What's Blooming this Week? Everything!

Pictures taken this morning in my garden. From top to bottom: Globe Thistle (not a weed!), Knapweed (not a weed to me!), Purple Coneflowers, Spirea, Lillies. Click on the Spirea photo to see a surprise visitor!

"Is not his heart imprisoned by the summer

Snaring the whistles of the birds

And fastening in its cage the flowers' colour?" Dylan Thomas

The Mother Ship Weed

There’s a weed I call the “Mother Ship.” In order to eradicate it, one must dig down at least 8 inches or so in the dirt with a shovel and then nose around with a trowel to locate the large white tuber from which all the surface weeds feed. If I pick the weeds at the surface, they just grow back, and in fact spread through the many feeder roots which find their source at the “Mother Ship.” Whenever I’m able to dig up one of these tubers, I feel truly victorious, triumphant that that particular patch of garden or yard will no longer host this nemesis.

The “Mother Ship” tuber is just like sin, isn’t it? Sin is rooted down deep in our very nature (Galatians 5:19; 6:8 to name just two). We can pick away at the surface of sin through our own power, cleaning up for a day, a month, or a year, but never really eradicating it once for all. A new shoot from the "Mother Ship" always rears its ugly head.

Thankfully, we don’t need a trowel, harsh chemicals or back-breaking labor to fight sin. And we don’t have to rely on ourselves. Believers have something much better: The full armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18).

Jesus fought Satan’s attempts to tempt Him by quoting Scripture (Matthew 4). Ephesians 6:14 and 17 says we must do the same: “Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist…” and take “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” Scripture is the preventative that can block sin from taking root in the first place and is one of the ways God shows us the sin that is already there! Just consider it spiritual Roundup: a preventative and killer of sin all in one!

In addition to the Word of God, the other armor includes righteousness, faith, salvation and prayer. In short, we get access to this armor when we accept Jesus Christ not only as Savior, but as Lord of our entire life: attitudinal, physical, spiritual, and intellectual. Only then will the "Mother Ships" of sin in our soul begin to be eradicated.

“I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” Psalm 119:11

“No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” 1 Corinthians 10:13

“When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me.’ For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.” James 1:13-18

Freedom in Christ

The only True freedom is through Jesus Christ.

"Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin." John 8:34

"But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. " Romans 3:21-24

"So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." John 8:36

Sports Salaries

An awesome editorial in today's Wall Street Journal written by Allen Barra looks at the ridiculously high salaries in sports. Read this quote and you'll want to read the entire article (which isn't too long):

"It isn't some vague indefinable "they" who pays the players. It really isn't even the owners. It's you, or rather, it's us. If we put our money where our mouths are and support cancer, AIDS or Down syndrome research and then buy our tickets with what's left over, athletes and rock stars will actually be paid what we pretend they should be paid. The fault lies not in our All-Stars, but in ourselves."

Read the entire article here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124640485158676535.html

We are the ones accountable for much of what goes on in the culture through our support of it, even if we complain as we support it. Movie ticket prices go up? We go to the movies anyway. Urban sprawl takes over our towns? We flock to those stores anyway. Movie stars live's are train wrecks? We worship them and buy the magazines and watch the tabloid TV shows that capitalize on that very dysfunction. We despise the lyrics of certain rock bands and give our kids money and allow them to buy that music anyway, or we buy it for them for their birthdays and Christmas, shaking our heads as we do it. We've become blind, resigned or indifferent.

And now a day at the ballpark is no longer as American as apple pie, it's as American as the credit card.

"Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you will be like him yourself." Proverbs 26:4

Learning in One-Room Schools

Today's Wall Street Journal features an excellent review of the book "Small Wonder: The Little Red Schoolhouse in History and Memory " by Jonathan Zimmerman, a professor at New York University. Based on Bill Kauffman's review, I'm sure to pick up a copy of this book.

Kauffman quotes from the book this fact:

In 1913, "one-half of the nation's schoolchildren attended one of its 212,000 single-teacher schools."

Kauffman points out that, "by 1960, progressive educationists, growing cities and the centralizing pressures of two world wars and a Cold War had reduced the total to just 1%."

Lest we think that Zimmerman is waxing nostaligic in a bucolic neverland, Kauffman emphasizes the objectivity of the book, showing both the pros and cons of one-room schools. But the thing is, the pros out weigh the cons. The fact that charter and home schooling is growing points to many others coming to the same conclusion.

Kauffman writes in his review:

"Decades after consolidation had obliterated one-room schools, researchers discovered their advantages. The child in the small school is not just a statistic on a government chart. She receives 'individual attention and recognition.' She works at her own pace. She has, most important, a place. As Mr. Zimmerman remarks, recent alternatives to 'the large, alienating modern school,' from charter schools to homeschooling, have sought to foster 'the snug, communal aspects of the one-room school.' But the one-room-school model entails community control, which liberals and conservatives alike resist if the 'community' sings from the wrong hymnal."

To read the entire review, go to

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124631953965570969.html.

One-room schools have always fascinated people. In 2004, I interviewed Nina Miller of Sheboygan, a 79-year old woman who taught at the Clinton Center Grade School in Cashton, Wisconsin, in 1946. Nina did everything from stoke the fire in the morning, to tracking down young boys hiding in the cornfield, to carrying one first-grader home a mile and a half because he injured his foot at school. Many children attended barefoot in the warmer months. Miller's second oldest son is named after one of her students who was killed when a lumber truck hit him as he crossed the road to his home. Miller said she and her students were like a big family.

I've also had the pleasure of reading a local neighbor's account of life in a Sheboygan County one-room schoolhouse written by Cedar Grove resident Richard Dykstra. It's titled "Life and Learning in a One-Room Country School." It is professionally and entertainingly written and can be purchased at http://www.schrc.org/store.htm.

I like the closing remarks in Kauffman's WSJ review where he writes:

"Even after Mr. Zimmerman's unsentimental accounting of its defects, the one-room school shines in comparison with the over-large and remotely controlled warehouses in which too many children are educated today. Reading "Small Wonder," one wonders if Americans will ever tire of chasing after the gods of Progress and Bigness and rediscover the little things, red schoolhouses among them, that once gave us our soul."

Amen to that.

"What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?" Matthew 16:26

God's Grace for Social Situations

My Oswald Chambers devotion today said:

“One of the greatest proofs that you are drawing on the grace of God is that you can be totally humiliated before others without displaying even the slightest trace of anything but His grace.”

I love this because it reminds us that with God we can be free from all that scares us: embarrassment, being judged, having people talk about us behind our back, being smirked at, and being patronized. As the youngest of six, an introvert, and a social misfit, I’ve experienced, as I’m sure many of you have, all of the above.

Some of you who followed my old blog on WisMoms know about my past alcohol addiction. One of the reasons I took to alcohol so readily—as many others have--is because of shyness and the discomfort of being in my own skin. Alcohol took me out of that skin and into a world where I could be confidently social. When I was under the influence, people and social situations didn’t scare me; sober, they terrified me.

In the early days of my sobriety that fear of social situations made it almost impossible to be with people. While at a social function, I counted the minutes before I could leave and return to the safety and anonymity of my car. If my husband left my side, I went into an internal panic. But as I accepted Christ and began to live a life under His authority and grace, I began to be healed of my social phobia and become comfortable—not in my skin, but in the skin I now wore with God.

God blessed me with a reporting job where I learned how to go into groups and walk up to people and ask them questions. I met complete strangers in their homes or over coffee and asked them personal questions about their lives and experiences. And I did it all sober, and through the grace of God. Today, I can easily talk to strangers and, through a reliance on God, hold my own at a social gathering. That doesn’t mean I’ve become a social butterfly! Hardly! I still prefer one-on-one time with people and love an empty answering machine!

I admit that some situations still scare me, like gatherings with extended family or parties where alcohol is a factor (not because I’m tempted to drink, but because I’m tempted to judge those who are drinking and loathe the general drinking atmosphere). I often moderate my blood pressure and calm my nerves on the way to these gatherings by reading my Bible in the front seat of the car as we travel to the event (If I’m driving, I listen to Christian radio).

For those of us who have fluctuating comfort levels with social situations, and as we enter the 4th of July weekend where there will be many family gatherings, graduation parties, company and church picnics, etc., I pray that the above quote from Chambers, along with God’s grace, will alleviate any fear and apprehension we may have. It’s always a comfort to remember that if God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31). There is no greater joy than knowing that God understands our weaknesses and is always right there by our side.

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.” James 1:2-5

“No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” 1 Corinthians 10:13

What People Bring with Them

Me and Val, the wise B & B proprietor and also wonderful gardener!

I just returned from our summer family vacation. One of the nights we stayed at a Bed and Breakfast, and as we chatted with the lovely motherly-type woman who runs the lodging, I commented that she must encounter all types of people. Her response is something I doubt I will ever forget, and something I pondered for the rest of the vacation. She said, “You don’t know what people are carrying around with them. When they go on vacation, they don’t leave it behind, they bring it with them.”

Her words were full of compassion as well as a matter-of-factness that I found clarifying. None of us knows what people “bring with them” to the grocery store, the restaurant, the workplace, or the classroom. We sum up our opinions of folks based on so little, never getting to what Paul Harvey called “the rest of the story.” Many times, since our encounters are with strangers or with more formal acquaintances such as teachers or bosses, we are never able to find out the full story.

Yet regardless of who it is or how they are behaving, we can ask God to meet that person right where they’re at. Instead of making a snide comment about the person, or thinking the worst of someone, I’m trying instead to pray on-the-spot for them, asking God to intervene in their life and put them on the Damascus Road.

God in His Grace is allowing me more and more to see difficult people as lost instead of seeing them the way I am used to seeing them; as people who deserve to be derided. Praying for them doesn’t mean I condone their behavior or excuse it. It simply means I want them called out of their lostness the same way God called me out of my lostness. I want them to be free, finally, of the stuff they bring with them.

“But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.” Psalm 86:15

“But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” Luke 6:27-28

“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” Colossians 3:12-13

“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.” Colossians 4:2