Archives May 2021

Much can be said for experience and I’ve been blest with old gardeners and lots of garden magazines. Both have been good friends.

So today is the second day of the week but it is the first workday. Old Fuzzy and Big Fuzzy have about four days left of their bus driving for the spring quarter of this year. We are gearing up for our summer season.

Many years ago I believed that the summer season was our ‘off’ season, only to discover I had it backward. Summer brings gardens and their garden produce. If we aren’t planting we’re pruning or upkeeping or picking. At some point, there is a quandary between preserving and upkeep.

The best thing we could have done was mulching in order to keep the weeds down as we went through the summer but that isn’t always done as it should be done. I remember the long journey from my first years to these last few years.

Much can be said for experience and I’ve been blest with old gardeners and lots of garden magazines. Back in the day we became acquainted with the publication ‘Mother Earth News’. There were others of course that dealt more with general larger farming practices and we melded all of what we learned to arrive here.

Yet people need to get back to learning how to provide a portion of their food even if they only do a terrace with some bucket or container plants. This last year has pointed to the fragile balance of life. We in this country have for several generations come to depend on our local large grocery store chains.

Back in my childhood, our grocery stores were small without the fresh fruits and veggies that we have today. You could find canned goods and some items such as potatoes. I don’t remember when cabbage or lettuce became available, but there must have been stores with those items.

Last year even the large stores were on occasion out of some products. It highlighted our dependency on these stores and the necessity to find new sources in the advent of life-changing circumstances.

It seems as if the changes in life happen so slowly that we don’t notice them happening. We depend on our transportation system and when that is interrupted our lives can change suddenly in ways we don’t always enjoy.

How do the days go by so quickly, and how do they turn into weeks, months, and then years? I’m sure there are scriptures that address this. Maybe in Ecclesiastes or Job?

Speaking of Ecclesiastes I was brought to remembrance of several passages from Ecclesiastes that have for years piqued my mind. There are so many thoughts in the whole chapter of Ecclesiastes number three:

Ecclesiastes 3:

1  For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven:

2  a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

3  a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

4  a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

5  a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

6  a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

7  a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

8  a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.

9  What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboreth?

10  I have seen the travail which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised therewith.

11  He hath made everything beautiful in its time: also he hath set eternity in their heart, yet so that man cannot find out the work that God hath done from the beginning even to the end.

12  I know that there is nothing better for them, than to rejoice, and to do good so long as they live.

To Be Continued…

Planting a tree for a future you probably won’t see is an act of faith for a generation who may never know.

It has to be the most hilarious title ever, or the most outrageous title depending on where you are standing.

I may be wrong but I think it was Russell Brand who referenced the idea that ‘well, you know it can’t be a conspiracy theory. That gives the idea it is being done in dark places behind the scenes, but no, they are doing these things out in plain sight.’

Now, I’m equating this with a number of things that I have seen going on here in our great country lately as well as my observation of other things that have happened in previous years. I don’t think Russell Brand was speaking about exactly the same thing as I am right here, and I don’t know if great leaders, speakers, and notables would agree, but these are my thoughts.

Let me begin with more current events such as what the media is calling The Big Lie. Right in front of Americans faces as it were they began in mid-2020 with their version of The Big Lie.

They pushed the idea that somehow an old man who appeared to have signs of dementia and couldn’t get out of his basement was so much more popular than a vigorous leader. A leader who had brokered a number of peace treaties, bringing peace and stability across the world, eased unemployment to levels not seen in thirty-plus years, not for one group of people but all across black, brown, and Asian groups. A leader who brought wage levels up naturally for these same workers, as well as financial aid for black colleges an amazing happening not seen before.

We were told the old man with dementia had better polls than the said leader, yet when the old man did make it out of his basement his rallies struggled to have two dozen attendees. This old man’s running mate had been resoundingly rejected and she had difficulty drumming up two supporters at rallies.

Compare that to the fearless leader who drew thousands of supporters to his rallies. Thousands of men and women of all races coming together.

We saw this and knew the facts told a different story than the media’s big lie. Then we got the second round of the big lie. We saw people coming out and voting for the people’s president and things were going in his favor, but…everything stopped in the middle of the night in several key states.

They are saying to our faces that it is a big lie that ‘voter fraud stole the election’. We can see that the big lie has been ‘there was no voter fraud’. There has been voter fraud (I would add since there has been a Democratic political party, but that’s not completely fair).

They think we are idiots, but most of us out here can see and can smell a rat when it’s rotting. As many have said if there was no fraud, if the records are clean and fair, open them up, and let’s take a look.

But just try to take a look. There have been many affidavits attesting to anomalies in the election. There have been many people willing to step up. For their efforts, those people have been threatened bodily harm, some have been beaten and ended up in the hospital. Others have been shot at.

The recent voter audit in Arizona has been stymied in innumerable ways. Lawsuits, and halts, and now the databases are found to be missing—vanished as in deleted—illegally deleted.

And people like myself, old weary deplorables are being threatened if we speak out. They call January sixth an insurrection. There were almost a million people there at the rally. If it were a true insurrection it would have been unstoppable.

There were some who did do damage. Of those that did the damage, there were nefarious individuals who were not part of the ‘rally’ but were people sent there to make peaceful participants look bad. And they still are being used to frame peaceful protesters.

There was an activist John Sullivan. He claimed he was just a journalist, therefore should not be charged. Yet in his own film, he is recorded encouraging violence and the damage being done. He has been released but others who were not violent nor encouraging violence are still being held. Why are they still being held as if they were violent offenders?

Hold those who broke windows, vandalized, and did damage responsible. There is no doubt that they should be charged. Those who were escorted in (and there is a video of that) and who wandered around without incident should have been wiser, but are they culpable?

The takeaway? We have the first recorded Big Lie in Genesis 3:4  “And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as God, knowing good and evil.”

See how easy that was? Take a bit of truth and mix it with a bit of untruth and voila! There it is. And that is the crux of the matter. We shall all die unless the Lord Jesus returns during our lifetime.

However, during the ages, there have been many who believed they were at the point of the second return when they weren’t. We are seeing a big lie waged against the very foundation of our country.

I am old enough to have seen people of my family put their hand to the plow for this country. Some gave their life, some gave part of their life, and some gave a part of their heart. Now as the little ditty says that we used to use in typing class: Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country.

And it’s not just good men, it’s good women and good people of all walks of life. If we don’t step up to make a difference now there will be no country to flee to. This is the last hope.

Isaiah 40:

4  Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low; and the uneven shall be made level, and the rough places a plain:

5  and the glory of Jehovah shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken it.

6  The voice of one saying, Cry. And one said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field.

Isaiah 40:3 The voice of one that crieth, Prepare ye in the wilderness the way of Jehovah; make level in the desert a highway for our God.

Let me explain—I’ve been laid up for a time—since the autumn of 2019 to be exact. I’m not an idler, someone who watches television or fritters away time. Since I’ve been forced to sit instead of gardening, cooking, sewing, or etc. I’ve been finishing the writing of my book series and listening or watching videos from interesting people.

These are people with interesting ideas some of which I agree with but not all. As I listen I can do embroidery and soon will be working on a baby afghan, and other handwork.

I wrote all of that to say this, I was just this afternoon listening to a piece by Mark Levin in which he announced he has a new book coming out and he began with the question, the same one at the title of this post, What Are You Here For?

In his speech he said, I didn’t write this book because I like to write books. I most certainly agree with him there. I didn’t write, or I should say, I am not writing this series because I enjoy writing books.

My book series was laid upon my heart by God in the way only God can put a writing challenge on one’s heart. Of course, the first one is in print already. The book “If I Should Die” was published a year ago this coming June first (2020). I would like to say it was a great success.

I would really like to encourage those who have read it to go to Amazon and leave a good review. That means so much to a writer. And I’ve now totally rewritten the second book, “As A Lovely Song”, and it will shortly be going to an editor for evaluation and editing.

Another thing Mr. Levin said is I don’t do radio or television for glory or fame. He said for him, he’s an activist and it’s about conservatism, love of country, freedom, and liberty.

For me, it’s a similar ideal yet the important liberty is to be free from the chains and slavery of sin. My drumbeat is telling and showing an enslaved world the freedom of being in Christ.

Only losing our lives in subjection to the Savior will make us free.

Isaiah 40:

7  “The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass.

***

Wrestling:

Professional wrestling isn’t about wrestling, of course, and it isn’t really very professional either. As Seth Godin expressed it; “ It’s about who’s up and who’s down. The stated rules are there to be broken by some of the participants, and it’s not professional in any useful sense related to the sport of wrestling. And the metaphor is powerful in many areas of life.”

Somedays I do feel like I’m in a wrestling match, and at any given moment I may be up or down. There don’t appear to be any rules, if there are they are like children’s rules. Whoever is in charge at the moment uses, breaks, or makes the rules up as they go. That is what life for me is like sometimes.

Other days…well, on those days I get up and don’t realize there is a struggle going on, but it is still there under the radar.

Here are several tips from From Will Rogers:

1. Never slap a man who’s chewing tobacco.

2. Never kick a cow chip on a hot day.

3. There are two theories to arguing with a woman. Neither works.

4. Never miss a good chance to shut up.

5. Always drink upstream from the herd.

6. If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.

Peace, and God Bless

I have an unnerving habit of things that pass through my mind and they will at times escape out of my mouth.

Have you ever had a great idea but before you can get it written down something distracts you and then your great idea like smoke or fog evaporates? It isn’t a senior moment, either that or I began senior moments very early, but it is very inconvenient.

As a senior, I have an excuse and we laugh and say stuff like, “Well, that train left the station”. Some days the thought will come back after a bit of conversation. When it doesn’t come back I just figure God was thinking maybe it wasn’t something I should share.

However, I honestly don’t know why it happens because I have an unnerving habit of things that pass through my mind and they will at times escape out of my mouth. I have on occasion heard someone speaking and since there were only two people in the room and it wasn’t the other person, I figured the words had come out of my mouth although they shouldn’t have from the look on the other person’s face.

Today started out a bit at odds. I was supposed to go to a chiropractor’s appointment. I often have trouble getting started for morning things and I didn’t feel like going. It turned into staying home sick and I’ve had a slow day, but it’s going better. We got a little bit of much-needed rain and the weather has cooled off so…

There are a number of oxymorons that baffle me. My life and much related to it has slowed way down. It takes longer to get things done that used to take me just a few minutes. Worse yet, there are things I no longer do at all. Several years ago in June of 2017 specifically, when Old Fuzzy and I were visiting my sister.

She had lost weight and her slacks were baggy and needed to be hemmed up. Hemming a pair of slacks should take about fifteen maybe twenty minutes at most. I believe I have shared before that in high school my sister won awards for so many things from her Betty Crocker Award for cooking, Fashion Show Award for sewing, School Play, as well as softball, and many other things.

In the manner of Rush Limbaugh’s saying, my sister had talent on loan from God. Jackie was the epitome of perfect. Fast forward fifty years and she’s looking at her slacks that need a simple hem. Well, she says, I should take these down to the local tailor…

I never won any awards that I can remember in school, not for cooking, sewing, and especially not for softball. Having become a primitive artist I have had to work in many different areas, cooking, sewing, gardening, and on occasion, we’ve also had softball games. Although the last time when I was pitching and got hit with the ball, I called it quits.

Fast forward me fifty years and I’m looking at all the crafts, material, yarns, etc. that I’ve got and the sewing I should do thinking I need a local tailor, or I should host a local craft show…

In my memory, I love the feel of good material and how it works up. I love good quality craftsmanship the look and feel of well-made clothing. Linen is a favorite material, but not today. I have one good quilt left I must finish but that’s not today either.

For all of my slowing down, I still find a spot of impatience. Oddly enough something will slow my computer down and I become irritated because it isn’t responding. That isn’t the way it’s supposed to work.

Writing a story is much harder than reading a story. It just flat is. I’ve been working back and forth on this second book. Some days I feel as if I’ve covered lots of material. Then I find I have to rest and recoup and reread before I do it all again.

So, then, the old saying, “Time and tide wait for no man,” still applies. Just as when I forget a really really good idea whether it’s a topic to write on or a topic to talk about in conversation with all of my projects I believe the ones that are important are the ones I will finish. The ones I don’t finish will become important for someone else to complete.

And there it goes. God is good and no matter what, we must trust in His goodness and wisdom.

Colossians 2:

18 Let no man rob you of your prize by a voluntary humility and worshipping of the angels, dwelling in the things which he hath seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,
19 and not holding fast the Head, from whom all the body, being supplied and knit together through the joints and bands, increasing with the increase of God.
20 If ye died with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, do ye subject yourselves to ordinances,