Gardening - Dene's Blog

A Handful of Wildflowers

6/1/2015 0 Comments

Every afternoon following our midday meal, we walk our property, counting new blooms on the roses, smelling the jasmine, looking beneath those large scratchy leaves for new squash blossoms. Usually I end up with a handful of wildflowers, blooms so tiny I cannot see them until Keith hands me one I can pull up close.

Do you know what I see? Blooms of all colors--red, pink, blue, white, yellow, orange, purple in all shades and combinations—and shapes—bells, tubes, bowls, cups, stars with five or six points, some flared, some rayed, some as complex as orchids. And did you know that even the stems are different? Some are wiry, some are leafless, some are hairy, some sprawl and others stand up straight, and some are square! Some of these flowers are exquisite, but most of us don’t know that. We’ve never taken the time to bend over and really look.

   A long time ago a woman who has since become a close friend, told me that looking across the pews at Keith had made her think he was stern and unapproachable, and so she had decided to make it a point to get to know him. It wasn’t really Keith’s fault. He has large, piercing blue eyes that look like they’re boring into you, a strong Roman nose, and a voice that, because he is profoundly deaf, is always in projection mode. Even when he isn’t, he often sounds disapproving, and is always loud, which is often translated “angry.” A lot of people just go with that first impression. This woman did not, and she proclaimed that year of getting to know him “delightful.”   I wonder how many others have missed out on that delight, how many have formed an opinion, and kept it despite what others might have said.

   How many do we overlook? The elderly because we think them dull and uninteresting? The teenagers because we’ve branded them all shallow and naïve? The disabled because we think they have nothing to offer? The scholarly and intellectual because we think those dry old men can’t possibly know how to have any fun? The ones who seems so well put-together because we think they wouldn’t possibly want anything to do with “someone like me?” None of these judgments is fair.

Jesus told the Jews, “Judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment,” John 7:24. Maybe I should take the time (sacrifice) to bend over (be humble) and examine (make some effort) a few wildflowers out there, instead of passing over them (negligence) as if they weren’t worth my trouble (arrogance). When I think of it that way, I finally understand why judging by appearance is NOT righteous.

But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” 1Sam 16:7                                 Dene Ward

Pot-bound

5/28/2015 1 Comments

In our quest to diligently teach our children, I think we often overlook something. We care for our children, nurturing both body and soul. Our task, though, is to work our way out of the job. If my thirty year old child still cannot dress himself, or needs to be reminded to brush his teeth, I have failed miserably. In the same way, our children cannot make it to Heaven on our spiritual coattails.

            It is often difficult for a parent to realize that his child’s faith should be his own, not an exact replica of his. A child who does nothing but ape his father’s opinions has, like the Jews of Isaiah’s day, a faith which is a commandment of men learned by rote, Isa 29:13, rather than learned by personal study, meditation, and conviction.

            Both of my sons have slightly differing views from mine about some passages of scripture. I’m glad. It means they have taken root on their own and, though there is never any guarantee, I feel much more optimistic about their remaining faithful when I am gone. If you remember the story of the orange tree my mother-in-law gave us, which rooted itself while we were trying to find a place to put it, here is yet another application: children need to have a little freedom in their quest for spirituality, freedom to spread their own roots. Parents who demand exact conformity, treating any difference as a sign of disrespect, are spoon-feeding their children’s spirituality while at the same time stunting their growth. They might as well be carrying them off the ground in a black plastic nursery pot so their roots won’t branch out. Sooner or later they will become pot-bound and die.

            While you expect to shape their values and instill basic concepts of spirituality and faith, God expected that they would ask, “Why?” and that you would give them real and sensible answers. “Because I said so,” does have an appropriate time and place in teaching them authority, but not in teaching the word of God. If you cannot tell them why, then when you are gone why should they continue?

            Encourage them to study and develop on their own. Treat their discoveries as equally interesting as yours. You may think Paul wrote Hebrews and they may not. You may believe the three-person interpretation of the Song of Solomon and they may prefer the two-person. You may look at Romans 7 as any man without Christ, while they believe Paul is talking about himself before his conversion. Isn’t it great? You will most likely have an eternity to discuss these things together and with the authors themselves, while the parents who demanded absolute conformity and automaton feedback, may find themselves looking around, wondering where their children are.



And the people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and encamped in Gilgal, on the east border of Jericho. And those twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan, did Joshua set up in Gilgal. And he spoke unto the children of Israel, saying, When your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean these stones? Then you shall let your children know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land. For Jehovah your God dried up the waters of the Jordan from before you, until you were passed over, as Jehovah your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up from before us, until we were passed over; that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of Jehovah, that it is mighty; that you may fear Jehovah your God for ever. Josh 4:19-24.

Dene Ward

Putting Down Roots

5/26/2015 1 Comments

Keith’s mother once gave him a tiny orange tree, maybe six inches tall, which she had planted from seed into a coffee can. He brought it home, transplanted it into a black plastic nursery pot and set it next to the shed, continuing to water and feed it until he could find a permanent place for it.

   It had grown to a height of three feet when he finally decided where to put it. Bending down, he grabbed the pot with both hands and tugged. Nothing happened. The tree had made its own decision, its roots bursting through the bottom of the pot and digging their way firmly into the ground. It’s still there, now over twice as tall as the shed and bearing fruit nearly year round.

   Our children are like that little tree. Wherever you leave them is where they will put down roots. The atmosphere you raise them in, the people they spend the most time with, the friends they make and the activities they participate in, whether you are aware of them or not, will all have their effects on your children and will influence who they eventually become.

   Children are growing every minute of every day, not only in body, but also in mind. You cannot set them aside until you have more time, you cannot leave them on their own without guidance, you cannot give them into the charge of another whose belief system does not match yours and still expect your children to follow in your footsteps. You cannot tell them, not even with all the sincerity you can muster, “Just wait till I finish this degree; just wait till my career is more established; just wait till I can pay off all these bills I ran up, then I will be a good parent to you.” If nothing else, you are teaching them exactly what is most important to you--career, status, “things.” Meanwhile, they may put down their roots in places you wish they never knew of, with people you wish they had never met, and develop a character that may appall you.

   “Where did they learn that?” you might wonder. In the place where you left them while you were too busy to be a parent.

Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.
It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest,
eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.
Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward.
Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth.
Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them!
He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate,
Psalm 127.

Dene Ward

Amaryllises

4/20/2015 0 Comments

Mine are blooming now, everything from deep pure red, pale pink and bright apricot, to stripes of white on all three; pink throats on a pristine white, or white throats on deep orange or red. They are gorgeous, but sometimes they don’t bloom, and that leaves me disappointed, usually with half the bulbs every year. So I decided to find out what keeps amaryllises from blooming to see if I could remedy the problem. Here is what I discovered and what I extrapolated.

Amaryllises will not bloom in full shade. They may not need full sun, especially in this sub-tropical environment, but they need enough light to draw that big thick stem up out of the bulb and through the soil and mulch.

   The New Testament tells us we need the Light too. John says that as long as we walk in the light, we won’t stumble (1 John 2:9-11). It variously calls us sons of light and children of light; it says we are “of the day not the night.” And because we have that Light and live in it, we then become “the light of the world.” Certainly a Christian who does not live in the light will never bloom.

   Amaryllises need sufficient nutrients. Just as a larger animal needs more food, this large flower needs good soil, and ample food and water. Many of my amaryllis bulbs were as big as softballs when they came out of the package, and many of the blooms are broader across than some of Keith’s garden cantaloupes. Especially in this poor sandy soil, we must be sure to supply the proper nutrition if we want anything to come out of it.

   We need nutrition too. Peter tells us to “long for the pure spiritual milk that by it we may grow up into salvation” 1 Pet 2:2. How can we do that if we neglect all the feeding opportunities our shepherds have offered us? How can we do it when we shun the healthy spiritual food and feast on the junk in this life? I have seen many brothers and sisters go hog wild with the organic, all-natural, non-preservative craze when taking care of their physical bodies, yet starve their spirits with skimpy servings and junk food. No wonder their blooms are so scarce and puny.

   This might be surprising, but not allowing them to rest will also keep amaryllises from blooming. You can force blooms at certain times of the year, but then you must prune both the stem and leaves and water them prodigiously until they go dormant. Then leave them alone!

   God did not rest on the seventh day because He was tired. He rested because He was finished, but in that rest he also ordained a day of rest for His people. Do you understand what that means? In that ancient time, the common people lived hand to mouth and they worked sunup till sundown seven days a week just to survive. But not God’s people. As long as they observed their commanded Sabbath, He made sure they had plenty. God knows what you need and sometimes you need to rest. It may no longer be a religious observance, but it is certainly a matter of health. And rest doesn’t mean going on a vacation that leaves you more worn out than rested. It means a day with no schedule, no stressful situations, nothing hanging over your head that “just has to be done.” Spend some time with your family—just one full day a week, any day—rest your body and your mind, and talk of the blessings God has given you all, especially the time you have to be together because He has taken such good care of you.

   And this last one really surprised me. If you take your amaryllis bulbs out of the ground and store them in the refrigerator, you should not store them with apples. Apples will make an amaryllis bulb sterile, or so I have been told. Apples? Apples are good things, right? But even things that look good can make a plant sterile and unproductive it turns out.

   Haven’t you seen the same thing happen to Christians? They become so involved in things of this world, good things, that there is no time left for producing the fruit God wants from us. Or they hang around with people who are not their spiritual brothers and sisters to the point that what matters most to those people becomes what matters most to them. Other people, people who do not understand that we are to encourage one another and build one another up spiritually, who care nothing for the spiritual warfare we are involved in, who would, in fact, think you are nuts to even talk about such a thing, can hinder your productivity for the Lord.

   So take a look at your amaryllises today if you have them. Think about the things that affect those gorgeous blooms. See if any of them are affecting you too.

And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not be unfruitful, Titus 3:14.

Dene Ward

Pruning

3/25/2015 0 Comments

Our late winter/early spring gardening chores include pruning. Pruning is serious business. If you do it at the wrong time and in the wrong way, you can kill a plant. But correct pruning encourages healthy growth, more flowering, heavier fruit yields, and in general, better looking plants. Correct pruning can also scare you to death.

If Keith had not had an experienced friend show him how to prune the grapes, he would never have done it correctly. Light pruning does not promote fruiting on grape vines. It takes a heavy-handed pruner, one who knows exactly how far down which vines to cut—and it is much farther than you would ever expect—to make vines that in the late summer provide both greater quantity and quality of grapes.

   Roses also benefit from good pruning. Every January or February (remember that we are talking here in Florida before you follow this to the letter) you should cut off 1/3 to ½ of the mature canes, plus all dead or dying branches, as well as those that cross or stray out of the general shape of the bush. That is how you get more flowers and larger blooms, and healthier, prettier bushes altogether.

   God believes in pruning too. John 15 is full of the imagery of pruning grape vines, cutting off those that no longer produce and throwing them in the fire, which just happens to be where we throw all our prunings as well. God has done a lot of pruning throughout history.

   The wilderness wandering was nothing but one big pruning exercise. All the faithless, those men of war responsible for the decision not to take the land, had to die, and a new generation be prepared. Do you realize that if you only count those men, on average throughout those forty years, 40 men died every day? That does not count the people who died of accident, disease and childbirth, and the women and priests who simply died of old age. Every morning the first thing on one’s mind must have been, “Who died yesterday?” Those people must have done nothing but bury the dead every single day for forty years. No wonder they moved so often.

   Then there was the Babylonian captivity. Ezekiel worked for seventy years preparing the next generation to return to the land as a righteous remnant while the older one died off. Pruning made them better, stronger, and more able to endure those months of rebuilding, and the years that followed.

   And what else was it but pruning that made God cut off some branches (Jews) and graft in others (Gentiles)? They were broken off because of their unbelief, Paul says in Rom 11:20, and then goes on to say that if God will prune the natural branches, he will certainly prune those that had been grafted in if their faith fails.

   God still prunes. We tend to call it by other metaphors these days—refining our faith as gold, Peter says in one of those passages. “Discipline” the Hebrew writer calls it, adding that the Lord only chastens those he loves. But all these figures mean the same thing. Pruning can be painful. The best pruning shears are the sharp ones, for the wound will heal more quickly the cleaner the cut.

   We carry a lot of deadwood on us that God has to whittle away through the trials and experiences of life, and with our own growth in the knowledge of the Word as we learn what is and is not acceptable to God. It is up to us to use that pruning, shedding the dead wood and cultivating new growth, bearing more fruit, higher quality fruit, and more beautiful blooms. If I am not growing I can expect nothing more than my whole vine to be cut off and cast into the fire.

   We want to be that productive grape vine with fruit so heavy and juicy we almost break from the sheer weight of it. We want to be the rose that brings the oohs and aahs, whose perfume wafts on the breeze to all those around us. We must submit to the pruning of the Master Gardener, glorying in His work in us, no matter how painful, so that we can “prove to be his disciples,” John 15:8, faithful to the end.

Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit, John 15:2.

Dene Ward

Good Enough

3/10/2015 0 Comments

We just spent $90 on dirt. We live in the country. At that rate the top six inches of our 5 acres is worth about a $125,000.
   My herb garden had a few problems last year. When your perennial rosemary cannot seem to top six inches and all of your super-easy-to-grow basil and parsley die despite watering and fertilizing, you begin to suspect it has more to do with the ground than the color of your thumb.
   So Keith spent a weekend recently digging out the whole bed. Then he bought landscaping timbers, Miracle-Gro garden soil and Black Kow composted manure to fill it with. This bed will grow in spite of itself, yet I could not help but think, “Ninety dollars for dirt!”
   “No,” he told me, “ninety dollars for all those better meals we will eat due to the flavoring and nuance of home-grown fresh herbs—plenty for a change, instead of a rationed amount.”
   My old herb garden was good enough. We ate a lot of good meals out of it, but it was beginning to falter. It needed a little help to improve.
   Too many times we are satisfied with “good enough” in our lives as Christians. The number of times we meet with our brethren, the amount of time we spend studying and praying, the amount we give in both time and money to spread the Gospel and to help those in need may very well be “good enough.” I am not one of those to take the passage “To him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him that is sin,” and use it as a hammer to pound feelings of fear and inadequacy into people who are doing their best.
   So you stopped your Bible study last night after just an hour so you could play with your children awhile. You know what? That is okay.
   So you missed Sunday evening services this week because your widowed mother is gravely ill and it’s your only chance to take a turn sitting with her. That is fine. Our choices are not always between good and bad, but between good and better, and it is an individual decision you must make for yourself. No one has the right to judge.
   In fact, you may indeed be doing as much as you possibly can. The problem is the attitude that looks for nothing more than “good enough.” When one has that attitude, he isn’t.
   As Christians we are slaves to God, we are living sacrifices. Neither of those words gives us the right to decide that “enough is enough.” We are always looking for ways to improve ourselves, for ways to grow, for ways to become more and more like God. That might mean that we must do a lot of extra work here and there (like a slave), and spend more in time and resources (like a sacrifice) in order to improve. But slaves want to please their masters more than themselves, and sacrifices are not sacrifices if they are cheap and easy. We don’t want to be “good enough;” we want to be the best!

Even so you also, when you shall have done all the things that are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants; we have done that which it was our duty to do. Luke 17:10.

Dene Ward

The Sheltered Side of the House

12/3/2014 0 Comments

We live under a couple of huge live oaks, trees so big it would take half a dozen people holding hands to reach around them. That means when I planted a flower bed on the west side of the house under one of those trees, the lee side so to speak, I had to be careful what I put there. Anything with a “full sun” tag wouldn’t make it. But it also means that I can grow things outside that others might need to take inside on a frosty morning. The tree protects them with both the extra degree or two of heat it gives off and its shelter from the settling dew that crisps into frost on a winter morning.
   Isn’t that how we raise our children, on the sheltered side of life, and even on the sheltered side of the church? That is as it should be. Children shouldn’t need to worry about where their next meal is coming from. They shouldn’t be concerned with the office politics their parents must put up with. They certainly shouldn’t hear about church squabbles. Your job as a parent is to protect them from those things.
   But you can’t do that forever. Sooner or later they need to learn about people, about their imperfections, maybe even the danger they pose to others. That’s why we teach them that no one should touch them in certain places, that they should never get in the car with a stranger, or accept candy, or look for lost puppies. It’s unfortunate, but we do it because we love our children.
   I am afraid we are not that smart about teaching our children about problems among brethren. It isn’t just the false teaching wolves we need to teach them about, though more of that would be helpful. We seem to have raised a generation that thinks everyone out there is harmless and means well because they speak in syrupy tones and sentimental mush-mouth. No, the thing we must be most careful about is how they see us handling the disappointments with our brethren. What they see us do and say can make or break their spiritual survival.
   When Keith was preaching full time, we saw people who claimed to be Christians acting in every way but that. We saw couples at each other’s throats. We saw family cliques. We received physical threats. We were tossed out on our ears more than once for his preaching the truth. It may be that the only thing that kept us both faithful was realizing how these things might affect our children if we didn’t handle them carefully.
   When they were old enough to understand what was happening, we never blamed the church. We never blamed God. We told them that sometimes people were not perfect, even good people--sometimes they just made a mistake. I was NOT going to let what those people had done to us cost my children their souls. They were what mattered.
   As they grew older, we talked often about being faithful to God, not to a place or a group. We reminded them about Judas. What would have happened if the other apostles had let Judas’s monumental failure run them off? What about Peter, their erstwhile leader? If everyone had given up because of his denial there would have been nothing for him to return to upon his repentance. The mission of the church depended upon those men staying faithful regardless. God was counting on them. We told them over and over, you never let what someone else does determine your faithfulness. God expects you to do the right thing no matter what those people do. I had to learn to control my depression and discouragement and not give my children cause to leave the Lord.
   We planted our children on the sheltered side of the house, but then we moved them slowly one foot at a time to a place where the sun would beat down on them and the cold would leave frost on their leaves. Finally they were as inured as possible from the effects of other people’s failures, including our own. If they ever fall away, they know better than to blame someone else.
   Be careful what your children hear you say about your brethren. Be careful what they see in your actions and attitudes. Sooner or later they will need to stand the heat of the noonday sun and the bitter cold of a spiritual winter. Don’t give them an easy excuse not to.

For there must be also factions among you, that they that are approved may be made manifest among you. 1 Corinthians 11:19

Dene Ward

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Making Ketchup

9/3/2014 2 Comments

            At the end of every gardening year I always end up with extra plum tomatoes and nothing to do with them. My pantry is full of canned tomatoes, tomato sauce, and even tomato jam. So what else is there? Now that I have a grandson who is a manic dipper of anything he can pick up in his chubby little fingers, I had a sudden epiphany. “Ketchup!” I said to myself. “Make the boy some ketchup.”

            So I found an easy recipe—not a quick one by any means, but once you get past the initial chopping and measuring stage, all you do is stir once in awhile for a couple of hours.

            I did not want to put a lot of energy into something I had never tried, so I made a small batch. I filled a five quart Dutch oven halfway with chopped plum tomatoes, onions and peppers, sugar, vinegar, and spices, and put them on to cook. About two and a half hours later I poured up one generous cup of ketchup. It was definitely the best ketchup I had ever tasted, and plenty for Keith and I who take a year to go through a 32 oz bottle, but it was not going to do for a ketchup fanatic, and it certainly wasn’t worth the work. Now that I know the recipe is good, though, I will fill two of those pots to the brim and in about the same amount of time have something a little more worthwhile.

            And that is our problem when it comes to converting the world. We only fill one pot half full and then wonder why we got such a small return. Then we become discouraged, or worse, decide that God’s way doesn’t work any more and then we really get into trouble, going places and doing things we have no authority for, denigrating God in the process.

            We see the 3000 baptized on Pentecost and say, what’s wrong? Why can’t we do that? Let’s do a little math. Most scholars estimate the population of Jerusalem during a feast day at 1 million or more. Three thousand out of one million is not that much. In fact, it’s the same as 300 out of 100,000, or 30 out of 10,000 or 3 out of 1000. That’s less than one third of one percent, or, to be silly about it, it’s a short one-third of a person for every hundred.

            Stop being so negative. Stop allowing sheer numbers without perspective to discourage you. This is a Biblical principle. The road is narrow. Only a few will find it. We just have to make sure that their inability to find it wasn’t our fault. And we have to remember above all, that it isn’t God’s fault either. It is not the fault of His methods. It is not the fault of His plan.   We certainly cannot improve on the ways of the Almighty. What we can do is implement them. Fill as many pots as you have with tomatoes. If you want a 3000 day, then cook a million. Most of us can’t do that, but we can cook a hundred in a lifetime surely. And if all you get is one cup of ketchup, that’s wonderful. In fact, it’s better than Pentecost. You did not fail by any means. You did your part, and, even better, you did it God’s way.

For seeing that in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom knew not God, it was God's good pleasure through the foolishness of the preaching to save them that believe. Seeing that Jews ask for signs, and Greeks seek after wisdom: but we preach Christ crucified, unto Jews a stumblingblock, and unto Gentiles foolishness; but unto them that are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 1 Corinthians 1:21-25

Dene Ward

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Dead Morning Glories

9/1/2014 0 Comments

            We made a mistake this past summer. We planted climbing roses at either end of a fifteen foot long trellis, and then planted morning glories along it as well. To fill up the blank spot in the middle, we told ourselves. But as the summer progressed those morning glory vines wound their way not only up the trellis but across to the new rose canes and completely covered them. They shaded the leaves from the already filtered sun in that area of the yard and even hid the few blooms the roses managed to put out.

            Enough, we decided, and Keith clipped the smothering vines one morning. They were wound so tightly, I had to wait for them to begin to wilt before I could remove them without damaging the rose vines. Do you know what happened? For five days those clipped and wilted vines put on new blooms and not just a few.

            Finally on the fifth day, I grabbed some heavy duty scissors and began cutting and carefully unwinding them. After a half hour of cautious work and quite a few bloody thorn-pricks, nearly all the morning glories were lying in a pile along the bottom of the trellis and I discovered more rose vines than I ever imagined trailing along nearly the entire fifteen feet of trellis. I gathered the morning glories in an armful and tossed them out in the brushy field.

            The next morning we came out to look at the roses. New red leaves grew on nearly every end, with half a dozen new buds. Finally we can breathe, they seemed to be screaming at us. Then we walked over to the field and out there in the thick grass lay those dead morning glory vines—with brand new purple, blue, pink, and magenta blooms on them! The next morning we saw more new morning glory blooms. It had been a week since they were cut and they had lain in the sub-tropical summer sun without even any rain. Yet there they were, putting on new blooms still, even though their vines were wilted and brown.

            By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he had witness borne to him that he was righteous, God bearing witness in respect of his gifts: and through it he being dead yet speaks, Heb 11:4.

            How many hundreds of names do we know from the pages of Scripture? Though they are long dead, their examples still speak to us and help us along our path.

           Therefore let us also, seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily besets us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Heb 12:1.

            That great cloud of witnesses continues to speak as we read about their lives, as we study them in Bible classes and hear them spoken of in sermons. We give our children great Bible heroes to pattern their lives after, and well we should. But what is true of them is true of us as well.

            After we are gone, our deeds will continue to speak, maybe not to as many as those in the pages of Scripture, but to everyone who knew us. What will they see in the field after we are gone? Will we leave nothing but a wilted vine, or will colorful blooms still dot the ground? Will the deeds we do continue to inspire others, or will our useless lives stand as an example not to follow? Will people talk about us with words of blessing or will others need to come along and undo the damage we left behind?

            Think about my morning glories today. Someday your stem will be snipped, too. What will be left behind for others to see?

Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us, Titus 2:7,8.

Dene Ward

Picking Blackberries

8/7/2014 0 Comments

            For the past few years wild blackberries have been rare. The vines are there, full of their painful and aggravatingly sticky thorns, but the fruit dries up before it can fully ripen. First the drought of the late 90’s, and then the following dry years of this regular weather cycle of wet and dry have meant that when the time is right, usually early to mid-June, there is nothing to pick. The few that might have survived are devoured quickly by the birds.

            This year Lucas found some on a nearby service road, and Keith picked enough for one cobbler for the first time in years. Probably because it has been awhile, I think that was the best blackberry cobbler we ever had. Maybe next year I can make jelly too.

            Blackberries are a lot of trouble. The thorns seem like they reach out and grab you. I have often come home with bloody hands and torn clothing—you never wear anything you might wear elsewhere when you pick blackberries. But that is not the half of it.

            You must also spray yourself and your long-sleeved shirt prodigiously with an insect repellent, and tuck the cuffs of your long pants into your socks. No matter how hot the weather, you must be covered. Without these measures chiggers will find their way in and you will be revisiting your time in the woods far longer and in more unpleasant ways than you wish. Ticks are also a problem. Make sure you pick with someone you don’t mind checking you over after you get back home, especially your hair. More than once I have had a tick crawl out of my mop of curls several hours later.

            Finally, you must always carry a big stick or a pistol. I prefer pistols because you don’t have to get quite as close to the snake to kill it. Birds love blackberries, and snakes like birds, so they often sit coiled under the canes waiting for their meals to fly in. Keith has killed more than one rattlesnake while picking wild blackberries.

            Because of all this, since I have Keith, I seldom pick blackberries any more—I let him do it for both of us. Especially since I stand for hours in a hot kitchen afterward, it seems a fair division of labor. When I am making jelly, straining that hot juice through cheesecloth to catch the plenteous seeds and ladling that hot syrupy liquid into hot jars isn’t much easier than picking them. But wild blackberries are worth all the trouble. Their scent is sweet and heady and their taste, especially in homemade jellies, almost exotic. The purple hands, teeth, and tongue blackberry lovers wind up with are worth it too. If all you have ever had is commercially grown blackberries and store bought blackberry jelly, you really don’t know what they taste like.

            Why is it that I can make myself go to all this trouble for something good to eat, and then throw away something far more valuable because “it’s not worth it?” Why does teasing my taste buds matter more to me than saving my soul? How many spiritual delicacies have I missed out on because it wasn’t worth the trouble?

            Serious Bible study can be tedious, but isn’t having the Word of God coming instantly to mind when I really need it worth it? When I have taken the time to explore deeply instead of the superficial knowledge most have, isn’t it great in the middle of a sermon or Bible class, to suddenly have another passage spring to life right before my mental eyes? “So that’s what that means!” is a eureka moment that is nearly incomparable. And while increased knowledge does not necessarily mean increased faith, faith without knowledge is a sham. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God, Rom 10:17. The more scripture you know, the stronger your faith because the more you know about what God has done for us, the more you appreciate it and want to show that appreciation by the service you willingly give.

            So many other things we miss out on because we don’t want to go to the trouble—cultivating an active prayer life, socializing with brothers and sisters in the faith, helping a new Christian grow, serving the community we live in simply because we care--while at the same time we go to all sorts of trouble for earthly pleasures—sitting in the hot sun on a hard bench amid crude, rowdy people to watch a ball game; searching for a parking space for hours then walking ten blocks in high heels for a favorite meal at a downtown restaurant; standing in long lines at an amusement park, while someone else’s ice cream melts on your shirt, and at the same time juggling your own handfuls of fast food, cameras, and tickets, and trying to keep up with rambunctious children. All these things are “worth it.” Did you ever ask yourself, “Worth what?” And how long did that pleasure, or whatever your answer is, last?

            I would never go to the same amount of trouble for rhubarb that I do for blackberries. That doesn’t mean I don’t like rhubarb—I make a pretty good strawberry rhubarb cobbler. But rhubarb cannot match blackberries. Spiritually, we too often settle for rhubarb instead of blackberries. You can always tell the ones who don’t “settle”—the “purple” fingers from handling the Word of God, and the “purple” teeth and tongues from taking it in on a daily basis and living a life as His servant, give them away.

As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life, 1 Tim 6:17-19..

Dene Ward

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