calendar and I communicate essential “appointments” with my family by Cozi. After each year of trial and error, I took parts of the systems that fit our life style and worked on improving /maintaining out organizational system.

There were several points in each that I found to be common principles to apply to every life.
* Write it down in one spot.
* Keep a consistent schedule.
* Minimize distractions.
* Take time out to care for you – REST!
* Be realistic.
* Don’t procrastinate.

So what does or doesn’t work for you? Like I said, I am not perfect and I’d LOVE hints on how to improve. Not sure where to begin? Here are a few websites that are a good place to start.

www.cozi.com

http://day-planner.daytimer.com

www.organizedhome.com
www.flylady.net
www.shesintouch.com