Max Lucado tells us that Jesus had stressful days. The Son of God had stressful days??? If He had stressful days then He can understand that we have them too. Listen as Max shares thoughts from his book, “The Eye of the Storm.”
By Ashlie Miller
Where do you get the best tomatoes, perfectly ripened for a good ‘mater sandwich? Some grocery stores rank higher than others, perhaps. I do like a good farm-fresh market or road stand, though I confess I do not make enough time to stop by those. If I grew them myself, that would be a sweet reward, but alas, my gardening efforts always suffer (I have tried more than once). I suppose I’m more suited for other things.
But if I had to say for certain where I get the best tomatoes, it would be from a neighbor who just knows I’m the only one in a house of seven who enjoys a raw tomato and rarely buys them for myself. They seem to have a sweeter taste than any other tomato. I love the way they adorn a plate of meat and side veggies at supper (that’s “dinner,” for those who have transplanted from other regions). These tomatoes level up a BLT so much better than the store-bought variety. What else would I put on a white bread and Duke’s sandwich? (Who said, “Hellman’s”?) Ok, I do sometimes sub tomato for canned sliced pineapples. Is that weird? I grew up on those. Anyone else?
I’ve enjoyed other produce and herbs lately – namely squash, cucumbers, and basil. There have been some years I think my husband, the pastor of our church, is the minister on The Little House on the Prairie, receiving the bounty of a summer harvest from congregants.
It’s a lot like a simple sandwich made by the loving hands of a mother or friend, tasting so much sweeter. I know that when I receive a tomato or a handful of seeds, there was a lot of selfless work and even toil involved. Planning, planting, weeding, watering, protecting. Blessings birthed from such effort are precious gifts.
I have always been a saver of most things that I wanted to savor later. I remember as a little girl when Oreo did not make 100+ varieties of cookies, but they would make a fudge-dipped Oreo in a special sleeve. I would get a pack for myself (quite a splurge!) and hide it in my sock drawer. I would savor what I saved for weeks. Today, I may still do the same thing with the single tomato given by a friend, using a couple of slices for a sandwich and saving a slice or two to go with supper or even my over-medium eggs the next day.
The gifts the ground produces with the help of my friend and the hand of a Sustaining Creator bring a smile to my face and make me grateful to be content with simple things shared in love. I’m grateful for those who share their bounty with those not quite as adept at growing a garden or perhaps who cannot make the time in different seasons of life. Who has shared with you lately? Who have you been able to bless with something you may think is just a small thing?
Ashlie Miller almost kept a mint plant alive and thriving for all of three months. You can send her your gardening or other advice to mrs.ashliemiller@gmail.com.
By Doug Creamer
Fighting Back!
Last week I got out in the garden and harvested some rewards for my hard work. We dug up some nice potatoes, enjoyed some corn, and savored fresh tomatoes. I had space to plant some new crops so I put out some more corn, string beans, butter beans, and some sunflowers. I hope to plant a cherry tomato and maybe some squash this weekend.
I wrote about how the weeds were winning in my garden last week. The cooler temperatures last weekend gave me a chance to fight back. I pulled countless weeds, wheelbarrows full of them, out of my garden. I worked in both the vegetable and flower beds to clean those weeds out. Please don’t check behind me, there are still plenty more out there, but parts of the garden are looking better.
I feel good about the progress and look forward to attacking them even more this upcoming weekend. Weeds are a constant battle. If you don’t stay on them they will win and overtake any garden space. I pull weeds, spray them, and try to use mulch to keep them down. But no matter how hard I try, they seem to find a way to sneak in.
There are many weeds that creep into our lives. Often they are small and we barely notice them. A little doubt. Fear and worry. A small habit. A bit of laziness. Things that may seem inconsequential. Skipping prayer or reading the Bible…just for today. Allowing that negative thought an opportunity to stew. Weeds! We should stop them. Nip them in the bud, as Barney Fife would tell us. But we overlook or ignore them. We hope they won’t take root and find a home in our lives. But…they do.
I think the real problem is that they require effort to remove. We are tired. We’ve had a busy day. We’ll work on that tomorrow. We know better. Tomorrow will be another busy day. Pulling that weed, changing a negative habit, building good habits all require work, more effort, and I am already tired. We know we shouldn’t just let it go, but then we have to summon the energy to pull that little weed out of our life.
If we aren’t careful, the little weed will find a home. Removing it requires ME to change. I really don’t like change. Now the little weed begins to grow. It’s not so bad, right? Wrong! The little things that grab our attention can lead us away from the things that God has for us. God has great plans for our lives that will require us to be focused. Those weeds have distracted us and kept us from God’s best for our lives.
Let’s be honest… It’s hard to stop bad habits. It’s hard to build and maintain good habits. We simply do not like change. There is a part of us that wants to change. Consider all the diet and self-help books on the market. They work sometimes for some people. Why don’t they work all the time for all of us? I think it comes back to our desire to fight.
We need to look at the things in our life that need to change as weeds. We have to decide that we want to remove the weeds. It’s a fight to tell your flesh NO! Our spirit has to tell our flesh that the weeds have to go. We have to rise up and fight for the change. We have to decide. The decision is not easy because our flesh will fight back.
We have to remember that we have a great cloud of witnesses that are cheering us on. We may need help from friends, family, pastors, and even doctors to finally pull the weeds out of our lives. We will certainly need to pray, be in the Word of God, and depend on the power of the Spirit of God to help us succeed. We might fall down in the process, but we will learn to lean on those around us until we finally overcome!
I want to encourage you to fight back, to take those weeds out of your life. Whether they are little or big God wants you to get the weeds out of your spiritual gardens. He has things that He wants to grow in you but He needs the space to make them grow. It will take prayer, faith, and the power of the Spirit, but I believe you will see the victory. I don’t want you to miss one thing God has for you. Get ready to fight back and discover the great things He has for you.
Contact Doug Creamer at PO Box 777, Faith, NC 28041or doug@dougcreamer.com