The Summer Garden

 Even though it's winter here for us at the moment, it's good to remember summer is coming.  Or not remember if you are like me and don't like the heat and sun :))

From A Year's Journey with God...

"I planted, Apollos watered, but God [all the while] was making it grow ... For we are fellow workmen - laborers together with God; you are God's garden and vineyard ... under cultivation." - 1 Corinthians 3:6,9, AMP 

I never get over the miracle of July!  All the tiny seeds I planted in the greenhouse during winter are now filling my garden with vivid color.  'Isn't God clever,' remarked my three-year-old granddaughter.  She is right, but not yet old enough to realize how much human hard work is involved in making a garden beautiful!  I had certainly played my part in the miracle!

If we are God's garden, I suppose keeping our spiritual lives beautiful is also a partnership and often hard work on our part.  I remember once helping my son move into a 'student house'.  It was clean enough inside, but the garden had not been touched in years.  As I fought my way through the jungle of weeds I realized someone had once filled that garden with roses, but bindweed had wound itself around the bushes, strangling their beauty, while giant nettles stole their light.  I shuddered as I realized how easily my own garden could look like that.  I pounce on weeds as soon as they show their ugly heads because they are so easy to pull when they're small.  Surely it's the same with 'spiritual weeds'?  Those resentful thoughts, discontented grumbles and negative self-pity can be removed comparatively easily if we 'yank them out' quick!  If we ignore them or even 'water them' with encouragement they soon 'take over' and start spoiling everything that is beautiful and valuable in the rest of our lives.

Thank you, Lord, that I don't have to clear all these weeds from my life on my own.  I pull them out but you burn them at your cross.

Catch the Little Foxes

 From Our Daily Bread...

Read: Song of Songs 2:8-15

"Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyard." (Song of Songs 2:15)

"It's the little foxes that spoil the vine," my grandmother use to say.  Then my mom repeated the same thing.  And now I say it to my own children.  But what does it mean to beware of "the little foxes"?

After planting grapevines, it can take several years before they bear fruit.  The vines require a lot of patience, care, watering, pruning, and protection.  Foxes - even though small - can cause major damage by destroying the roots, eating the grapes, or chewing the stalk.

In the poetic love story of the Song of Songs, Solomon warns, "Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards" (2:15).  Some scholars believe this refers to seemingly small problems or behaviors that could threaten the young man and woman's relationship if left unchecked.

Likewise for our spiritual journey, little things like bitterness (Hebrews 12:15), "unwholesome talk" (Ephesians 4:29), or even harmful influences from others (1 Corinthians 15:33) can slip into our lives and hardly be noticed.

My grandmother understood that little things can cause great harm, and her wisdom spoke volumes to her grandchildren.  As we spend time in prayer and reading the Scriptures, the Spirit will help us "catch the little foxes" - the temptations or habits that might spoil our relationship with others and our walk with Christ. 

- Brent Hackett

What little things do you need to catch before they cause harm?

How can you warn others to watch for "little foxes"?

Dear Father, please help me to be alert for and deal with the little stuff that causes great damage.

Let's Talk About Modesty.

Here is another lovely video from Tanaya on Modesty. Grab a cuppa, sit down and enjoy!

"Do not let your adornment be merely outward - arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel - rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God." 

- 1 Peter 3:3-4

If you'd like to watch more of her videos, you can go to her YouTube channel HERE

P is for Paul and Pretenders

In these troubling times, it's good to remember...

From Beside the Still Waters...

Read: Philippians 1:1-20

"What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretense, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice." - Philippians 1:18

For Paul it must have been a hard pill to swallow.  Earlier in his life, he had dragged Christian men and women to prison.  But now Paul himself sat in prison for the Christian faith, called to be an apostle but seemingly hamstrung in his efforts.  Meanwhile, outside the prison walls, men who hoped to feed Paul's frustration were faking evangelism - preaching Christ with a twist which they hoped would cause people to follow a faction that contradicted Paul.

But Paul did not choke on that pill!  At least Christ was being preached, so he rejoiced and intended to keep on rejoicing.  But how can we rejoice when a pretender, out of a wrong motive, does something that only appears right?  Paul rejoiced because God supervises the sowing of His Word.  Neither a scheming motive nor any other pretense in handling the Word will keep God's Spirit from wielding it like a two-edged sword.  The power of the Word is not entirely dependent on the man who presents it.

God receives the most glory when those who preach the Gospel also live the Gospel.  But God is fully capable of using messages preached by pretenders to start a man on a search for truth.  God can even use a page ripped out of a Bible and thrown away as trash, to feed truth to a seeking soul.  Let's rejoice with Paul in that power!

In 2 Timothy 2:9 Paul wrote, "I suffer trouble ... even unto bonds; but the word of God is not bound."  The Gospel is not constrained by prison or by pretenders.  So Paul was joyful not because of pretenders but in spite of them.  Who can tell what great things God will work when people hear His word - even from pretenders?

Jay R. Martin - Castorland, NY

A pretender may seem to have power in his hour,

but God will have sway at the end of the day.

"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves." - Matthew 7:15

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven." - Matthew 7:21

Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to the library I go....

I had a couple of hours to fill in at Burnie last week, and what better place to do it than at the library!

We only have a very small library in our town, so this was a real treat...

But first, coffee and cake in their little cafe...

Then a lovely browse of the bookshelves...

I borrowed these for crafting inspiration...

And bought this one from the 'withdrawn from circulation' shelves for 50 cents...

  I haven't read any of these books, and apparently this is the second of many Elm Street Quilts novels, although I think they are stand-alone stories but with many of the same characters.

 

I'm still reading The Long Winter but hope to read the Round Robin book next...

What are you reading?

xx

My Beloved People, the Church

 From Beside the Still Waters...

"I know they works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou ... hast borne, and hast patience, and for my names sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted." - Revelation 2:2-3

Recently at our church we had the funeral of an elderly sister who left a wonderful testimony for Jesus.  Before dying she had spoken of her desire to meet her Saviour.  The day before the funeral, some church ladies had planned to serve a meal to the family in the church basement, but on arrival they discovered the basement partially flooded due to a leaking water fountain.

A call for help went out, and soon more help arrived than was needed.  The thought came to me: My beloved people, the church.  How could I survive without them.

My beloved people are a great consolation in physical affliction.  Even better than the physical benefits are the spiritual benefits. "Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety" (Proverbs 11:14).  When we need sound advice, where do we go?  To trained experts in psychology, or to faithful men of God who are led by the Holy Spirit?  I choose men among my beloved people.

"And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints" (Ephesians 4:11-12).  No individual is wise enough to have all the answers to life's questions.  Neither can one person by himself keep all the New Testament commandments.  Let's take delight in belonging to God's people, with the same spirit that Paul expressed in Philippians 4:1: "Therefore, my brethren dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved."

Denver Yoder - Somerset, OH

I love Thy church, O God, Her walls before Thee stand,

Dear as the apple of Thine eye, And graven on Thy hand.

-Timothy Dwight

Blest be the tie that binds Our hearts in Christian love;

The fellowship of kindred minds Is like to that above.

Before our Father's throne We pour our ardent prayers;

Our fears, our hopes, our aims are one, Our comforts and our cares.

We share our mutual woes, Our mutual burdens bear;

And often for each other flows the sympathizing tear.

When we asunder part It gives us inward pain;

But we shall still be joined in heart,

and hope to meet again.

I love old churches! :)

Winter has arrived!!

 

It's definitely knitting and reading weather here lately...

From The Long Winter...

"The shanty was growing colder.  The stove could not warm the air inside the thin walls.  There was nothing to do but sit huddled in coats and shawls, close to the stove...

The cold crept in from the corners of the shanty, closer and closer to the stove.  Icy-cold breezes sucked and fluttered the curtains around the beds.  The little shanty quivered in the storm.  But the steamy smell of boiling beans was good and it seemed to make the air warmer.

At noon Ma sliced bread and filled bowls with the hot bean broth and they all ate where they were, close to the stove..."

I hope this little excerpt hasn't traumatized you too much Lisa :))

I made bread yesterday too, but no bean soup.

Still working on Marnie's birthday blanket.  Unfortunately, I ran out of cream yarn so had to order more online.  It should arrive this week and I can finish off the last 3 squares and then start sewing it together...

The red maple trees in the garden have been lovely over autumn...

 But most of the leaves have fallen now...

Denver had a birthday a few weeks ago..

We had pizza and birthday cake to celebrate...

He was 23

Some secondhand books I picked up recently for winter reading...

I read two of these many years ago, but I don't really remember the details.  It's good when you can recycle your reading :)

I've got a few other posts half done, which I hope to publish this week.  In the meantime, I wish you a blessed Pentecost...

"When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.  And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.  Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them.  And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." - Acts 2:1-4