God's art, building trust, late season frosts

I was out in God's art today (outside).  Spring is just starting to bring a little green to the drab winter landscape.  It has been brutally cold here.  it's not that unusual to be in the low 20's in late April here but after a long warm spell, it was a shock to my plants as well as my own system.  It's COLD out there!  My plum and peach tree blossoms will not recover.  There will be no fruit on them this year.  Even my tulips were bowed low to the ground this morning only to pop back up when the sun grew warm.

It's interesting to see.  I have learned that though the blossoms may still be pretty, if you look deep into the flowers, you can tell that they have been made impotent by the frost.  I wish I could see people in the same way.  Are they still fragrant and ready to bear sweet, juicy fruit, or is something in the depths of them frozen beyond redemption (at least by natural means).  

The truth is, it's not my job to know.  It's my job to scatter the seed, to love with abandon, and offer redemption to any who will hear.  But the world is so frightening now.  If I was afraid to speak of heavenly things years ago, what help is there now for me?  (Listening)  The picture I have is of Steven in Acts 7.  I used to think of myself as a failure because I couldn't imagine myself having the Steven's boldness to continue telling the truth in spite of the threat of stoning.  Steven was already caught up and moving closer and closer to heaven.  He didn't even noticed the stones.  He was too excited by his visions of where he was going.  He was trying so hard to share his vision with those who stoned him to death.  But they could not hear him.  I realized that Steven was given the power in that moment to stand and to speak boldly.  All he needed to be was willing.  

Ah, there's the rub.  Am I willing?  What is it to trust God anyway?  What am I trusting Him for?  What does He promise?  Well, He didn't promise that I would avoid pain or suffering.  That's hard for my "civilized' heart to understand but Hebrew 5:8 says, "though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered"  Jesus said, "Follow me" I'm pretty sure He knew that suffering was involved.  So is suffering to help us learn obedience?  And if so, ultimately is suffering a trust building exercise?  Do we too learn obedience by the things that we suffer?  And do we learn to lean into Him in the process?

What are your thoughts?

Locust plagues, God's art and chickens

I am starting to hear the word plague in connection to the locust swarms in various parts of the world right now.  Many are fighting for their lives and livelihoods as we speak.  I wonder, are locusts a part of God's art too?  Is it that they are tiny little demons that must be wiped out?  Is this God's wrath poured out?  Or is it a normal consequence of?

Locusts are an interesting, hit you when your down, sort of insect.  We don't have locust swarms here in the North but we do have grasshoppers.  A few years back, we had a severe seven year drought.  It wiped out the wheat crops and livestock were sold to avoid them all starving to death.  Ranchers wept openly in the Church we attended.  They were being crushed by their staggering losses.  Many talked of the grasshoppers which seemed to relish the conditions.  Mostly the bugs added to the overall feeling of hopelessness. 

It was a rough time.  Who could afford the to be spaying and what would be the point?  But the grasshopper comments got me thinking.  If we were agile enough, couldn't we take advantage of the bugs instead of fighting those as well?

My efforts in gardening have been to avoid any kind of chemical intervention.  I have an autoimmune disease called MCS (multiple chemical sensitivities).  That basically means my body attacks itself when it encounters synthetics.  Paint, carpet, garden chemicals... you name it, if God didn't make it, I react to it.  That gives me extra incentive to learn alternatives to chemical fertilizers or pesticides.  So is there are non chemical solution to a locusts and grasshoppers?

YES!! Chickens!! I use chickens all the time to wipe out the latest bug bloom in my garden.  Did you know that one chicken can eat 600 locusts a day?  When you are facing billions that might not seem like a lot, but if in mass, locusts don't stand a chance.  What if instead of raising crops when locusts storms are looming, we raised birds?  far fetched?  China is finding great success using chickens to control their own locust infestations.  

But back again to God's art.  I believe in the world that God created, it is all about balance.  In gardening holistically, balance is everything.  It's really about bringing your land back to God's original intent.  If we move in harmony with His art, we are blessed with wonderful bounty.  When we move against it, eventually our house of cards will fall.  When we tip the scales and bring the world out of balance, the ripples spread far and wide.  Hmmm balance, what does it take to find it?  

God's Art

 Romans 1:20 says, "For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse"  

Wow, God's invisible attributes are clearly seen.  Is that saying that the core of who God is can be clearly seen?  Isn't this saying we have the opportunity to know God? Even His eternal power and Godhead.  Wow, what an amazing opportunity... and we are missing it!

Can we really know Him at the core of who He is?  I'm thinking of a song we used to sing, "I want to know You, I want to hear Your voice, I want to Know you Lord."  I'm thinking of the many times I have put myself out there with the hope that someone will take the time to understand.  Has God done that for us?  Have we been given the poetry that pours forth from the very depths of God's being and not read it?

So where are His attributes clearly seen? Romans says, The things that God created give us opportunity to understand Him.  His art reveals His heart.  His art is everywhere!  His mediums are diverse.  He uses wind, and birdsong, and texture and power.  

Go outside!  Turn off your computer and go!!!  Find a space where what He has made is visible and seek to understand it's maker.   In our world packed with our own creations, look for what we can not duplicate and have not ruined.  Look at the one little flower that braves it's way through a crack in the pavement.  We made the pavement.... He made the flower.  Are we covering up more than just the ground?  Are we smudging a master piece?  

Perhaps if we understood the earth as God's amazing masterpiece, we would tread more lightly on the things that He has made.  Certainly we are without excuse.

Day 15, Bringing Life to Order: (God's art)

This thread begins on February 7th

Well, there were a lot of things I didn’t do yesterday like taking the time to celebrate the consistency of blogging for two weeks straight. That’s big for me.

I am feeling very blessed to have gotten here and with very little stress. By the time I arrived at my destination my kids were sending me pictures of the snow storm back home. It was a doozy and I totally missed it. Hehehe

I got on the plane with a sense of expectancy. I often use the time on a plane to write or read but I was really wanting to get on that plane with my eyes open for something I can do to notice someone else’s plight and offer kindness. (I was asked to switch my seat so that a wheelchair bound person had a more accessible one but that wasn’t something that came I “saw” the need for.) On the long leg of my flight I sat between two ladies that were playing solitaire with their ipods or sometimes using their computers for facebooking and movies (did you know there is internet access on planes now?). I really tried to strike up a conversation but I felt like an annoyance to them both so I took to observing.

We loaded into a big plane mid-morning on a Sunday. It’s always beautiful outside above the clouds but most people drew the shades down so they could see their various types of electronic screens. In the mean time, I’m quite sure we passed majestic mountain ranges, vast plains, intricate river beds, lakes and canyons sight unseen. There were very few windows open on the entire plane. I felt like I was in a coffin. I felt like standing up and screaming, “Wake up! A big, beautiful creation is floating by all around you and you are missing it!!!!

There was no in-flight movie (which is new) or other reason for shutting out the light that I could see. The sad part is, I don’t remember when this started happening. I have taken many a flight in recent years. Have I been asleep and not noticing the loss? Romans 1:20 says, ^“For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, (underlines mine)” That says to me that we can clearly understand God by His art. He has surrounded us with a message that is a revelation of His very identity. Isn’t that the way with art? Don’t all artists do this? Are all these bells and whistles pulling our eyes away from God’s greatest revelation of Himself? Well, no, unless you count Jesus as a part of the creation as well as a part of the creator (I see Jesus as a kind of self-portrait of God). The point is, God has stuck Himself out there as vulnerably as I do (and way more!) when I publicly sing songs that clearly reveal my own ugly past. That makes me weep.

Perhaps chaos pulls our eyes away from Him and all these bells and whistles are the way we cope with both the chaos and the emptiness inside because we are missing Him in the process.

Yesterdays Report:

1) (business meeting with God) I had lots of time with God yesterday. I have a bigger sense of future today

2) (blog) It was short and I was the last person on the plane because I was getting it posted but I made it… two weeks of uninterrupted blogging w00t!

3) (Act of Random Kindness) I tried and yes changing you seat “counts” but I felt impotent yesterday. I could “see” but it was like looking through a bullet proof window… sad.

4) (Clean something) Here’s the acid test, I did clean up after my husband chaos God help us both not bring chaos into each other’s lives.

5) (Order something) I did some ordering of our room here. It’s hard to know what is chaos and what are little piles of “brains” that are in order but just not MY order. This is a good place to test things out cause we only have one room to occupy, clean and order.

6) (Book) I sat next to a lady who was high up in the ASCAP world. That’s an organization that helps song writers make a living. I would loved to have talked to her about music and the workings of it but I could tell she would best be served if I didn’t try to use her for my own interests. She could tell I was informed since I knew what ASCAP was and what it did. I told her I was a song writer, that I was registered with ASCAP but left it at that. I wonder if that was a gift to her.

7) (Family) I don’t think it counts that because of car issues my dear family got up at 5 or earlier to get me to the airport on time. Or even that I sent them a picture of the huge lines at the Costco gas pumps here. But it was nice to finally be in the same state as my husband.

8) (Me) I read a book on the plane. It is filling my mind with ideas. I like that.

9) (Ministry) There was not a single crack in the door yesterday. Oh well.

10) (rest) I hope to work on that this week.