A Lesson from a Tree

" . . . Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." I Samuel 16:7
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My neighbor has a tree in her yard that I have always thought was an eyesore that needed to be cut down.

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One morning I was visiting with her on her porch (as I often do on my morning walks), and she looked out and said, "I like that old tree. It has character."

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Suddenly I began to look at it differently. Rather than seeing an old, rotten tree, I began to think of it as a tree with a story to tell. How old was it? What had it seen during its life? Had children of yesteryear climbed up into its branches, looking out over the neighborhood? And now it was a playground for birds who regularly visited the feeder my friend had hung on it, and for squirrels, who likely made their home in its hollows.

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I will never look at the tree the same way, now that I know it has "character."

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How often do we judge people this way? They may be old, unattractive or handicapped, and we label them in our minds accordingly. But what if we looked instead at their character? Wouldn't we see them in a completely different way?

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Like the old tree, I need to look at a person's character, at their heart, as God does. I will likely find that there is a lot more there than meets the eye.

The Marshmallow Experiment

A study was done where young children were taken into a room and given a marshmallow. They were told they could either eat the marshmallow then, or wait until the adult returned, at which point they would be given another one. The adult would then leave them alone for 15 minutes. The children didn't know they were on camera. Here are some of their reactions:



As far as I know, I was never a subject of this experiment, but I have a pretty good idea what I would have done if I had been. This picture, taken of me at age 1, pretty well sums it up. That explains a lot, doesn't it?

God's Blessing at the Pole

I didn't make it to See You at the Pole yesterday, but I heard a couple of really cool stories about it that warmed my heart and reminded me that God is still here in our country, hearing our prayers and blessing us. See You at the Pole is an annual event where schoolchildren around the country gather around their school's flagpole to pray.

Lakeview Elementary School has been a spiritual battleground in recent years, beginning when a group of parents who regularly gathered in the cafeteria to pray for the school was sued by the ACLU. In the end the judge ruled mostly in their favor, giving Christians the same rights as any other group that may meet there. Just before last year's SYATP, they were again forced to fight for their rights when the principal made the children cover up the words "God" and "pray" on the posters they had made to promote the event. Another lawsuit was filed, and just a few days ago, the judge ruled that the principal had erred and the children could make posters using these words.

I have several friends who were involved in all this, and yesterday morning, one of them (Stacey) told me what had happened as they gathered to pray at the flag pole:

I also heard of a school in North Carolina who had their SYATP gathering later in the day yesterday. They were crowned with a rainbow as well.

God is good!

Birthday Wishes

Happy 74th birthday to my Dad! And many, many more!

Laura Ingalls Wilder

I didn’t “discover” the Little House books until I was in college. Of course, I was aware of them before that, but I didn’t have an interest in history when I was a child, so I wrote them off as boring.

I think those books were where my love of history began. For the first time I saw actual people living lives that in some way set the stage for my own life, rather than a series of boring events to be memorized.

My interest in Laura Ingalls Wilder goes beyond her Little House books. I have done research into her life and have even been to the home she lived in as an adult in Mansfield, Missouri and visited her grave. William Anderson has written a number of books that tell us the details of Laura’s life that she didn’t include in her books. Here are some interesting facts I have learned:

Laura’s “Pa,” Charles Ingalls, was married to “Ma,” Caroline Quiner in 1860, but did you know that 2 of Charles' siblings also married Caroline’s siblings?

The Ingalls had a son, Charles Frederick, between Carrie and Grace in age. He lived for 9 months.

Laura’s parents have no surviving descendants.
- Mary never married.
- Laura married Almonzo Wilder. They had a daughter, Rose and also had a son who died in infancy. Rose married and later divorced. She too lost a son in infancy and had no other children.
- Carrie married David Swanzey, but not until she was nearly 42. They had no children, though Carrie did help raise 2 step-children, David’s son and daughter.
- Grace married Nathaniel Dow. They had no children.

It is believed that Carrie’s husband David named Mount Rushmore, and his son was one of the workers who helped carve the figures there.

Pa died in 1902 at age 64. Ma died in 1924 at age 84. They both lived in DeSmet, South Dakota, until their deaths.

The family attended a Congregationalist church when Laura was growing up, and she and Almonzo later attended a Methodist church in Missouri. She kept a Bible on a table near a favorite rocking chair, and in it was a list she had written out of chapters to read during various times of trouble.

Laura’s daughter Rose was grown and had made a name for herself as an author before Laura began writing the Little House books.

Laura wrote all of her books out in pencil on school-type tablets.

She intended for “These Happy Golden Years” to be the last book in the series. She wrote the manuscript of “The First Four Years” but felt it was too tragic to publish. It was found and published in 1971, after both Laura and Rose had died.

Laura’s books were well-loved from the time they were published. She received many honors during her lifetime, but it is said she was always humble and gracious. She personally wrote back all of her “fans” and attended as many of the ceremonies in her honor as her health would allow. She was the last surviving Ingalls daughter and died in 1957, three days after her 90th birthday.

Gardening Update #5

I haven't done a gardening blog in a while. I guess the excitement of it all wears off after things slow down, but our garden has given us plenty of fresh produce to eat all summer and provided us with good things for the winter as well.

I have been busy canning (pickles, jelly, apple butter, peaches (the apples and peaches aren't from my garden)),

freezing (tomato sauce, green beans, bell peppers, black-eyed peas, strawberries, applesauce, cole slaw, pesto),

and drying (herbs).

Of course, these things don't taste quite as good this way as they do fresh, but they're a whole lot better than store-bought, and free too, except for a few extra ingredients needed to can or freeze.

I did a second planting of green beans, lettuce, and spinach, so we are still getting those. I also planted broccoli again, one of the few things which didn't do well the first time and hasn't come up yet the second time either. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong on that. I planted some sugar snap peas about 3 weeks ago which are starting to come up. They're a cooler weather vegetable, so hopefully we'll have some of those soon.

I am so thankful for the bountiful season God has given us and look forward to enjoying it throughout the year.

Living at Peace

“If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” Romans 12:18

My mom and I were discussing what we should do if someone wrongs us and doesn’t know it. Have they sinned? Is it our responsibility to deal with it?

I have learned through experience that when someone wrongs me and doesn’t apologize, whether or not they realize they have done it, I have three options:

1) I can hold a grudge. This is a natural tendency for me, but I have found that it doesn’t do me OR the person who wronged me any good. In fact, it leads to bitterness and puts a rift not only in my relationship with that person, but also in my walk with God.

2) I can get over it. I can opt just to forget about it. If it was just something that someone didn’t mean to do, I have to acknowledge that they, like me, are an imperfect human. Sometimes I need to be forgiven, and sometimes I need to forgive.

3) I can confront that person. If someone has done something that I just can’t get over, or maybe they are doing something repeatedly and it isn’t getting any better, it may be time for a confrontation. If they’re not aware of what they’re doing, that may be all it takes to make them stop or apologize. Or sometimes with communication comes a clearer understanding of why the person did what they did, making it easier to forgive them. But I always recommend doing this humbly and gently, with full knowledge that the tables may be turned at some point, and I may become the person who needs to be confronted.

As far as I am concerned, #1 is not an option for me anymore. It is a sin. I always try for #2, but if I simply can't get over it and find myself reverting back to #1, then I go for #3. God desires for us to live at peace with one another, so it is important that we do what we can to restore the broken relationships in our lives.

Fly Paper

Some things in life are just too simple.

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You may remember me blogging about my fruit fly problem last summer. They nearly drove me crazy! Well, they're back with a vengeance.

I'm still smashing them one by one, but they multiply faster than I can kill them. I have tried a carnivorous plant. I haven't actually seen this plant eat any of them, so I'm not sure if it's helping or not.

I hung up my Amish bug catcher, which actually works moderately well, but not well enough to put a dent in my problem. The idea is you put fruit in here, and they fly in through a hole in the bottom and they can't fly back out. Please ignore how badly our door needs to be painted. Our dog Nash likes to keep it scratched up for us.

After my family came over for dinner this week and got fruit flies in their face, their food and everywhere else you could imagine, my brother suggested fly paper. Hmmm. Sounds too easy, but I was ready to try anything. I went to the store; it was remarkably cheap -- less than $2.00 for 6 rolls. I hung a strip in my kitchen window and within a few hours, it was covered! And my house was nearly free of fruit flies . . . living ones, that is. I won't gross you out by showing you a close up shot, but gross as it is, I would rather look at that than deal with the fruit flies. It even collected a couple of house flies too.

I put another strip on my bunny's cage (they seem to like her too), and it's doing its job. She is happy as a lark. I haven't seen her in such a good mood in a long time. Apparently they bothered her as much as they did me.

So if you, like me, have a house that's plagued with fruit flies, I encourage you to try this simple remedy.

Remembering 9/11

I put a flag in my window this morning in hopes people would see it and remember. Remember that horrible day eight years ago. The helpless feeling of wondering if that day would be your last, wondering if you would ever see those you loved again, if our country would ever recover from this tragedy.

How many of us cried out to God for mercy that day? How many of us realized just how blessed we were when we felt the threat that all we had could be taken away?

If you’re reading this, you survived 9/11, but it is still true: none of us knows which day could be our last, which goodbye to a loved one could be the last, or when anything or everything we have could be taken away from us.

Everything, that is, except God. If you have Him, you have something that cannot be taken away from you. You could be forbidden from reading the Bible or praying, but God will still be there. You could even be killed for what you believe, but you will spend eternity with Him. If you know Him. If Jesus is your Savior, you have the greatest possession of all, and you will never lose Him.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

Playing by God's Rules

“Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” I Peter 5:7

My dogs both love a good game of fetch. There’s just one problem. My dog Nash doesn’t know how to play. At least by my standards, he doesn’t. I throw the ball. He runs after it excitedly, grabs it and runs back to me. Sounds pretty good, huh? The problem is, it ends there. He will not give the ball back to me. He dodges me when I try to grab it, snarls at me (in a friendly way, of course) and tries to get me to chase him, but I won't; that's not how you play the game. So I just find something else to do until he finally gives up and drops it at my feet.

He was doing that today, and I was reminded of how I play games with God this way. I won’t give him the ball. He is waiting for me to so we can get on with things, but I simply won’t let go of it. Of course, He could tackle me and pry the ball out of my mouth, but He doesn’t. He lovingly waits for me to lay it at His feet. And then we can carry on. I know how frustrating it must be for Him sometimes when I dodge Him and snarl at Him, but He waits. Much more patiently than I wait for Nash.

Why do we do it? Why do we hold on to things, when we know that if we turn them over to God, He will take care of them for us? His plan is far greater than ours, but He is waiting for us to surrender to it. If you, like me, are holding on to any “balls” that God wants you to give to Him, I encourage you to lay them at His feet so He can get on with the wonderful plan He has for your life.

A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing?

"Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?" Matthew 7:15-16

I'm sorry for those of you who are bored with my blog. This is my third one in a row about politics, which I try not to do, but that's what's been on my mind lately.

There has been so much outrage about the President's speech to school children for the past several days, and then it was, as a friend put it, innocuous. Hardly objectionable. Even those who spoke out against him doing it are admitting that it was a good speech.

It was a good speech. There was truth in it. But knowing our president's history and his associations, I find it hard to believe there's not some underlying motive, maybe to get everyone's guard down so he can take a few extra liberties next time.

But I'm trying to be optimistic. I'm trying to try to believe that all the outrage forced him to tone it down. That our voices are being heard in Washington. And that for the same reason Van Jones, the President's czar who was a self-declared Communist, resigned this weekend. I want to believe that our prayers are being answered and God is having mercy on us, holding back the power of those who might not have our country's best interests at heart. I hope I'm right. But I'm not letting down my guard, because even though God wants us to trust Him, He also tells to watch out.

Healthcare

“No one should have to die because they can’t afford healthcare. . . If you agree with this, make it your status for the rest of the day.” This has been going around Facebook for a few days now.

A nice concept, no doubt. Who could disagree?

I wish it were that simple. I wish someone could push a magic button, and we’d all have affordable healthcare. I wish Don and I didn’t have to pay $500+ a month for our healthcare insurance. This is in addition to his employer paying a big chunk of it. And we’re healthy, low-risk people who have only used it a handful of times in recent years.

And what constitutes "can't afford"? We can't afford it either. We would much rather spend that $500 per month on something more tangible. But at least we know we have healthcare if we need it. The one thing we would NOT rather spend that money on is higher taxes, and then only hope we would have healthcare if we needed it.

I don’t think government-sponsored healthcare for is the answer. We can look at any country that has tried this system and clearly see that it is far from flawless. People have to wait in line for months or years to have time-sensitive procedures done. The government prioritizes who receives healthcare based on their own standards, so if you are old, handicapped or terminally ill, you may well not be considered worthy of healthcare at all. If you are overweight, a smoker, or given to some other bad habit, they may decide you don’t deserve any medical care because you brought your problems on yourself.

So what is the solution? There isn’t an easy one, but here are some factors I believe should be considered. I don’t claim to have expertise in this field, but I consider these to be common sense approaches:

1) Too many doctor visits. Most healthcare plans today cover any doctor visits with only a co-pay. This encourages people to run to the doctor or even the emergency room for every sneeze or sniffle, bump or bruise, things that will probably go away on their own given a little time. If people had to pay full price for their doctor visits, they would probably reconsider going there so often.

2) Too many drugs. Again, most plans cover drugs for a small co-pay. Taking drugs is popular. People expect their doctors to give them a prescription. Drugs are advertised. In the old days, if we had symptoms, we went to the doctor, who gave us a prescription if he thought we needed it. Now, we see an advertisement for a drug, decide we need it, and then find a doctor who will prescribe it to us. We as a country are taking a massive amount of drugs, many of which we don’t need.

3) Too much junk food. I have to confess: I am guilty of this one. Our society promotes it. Every form of media is packed with advertising pushing people to eat fast food and processed foods and drink soft drinks that are not the foods our bodies were created to use as fuel. The short-term results are often obesity and lack of energy, but the long-term results, I believe, are cancer, diabetes, strokes, heart problems and other major health issues that cost a fortune to treat.

4) Focusing on treatments rather than prevention. Referring to #2 above, most drugs treat symptoms; they are not cures. Many of them include side-effects, known or unknown, that will cause us far greater long-term health problems than the drug will resolve in the short-term.

Referring to #3, I believe if our society were educated on just how bad these foods are for our long-term health, it would make a significant impact. The junk-food industry is huge in this country.

If the government is going to be involved at all, it should be involved in regulating the advertising and other industries that are harmful to our health and possibly educating people on how to eat healthier, and the importance of exercise and otherwise taking care of themselves. But I'm not even sure I trust their judgment there.

5) Treating illegal immigrants. I don’t believe that non-Americans are less worthy of treatment than Americans, but if someone is not here legally, not paying taxes, and unwilling or unable to pay for even a portion of their treatment, this is a huge drain on our healthcare system. Those of us who are paying for healthcare end up paying their bills through higher insurance and treatment costs. Illegal immigration is a problem the government could work on, if they are looking for something to do.

6) Malpractice suits. While I believe that doctors and healthcare professionals should be held accountable to do their best, I think malpractice suits are out of control. Doctors who make honest mistakes or who may not have made the best possible call in a profession that is still a science are being sued for huge amounts of money, much of which is collected by attorneys. As a result, doctors are forced to recommend far more treatment than is generally necessary, just to cover all their bases. This, of course, costs hospitals and insurance companies more money, which we eventually end up covering the cost of.

So there you have it: my two cents. While I don’t offer specific solutions, I think we need to start over with re-vamping the system and look at some different factors. I think people need to take responsiblity for themselves. I truly do not believe the government needs to be involved in this system, but if changes were made from the ground up, we might be able to make healthcare more affordable for everyone.

Rodica

About 20 years ago, when I was newly out of college, I lived for a short time with a roommate named Rodica, who had recently come to the United States from Romania. She was living out her dream, coming to the “land of the free,” something she had desperately wanted to do her entire life.

I was young and had no concept of a life so different from mine. She was bitter and hardened. She told me stories of standing in line all day long for a piece of bread, and when she finally got to the front of the line, they had run out.

Our washer and dryer were a novelty to her. I had to get after her several times for washing one garment at a time. She had no concept of how to match clothing. Apparently she had always worn what she could find, with no concern for whether or not it matched.

She didn’t know how to drive a car. It was nothing to her to walk several miles to the grocery store on a hot day. She had never tasted ice cream. It was such a wonderful thing that she didn’t mind that it was basically “soup” by the time she got back from her walk to the grocery store.

I could go on about this unique experience I had. But my point is this: she grew up in a Communist country. She had never known the freedoms or the “luxuries” we in America basically consider everyday essentials. She had never gotten to choose the job she wanted, the food she would eat (if she got to eat at all) or the clothes she would wear. Communism is an ugly thing.

That's all I'm going to say. Except "don't ignore what's going on in our country right now." Pay attention to our leaders and their agendas. And their "czars." And pray. Every day. For God's mercy on us.