Flowers, Beauty and Grace

My African violet has three to four new purplish violet tinted blossoms this week and to great surprise the peace plant in my office has grown a new white blossom as well. It just opened today. Flowers, beautiful, simple, and fragile. Purple for royalty, white for purity and peace. Something about them calls out, cries out. Life and beauty shown and given unto me. A token of love and kindness.

I Corinthians 3:6 reads "I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow."

Flowers, new life, hope and great beauty can bring healing. It is a gift that can touch deeply or enrage. I've heard many a story from my friend, Michelle, the florist, about how not everyone is happy to get flowers. Some figure all they have to do is send a nice bouquet or arrangement to smooth over an offense. No change in behavior or I'm sorry, just the beautiful bouquet.

What about when the person sending the flowers has every right to be indignant or enraged themselves? I wonder how many of us send flowers as a token of kindness when we are the one offended? Does anyone? I'm not talking about those who pacify or enable people in order to hold onto them because they are co-dependent. What I am talking about is GRACE.

Grace defined as: mercy, favor, pardon; the unmerited will and favor shown to us from God. In fact, the word is used in the Bible over 100 times. Christianity would not be what it is or have the power to effect mankind the way it does, if it was not for God's grace. It is because of this, that we are able to be forgiven and share eternity with God as His children.

It is this same grace and kindness shown unto me, when God causes beautiful flowers to blossom in my own home. Home, the very place where I have stewed in anger over the way He does things, the people he chooses to bless or not, and those people or situations He appears to leave unchanged and broken. Many of which I simply and can not for the life of me understand, at all, nor one bit.

Yet, I do know one thing, the flowers are simply beautiful and somehow they touched me. "His mercies are new every morning."(Lamentations 3:22-23) May we all glean more insight and develop a greater appreciation for just how much He gives, especially when we are the ones who should be saying, "I'm sorry."

Spring!

Spectacular colors

Pulsating

Running wild

Intoxicating

Nothing untouched remains

Genesis of nature gamboling

People or Techno. ?

Years ago I heard Barbara Streisand sing, "People who need people are the luckiest people in the world." I can't remember the whole song, but those words have always stood out to me. Somehow though, with all of this technology today,we seem to have gotten away from that. Now a days it's all about being independent and getting more done faster. Don't get me wrong. Technology has improved the quality of life for many and I love my computer. I love the easy access and it's time saving attributes, but I also love people.

Yesterday, I climbed onto the elliptical machine at the gym, plugged in my headphones to the TV, and flipped to CMT. TY Pennington was on doing one of his infamous home makeovers. This time it was for a man who was paralyzed from a gun shot. He needed a lot of assistance. His home was not handicapped accessible. So Ty and his team set about making this wonderful new home, loaded with all kinds of neat gadgets. Rodney would not need any assistance for moving through the house and bathing any longer. He would now have voice activated lifts to move him and lower him into the shower or bath. One of the carpenters was demonstrating how this new gadget worked and said, "Now Rodney won't need anybody to help him. He'll be totally independent."

"Hmmm. I don't know if that's all that good," I thought to myself. I totally understand the desire to be independent, but I also know there is a blessing in caring for and serving. In John 13:4-5;14 it reads, "...so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet... 'Now that I your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet.'" Furthermore, Jesus stated in Matthew 25:44-45, "They will also answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?' He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me."

My mom, Linda has had 12 surgeries over the past decade or so. Each time, her movement was limited to some degree. With her back or shoulder surgeries, she needed help getting dressed or getting in and out of the shower. She was unable to do common household chores like laundry or vacuuming, but my dad was always there. He dressed her, made the bed, did the laundry, vacuumed and made her breakfast. If you were to ask him about it, I know he would say, "It is a privilege to care for and serve my wife in this way." Gadgets don't say that. They can't. They simply operate according to instruction.

By 3:40 p.m. I finished my run on the elliptical, stretched out, gathered my things from the locker room and headed over to see my friend, Keith. I started to tell him about the Home Makeover show I was watching and asked my bedridden friend, "Keith, if you had a choice between technology to help you or people, which would you pick?" Keith didn't even have to think about it. He was diagnosed with Polio many years ago and has relied on caring people to assist him for years now. Instantly, he replied, "People."

Gadgets are fun and can make life easier, but they don't say 'I love you' with each movement they make. They assist, but should never replace anyone because after all, people who need people, really are the luckiest people in the world.

Sheep, Shepherd or Dog?

Today was the culmination of a unit about sheep with my first graders. I read them the story of "The Shepherd Boy". It tells of a little boy, Ben, who rises early each morning to care for his father's 50 sheep. He has two dogs to help gather them and direct them through the canyon, across a mesa, and to a secret spring where lot's of fresh green grass grows. Upon returning home and counting the sheep, Ben discovers there are 49, as opposed to the 50 he started out with. He secures the sheep in a pen and runs after the one ewe lamb. He finds her under an old house hidden between rocks. He gently picks her up and carries her home. It is a beautiful story of dedication, love and compassion. My students were captivated. For every page I read and turned, they sat as still as statues and quiet as mice, with an occasional, "Aah!" blurted out here and there.

After reading it, I asked them about the sheep, "How did they feel? What did they do? What's their personality? How did they look?" As expected, their responses were quite simplistic. They responded with "Happy, sad, scared." They did not think of the word, "safe", but agreed the sheep must have felt safe because they were being cared for. As for what sheep did, I got responses like, "Eat grass. Walk a long time. Rest." Finally, after some coaxing, one little girl called out,"They follow the shepherd."

By this time, 12:30 p.m. was fast approaching and I wanted them to share with a buddy which one they would choose to be. I asked them, "If you could pick, would you rather be a sheep or a shepherd and why?" Their responses were extremely insightful! Most of them wanted to be sheep. All except for one little boy, who wanted to be a shepherd. When asked why, the boy responded, "Because then I can get money for taking care of the sheep and I get to touch them." The others explained, "Sheep are soft and puffy; I want to be the baby; I want to be the lamb and be carried." My sole entrepreneur, shepherd enthusiast, asked me, "What do you want to be?"
I paused for a moment to think and responded, "Sometimes I want to be a sheep and have someone take care of me and other times I want to be the Shepherd and take care of others."
"Which do you want to be right now?," he persisted.

Once again I had to pause,think, and listen to my heart's cry. "I probably want to be the Shepherd now because I want to take care of sheep."

Over lunch, I asked another boy, "What would you be? A shepherd or a sheep?"
He surprised me by saying, "I want to be the dog that protects the sheep from the wolves."

Overall, I was encouraged and enlightened by each of my students' responses today. Most like to be sheep. They want the security of being cared for, while another wants to gain a reward and nurture, and yet a third to love and protect.
In God's eyes we are all sheep. His sheep in a pasture. Each has a different role, but all are needing to follow and be cared for. I must admit, I have not felt like following much. I like to be the one leading and yet I know I still need to be cared for and carried safely home.

Matthew 18:3 "And he said, 'I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven..."

Moving Up and Out

It was time. The leaves on the fern I bought over a year ago were now dwindling and not because of thirst. Months ago, it was much more lush, but I noticed some of the roots had begun to sprout up along the sides of the brown ceramic pot. I guess you could say I've known for awhile that it was time to transplant it into a larger home, but kept putting it off. There was never extra time to make the switch. Thoughts well intended and informed, but not enough until tonight.
About 8:45 p.m., I walked through the door, flipped on the lights, and stared at the green fern sprouting only seven or eight branches from it's center. The dirt was dry and when I tried to water it, it ran straight through and seeped out the bottom. I'm a teacher, not a horticulturist.
When I picked it up, I could lift the whole plant with the dirt compounded around it, out of it's pot. Sure enough, it was root bound. Yellow, thin roots were poking through the sides. I went straight to the closet for potting soil and to search for a bigger pot. Ah, yes. The plastic pot from Home Depot left from another plant. This will have to do. I poured the dirt into the bottom of the larger pot and gently added the fern to the center, before adding more soil on top. I finished with watering. It now rests on the counter in the kitchen to the left of the window. I only hope it starts to thrive once again.
Years ago, I had a similar problem with another plant, except it wasn't getting enough light. Once I moved to a different apartment and placed it in the window that gets the morning sun, it slowly grew back. Today, it is the same size as when I received it five years ago. It was resurrected by the warmth and nutrients from the sun.
I often reflect upon this lesson. There is a time for moving up and out. Location, location, location as they say is truly everything. It is so easy to stay where it is comfortable and put off changing at all costs, but may we not do that when it comes to survival and growth. Ecclesiastes 3:2-3 reads "A time to give birth, and a time to die; A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted."
I have lived and worked in the same area for many years now. I've enjoyed it. It is comfortable and it is home, but if God wants to move me up and out, may I have courage and faith to embrace whatever changes lie ahead, so that I may continue to grow and thrive. Time will tell, if and when it will be time for me to move up and out.