I got a gift this week that I will cherish for a long time. It was in the form of a sermon, believe it or not! :) The pastor preached out of 2 Corinthians 4:1-11 and Matthew 6:19-21. The nugget that I walked away with, is the fact that I have to spend time on something to show evidence that I love it. Treasure it, then I will love it.
Now, I struggle with keeping my house out of complete chaos, and most of the time I'd rather not be doing the things it takes to keep it tidy. With that attitude I have begun to love my house less and less. What do I need to do to treasure my home? I don't think the pastor had that in mind for his challenge at the end of his message! But as I think about, and try to implement ways to show my family that I love my home, the message of salvation rings in my ear. How much do I spend time with my Savior to show my love for Him? How much do I spend sharing Christ with the lost, to show my love for them?
Merry Christmas my friends. And may the light of Jesus shine brightly in you in the coming new year!
Friday, December 25, 2009
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Thrilling Thursday!
A few months ago we had an apple tree cut down in our back yard. It was the only large tree in our back yard. It was a nice shade tree, but the apples were not edible. Likely it was a variety called "Early Transparent" which is not known for it's tasty apples, but is good for cross-pollinating other apple trees. So, it was a beautiful old tree that gave nice shade and lots of rotten apples to clean up after in the fall. And maybe some cross-pollinating benefits for some neighbor's apple tree. Somewhere. But it was very old and starting to rot in places. And the few branches that had been grafted on were not producing good apples either, even though they were supposedly edible varieties.
So, the tree was cut down. And we've had an 18" stump in our yard since then that basically has just reminded me of how many things in our back yard we have gotten rid of or cut down to make it truly our own design. We got rid of a statue of Mary, mother of Jesus. We got rid of two LARGE metal poles that held up a clothes line. We got rid of some small tree in the back of the yard. I can't remember what it was, but it had berries on it and the birds liked it. We moved three rose bushes into the front yard. They had been trained as climbers and are now back to their proper height. You're welcome. We got rid of the stuff that supported the "climbing" roses. We re-purposed the cinder blocks that had been used to support some IVY(!) that decorated the fountain and cement pond in front of the statue of Mary the mother of Jesus.
Our backyard now is the home of a beautiful grape arbor with two grape vines, three columnar apple trees, a dwarf cherry tree, a clump of ever-bearing raspberries and a modest garden which will have Walla Walla sweet onions, zucchini, pickling cucumbers, red potatoes, Yukon Gold potatoes, and some tomatoes, probably beefsteak or Romas.
But I got side tracked didn't I? Today was thrilling because the reminder of the way our yard WAS is GONE! We had the tree stump ground up today. And now I have some wood shavings to put in my compost bin. I'm happy! And I'm looking forward to spending hours and hours out in God's creation this summer, part of which is in my backyard.
So, the tree was cut down. And we've had an 18" stump in our yard since then that basically has just reminded me of how many things in our back yard we have gotten rid of or cut down to make it truly our own design. We got rid of a statue of Mary, mother of Jesus. We got rid of two LARGE metal poles that held up a clothes line. We got rid of some small tree in the back of the yard. I can't remember what it was, but it had berries on it and the birds liked it. We moved three rose bushes into the front yard. They had been trained as climbers and are now back to their proper height. You're welcome. We got rid of the stuff that supported the "climbing" roses. We re-purposed the cinder blocks that had been used to support some IVY(!) that decorated the fountain and cement pond in front of the statue of Mary the mother of Jesus.
Our backyard now is the home of a beautiful grape arbor with two grape vines, three columnar apple trees, a dwarf cherry tree, a clump of ever-bearing raspberries and a modest garden which will have Walla Walla sweet onions, zucchini, pickling cucumbers, red potatoes, Yukon Gold potatoes, and some tomatoes, probably beefsteak or Romas.
But I got side tracked didn't I? Today was thrilling because the reminder of the way our yard WAS is GONE! We had the tree stump ground up today. And now I have some wood shavings to put in my compost bin. I'm happy! And I'm looking forward to spending hours and hours out in God's creation this summer, part of which is in my backyard.
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