SHOVEL READY

This time of year brings out my inner gardener.  It's like when a baby is coming and there's a phrenetic need to fluff the nursery.  Only in the spring...I'm hanging out in plant nurseries, looking to smell dirt and stroll through racks of plants and dream peony colors.

Last week the flower garden got a good weeding and leaf removal.  Now, even though it is March, the temp is in the 80's.  We're gonna live on the edge and put something in the ground!

Mike left for his annual Texas turkey hunt; he's gone to the same ranch for twelve years.  It's his spring thing.  As he left the driveway, I was putting on my face to hit the nurseries.  And as I drove out, look how glorious the dogwoods are in the "lower forty" (the flatland below our fence).  It's God's little acre!

But before putting in newly purchased friends, I want to show you the "repeaters" in the flower garden.  It's hard to explain why it's so exciting that they come back.  But it has something to do with getting something for nothing.  

Here's an overachiever who blooms first.  Showy, eh?  This is a garden phlox, Phlox paniculata.

Right next door is a friend who is coming to the party, but is in no hurry.  This is the orange butterfly weed that is common beside the roadside.  It's one of the last perennials to come out of dormancy.  This is one of my favorites and it kills me when the monarch caterpillars eat it.  Surely it's a delicacy because they swarm the plant, devouring the leaves overnight.  But the good news is there will be lots of butterflies!

If you would like to see the orange butterfly weed when it's a grownup...here's a picture from its Facebook page.  It's called the Asclepias tuberosa.  Pretty for a weed, eh?

This is a picture of an ice plant, which will have purplish-pink blooms.  Notice the interloper that came up inside the ice plant?

The pushy interloper jumped over from the nearby Asclepias curassavica, commonly called Mexican Butterfly Weed or Scarlet Milkweed.  Sound like the orange butterfly weed?  They must be first cousins.  When you break off a bloom from the milkweed, the "milk" that runs from the stem can be harmful to the eyes.  Both this milkweed and the orange butterfly weed are favorites of the Monarch butterfly.  Isn't the combination of colors pretty?

I love the ice plant because my Oasis friend Bobbie shared it (and a lilac bush and several other things).  Gardening leads to sharing.  When the ice plant blooms, this is what it will look like.  

I can't remember what this friend is going to be.  He was new last year.  He's an evolving mystery.

The purple clematis has tons of buds!  That's the upside to a mild winter.  The downside has to do with bugs.

May I present the red-twig dogwood bush?  I think this shrub is at its best in winter, when the leaves fall off and the branches turn a blood red.  It's so pretty when snow is on the ground and everything else is drab.

Mike put an arbor for me in the back corner.  It will have a little rock bench under it, and I ordered two big-headed (4 1/2" with 35 petals) red Heirloom climbing roses.  Love those old roses that favor peonies!

The Black-Eyed Susan came back.  A gardener needs a namesake.

Inside the house when I get to moving things around, sometimes Mike is goofed because it leaves a nail hole and he kinda likes things the way they are.  But in the yard, you just move it around wherever you want.  A garden is evolving and changing every day.  I can't wait to get the new things in the ground.  Sure hope "global warming" gets us safely through April.

Please stand by for more garden pictures.

PRETENDING

In 1837, a great Dane named Hans Christian Anderson wrote a story which resounds in our day.

The Emperor's New Clothes is about pride and pretense.  Two shyster-weavers promise the King beautiful clothes that ONLY subjects who are intelligent can see.

Of course, no one wants to sign onto dolthood, so all of the kingdom chimes in about the king's beautiful (but invisible) clothes.  Until a child speaks truth...

Today it seems pretending still covers a lack of assurance about intelligence.

FOREIGN AID
Lately Egypt has illegally arrested some Americans (including Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood's son) and held them for being involved in "democratic activities".  So we cut off the spigot and good for us!  Now the people have been released, and the spigot is back on.  Know how much we give Egypt yearly?  Almost HALF of their military budget is funded by our 1.3 billion.

Please go back in your memory bank to 1978 when President Jimmy Carter brought Israel and Egypt to Camp David to sign the peace accords.  They shook on a deal in perpetuity whereby each year we give both countries over a billion in aid...and they promise to make nice.

We "bought them off" because Egypt is the closest Arab country with potential for a ground/conventional army to damage Israel.  At the time, the treaty was very popular with almost all the Egyptian people.

But the ground has shifted today as the Islamist majority (the Muslim Brotherhood) took control of the Egyptian parliament.  They say the Camp David accords are kapoot and they assign #1 enemy status to Israel.  Now what do we do?  At the least, could we defund their military?

Egypt is not the only ingrate on our payroll; the list of countries that take our money and then bite us is outrageous.  Why do we put on "clothes" of friendship and act like countries like us?  They don't.  Why do we pretend that our money buys good will?  Everyone in the world sees this pretense just like the little child saw the naked Emperor.

 NO GOD
Last weekend, atheists had a Reason Rally in our nation's capitol.  They came 10-20,000 strong to protest the existence of God and say they are good without Him.  That's an old story.

Without God, devotion turns to science and "facts".  And it's hard to argue with the facts that say people of faith live more healthy lives.  Here is what Gallup reports:

"Research conducted by Gallup, as well as the research of others in recent years, confirms that religiousness -- usually defined by frequent religious service attendance and importance of religion in one's daily life -- positively correlates with indicators of emotional and physical well-being. People in the U.S. who are the most religious have less worry, less anger and less stress, and are happier. They are less likely to have been diagnosed as depressed, evaluate their life better, eat healthier, smoke less, and report better physical health. These relationships hold up even after controlling for demographic and geographic variables."

They have tried the godless thing over in Russia and they fight their hopelessness with alcohol.  The Russian Public Chamber reported in 2009 that Russia had over 500,000 alcohol-related deaths.  Their consumption is twice what the World Health Organization experts consider to be dangerous.  The WHO set the danger level at 2.1 gallons/year...but the Russians drink 4.8 gallons.  The Russians need something to live for!  

The DC protesters can pretend all they want that God doesn't exist, but life goes on.  And it is full of thorns.  A Helper is an ever-present comfort.  Knowing a lifeplan that works and knowing something glorious is ahead...is a head-lifter and brings courage.  If these folks in DC just realized what their country would be like without the Lord, they wouldn't spurn His offer of righteous robes for their naked condition.

FARRAKHAN

It was troubling when "the Honorable Minister Farrakhan" began appearing again on the national scene.  Why has he been recognized as a legitimate voice in any national debate?  Are we so afraid of being an ignorant racist that we cannot evaluate this man on the basis of what he says?

It stands to reason that when people are given a voice in the public square, they reveal their nature.  Wasn't that EXACTLY what we needed with Louis Farrakhan?  In a free exchange of ideas, people will hear and recognize Farrakhan as an extremist who spews hate speech (targeting Jews and whites and homosexuals) and the lack of audience would dismiss him from the stage.

Instead, this man is coming into vogue.  Tell me why this week the college Democrats @Alabama A&M have invited him to speak?  click  Or on March 11th, @UC Berkeley?  click

Free speech has coattails that cover many vile offenders.  But there's no pretending Farrakhan is a thought leader in any arena.

So what?

#FOREIGN AID.  America has had good intentions to nudge nations toward doing right and the carrot approach worked for a time.  But in light of today's hostility and our debt, foreign aid needs to be closely considered.

#THOUGHT LEADERS.  We cannot pretend to give leadership status to people on the basis of color.  Leadership is earned through responsible ideas.  We endorse hatred to our peril.

#ATHEISTS.  I've been where you are and every person on the planet has also been there.  I was a bigger hypocrite because for a time, I went to church while denying practically God's existence.  But if you really believe what you say...that your faith is in facts...I would invite you to consider a study of the Bible.  God has kindly backed up what He has claimed.

Pride stalks us all.  Let's throw off pretense and be like the little child.  Jesus said "the proud will be humbled, but the humble will be honored."  Luke 14.11 NLT

GERSHOM AND KITES

Moses was a Hebrew and that would have made Canaan his homeland.  But Moses was living in Midian when his first son was born.  So he named the boy Gershom, which means "stranger in a strange land".

I hear you, Moses.  The Bible says this is not our home and our hearts long for heaven.  We, too, are strangers in a strange land.

Even so, there are glimpses of the coming kingdom.  When I look at Baby Will's little face, I think of God's goodness and perfect plan.  My heart overflows with thanksgiving and that worship transports me to God.

Jesus wants us to want His kingdom.  And each little glimpse into the kingdom leaves us thirsty for more.  Worship is our vehicle.

Our Sunday School class has been studying worship this month.  We've explained worship as "our active response to God where we declare His worth".  We respond actively in song and sermon and study and service and speaking (to Him in prayer) and sharing (Christ).  All is worship. We've seen Scripture call for worship to be corporate and private as well as planned and spontaneous.  But if we want to get more "how-to" specifics, we can go to the Source.

When Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman in John 4, He told her "God is spirit and the people who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth". Then He went on to say that true worshippers are the people that the Father seeks.  Well...sign me up for THAT subset.  I want to know more about spirit and truth.  I get the truth part...truth is what God says.  From the worshipper's side, truth is an honest heart before Him.  But the spirit part is harder to grab onto.


We're made of three parts...our physical body, our spirit, and our soul (which includes mind, will, and emotion).  When the Holy Spirit comes into my life, one of His gifts is to give sight to my spirit.  Then as I allow, I am progressively being "Spirit-filled" when I permit the Spirit of God to have ascendancy over each part of my soul.  When He fills my mind, I have brought my thoughts captive to Christ.  When He fills my will, I am no longer driven by my fleshly desires.  When He fills my emotion, they are no longer master and I can have peace in distress.  (BTW, this is only accomplished by the Spirit of God.  I don't naturally allow Him to override my mind, have His way with my will, or steer my emotions.)


So how do we hit that delicate balance in our lives of worshipping in spirit and truth?

Have you heard of the kite analogy?  The kite represents the Holy Spirit.  The Greek word for spirit is "pneuma", which also means "wind". So the Holy Spirit is an updraft that comes under us to bring strength or perspective or gratitude or direction or whatever might glorify God at that minute.  


Soaring with the Holy Spirit is so right because we were made for that closeness to God.  The experiential is part of any love relationship.  I can't imagine a relationship with Mike without the feelings.


The second part of the kite analogy is the kite string, which represents the Word of God.  God's words allow us to stay anchored in truth.  Remember the verse that says "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us"?  Jesus is the Living Word.  The world shifts constantly, but His truth is steady. In my earthly love relationship, there are days when I may not feel loved and have to remind myself objectively that Mike loves me.  So it is in Scripture.  As I read about the Father's plan and Jesus' passion and the Spirit's empowering, my love for God flourishes.


Everyone knows churches which focus on the Spirit over the Word.  They can get "off in the weeds" experientially and sidetracked.  On the other hand, we may know churches that focus only on the Bible to the exclusion of the subjective.  Cerebral exercise can be cold and dry.  A good balance happens when spirit and truth intersect.  


Just as the Designer said.




  

DEAR ALEXANDRA PELOSI,

Wiki says you are an Emmy-nominated documentarian and journalist whose Mama has an important job and whose Daddy is really rich.

The latest news kerfuffle is over your Bill Maher-commissioned videos that document the poor both in Mississippi and Manhattan.  Both clips seem like interviews sewn together rather than a documentary.  Were you framing a picture of prejudice?  Entitlement mentality?  The welfare state?  Scary rednecks who think the South will rise again?  Perhaps the intent was to examine all the above.

As I watched, the videos seem to ridicule the extreme stereotypes of rural/urban people.  I didn't like it that the panel laughed at the toothless man and laughed at the house he lived in and laughed when someone cracked they were from TinyTown, USA.  I was equally embarrassed for the way the men on the street in NYC shamed themselves.

Ms. Pelosi, your stated premise about going to Mississippi and just "happening" to find those "random" examples just stretches my incredulity.  And of course, I didn't miss your question "how come the poorest state is the most conservative state?"  Can't be too smart if you're conservative, right?

Perhaps there are people from all walks of life that could be entertaining if making sport of them was kosher.  Liberals purport to be compassionate toward the poor, but the clips didn't come across as being potential for the compassion file.

As I thought about those hapless people, I realized that both locations reveal a permanent underclass that persist because of decades of government payments that have been personally corrosive.  Richie Rich AND the poor both reason..."why work when money is laying on the ground?".   God designed work for us and without it, there is a disintegration of spirit and worth and accomplishment.

While government will always have an obligation to come underneath a certain percentage of people who are unable to care for themselves, today's entitlement system is large, getting larger, and encouraged to grow larger.  But those people are not "helped" by government money, Ms. Pelosi.  They are imprisoned.

MISSISSIPPI VIDEO
MANHATTAN VIDEO
Caution: offensive language.

WHERE'S HE GOING?

I'm no expert on how God sees things, but I'm sure He has the power to send Tim Tebow where He pleases.

Besides, He's more into using Tebow wherever he is.

A friend of mine has a saying "God moves His people around."  He does.

Tim Tebow has been good for the Broncos.  Their quarterback had the #1 best-selling jersey and he brought Denver much attention in the public square.  That's the way it should be with Christians.  They should bring blessing.

I recall what Tim once said about football not being the most important thing.  He's a wise "young 'un".  That's because he has learned wisdom from the Master.  When I taught third grade, we used to define wisdom as "seeing things the way God sees them".  There are some things that the Bible may not address, but we assume that He included enough to get us through.  Tebow is getting through, all right.  He puts faith in action to the max and shows uncanny ability to follow God and not man.

Remember that playoff game with the Steelers that got a lot of press?  Denver won, but the buzz was all about how they won.  You remember.  His eyeblack furor put the John 3:16 verse in everyone's mind, and then he racked up 316 yards!  So how do YOU explain it?  Did Tebow get up that day and decide to get 316 yards?  Was it an accident?  Even the most stalwart of naysayers had to wonder.  They SURE wondered when they found out that he threw 31.6 yards per completion...and the CBS television rating for 8:00-8:15 peaked with a rating of 31.6.


When Tebow took a knee after that,
he was NOT first thanking God for victory.  He was first thanking God for glorifying Himself.

And what has happened since?  It was pretty remarkable to think God would bring all those figures together so clearly.  What would be the mathematical chance?  The top three Google searches after the game were John 3:16, Tebow, and Tim Tebow.   Not even if "Show Me the Money" Tom Cruise were your agent could you get that coverage.

But it all happened back in January.  Have people been stunned and then moved on?  How many have turned to explore the God thing?

Of course He is the only one who knows, but He did leave a clue.  He had something to say about the "signs" that inflate man's curiosity.  In Luke 16:31 "if they will not give attention to Moses and the prophets, they will not be moved even if someone comes back from the dead."  Ouch.  He knows our fickle hearts.

Now we all are pressed to the news to find out Tim Tebow's destination.  We should relax.  It is a GUARANTEEE that Tim is listening right now for marching orders from above.  Maybe he already has them.  But whether it's Denver or Miami or the Phillippines or wherever, it doesn't really matter.  The Lord is the Quarterback with the plan.  He's looking for open receivers and He's found one in Tim Tebow.

KIRSTEN POWERS

This beautiful woman is Kirsten Powers, a political analyst for Fox News.  She was hired to give the liberal viewpoint.

In the past, I've had trouble agreeing with this pundit's political thought.  But now my hat is off to Kirsten Powers and the latest crystal clear points she has made.

1.  WORLDVIEW
Last night Kirsten was in a discussion on the Fox All Stars at the end of Brett Baier's news.  The discussion was about the stepped up agitation in Afghanistan over the massacre of the innocents.


Kirsten had read a NYTimes piece about the imam being asked why he did not respond to the slaughter (versus his outrage at the Koran burning).  The article said the imam thought that a crazy question.  Kirsten's HUGE point was that their value system was so skewed to elevate an accidental book burning over a human life...that she wondered aloud how America could negotiate or come to any agreement with such a divergent perspective on life.   To see the discussion, click.


2.  GOOD FOR THE GOOSE/GANDER
There are AWFUL comments about conservative women being made by people on the left such as Bill Maher and Ed Schultz and Matt Taibbi and Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews.  Those things are incredibly out-of-line and seem to go unchallenged.  click


Now the furor over what Rush said causes liberals to come unglued.  Kirsten wrote a wonderful appeal to reason here:  click   Or, if you prefer video, here:  click.


These two truths...valuing life and standing against coarse discourse...are neither left nor right.  We all can agree on that level ground.

IMPORTANCE

"You is important."

When Viola Davis' character in THE HELP spoke those life-giving words, people identified.

Everyone wants to be important and many of our daily life choices flow out of that motivation.

So how do we get to be important? Are all the good causes taken up?

Should we recycle to save the planet? Plump our resume?  Are we important if we have our very own Wiki page?

Mike and I watched THE SOCIAL NETWORK again last night.  I was struck with how the movie portrayed Mark Zuckerberg's life through the lens of continuous striving to be important enough.

When I was growing up, one of our older family members had grown up in another generation where blacks were disparaged.  At the first mention of race, this person's go-to rhetoric was harsh and vitriolic.  But in 2008, this same relative voted for Barack Obama.  Really?  Did the person wake one day with an ephipany?  No, but our family member seemed very proud of having voted for a black candidate.  Who could have seen THAT swerve coming?  Well, casting the vote made our "kin" feel broad-minded.  And important.  Strangely, the vote was cast more for the relative than for the candidate.

Hey, we all want to feel important and we want our efforts in this world to count.  So how does God address mankind's need to feel worth?  Each person must find the answer, but from my perspective...

When I bowed before the Most High, I learned the Lord gave my life a purpose that had been established before the world.  The God Who Sees knew my heart would want to be consumed by the superficial, so He left a handbook that I might dig deeper...and He gave thirst and understanding that I might WANT to read and be able to comprehend.   The Book said the One who created the universe calls me His friend.  I read that the Eternal Father chose me for adoption into His family.  It says the Mighty God restrained His strong right arm when He sent His Son into death for me.  I found that God the Holy Spirit kindly dispenses tools for living life...like strength and discernment and the ability to forgive.  Just being aware of all this heady stuff makes me feel very important.  But there's more...

As a daughter of the King, I am royalty.  In the book of Revelation, He has shown me a bit of the future and my destination will be in the New Jerusalem with streets of gold and clear sparkly jewels.  There we will no longer follow the inclinations of our stubborn hearts; sans sin, we will follow His lead.  And the verse in 2 Timothy (2:12) totally knocks me out.  He explains that in the coming kingdom, I will reign with Him.  Reign?  I do not know how that could be...but it's a huge infusion of importance AND humility.

The Beginning and the End has carefully preserved His words over time for a very good reason.  The words explain His faithful pursuit of us.  If unread, we do not understand our worth and we look elsewhere for significance.

THE HELP was a movie that touched many people and made us think big thoughts.

Aibileen's words spoke powerfully into Mae Mobley's little spirit because she spoke Godly words.

We are important to Him.

RANDOM "RE" WORDS

REWARD
Today is my Mama's birthday and she is enjoying her reward in a far place.  Here is a picture from the 40's when she looked like a movie star.  They all plucked their eyebrows to look like Hedy Lamarr in those days.

My mother was a prayer warrior and casserole maker and children's SS teacher and she took herself lightly.  My brother and I were blessed to have good "raising".

Miss you, Mama.

RENEWED
Spring is showing out early this year.  In NW AR, we are about two weeks ahead of ourselves on the budding.  Here is the coming-out party for our pretty little tulip tree.  Can you see the tiny little nest from last year @center bottom?  You can click on it to make it larger.

It's fun that just when we think we can't stand another minute of winter's bleakness, we turn the corner into spring and dead branches miraculously burst into color.  Death becomes life as all creation sings His praise.  I love how spring is a big picture book of resurrection.

REDEFINED
Winter is not the only bleakness these days.  There is true lack of vibrance on the national landscape because of our economic problems.  Yet there is no Ward Bond out in front of this wagon train.

So the one we pay to lead...casts around for a re-election issue.  Finding none, he deftly changes the subject.  Now we've forgotten about paying at the pump and losing jobs and phantom nest eggs because all we can talk about is birth control.  REALLY?  Who would have thought all of the news would be full of that subject with all the other possibilities?

Masterful redefinition of pertinence...

RECOLLECTION

Ten days ago the Little Rock Cruses came for a Baby Will viewing.  The weekend was a whirlwind, but we really enjoyed them.

Needing to be back in LR by 2:00 on Sunday, we all hit an 8:30 service on Wedington and then followed them out of town for an early lunch at our favorite eatery, Grandma's.

They loved all the yummy stuff, but the little girls' table conversation was all about which flavor pie they could get at the pie buffet.  Hanna settled on peanut butter and Caroline wanted chocolate.

Now Caroline was down to the last two bites of her pie when she had a thought.  "Hanna, you need to try this chocolate.  I think you would REALLY like it!"  Hanna was agreeable so Caroline put most of the remaining custard on her fork.  Then she said..."you'll need some of this whipping cream (meaning, meringue)".  So she put that on the fork, too...and then fed her big sister.  This Mimi is going to feed on that picture a long time.

Caroline has a wonderful, giving heart that thinks automatically of others.  And she has no guile.  As we finished, Caroline turned to her Daddy with those big bright eyes and proclaimed "Oh, my goodness!  We will REALLY have to brush our teeth well tonight."   Spoken like a dentist's daughter.

REPURPOSED
You and I were made to worship God.  That was our lesson Sunday and it reminded me that for thirty years, I was the center of my life.  Then the Lord kindly repurposed me and I don't miss myself much.  (Well...I have been known to slink back in and have to ask myself to step back.)

Today my excitement is about having a fulfilling reason to live because of my new purpose...and confidence about the future.

I love to think of God reclaiming the earth and restoring it to it's previous Garden-of-Eden splendor.  In 2008, Mike took me to Glacier National Park and I thought that was grand.  Can't wait for the redo of the whole earth.

The Lord is all over extreme makeovers.