Meditate on it

A quick entry here--I have been mulling this observation from the devotional Streams in the Desert : "Miss Havergal has said: "Every year, I might almost say every day, that I live, I seem to see more clearly how all the rest and gladness and power of our Christian life hinges on one thing; and that is, taking God at His word, believing that He really means exactly what He says, and accepting the very words in which He reveals His goodness and grace, without substituting others or altering the precise modes and tenses which He has seen fit to use."  -March 24th Taking God at His word --how often do I truly do this?  How much more often do I substitute others or alter the precise modes and tense as she suggests? What does it mean to take God at His word?  It's a heady concept, but I do have some initial thoughts: 1.  I think it means trusting that whatever He is doing in my life today---though seemingly inconvenient, trivial, or unfair---is exactly what i

I've been delving into the family genealogy again, which is always a huge time sucker.  People seem to be either fascinated by their family history or largely indifferent.  It's one way or the other. Depending upon how you perceive the past and family, our heritage can either be inconsequential or profoundly significant. The view from my 2nd great-grandparent's home looking toward the massive grain elevators that line the Buffalo waterfront. The indifferent line of reasoning goes something like this: Why bother so deeply with the details of those who lived before us?  What's past is past. Their particulars don't impact my life and who I am today. Plus, it's kind of morbid. Ultimately, I am related to everyone if we go far back enough.  If I am descended from person A or B, so what?  Why does it matter? Then I think about our present culture---how masses of us make a pastime of following the minutest details of celebrity lives or the various waves of pop

Vivian Maier, September 18, 1962 Years ago I remember reading a parenting book that concluded that the teenage years are like the unwinding of a yo-yo. Everything that the parents have "wound" for the first ten or so years unravels for better or worse during this time. The principle: there is a window of maximum investment for maximum impact. This is true in the plant world as well--yes, you can grow basil in a sunroom through winter, and you can plant lettuce in July, but there is an ideal season--a range of temperature, precipitation, and growing conditions when things are easier, when your plants are most receptive. Although you can grow a plant outside of these parameters, the work will be harder and your efforts ultimately less successful. There is an ideal season for gardening and an ideal season of influence in the lives of our children. With our children now 11, 14, and 16, I suspect most of the foundational growing is past. Don't misunderstand, th

Yesterday was a bad day.  Though I know bad days will come, I hate when they ambush me so completely. Because afterwards, I am a double fool---a fool for the sin and a fool for not knowing the signs, preventing the overflow, for not initiating damage control. Yesterday was one of those days when all the yucky pieces of me spilled out everywhere, with abandon.  It's never pretty.  Tim Keller suggests that most of us would rather be exposed physically, running down the street naked, than have God see our rotten naked hearts. My naked heart is a great discouragement to me. Paul told it like it was, is, will be...until I made made complete in Him: "For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin.  For I do not understand my own actions.  For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate."   -Romans 7:14-15  I do the very thing I hate. And, I hate that I do the very thing I hate.  But I still do it. Square one.  I am ri

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin..."                        -Matthew 6:28 As with the rest of Asheville, Rose and I have been getting out more this week with the warmer weather.  Yesterday I walked and she roller skated one of our favorites--Reed Creek Greenway which runs alongside Broadway and Montford.  We cross Broadway, skirt UNCA's Botanical Gardens and then connect up with their Glen's Creek Greenway to Merrimon at Luella's Barbecue then back.  I think it's about three miles total, a nice jaunt. Rose is learning to use the rollerskates she got for Christmas, so yesterday we stopped often.  Along the bank of Glen's Greek, there was a particularly picturesque section scattered with what we initially thought were dandelions.  But, we quickly realized they were something else.   There were also clumps of daffodils sprinkled through; we've recently begun to call these "Daffo-down-dillys" after read