cherry trees and a lilac hedge

This is my idea of late.  We recently tore down our garage in hopes of creating a backyard, and our backyard still has its challenges, between our dogs keeping the mud muddy and the various empty beer cans, cigarette packs and God only know what else scattered as litter as the wind blows it to and fro.  Our backyard would possibly be a challenge to a green thumb, and our thumbs are not green.
At first I thought I would grow blueberry bushes as a hedge, and I was uber excited about having enough blueberries to supply our family and the apartments behind our house.  But there was this thing that I learned about growing blueberry bushes:  the soil needed to be quite acidic, with a PH around 4 or 5.  So I did a PH test of our soil that I learned over the internet which was, 1.  collect a sample of said soil in two cups.  2.  pour vinegar in one cup and baking soda mixed with water in another cup.  3.  If the vinegar cup bubbles you have alkeline soil, and if the baking soda cup bubbles you have acidic soil.  Eventually, the vinegar cup bubbled.  So scrap the blueberry hedge.
When I went to college, there was a lilac bush outside of the library and smelling that bush was one of the best smells ever for me, and the more I read about lilacs, the more I wanted a hedge.  So now my idea is to plant two cherry trees as "fenceposts" on the ends and then along the fence to plant four or five lilac bushes.
Will this idea work?  I do not know, especially because in our house we love love love BING cherries, although I am not a fan of the bing web browser.  So will our bing cherries and our tartanian mix well and grow well and get enough water and not get to cold?  Maybe you can tell me.

Shutting my mouth as a parent

In the words of Maria from The Sound of Music, "I'm far too outspoken, it is one of my worst faults."  In my relationships with my kids I open my mouth quickly and shut it slowly.  I almost always react to my kids disrespect, anger, quarrels, etc.  Lord, show me how to keep a tight reign on my mouth. 

"Jesus, when you stood before Pontius Pilate, with so so much you could have said to the man you created in the greatest moment of history and yet you chose to keep your mouth closed - teach me the wisdom in shutting my mouth, and the peace of shutting my mouth, and the joy in shutting my mouth, and the control of shutting my mouth.  Would you Jesus be my mouth's guard and make the words that come out to only be the words you have specifically chosen.  Much damage can be done by one careless destructive word, and yet such good can be done by one careful creative word.  Be my words Lord.  May the Word be so in me that the only words that come out of my mouth are for you.  Amen, so let it be."

a life expectancy quiz

a life expectancy quiz

Are you a human being?  Yes, give yourself 90 years  No, this quiz is not for you.

Are you a male? Yes, take off 10 years.  

How many cigarettes did you smoke yesterday?  Take off that many years.

Do you have diabetes?  Yes, take off 5 years.

Do you drink coffee? Yes or no – take away 1 year

Are any of your grandparents still alive?  Add one year for each living grandparent.

Are you a pessimist?  Take off 5 years.  Are you an optimist?  Add 1 year.

How many heart attacks have you had?  Take off 5 years for each heart attack

How many days a week do you exercise for 30 or more minutes?  Add that many years.

Do you work at a desk?  Yes, take away 3 years

Do you work in a kitchen?  Yes, take away one year.

Do you work hard manual labor?  Yes, add one year.

Are you good at math?  Yes, take away the number of years of the days left in this week times pi, including today.  No, take away 5 years.

What is your life expectancy?

Moses also does some obituary math in Psalm 90,

^NLT Psalm 90:1 Lord, through all the generations you have been our home!  ² Before the mountains were born, before you gave birth to the earth and the world, from beginning to end, you are God.  ³ You turn people back to dust, saying, "Return to dust, you mortals!"  ⁴ For you, a thousand years are as a passing day, as brief as a few night hours.  ⁵ You sweep people away like dreams that disappear. They are like grass that springs up in the morning.  ⁶ In the morning it blooms and flourishes, but by evening it is dry and withered.  ⁷ We wither beneath your anger; we are overwhelmed by your fury.  ⁸ You spread out our sins before you-- our secret sins-- and you see them all.  ⁹ We live our lives beneath your wrath, ending our years with a groan.  ¹⁰ Seventy years are given to us! Some even live to eighty. But even the best years are filled with pain and trouble; soon they disappear, and we fly away.  ¹¹ Who can comprehend the power of your anger? Your wrath is as awesome as the fear you deserve.  ¹² Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom.  ¹³ O LORD, come back to us! How long will you delay? Take pity on your servants!  ¹⁴ Satisfy us each morning with your unfailing love, so we may sing for joy to the end of our lives.  ¹⁵ Give us gladness in proportion to our former misery! Replace the evil years with good.  ¹⁶ Let us, your servants, see you work again; let our children see your glory.  ¹⁷ And may the Lord our God show us his approval and make our efforts successful. Yes, make our efforts successful!

“teach us to realize the brevity of life” (12)

In God’s eyes 1000 years are like a day, like a night watch(4).  A night was divided into four watches of  three hours each.  So 1000 years were like a day, or like 3 hours.

Enoch had a son named Methusaelh in the book of Genesis who lived for 969 years.  If Enoch would have asked God, how long will little baby Methusaleh life for?  God could have said, “to me, not quite a day, or not quite 3 hours.”

Moses(1), who lived 120 years, spoke of the common life of then, which is fairly the same as now, 70 to 80 years(10).  But what is that 70 to 80 years? Besides toil and trouble. . .

If 1000 years is like a day, or three hours, what is 70 or 80 years?

Here is my math:  70 years like 1 hour 40 minutes or like 12 minutes 40 seconds.

80 years like 1 hour 55 minutes or like 14 minutes 20 seconds.

The analogy of grass that sprouts in the morning only to wither in the evening(5-6) does not make sense to me because our grass is usually good for the whole year, but of course I did not spend my whole life in the African desert as Moses did.

So I ask myself, “what analogy would help us understand our fleeting life?”

What is something in our life that is short, less than 2 hours, or less than 15 minutes?

A cup of coffee.  How big is your coffee cup?

My life is, in the eyes of God, as lasting as a cup of coffee.  Personally I really enjoy my coffee, although I have had bad cups before, and yet it is gone so fast.  If you want to see your life the way God sees it, think of yourself drinking that one cup of coffee.  Maybe your cup is bigger than mine and you will live to 105, and so you get a 24 ounce cup of coffee, but it is still gone so fast.  Our life is so quick that, one moment, here we are, and the next moment God says, “Return to dust.”(3) And the cup is empty.

Our life is like a cup of coffee to God.

Moses asks God “Return, O Lord, how long?”(13)  But how can God return to us when we are to him like a cup of coffee?  God did end up answering this prayer of Moses.

God became a cup of coffee, a very small cup as Jesus died at 33 years old, so that he could take us beyond our little coffee cups into a much different kind of time, a time the Bible calls eternity.

So as you drink your coffee this morning, think of how short your life is in the eyes of God, and how God came into your coffee cup existence so that He could give you something more.

Verses for shutting my mouth

Here are some verses from the Old Testament that help me re-think about my mouth and when I should shut it and open it.

 

Then the LORD said to him, "Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the LORD?  Exodus 4:11

ESV Exodus 4:15 You shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth, and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth and will teach you both what to do.

ESV Exodus 13:9 And it shall be to you as a sign on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes, that the law of the LORD may be in your mouth. For with a strong hand the LORD has brought you out of Egypt.

ESV Numbers 22:28 Then the LORD opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, "What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?"

ESV Numbers 22:38 Balaam said to Balak, "Behold, I have come to you! Have I now any power of my own to speak anything? The word that God puts in my mouth, that must I speak."

ESV Numbers 23:12 And he answered and said, "Must I not take care to speak what the LORD puts in my mouth?"

ESV Numbers 30:2 If a man vows a vow to the LORD, or swears an oath to bind himself by a pledge, he shall not break his word. He shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.

ESV Deuteronomy 30:14 But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.

ESV Joshua 1:8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

ESV Judges 9:38 Then Zebul said to him, "Where is your mouth now, you who said, 'Who is Abimelech, that we should serve him?' Are not these the people whom you despised? Go out now and fight with them."

ESV Judges 11:35 And as soon as he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, "Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low, and you have become the cause of great trouble to me. For I have opened my mouth to the LORD, and I cannot take back my vow."

ESV Judges 18:19 And they said to him, "Keep quiet; put your hand on your mouth and come with us and be to us a father and a priest. Is it better for you to be priest to the house of one man, or to be priest to a tribe and clan in Israel?"

ESV 1 Samuel 2:3 Talk no more so very proudly, let not arrogance come from your mouth; for the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.

ESV 2 Samuel 1:16 And David said to him, "Your blood be on your head, for your own mouth has testified against you, saying, 'I have killed the LORD's anointed.'"

ESV Job 40:4 "Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth.

ESV Psalm 5:9 For there is no truth in their mouth; their inmost self is destruction; their throat is an open grave; they flatter with their tongue.

ESV Psalm 17:3 You have tried my heart, you have visited me by night, you have tested me, and you will find nothing; I have purposed that my mouth will not transgress.

ESV Psalm 19:14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.

ESV Psalm 39:1 . I said, "I will guard my ways, that I may not sin with my tongue; I will guard my mouth with a muzzle, so long as the wicked are in my presence."

ESV Psalm 40:3 He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the LORD.

ESV Psalm 141:3 Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips!

ESV Proverbs 10:11 The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence.

ESV Proverbs 13:3 Whoever guards his mouth preserves his life; he who opens wide his lips comes to ruin.

ESV Proverbs 18:6 A fool's lips walk into a fight, and his mouth invites a beating.

ESV Proverbs 18:7 A fool's mouth is his ruin, and his lips are a snare to his soul.

ESV Proverbs 30:32 If you have been foolish, exalting yourself, or if you have been devising evil, put your hand on your mouth.

ESV Proverbs 31:9 Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.

ESV Proverbs 31:26 She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.

ESV Ecclesiastes 5:2 Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few.

ESV Ecclesiastes 10:13 The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness, and the end of his talk is evil madness.

Isaiah 6:5-7 ⁵ And I said: "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!" ⁶ Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. ⁷ And he touched my mouth and said: "Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.Isaiah 53:7 ⁷ He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.Jeremiah 1:9 ⁹ Then the LORD put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the LORD said to me, "Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.Micah 6:12 ¹² Your rich men are full of violence; your inhabitants speak lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.Malachi 2:7-8 ⁷ For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts. ⁸ But you have turned aside from the way. You have caused many to stumble by your instruction. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the LORD of hosts,

Shutting my mouth

One of the disciplines I have been working on is shutting my mouth, or put another way, holding my tongue.  I think Shrek puts it best when he says of Donkey, "Talking is easy, its getting him to shut up that's hard."  Much good can be done with my mouth, and yet so much evil.
In conversations often I do not hear what the other person is saying but just what I want to say next.  So I am trying to choose to not say that one thing that I really want to say.  This is hard, much like running intervals is hard, but it trains me in self control of my tongue.
As it says in James 3, "no man can tame the tongue, it is a restless evil, full of deadly poison."  I seek to hand over to Christ the discipline of my tongue and mouth.  I seek him to be the master of my tongue.
And so when it says in Romans 12 to present our bodies as living sacrifice, this includes our mouths, and that in the same way that our tongues can praise God and so be a living sacrifice, so also our tongues and mouths can choose not to curse fellow humans and so be a living sacrifice.

Shutting my mouth can be as practical as running.  I will do it for 30 minutes a day.  Or I will do it for intervals of 5 minutes in times where it is harder for me.  Or I will be crazy and do it for a whole day.  But I do it not just to do it, and so miss the point, but I do it to train my mouth to speak only what Christ bids me to speak - only what Christ bids me to speak - that is my goal, that is me sub 2 hour marathon goal.  Neither is it impossible or easy - and I can do all things, even speak only what Christ bids me to, through Him who gives me strength. (Phil. 4:13).

Spiritual Disciplines

I recently read the book, The Spirit of the Disciplines by Dallas Willard.  In it he talks about how we have walked away from the disciplines in the reaction against being justified by them.  "No, I will not do anything to prove that I am a Christian, Jesus alone proves that."  While it is t-r-u-e that Jesus Christ provides our only justification, that does not negate our literal following of him.
I am a runner who has run five marathons.  For each one I have spent hours in training my body to run for 26.2 miles.  For each marathon I was very prepared although not quite prepared enough.  If I were to have lined up at the starting line without any training at all, I would have looked good for abut a half mile, or about 1/50th of the marathon.  But after that it would have been hard for me to go on at all, even walking.  Who could I blame but myself for not training?  Maybe if someone had told me that I did not have to train.
The same can be said for spiritual training.  If I encounter a spiritual battle and have not trained and end up beaten, who am I to blame?  Do I say to God, "Why have you given me more than I can bear?"  "Why have you made me fall?"
Many athletes are cocky and say, "I earned my glory and my fame and my victory" forgetting who it is who gave them their crafted bodies.
In the same way if we win a spiritual battle and cry out, "I am such a disciplined spiritual warrior.  I earned the victory, we miss the whole of the point of the training."

Let us train in order to recognize more and more who it is who is the Victor, the Winner.

How do we train?  We will bring this up in future posts.

Generational Baggage

Do you have generational baggage?  Maybe it is a generational sin like murder or some sexual sin or gossiping, or maybe it is something that was done to you, or maybe it is some secret that you do not know.

Do you see yourself in the light of that baggage?
Does God see that baggage and say, "Yes I love her, but I can't use her with all that baggage on. . . "

Saul felt the same way when he said to Samuel, "Am I not a Benjaminite, the least of the tribes of Israel, and is not my clan the humblest of the clans of Benjamin?  Why are you talking to me in this way?" in Samuel 9.

Benjamin was almost done away with in a civil war (Judges 19-21), so they were literally the least tribe in terms of numbers and the only tribe to be genocided against.

But what about his clan?  What would be the humblest clan of Benjamin?  The reason for the civil war was because some worthless men from Gibeah of Benjamin surrounded a house in a similar way that the men of Sodom did in Genesis except that the men of Gibeah actually committed an act - they did things to a woman so that she died.  It seems that the most humble clan of Benjamin would be the clan connected to the town of Gibeah.  In 1 Samuel 10:26 we learn that Saul is from Gibeah.  It may have been some of his family members that were doing the evil deed of Judges 19, one of the worst things done in the entire Bible, and that is saying a lot.

So God chooses Saul.  Why would God choose Saul?

He also chose another Saul of Benjamin, but he was also the son of Pharisees, and Pharisees were the enemies of Jesus and they planned his murder.  So when God decides to pick someone to take the message of Jesus Christ to the other nations in the world, he picks Saul, whose family did the worst thing in the Bible.

Why does God choose the worst possible choices?

"God chooses what is foolish in the world to shame the wise,
God chooses what is weak in the world to shame the strong,
God chooses what is low and despised in the world,
even the things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are,
so that no human being might boast in the presence of God." (1 Cor. 1)

God chooses you not because of your goodness but because of His goodness.