Posts Categorized: Patience

It’s Deja Vu All Over Again. Sort of.

| Patience

Earlier in the week, we were getting forecasts of very cold weather. There might be snow, there might be ice, there might be freezes. And, since we’re into February, we’re feeling a little anxious, given what happened last February.  In the middle of the month last year, we had a total of nine days (in a row) of below freezing temperatures. And that’s just extraordinary for us, here in Central Texas.

So when the weather forecasters say, “It’s going to get really cold,” we pay attention.

Last Wednesday, I was at the elementary school where I read with kids during their lunchtime. I knew the temperature was falling, and everyone at the school was starting to get anxious. Before I left, the school system had already decided to cancel classes on Thursday and Friday.

I was pretty sure that we had enough food in the refrigerator and freezer, but I thought that, maybe, I should stop and get some additional groceries. I went to Wal-Mart, along with many, many other folks who were also thinking about being stuck at home with not enough food. I got some vegetable broth and some canned corn and canned green beans and some rice, to make a big pot of soup. And some milk. And, some eggs.

The weather forecast says that by Monday, even the low temperatures will be above freezing. And by mid-week, the temps are forecast to be in the 60’s. Maybe this will be the only significant COLD weather that we’ll have. Hope so!

 

Rain and snow fall from the sky. But they don’t return without watering the earth that produces seeds to plant and grain to eat.That’s how it is with my words. They don’t return to me without doing everything I send them to do.

Isaiah 55:10,11 (Contemporary English Version)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Following in Mother’s Footprints

| Joy, Patience

When I was a kid, I’d sometimes use the smaller bathroom in our house, the one that my parents used. The bathroom on the hall, that JoAnne and I used, had a bathtub and a shower head. That smaller bathroom just had a shower stall. Peter has just recently begun to use that shower stall. He finds it fascinating, mainly because it has a shower stool (which my physician insisted I provide, in case, as a senior adult woman, I might fall, slip, or otherwise need to suddenly sit), as well as a shower head that can be unhooked from the wall, so that it can be used to spray one’s self at one’s discretion.

 

 

The larger bathroom has an overhead heater, which is nice to have during the chillier months. However, that heater is run from a switch that is either ON or OFF. It doesn’t have a variable switch. It’s either on, really on, or off, completely off.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The heater in the smaller bathroom is mounted on a side wall, and it has a switch that can go from barely on to seriously on. I can turn that heater on just a little, or quite a lot And right now, even though the weather has dropped quite a bit in the past few days, I can decide for myself how much or how little heat I need.

 

 

 

 

When, as a child, I did visit my parents’ bathroom, I noticed that Mother had a small shelf where she put her Bible and Sunday School lesson book. Right next to the toilet. I just assumed that she took advantage of her bathroom trips to catch up on Bible readings and Sunday School information.

 

I’ve re-evaluated that idea of Mother’s. I’m also reading from a devotional book, in the bathroom, pretty much every morning. And then I read the accompanying Bible passages. I’m in there, in the bathroom, reading, because it’s warm in there!

And here is my new Bible. I’d purchased a new Bible a few weeks ago, but, as I’ve been reading through the passages, I was squinting and trying to read everything, and the words were just too small. So, I went and purchased a large print version of that Bible. It’s soooo much easier, now.

 

 

 

You have known the Holy Scriptures ever since you were a little child. They are able to teach you how to be saved by believing in Christ Jesus. God has breathed life into all Scripture. It is useful for teaching us what is true. It is useful for correcting our mistakes. It is useful for making our lives whole again. It is useful for training us to do what is right. By using Scripture, the servant of God can be completely prepared to do every good thing.

2 Timothy 3:15-17 (New International Reader’s Version)

The new Bible I bought is The Message translation, which I’m enjoying reading. But, I rather liked this translation of 2 Timothy 3:15-17, also.

Just Think of All the Things I’d Have Missed If I Didn’t Go to the Library

| Patience, Peace

I often see new books at the library that catch my attention. Sometimes, I’ll pick up a book that looks interesting and leave it sitting around my house for three weeks, when I should return it. Or, I could renew it, even if I’ve not ever opened it, but think that I might.

If no other library patron asks for that book, I could even renew it for a second time, and keep it for NINE weeks. At which point I really do have to return it, whether or not anyone wants it. But then, I could go back in a few days, check it out again, and, really, could renew it twice more, but by that time, I’ve come to understand that I’m not truly going to read that book.

A couple of weeks ago, I was headed to the computers (to see if I’d remembered to turn in a book), when I passed a display of books. One of them caught my eye:

I thought this looked interesting.

THE CALLIGRAPHER’S SECRET

Rafik Schami

And the title page says: Translated from German by Anthea Bell

It seemed a little odd that a book that’s set in the Middle East (Damascus) would be written in German. Maybe it was written in a Middle Eastern language, then translated into German, and now is available in English.

To begin with, books that aren’t originally written in English and then translated into English, sometimes have a different rhythm to them. And for the first few pages, I needed to adapt, I guess, to the different cadence. And the whole different culture and descriptions and, rhythm, of the sentences slowed down the reading. I’m getting better at it.

And it is a very thick book.

I feel like I’ve been reading and reading and reading, and I’m not close to being halfway through it.

From almost the very beginning, I’ve known that a woman was going to run away. The reasons haven’t been explained, but I know it’s going to happen. And whenever I think It’s going to be soon. She’ll be gone before long. I’m wrong. She went to work with as a seamstress. She’s gotten married. She seems to like her husband. I don’t know what’s going to make her leave. I just know that she’s going to leave.

 

I was several chapters in before the Calligrapher showed up. And, based on the title of the book, he seems like an important element to the story. But, so far, there’s no connection between him and the woman who is the female protagonist. I’ve seen her name from almost the first page of the book. I’ve seen her as a child, as a young adult who worked for the most important seamstress in town, and now as a wife.

Obviously, I’ve got lots of pages to go.

I’m intrigued. Maybe she’ll leave and never return. But it seems like she’ll be back on the pages of the story, even if it won’t be with her husband or other family members.

And, really! what IS the Calligraphers Secret!?!

I will have to let you know.

 

There was a disciple in Damascus by the name of Ananias. The Master spoke to him in a vision: “Ananias.”

“Yes, Master?” he answered.

“Get up and go over to Straight Avenue. Ask at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus. His name is Saul. He’s there praying. He has just had a dream in which he saw a man named Ananias enter the house and lay hands on him so he could see again.”

 Ananias protested, “Master, you can’t be serious. Everybody’s talking about this man and the terrible things he’s been doing, his reign of terror against your people in Jerusalem! And now he’s shown up here with papers from the Chief Priest that give him license to do the same to us.”

But the Master said, “Don’t argue. Go! I have picked him as my personal representative to non-Jews and kings and Jews. And now I’m about to show him what he’s in for—the hard suffering that goes with this job.”

Acts 9:10-16 (The Message Translation)

 

I guess all sorts of interesting things have happened in Damascus.

Flowers and Trees

| Patience, Peace

The morning temperatures have been a little frosty, in the 30’s early in the morning, but the afternoons have been springlike. Well, for a couple of days. But Thursday and Friday had afternoon temperatures in the mid 70’s, which is perfect weather for working outside.

First, I hung the white pots back on the front porch railing. They come down when I put up the Christmas greenery and bows and lights. They’re back up now, with winter-hardy yellow violas . (Violas are like miniature pansies.)

Next, I put yellow pansies in the bed in front of the porch. Pansies are sturdy flowers, the kind that made it through last February.

I bought the pansies and violas back in the fall, as soon as they arrived in the nursery. There are all sorts of colors and varieties of pansies and violas. I like the ones that have petals that are all yellow, so that’s what I purchased: all-yellow pansies and all-yellow violas.

And, in a sadder situation, the tree next door could not recover from last February’s deep, deep freeze.

The tree is a variety of ash. I tried to determine what the life expectancy of an ash tree is, and I got anywhere from 25-40 years to 250 years. But there seems to be a wide variety of ash trees, some have short lives and others long lives. When I looked up pecan, I got anywhere from 250 years to 400 years, so our backyard should be nice and shady for quite some time.

 

As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.

Isaiah 55:10-12 (New International Version)

 

Yes, it’s one of my favorite passages. I do so enjoy the exuberance of those trees being so excited.

Science tells us that trees truly do communicate with each other in forests. So, I’m imagining that the root systems of the trees near my neighbor’s stump are singing together, also, but maybe something like a dirge.

Lay Flat to Dry

| Patience, Peace

I was doing some laundry. I’d looked through my closet and picked up several sweaters and pullovers that I’d been wearing when the weather had gotten chillier. (Of course, right now, it’s like springtime outside.)

I gathered up the heavier things and put them in the laundry basket. I also picked up a gray pullover (with a nice tall collar that really keeps my neck warm). I piled them up and then stopped to check their care labels. I very much like the labels that say to wash and then dry. I got to the gray pullover and read, with dismay, the care label: wash in cold water and lay flat to dry.

Nooooooo. First of all, I don’t really have a place large enough to lay a sweater down for hours while it air dries. Whyever would I have even bought a sweater without looking at the care label first?!?!?

Then I looked at the label in the neck of the sweater; the manufacturer. Eddie Bauer. I’d ordered it from their online catalog, and, I’m quite sure, the description of the sweater had not included the care instructions. I’ll not make that mistake again. But, I’d made that mistake now. And the decision I made was to wash and dry the thing, and see how it came out.

It came out great. It looked exactly the same as when I’d first put it in the washing machine. And now, after coming out of the dryer, it looked promising. I tried it on and, TA-DAH! It fit exactly the same as it had before.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that every piece of clothing I purchase that says “Lay flat to dry” is going to come out of the washer and dryer looking perfect. But, I’m avoiding the potential disaster by being diligent about checking care labels before I spend that money. And, if I’m ordering something that doesn’t have the care information listed on the website, I can order it and then send it back if it has that label that says “Lay flat to dry.”

 

 

 

 

yet I prefer to appeal to you on the basis of love. It is as none other than Paul—an old man and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus— that I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, who became my son while I was in chains.  Formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me.

Philemon 1:9-11

 

Thesaurus.com says “usefulness” is a synonym for “responsibility.” It is, I guess, irresponsible not to pay attention to the instructions for a garment to remain usable and useful. But, if I had to follow the instructions on the sweater, I’d have rarely worn it, knowing that I’d have to to through all the steps of making the sweater clean. Now, I can wear it happily, knowing that I can clean it whenever the sweater needs it.

And, I should also be looking for the useful people in my life, the people who help, encourage, and support other folks.

 

Yeah, It’s Just a Tree

| Faithfulness, Patience

Last Monday afternoon, there was the sound of chain saws, and, while not completely unheard of, it was unusual. I opened the front door and looked out at my next-door neighbor’s yard. A couple of men were there, sawing off large limbs from my next-door neighbor’s very large ash tree.

That meant one thing:  tree is dead.

And I wept.

That tree is a tree from my childhood. We live in the house that my parents built in 1959. My parents and sister and I moved in at the end of May that year. One of the first things that almost every family did that summer was to begin planting. Little squares of St. Augustine grass were laid out on the ground, and watered carefully to encourage runners which would connect those squares to completely carpet the yard. Flower beds were established.

And trees were planted. Most yards had one or more spindly, single stalk, tree, in the front yards, the back yards, and sometimes on the sides.

And here’s what we’d do, my next door neighbor and I (when no one was watching): We’d go to the end of the block, and run, jumping over those spindly, little trees, all the way to the other end of the block. I suppose it’s a miracle that any tree lived. But they did. And, by the next summer, they were too tall for jumping over.

Over the years, many of the original trees died. I know my dad replaced trees in the front yard and the back. When Kevin was a preschooler, there was a maple tree in the back yard. They drop the most interesting seeds. The seed pods are shaped something like a feather, and the seed is at one end. When the seeds fall, they look like little helicopters. That tree didn’t last. In its spot, there’s a large crepe myrtle tree, which has just now dropped its many small red leaves. Yesterday, I raked them all up.

In the past few weeks, I’ve raked, and bagged up the leaves from the  red oak in the front yard and the pin oak on the side.

And this ash tree, in my neighbor’s yard, hasn’t drop any leaves, because it hasn’t made any leaves, for most of the spring and summer. Every now and then, it would put out a small spray of leaves, out of the center, but nothing like the leaf production that it should have.

And now, limb by limb, it’s coming down.

As I was leaving the house, a couple of days ago, I stopped and talked with the tree guys. I explained how sad I was about the tree’s demise, since I’d appreciated the tree for the many years it grew there. One of the tree guys, who was, at the time standing on the roof, said, “Thanks for telling me that story.” I said, “Thanks for listening.”

A few days later, as I noticed all the small logs beginning to pile up around the yard, I asked them what they were going to do with all those little logs. They said they put them in a chipper. I said could I have some of them. And they said sure. And one of them got his trolley, and I got my wheelbarrow, and we carted a number of logs to my back yard.

 

And here they are. I’m not sure what we’re going to do with them. Make a border, maybe. We have a chain saw, so I think we can decide how to use the logs. And, I said to David, as well as the tree guys, that if we decide we don’t want them, we can easily put them in the green bin (which is for recycling yard waste), if we decide we don’t want them, after all. (But I think we’re going to want them.)

 

 

 

When you are set free, you will celebrate and travel home in peace. Mountains and hills will sing as you pass by, and trees will clap.

Isaiah 55:12 (English Contemporary Version)

 

I don’t do lots of traveling. But I think I should pay more attention to the mountains and hills that I pass by; and listen to the clapping of trees.

Punctuation

| Patience, Peace

I know people who work at the newspaper, and I think they are hard workers and do their best to help us readers be informed. Recently, I had a “hmmmm” response, to a headline from a couple of days ago.

Here’s how I read this in my head: “County’s unspent rent, aid funds at risk.” (i.e. the county had money that wasn’t needed for rent, and now they had funds to aid people at risk.) I thought that there was left-over money that renters hadn’t needed, and it was now available to help with funding . . . something important.

I read the paper first thing in the morning, while I’m eating breakfast, so I’m not at my most competent. I do put on my glasses to see things well, but I might not be alert enough to get the drift of what the newspaper people have intended. And, of course, if I’d read the headline carefully, I’d have realized that the word should have been  aids instead of aid, if it had wanted to convey what I thought it meant. But then, when I read the article, I realized that this was a bad outcome. The funds that had been available to people had not been distributed in a timely manner, and now families were now in danger of being evicted if they can’t come up with the money. The article continued, saying that Corpus Christi and Laredo hadn’t distributed any of their funds, and other counties were also very behind. There seems to be hope that lagging localities can get some help organizing their work.

Here’s what Wednesday’s front page said (and see how they properly used a comma to help readers understand; “spending soars adding” would have been an odd phrase if read without that pause). Things are looking UP! (for folks who have money to spend). The idea is that people have been cooped up at home, not going shopping very much, and they are ready to go spending some of that money that they’ve been hoarding, saving, and keeping in their wallets/piggy banks/cookie jars. So folks with cash in their pockets are going to have a, hmmm, very Merry Christmas, it seems like.

 

 

 

My dear children, let’s not just talk about love; let’s practice real love. This is the only way we’ll know we’re living truly, living in God’s reality. It’s also the way to shut down debilitating self-criticism, even when there is something to it. For God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves.

1 John 3:18 (The Message translation)

 

Our church collects Christmas gifts for families. We shop for items for babies to teen-ages, and those things go to Mission Waco, where low-income families in our community can purchase Christmas items for their children at an 80% discount of the retail price. Hopefully, some of those people who’ve been cooped up at home (and haven’t been able to spend the cash they’ve accrued) will make a trip to Target or Wal-Mart or some other great place to buy gifts for the kids in struggling families.

I Might Save Lots of Things, But I Keep Forgetting When I’m Supposed to be Saving Some Time

| Patience, Peace

It’s possible that there are some people who truly like Daylight Saving Time. I’m not really one of them. It is easier for me, I suppose, because I don’t have a schedule for each day. So, I’ve eased into the difference, getting up when I wake up, going to bed when I’m tired and sleepy. David, who does need to get to work at a reasonable and reliable time, reset all the clocks, so I at least know what time it is, in the current state of TIME. (And it really is Daylight Saving Time and not Daylight Savings Time.)

Many years ago, I read a series of children’s books about the Moffat family, by author Eleanor Estes, who won several book awards. Jane thought of herself as the Middle Moffat, having older and younger siblings. In one of the chapters, she wonders about Daylight Saving Time, instituted during during World War I. She imagines that there is a big box where the daylight is being stored so that it can be taken out and utilized for longer days. (There is a charming line drawing that shows her peering into a large box with sunbeams radiating out of it.) The Middle Moffat was chosen as a Newbery Honor Book  (in 1942).

It seems like a nice idea, when I’ve got a deadline, and I’m concerned about meeting it. I could walk or drive to the big box, just as the sun’s going down, and gather up some of that stored daylight. Think of how much yard work I could get done, if there was some additional daylight. Would I need to pay for more daylight? Would the box give me some additional daylight, but require me to have less daylight on some other day? Like the middle of January? When I might not really want, or need, extra daylight?

I looked up “Daylight Saving Time,” hoping to get the basic information. The article had 6,296 words in it. It contained the entire history of Daylight Saving Time in every country in the world. In detail. That’s the link, up in the first sentence, in case you’d like the very informative history of Daylight Saving Time.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, I went to the elementary school where I volunteer to work with a kid, where we read together while she eats lunch. Read a page, eat some lunch, read another page, eat some more lunch. And, we’re done a little bit after 1:00. She went back to her classroom, and I went to run a couple of errands. And then, eek! I’m attending a couple of seminars at the museum, and the first one runs from 3:00 to 4:00. And, I’d lost track of time and it was 2:45 already. I turned the car toward the museum, knowing that I’d be late. And, I was about halfway there when I realized that, Oh, yeah. Daylight Saving Time! I’d not remembered, at all, that I hadn’t changed the clock in the car. And, because I’d been in the house, with all the clocks that David had reset, I’d left the house to go to the school and not paid any attention to the clock in the car.

I went back home, had some lunch, got a jacket (it can be chilly in the Museum), and then leisurely made my way down to Baylor, in plenty of time for the first lecture. I should be better organized next Wednesday. Maybe.

 

The night has passed, and the day has come near. Let us therefore cast away the deeds of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.

Romans 13:12 (The New Matthew Bible)

 

I need a while to get used to the late afternoon darkness. A week, or so, or maybe a little more. I’ll probably be completely accustomed to it by time spring arrives, and we change the time back again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It Was Sort of Nice Outside

| Faithfulness, Patience, Peace

After a doctor’s appointment and a couple of errands today, I thought I could work in the yard some. The temperature was almost 70° and the sun was shining. There was also a sort of stiffish breeze. I went out with a jacket on. I noticed, as I walked into the back yard, that there were some sticks on the grass. So I went to pick them up. And, soon, I had so many that I couldn’t wrap my fingers all the way around them. I walked around to the green bins (the ones where we put the leaves and weeds and dead plants) and tossed my handful of twigs and sticks in the larger bin. I went to the back yard again, and picked up more sticks. There were sticks everywhere! The wind had been blowing at a pretty nice clip all morning, enough that any little dead end (or middling-sized dead end) of a branch, had snapped right off and tumbled down into the yard.

There were sticks in the grass, sticks in the garden, and sticks in the back part of the yard where I’m trying to get Asian Jasmine to grow (on the north-ish side at the back) and sticks in the thyme garden (on the south-ish side at the back). It seemed as though the ends of many of the limbs on the trees, an old, large pecan tree and a much younger, but still pretty large, crepe myrtle tree, were small enough to easily snap right off under the unrelenting breeze. And it was, indeed, unrelenting.

I’d pick up sticks and put them in my left hand until my hand was full, and then walk over to put them in the larger green bin. I was putting leaves in the smaller bin. I kept thinking that I was done picking up little sticks. But, the wind kept on blowing. I’d walk across a part of the yard where, just a few minutes earlier, I’d picked up a handful of sticks and twigs, and, suddenly, there were just as many sticks and twigs as there had been a few minutes previously.

And, yes, I could take the big bin down to where the sticks were, but, I kept thinking that I’d picked them all up, and then the wind would blow and more sticks would gently float down to the ground. I do have a good-sized collapsible, lightweight, green bin. I finally got that and toted it around the back yard, tossing in the various sizes of sticks and twigs.

When I, at last, emptied the collapsible bin’s contents into the large green bin, I put everything away and went back inside. I checked the weather and saw that it’s going to be just as windy on Friday as it was on Thursday. One part of me thinks that, surely, all the little ends on the twigs on the trees have already been broken off. One part of me knows better.

 

The Scriptures say, “Humans wither like grass, and their glory fades like wild flowers. Grass dries up, and flowers fall to the ground. But what the Lord has said will stand forever.” Our good news to you is what the Lord has said.
1 Peter 1:24-25 (Contemporary English Version)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

plants

| Joy, Love, Patience

I’m trying to be a better plant caregiver. Soooo many plants have met their doom at my hands. I might give them too much water, but, really, I’m much more irresponsible about watering, and I forget about a plant (or, more than one plant). I sort of like the plants that wilt when they need water, so I know when I need to rescue them. But some plants are just stoic and try to put on a brave face when I walk by them, and I’m startled when they suddenly just give up and drop all their leaves at once.

The fine folks at the Wal-Mart gardening area have helped me solve one problem, at least a little.

In the houseplant area, there is a great variety of kinds of plants and sizes of plants. For many of the available plants, there are helpful labels that tell the less-than-knowledgeable plant purchasers how to make a reasonable purchase.

 

They stick little informational cards into the plant’s container that tells what kind of light the plant needs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Solomon) could talk about all kinds of plants, from large trees to small bushes, and he taught about animals, birds, reptiles, and fish.

1 Kings 4:33 (Contemporary English Version)

 

 

 

I know most of the names of the plants that are growing in our yard. And, through trial and error, I’ve figured out what kinds of plants that I can grow with a degree of competence. And which ones I simply can’t.