4/23/2016
#182 OUR LADY
GOAFS II: #182
OUR LADY
April 24, 2016
When our Son-in-law’s Father went home to Glory and the family
home in La Habra, California went on the market, we rescued this lady from the
garden. She came to live with us in Claremont, California and we called her Our
Blessed Lady of La Habra. We didn’t worship her or even venerate her but we did
gradually accept her as a member of the family.
She was a lovely centerpiece in one corner of Joan’s extensive
garden and the plants all seemed to thrive on her presence. I sprayed her from
time to time with concrete sealer but as she aged she gradually shed some of
her parts—but she did it gracefully enough to merit a spot in the bed of Joan’s
pickup truck when we moved years later to Lexington, Kentucky.
She continued to endure—so much so that 22 years later the
buyer of our home asked to have her included in the sale. We felt it was best
not to move her again and we were happy to leave her there. But she still has
an honored place in our Cybergarden and carries many good memories with her.
Jerry Sweers
GROWING OLD
AIN’T FOR SISSIES
Sailing directions for Pilgrims of the Heart.
Remembrances, reflections and rants
of an endangered species;
Curmudgensis Americanus
Bibliophilius
site: crmudgeon.blogspot.com
4/17/2016
#181 GRAPES--DO IT AGAIN
GOAFS II: #181
DO IT AGAIN
April 17, 2016
In Lexington, the Tulip and the Crocus are the early heralds
of Spring. The Bradley Pear Trees have just finished blanketing the
neighborhoods in white. In California these
grapes were heralds of the other end of the cycle, the Fall, the Harvest.
Going out to collect the mail the other day I was reminded of
the first lines of Joyce Kilmer’s poem, Trees:
“I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.”
The word poem comes
from the Greek, poiema, which means
creation, workmanship, handiwork. It is the same word the Apostle Paul used in
his letter to the Church at Ephesus to describe those saved by grace:
“For we are His workmanship (poiema), created in Christ Jesus
for good works, which God prepared before hand so that we would walk in them.” Ephesians 2.10
God is a Poet and we are His poems, and the making of poems by
human poets is a reflection of the image of the Creator in his creatures.
Kilmer considered trees and was reminded that God is involved
in their lives. Before we sold our home we lived in the shadow of a giant red maple.
When the leaves turned gold and crimson and began to fall to the ground, we
were knee deep in their beauty. The tree rested through the winter and then put
on a whole new garment of green in the Spring. This happens, I believe, because
God says, “that was nice, do it again” every year.
Thinking of “Do it again,” reminded me of something Robert
Ferrar Capon, the Anglican Priest and gourmet cook, wrote in The Wedding Feast of The Lamb:
“In a general way we concede that God made the world out of
joy: He didn’t need it; He just thought it was a good thing. But if you confine
His activity in creation to the beginning only, you lose most of the joy in the
subsequent shuffle of history. Sure, it was good back then, you say, but since
then, we have been eating leftovers. How much better a world becomes when you
see Him creating at all times and at every time; when you see that the preserving
of the old in being is just as much creation as the bringing of the new out of
nothing. The bloom of the yeast lies upon the grapeskins year after year
because He likes it; C6H12O6=2C2H5OH+2CO2 (fermentation) is a dependable
process because, every September, He says, “that was nice; do it again.”
The yeast Capon speaks of is Saccharomyces ellipsoideus.
When the grapes are crushed, it is this yeast that causes the sugar in
the grapes to ferment. The result is wine “which cheers both God and men. ”For
me, what ties this all together is the description of Christ in Paul’s letter to the Church at Colossae:
“For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on the earth,
visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rules or authorities—all
things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together (cohere,
subsist).” Colossians 1.16-17
The oath that binds two atoms
of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen together to give us the water we drink every
day is nothing less than the sustaining Word of the Creator and Upholder of all
that is.
I will let Kilmer can finish
this off with the last two lines of his poem:
“Poems are made by fools like
me
But only God can make a
tree.”
I have to confess that I am
one of those fools, but I do know where my poems come from and Praise the Poet
of all poets every day for His Words, spoken, written and incarnate.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
“God saw all that He had
made, and behold, it was very good.”
“God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many
portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom
He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is
the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the Word of His
power.” Hebrews 1.1-3
Jerry Sweers
GROWING OLD
AIN’T FOR SISSIES
Sailing directions for Pilgrims of the Heart.
Remembrances, reflections and rants
of an endangered species;
Curmudgensis Americanus
Bibliophilius
site: crmudgeon.blogspot.com
4/09/2016
#180 CROCUS
GOAFS II: #180
CROCUS
April 10, 2016
The Crocus always
came a little ahead of the Tulips, and the bees a little later. That’s the
beauty of a cyberspace garden time is in your hands.
Food For Thought for the Week Ahead
After my wife
died I realized that my body from the waist down needed some work if I was to
stay safely mobile. I spent six weeks with physical therapist and saw my lower
body effectiveness go from 43% to 73%. A part of my continuing program at home
is 30 minutes a day on a reclining cross-trainer. We have them here at the
village so I get 7 days a week, first thing in the morning, along with a cup of
coffee and a smackeral of breakfast at the Village Café just down the hall from
the exercise room.
Those of you
who know me know that I am constitutionally unable to go thirty minutes without
a book in my hands. What I have done is enlarge parts of the Scriptures to 20
point type and have been reading and meditating on them during my morning
rides.
One of the
first things in this reading file is the Beatitudes (Matthew 5.3-12). Here is
the first one from the English Standard
Version:
“Blessed are the poor in
spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Early in this process I checked some of my favorite
paraphrases. I know Gene Peterson. I respect him as both a pastor and a scholar
so have always liked The Message. It often gives a
perspective that is both true to the original and quite different than we are
used to:
“You’re blessed when
you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his
rule.”
I have found
there are many ways to be at the end of my rope—big ways, medium-size ways,
small ways—and even sometimes unrecognized ways. I have always found great
blessing from my Creator comes with these experiences.
If you have
access to The Message version, I urge
you to read all of these beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-12). Each one is good in the
same way.
I use Bible
Gateway to compare many versions:
https://www.biblegateway.com
Jerry Sweers
GROWING OLD
AIN’T FOR SISSIES
Sailing directions for Pilgrims of the Heart.
Remembrances, reflections and rants
of an endangered species;
Curmudgensis Americanus
Bibliophilius
site: crmudgeon.blogspot.com
4/02/2016
#179 TULIPS
GOAFS II: #179
TULIPS
April 3, 2016
Here is food for thought for today, sent along my an old
friend (without attribution)
Six Little Stories with Great Meanings
{1} Once all villagers decided to pray for rain, on the day of
prayer all the people gathered, but only one boy came with an umbrella.
That's FAITH
{2} When you throw a baby in the air, she laughs because she
knows you will catch her.
That's TRUST
{3} Every night we go to bed, without any assurance of being alive
the next morning but still we set the alarms to wake up.
That's HOPE
{4} We plan big things for tomorrow in spite ofzero
knowledge of the future.
That's CONFIDENCE
{5} We see the world suffering, but still we get married and
have children.
That's LOVE
{6} On an elderly man's shirt was written: "I am not
90 years old...I am sweet 16 with 74 years experience."
That's ATTITUDE
May you live your life like the six stories!
May you always have love to share, health to spare, and
friends who care!
When we moved into Wesley Village last May we left many lovely
flowers behind, at least the care an tending of them. We did bring them along
in cyberspace though. here are some we looked forward to early every spring.
Jerry Sweers
GROWING OLD
AIN’T FOR SISSIES
Sailing directions for Pilgrims of the Heart.
Remembrances, reflections and rants
of an endangered species;
Curmudgensis Americanus
Bibliophilius
site: crmudgeon.blogspot.com
