Neither poverty nor riches

As Don and I adjust to our reduced-spending lifestyle after my job loss in February, I read a passage in Proverbs 30 this past week that hit like a ton of bricks:

"Two things I ask of you, Lord;
    do not refuse me before I die:
Keep falsehood and lies far from me;
    give me neither poverty nor riches,
    but give me only my daily bread.
Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you
    and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’
Or I may become poor and steal,
    and so dishonor the name of my God."

That's what we have: Neither poverty nor riches. Who could ask for more? God is good.

Trust the author

This is a framed sentiment in the basement room of our church.

An excellent reminder, IMHO.

On the issue of "worry"

This morning on my Pandora station, the solo "O mio babbino caro" from Puccini's opera "Gianni Schicchi" played. I'm not an opera fan, but this is a beautiful solo, and the incomparable violinist Joshua Bell played it.

There's an interesting story about Joshua Bell. As part of a 2007 social experiment about perception, taste, and priorities, Bell donned a baseball cap and jeans and played incognito in a New York City subway station as a busker. According to Wikipedia, "The experiment was videotaped on hidden camera; of the 1,097 people who passed by, seven stopped to listen to him, and one recognized him. For his nearly 45-minute performance, Bell collected $32.17 from 27 passersby (excluding $20 from the one who recognized him)."

This is the soloist, you understand, who commands sell-out performances. Two days before playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston with seats averaging $100. As a busker, he played six famous (and famously difficult) violin solos, yet very few people stopped to appreciate the beauty of his music because they were so focused on the cares and worries of the world.

I know someone who is worrying himself into an early grave. He has an incredible number of blessings in his life – a lovely wife, great kids, a beautiful home, good health, modest financial success – and yet he is so caught up in how bad things are getting (both nationally and internationally) that his worries are starting to damage his health.

Like the commuters in the subway station, this friend can't always lift his head to appreciate the beauty around him or the blessings of his life. Instead, his eyes are focused on the news as he obsesses over the state of the world.

And to an extent, he's right. There's a lot of worrying stuff in the world. And I mean seriously worrying. But here's the thing: We cannot add a single hour to our life by focusing on the bad (to paraphrase Matthew 6:27).

One of the possible conclusions from the experiment with Joshua Bell could be: If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?

There comes a point where we have to give matters over to God and not obsess over things we can do nothing about. It's one thing to be ready for the unexpected; it's another to literally worry yourself to death over the unknown or the future.

Of course, this is easier said than done. Some people are innately more inclined toward worry and anxiety.

Nonetheless there's a reason the issue of worry is addressed over and over and over again in the Bible. It's an age-old problem ... and it has an age-old solution.

Just some thoughts on a Sunday morning as I worry about my parents who might be impacted by the aftermath of Hurricane Hilary.

Happy Resurrection Day!

On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them.

In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’” Then they remembered his words.

A blessed Day of Resurrection to you all.

The ultimate in tech savviness

Don found this. Cracked us both up.

What would you do with a billion bucks?

I've been following (somewhat peripherally) the Mega Millions lottery, featuring the third-largest prize in U.S. history: $1.34 billion (with a "b"). What would you do with a billion bucks?

The winning ticket was sold to a single person, who has been transformed overnight from an anonymous schmuck into one of the nation's wealthiest people. Oof.

The lottery history is scattered with the cast-aside corpses of winners. Sudden wealth, especially if it comes with a "b" in front of it, is frankly a horrifying thought. Why? Because the lottery is the epitome of how money can't buy happiness. Many lottery winners try to "buy" happiness, and it doesn't work.

I remember many years ago, when we lived in Oregon, we heard about a local older couple who won a modest lottery (something on the order of $5 million). In an interview, they seemed like eminently sensible people. They had no plans to move, but they did pay off their mortgage (and beef up the security system around their home). They put legacies aside for their children and grandchildren, set up an account for charitable donations, and let the answering machine handle the spurt of calls from long-lost "relatives." But they didn't let any of it go to their head. The most decadent thing they planned to do, apparently, was to take a two-week vacation. I say, good for them.

But endless others don't have this restraint. Many winners are broke within a few years. Many lose spouses and children – often because of conflict, sometimes because of deaths (murder, drug overdoses, etc.). And of course, friendships are strained by the sudden inequity, and all future friendships must be weighed on whether the interest is genuine or mercenary.

But what about us, the Lewis family? In our case, wealth would be utterly wasted. We have no interest in the latest whiz-bang anything (fashion, electronics, jewelry, cars, whatever), so what would we buy? (A reeeeally nice Jersey cow, perhaps.....)

I quizzed Don on his thoughts about winning the lottery. He said that after putting aside an amount that would make us comfortable (and for us, "comfortable" is pretty durned modest) for the rest of our lives, he would probably give the rest of it away. He would set up charitable foundations for issues dear to his heart. We would probably move – we would probably have to – in which case we'd purchase a similar-sized home on larger acreage. (He always wanted to have a small home at the bottom of a valley next to a creek, and own everything up to forty feet over the tops of the hills. In other words, solitude.)

This is because Don has no envy. "I've thought it through so many times," he says. "And nope, I have no envy. It's just not one of my deadly sins, so more money wouldn't change that."

Envy is pernicious and leads to all kinds of horrible things. A kernel of envy can grow until it drives you mad. Nope, not going there.

Money, especially unearned money, also takes away the motivation to earn a living, which is a cruel thing. It ruins people, it ruins their children, and it ruins their grandchildren. Rather than the need for money, it becomes a love of money ... and we know what the Bible says about that:

"Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs." – 1 Timothy 6:9-10

Far better to have "godliness with contentment." Or, as Proverbs 17:1 puts it, "Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting, with strife."

That said, there is an indulgence we would probably grant ourselves, should we ever become wealthy. We'd probably rent (not buy; rent) an RV and tour this fair land for a year, seeing the sights (blogging as we go, of course).

Then we would come home, resume our interrupted homesteading activities, and live happily ever after. What more do we need beyond that?

So now it's your turn. What would you do with a billion bucks?

He is risen!

On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them.

In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’” Then they remembered his words.

A blessed Day of Resurrection to you all.

The question of ambition

We've been super-busy lately. On my end, I've had writing deadlines, work obligations, and an overnight business trip. On Don's end, he's working on an order of tankards that he really doesn't want to work on. (In the next year, Older Daughter will be moving closer and taking over the woodcraft business. Don can't wait for that day to arrive!)

All this busyness has put homestead projects on hold, both big and small. We have so many plans for our new property, and yet those durned work obligations keep getting in the way. The nerve.

While it's sometimes frustrating to be delayed on home projects by the immediate needs of work obligations, it must be logically pointed out that without the income provided by the work obligations, a lot of home projects simply would never get done. Duh.

Which led me to thinking, in a convoluted sort of way, about the subject of ambition, and how it means different things for different people.

A few years ago, someone I like and respect asked me where I saw myself in ten years. What, he wanted to know, is our (my husband’s and my) goal over the next decade?  This question was asked because the gentleman is a go-getter, a business whiz, an operational genius whose ambition drove him to strive for greater and better things.

I replied that we were very satisfied with our present conditions. We were happy with our marriage, our children, our employment, our farm.

But my questioner persisted. Surely we had some lofty goals we wanted to achieve? Didn't we want to find a corporate ladder to climb? Didn’t we want financial wealth or societal acclaim? Didn’t we want to change the world in some way? As politely as I could, I said no.

This line of questioning happened years ago, and I’ve always remembered it.  Until questioned, I never realized I had such an utter lack of ambition. Or at least, what I lack is ambition as measured by those who are eager to make a huge and impressive mark in the world.

Is it such a bad thing to be content with one's lot? When did a lack of ambition become a bad thing?

I've never wanted a fast-lane sort of life, and while I understand some people thrive under those conditions, it would beat me down. I prefer a low-key lifestyle, where stress is minimized and contentment high.

As a trivial example: As I started working on this blog post, dawn was edging over the land. I glanced out the window and noticed how some early clouds had a lovely palette of pastel colors. It was nothing earth-shattering or dramatic, just peaceful and nice. Do ambitious people notice such things?

A couple of my favorite Bible verses underscore the downside to ambition. 1 Timothy 6:6-9 says, "But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. "

And the verse that has become my motto, 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12: "...and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody."

Ain't that great?

As one wise reader once put it, "One man's stagnant pond is another man's Walden."

My ambition today is to finish an article I'm working, sort through some piled-up paperwork and get things filed, and clean the bathroom. Or is that too "stagnant"?

Time to get busy.

Your chuckle du jour

Stumbled across this today. Made me laugh.

Ah, the importance of a well-placed comma........

Ugly people

Many years ago when we lived in Oregon, we knew a woman who occasionally worked at our local library as a substitute librarian. It would be hard to find someone who was uglier than this poor woman. She had scraggly black hair heavily leaning toward gray, blackened and rotting teeth (many of which were missing), and a plump shapeless body.

And I have seldom met anyone so beautiful.

I'm serious -- she exuded a sort of goodness from every pore that, within thirty seconds of talking with her, you forgot all about what she looked like and only saw what she WAS like.

She and her husband (who, I might add, doted on her) had raised their kids and were in the process of taking in a succession of foster children, some of whom they adopted. While I have little patience or liking for CPS, the world needs more foster parents like these. This lady was a natural mother, blending love and consistency and strictness into a wonderful whole.

Recently I saw a Bible verse highlighted: "The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7

This struck me as eminently sensible on the part of the Lord. We're not all blessed to be model-beautiful. Those who are beautiful are noticed immediately -- it's a human characteristic to appreciate physical beauty -- but it doesn't take people long to figure out whether beauty is skin deep or body-deep.

While I have no doubt this librarian was occasionally snarked by thoughtless and shallow people who saw only her poor teeth and unattractive face, those of us lucky enough to know her a little better saw the ugliness swallowed up by the inner beauty. And, not incidentally, those fortunate beautiful people who open their mouths and spew hatred and vitriol are soon enough viewed as the ugly people they are.

Do people notice pearly white teeth or a pearly white soul? Do people noticed blackened and broken teeth, or a blackened and broken soul?

Audrey Hepburn, whom I admire because her beauty was far more than skin deep, was once asked how to be beautiful. Her immortal response:

"For attractive lips, speak words of kindness. For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people. For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry. For beautiful hair, let a child run his/her fingers through it once a day. For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone. People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anyone. Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you will find one at the end of each of your arms. As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands; one for helping yourself, and the other for helping others."

Another sage, Marguerite de Valois, once observed, "Have a care lest the wrinkles in the face extend to the heart."

I would far rather be friends with the ugly librarian than the beautiful people who might mock her for her ugliness.

Just some thoughts on a chilly Friday morning.

Insulting the Spirit of grace

Recently I’ve been seeing comments left by an atheist on a popular website. These weren’t just shrug-there-is-no-god comments. Rather, they were vitriolic attacks on the Divine, a blanket hatred and condemnation of anything having to do with the Almighty. And I mean these were vicious. Naturally, anyone who believed in God was included in this fellow’s blasphemy. His ire was particularly directed at Christians since he was certain we are all knuckle-dragging hypocrites.

This man took great glee in writing how he was raised in an evangelical home, but became “enlightened” as an adult and now spends much of his free time (if his comments are any indication) waxing eloquent with his gospel of hatred and loathing. His words are disturbing, lingering in the mind of the reader.

Lately this fellow, and folks like him, have been on my mind. I can't understand such hated, I guess. I find myself praying for people like that, people who are so filled with loathing for God that they entirely miss the peace which passeth all understanding.

Then last night I was reading Hebrews when this passage leaped out at me:

If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?

Gave me the shivers, it did, for that’s precisely what this person was doing with his comments. Trampling the Son of God underfoot. Treating the blood of the covenant as an unholy thing. Insulting the Spirit of grace. I fear his punishment will, indeed, be severe.

Guess I’ll keep praying, sounds like he needs it.

Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.

I "found" this Proverb today and have been trying to think of something clever and meaningful to frame it. However it's been a long day in the city doing errands and attending kids' lessons and I can't think of anything suitable, so I'll just let it stand in solitary splendor.

Writing for God

Okay, I need to get some thoughts off my chest. I've learned to pay attention when an idea won't leave me alone.

I’ve always wanted to be a writer. Ever since I was 13 and learned to type, my thoughts have flowed through my fingertips much more easily than they flow through my lips. I always seemed to have stories going through my head which could only be silenced by putting them on paper. But as with so many other interests in life, writing got shoved to the wayside while I concentrated on college, then career, then marriage, then family.

From the first, Don has cheered me on in my attempts to write. I’ve squeezed writing in between swing shifts at various jobs. I’ve squeezed writing in with newborn babies asleep in a sling on my chest. I've squeezed in writing while mucking out the barn. I’ve squeezed writing in just about everywhere you can imagine.

But I never got published.

Oh, not from lack of trying. I’ve submitted to about every publishing house and magazine you can think of. I’ve queried hundreds of agents over the years. I could, quite literally, wallpaper an entire room with my rejection notices. I spent fifteen years as a frustrated wanna-be writer, spinning my wheels and getting nowhere.

Well, not exactly nowhere. Those fifteen years taught me the ropes of the industry. It showed me the good, the bad, and the ugly. It disillusioned me through some bitter experiences, and it allowed me the privilege of meeting (in person or via email/snail mail) some extraordinary writers, editors, and agents. In short, those fifteen unpublished years weren’t a total waste of time. But it sure didn’t garner me much by way of writing credits. And all the while, something vague and unspecified and unclear was nagging at me. Something was preventing me from being published, at least with any regularity. What was it?

And then a funny thing happened.

I was visiting some friends in Oregon, John and Krista. These are old and dear friends whose children grew up with mine. In fact, Krista is a labor and delivery nurse, and she was 7½ months pregnant with her own first daughter when she helped bring our first daughter into this world. (That's how we met -- she helped deliver my baby!) John and Krista’s two older girls are just about the same age as my girls and, oddly, bear the same names as our girls (which made for fun play dates when we lived in Oregon!).

Anyway, about five years ago we visited our old stomping grounds in Oregon and spent a few days trespassing on John and Krista’s hospitality. During an idle moment while Krista was busy with the kids, I flipped open her Bible which was lying on a living room coffee table, closed my eyes, and placed my finger on a random verse.

It was Romans 12:6 – “We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.”

Criminey. I’d just been pole-axed.

I realized what it was that had been nagging at me all these years. I knew my interest in writing was God-given (why else would I be so driven to keep writing even after fifteen years of failure?), but I hadn’t written was what pleasing to God. In other words, I wasn’t using my gift for the glory of God.

I won’t say my life changed in that moment. On the contrary, I didn’t want to hear it. I wanted to write what **I** wanted to write, darn it. I didn’t want to be dictated to. I didn’t want to admit that I wasn’t doing what I should be doing.

So I fought. Thought. Continued down the same beaten path of failure. Cried. Raged.

And finally submitted. God was right. I was wrong. Well phooey.

Okay, time to make some changes. First I changed the emphasis of what I wrote. I started doing a lot more magazine articles and short non-fiction pieces. Some wonderful doorways opened up during this transition period, and some bitterly hard doors closed. But I started getting published on a regular basis, and my publishing credits began building up.

I have endless numbers of people to thank for these publishing opportunities – not only Don and my kids, but also the wonderful editors at Countryside Magazine, The Crafts Report Magazine, Backwoods Home Magazine, LivingOnADime.com, and of course the phenomenal folks at WorldNetDaily. And I am endlessly grateful to you, my blog readers. But above all, the credit goes to the Almighty. How could it not?

By the standards of a lot of writers, I’m puny – a mighty small fish in a mighty big pond. But you know what? That’s okay. I’m using my gift appropriately now. I’m not so cocky as to think I’ll never face any more professional setbacks, challenges, or failures (that’s the way we grow, after all). But now my writing brings me peace instead of frustration.

The nice thing about gifts from God is they keep on giving. A few years ago when I was trying to find an agent for The Simplicity Primer, I queried dozens and dozens of agents – possibly close to a hundred. Some expressed interest in seeing the proposal, then dropped it. Getting an agent to pay attention to me was like pulling teeth.

This summer some writing friends convinced me I needed an agent for future books. Armed with a couple of recommendations, I queried two agents. That’s right: TWO agents. Not dozens, TWO. One didn’t get back to me for weeks, and then it was a decline. But the other agent accepted me. [Update: We've since parted ways amiably because I didn't have any manuscripts to send him. I now have a different agent.]

I don’t want to read too much into this, but the inarguable fact remains that once I gave my writing over to God, I started getting published. Once I learned to subdue my rebellious spirit and direct my gift they way it was supposed to go, things started becoming easier for me.

Which begs the question, in what other areas of my life am I being rebellious? I can think of a few right off the bat, but since it’s always embarrassing to list my faults, I’ll keep them to myself and just work on them in private.

Gifts are funny things. I sometimes regret I don’t have the gifts some of my friends have. I have limited abilities or interests in many of the domestic arts in which others of my acquaintance excel and which make their homes serene and beautiful places to visit. My skills in sewing or hospitality or decorating or cooking or even teaching pale in comparison to the wonderful talents of these other women.

But God made us all different. We all have gifts. Some we know about, some are waiting to be discovered. I can admire the gifts these other women have. I can admire the seemingly effortless ways in which they bring beauty to their homes and families. I try not to get jealous because I don’t possess the same set of gifts. I try to be thankful to the gifts I DO have.

God is a pretty smart guy. He knows what’s in our hearts. More important, He knows how to draw the BEST out of us if only we would listen and pay attention to what He has to say.

It ain’t always easy to submit to His will. But it sure is worth it.

Update on the wheat field

Some of you have been asking for an update on the wheat field.

Here's what it looks like right now:

Pretty impressive, isn't it? Until you realize one critical thing: This isn't wheat. Unfortunately what you're seeing is a pervasive invasive weed called cheatgrass, called so because it "cheats" and drops its seeds earlier than any other native grass, thus spreading very rapidly.

Fortunately there IS wheat mixed in. But sometimes it's hard to see.

Don and I have had endless discussions on what to do about the cheatgrass. It's probably controllable through pesticides, but I'm not sure. Most pesticides are not species-specific, and since wheat is a grass just like cheatgrass is a grass, I don't know if we could use a pesticide to control it. And we don't want to either. We have no objection to the occasional judicious use of a pesticide, but not over a whole field!

The problem is we're growing hard red winter wheat. Winter wheat is sown in the fall, goes dormant over the winter, then grows in the spring and matures in the summer. We want to grow a hard (as opposed to soft) wheat because that's the kind of wheat used to make bread. (Soft wheat is used for pasta.)

But because the wheat is sown in the fall, we can't control the weeds in the spring by plowing. So what we've decided to do is tough it out and harvest what wheat we can this year... and then re-plow the field and not plant in the fall. Come spring we'll plow and re-plow and re-plow the field -- in other words, mechanically destroying the cheatgrass -- and then sow a hard spring wheat.

Our winter wheat will be ready to harvest in a few weeks. We'll see how much we get -- and how hard it is to separate from the cheatgrass!

This project has taken on positively biblical proportions...

Matthew 13:24-29
Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.

The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’

'An enemy did this,’ he replied.

The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’

‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”

Cool pic

One of my favorite Bible chapters is 1 Thessalonians 4, specifically verses 11-12:

...and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.

In fact, this has become something of a personal motto.

So when a reader named Sandie put this in poster form, I thought it was way cool!

IN but not OF

I read the sermon texts in church this morning. I enjoy doing this because there's something so majestic about reading Scripture out loud.

The second reading was from Acts 2. As I read, this line leaped out at me: "With many other words he [Peter] warned them; and he pleaded with them, 'Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.'"

I'm a history buff, so I'm fully aware that virtually every generation throughout the ages has been called corrupt by someone (usually the elders). And the elders are generally right: every generation has its degree of corruption. We are certainly no exception.

It got me thinking: How can we save ourselves from this corrupt generation? Or more specifically, how can we save our children?

Some groups have taken these words to their literal end and created an entire subculture divorced from "the world." The Amish are a classic example. But we are not Amish and are unlikely to find such a group anytime soon. But that doesn't mean we're helpless against the tide of cultural depravity we see around us.

Don and I have a responsibility to make sure our daughters are saved from this corrupt generation until they're old enough to make their own decisions. To this end, we try to make sure our girls are raised IN but not OF this world.

What does that mean, IN but not OF? The way I see it, it means we're involved in our culture and community, but we do not necessarily adopt its values.

Up to this point, this has been a totally unconscious decision on our part. In fact, I never gave it much thought before. But in retrospect I realize we've been IN but not OF for, oh, about eighteen years now. That's when Don and I decided to give up our easy and well-paying jobs in the city and move rural. That was the first step.

Over the years as our daughters have grown, we've deliberately chosen to keep them out of government schools. Possibly more than any other decision, that has been influential in keeping their characters decent and moral. The rest has been fairly easy. Honestly, it has. We're fortunate that the kids are not "difficult" (and I use that term in the clinical sense; some children are born more "difficult" than others), but for the most part raising decent kids is remarkably easy. All you have to do is withdraw from being OF the world.

Being rural is large contributing factor. Living without television reception is yet another contributing factor.

By no means am I saying that urban public school kids all turn out bad or that rural homeschooled kids are perfect. Please don't misunderstand. What I'm saying is that -- for us -- being rural and homeschooling has made it remarkably easy for our children to adopt the values we hold dear.

This isn't to say the girls will leave the nest and thereafter live perfect lives. Far from it. In their adult years they will have numerous head-on collisions with the real world which will be in direct conflict with their values. Things will not seem as black and white as they do now. They will experience all the gray areas that make up our culture.

What I'm saying is, they'll have in their possession the toolbox we've tried to create for them. The tools in that toolbox built the foundation of their world, and include the morals, faith, values, and choices we've made since their birth. As they become adults, they will have those tools at their disposal to build their own foundation.

As adults, our girls will be living IN this world. They have no choice, of course; we must all live in this world. And for the most part it's a beautiful world and I hope they enjoy it as much as Don and I do.

We can only hope they will choose to stay OUT of this world in other respects.

Bible trivia question

So here's a neat coincidence. What is the center verse of the Bible?

Psalm 118:8
It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man.

Some people might say this is an utter coincidence. Others might say differently.

(No, I didn't take this photo.)

Just a nobody...

A reader sent an email with a neat tagline I thought I'd highlight.

I'm just a nobody telling anybody about some body who can save EVERY body.

This of course refers to John 3:16-17:

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. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

(Okay Quedula, feel free to snark.)

He who will not work...

This past Sunday in church it was my turn to do the Bible readings on which the sermon text was based.  I love giving the readings because there are few things to equal the majesty of reading Scripture out loud.

And it was an extra pleasure because the New Testament readings were one of my favorites:

2 Thessalonians 3: 6-10
In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers and sisters, to keep away from every believer who is idle and disruptive and does not live according to the teaching you received from us.  For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you.  We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you to imitate.  For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.”

This echoed an interesting post my friend Enola Gay recently had on her blog.  Her grandfather sent her a piece called The Truth of the Welfare State, which expresses the frustration many of us feel:

Like most folks in this country, I have a job.  I work, they pay me.  I pay my taxes and the government distributes my taxes as it sees fit.  In order to get that paycheck, in my case, I am required to pass a random urine test (with which I have no problem).

What I do have a problem with is the distribution of my taxes to people who don't have to pass a urine test.

So, here is my question:  Shouldn't one have to pass a urine test to get a welfare check because I have to pass one to earn it for them?

Please understand, I have no problem with helping people get back on their feet.  I do, one the other hand, have a problem with helping someone sitting on their BUTT doing drugs or whatever they want while I work.

Can you imagine how much money each state would save if people had to pass a urine test to get a public assistance check?

I guess we could call the program "URINE OR YOU'RE OUT"!

This all reinforces the Great Divide in this country.  No, it’s not the Haves vs. the Have Nots.  It’s becoming the “Work” vs. the “Work Nots.”

Please note the Bible verse says “The one who is UNWILLING to work.”  Other versions say “shall not work” or “will not work.”  This differs greatly from CANNOT work.

People cannot work for a huge variety of reasons.  Some are too old.  Some are disabled.  Some are too young.  Some are single mothers (I distinguish between women who have been abandoned by their men versus women who crank out babies for profit).  And, especially in this economy, many are simply unable to find work, no matter how hard they try.

This greatly differs from those who WILL NOT work.

There are very few among us in this nation would are not willing to help those who are truly in need.  When we see people who are UNABLE to work, collectively there is a deep-seated instinct to help.  That’s one of the reasons I admire and support such organizations as the Union Gospel Mission, which takes people off the street and “teaches them to fish” rather than merely “giving” them fish (to paraphrase the old saying).  Charities such as this are privately run, efficient, and deserving of praise.

But just as there is a deep-seated instinct among us to help those in need, there is equally a deep-seated resentment among us to have our hard-earned money forcibly removed from our pockets and “redistributed” to those who, quite often, are UNWILING to work.

Giving money to those unwilling to work is cruel.  It destroys their incentive, ruins their work ethic, and supplies a false sense of entitlement.  It rips families apart (since the man is no longer necessary as the critical breadwinner).  It teaches children that age-old virtues are unnecessary.

In short, giving un-earned money may well lead, directly or indirectly, to the destruction of our nation.  It’s a chain-reaction downward spiral, apparently encouraged by our government so it has a built-in cadre of dependent voters willing to keep the entitlements coming if only they vote in the same ol’ politicians.

I would dearly love my girls to inherit a nation worthy of them.  We are endeavoring to teach them that hard work, self-sufficiency (from government assistance), and independence are the tickets toward true freedoms.  But our government is burning these notions down around their ears.

Verse du jour

Proverbs 16:3
Commit to the LORD whatever you do,
       and your plans will succeed.

This struck me as particularly apt.  Now that I think back on things, the essence of this verse has helped me make a lot of decisions, some of them hard (namely, dropping things that were NOT "committed to the Lord").