Mark 2:27
Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”
Enjoy the gifts of God.
Month: March 2009
Planning for Winter in March
Spring doesn’t officially start for another two weeks, but it is 79 degrees here today. I’m climbing out of my skin trying to resist the impulse to plant stuff that I know cannot handle the frost that will come next week. My sunny spot in my house is almost ready and next year I will be able to start things from seed, just not this year. This year, I have to wait and purchase whole plants.
I’m still trying to figure out my “zone.” Some maps show me in 6, others show me in 7. I’m apparently on the cusp of both.
My gardens look great in the Spring and Summer with some nice fall interest as well, but in the winter? Even here, I have nadda. Everything is dormant, there is no color, not contrast. B-O-R-I-N-G. I used to have pine trees and they stayed green, but boy did I miss that this year. So, in looking for color for my gardens I came across two beauties I could not resist.
This wonderfully looking specimen is called – Beni Kaze Japanese Forest Grass
(Photo Credit: Spring Hill Nursery)
Botanical Name: Hakonechloa macra ‘Beni-kaze’
Form: Herbaceous perennial
Sun Exposure: Partial Shade/Full Sun
Height/Habit: 2 – 3′
Spread: 2 – 3′
Spacing: 2 – 4′
Hardiness Zone: Zones 5 – 9
Foliage Type: Mounds of arching linear green leaves which turn to rich red tones in fall.
Flower Form: Pale green spikelets. Not significant.
Flower Color: Green
Flowering Date: Late summer.
Planting Requirements: Tolerates a light shade without compromising the brilliant fall color.
Soil Requirements: Well drained, fertile, humus rich soil.
Growth Rate: Moderate.Unique Characteristics: Flowing mound of green grass blades that turn a brilliant red for the fall season. Great for cascading over a bank or retaining wall. Tolerates a light shade area without compromising on the great fall color. Compliments most broad leaf plants nicely in the landscape setting.
Pruning: Cut to base in late winter or early spring.
Additional Information: Beni-kaze translates to “red wind”. Describes its flowing nature and beautiful fall color.
I’ll admit, there is nothing wrong with owning these – 
I’m just bored with it being my only “grass” planting. This one is mature enough to divide and place in other spots in my garden. Places where I have Spring and Summer color and need some green.
My other colorful beauty is the Red Twig Dogwood
(Photo Credit: Spring Hill Nursery)
Like I said, my yard has zero color in the winter. I need something pretty.
Botanical Name: Cornus alba ‘Argenteo-Marginata’
Form: Deciduous woody shrub
Sun Exposure: Partial Shade/Full Sun
Height/Habit: 5 – 8′
Spread: 5 – 8′
Spacing: 6 – 10′
Hardiness Zone: Zones 3 – 8
Foliage Type: Variegated green and cream ovate to elliptic leaves.
Flower Form: Small starry flowers form 1 1/2 – 2″ flat topped cymes, insignificant.
Flower Color: Yellowish white
Flowering Date: Spring
Planting Requirements: Best coloration in full sun.
Soil Requirements: Well drained, but adaptable to a wide range of soils.
Growth Rate: Moderate to fast.
Unique Characteristics: An old fashioned favorite that is still one of the best shrubs for year round appeal. Attractive variegated cream and green foliage all growing season followed by brilliant red stems that last all winter. Provides great color against a snowy backdrop or used indoors as an accent in cut-flower arrangements.
Pruning: Best coloration on new wood. Prune out 1/3 to 1/2 of old wood each year.
Time of Pruning: Late winter.
PLANT DESCRIPTIONS ARE COURTESY OF SPRINGHILLNURSERY.COM I’m using these until I learn what means what and how to properly log things in my gardening scrapbook.
The Jury is in, I am ADD
I started my ADD journey close to three months ago. The first month my doctor didn’t agree with me on my assessment, but gave me medication anyway. I received my first prescription for a very low dose (read why bother dose) of concerta. I didn’t see any results and went back feeling discouraged and at least willing to try a higher dose. She bumped up to 36 mg.
My 90 days are almost up. During that time I was to set goals, redistribute some chores, and set some boundaries.
We learned some things. By letting go of the need to be all things to all people, I have more time to do important things like balance my check book and get our finances all in one place. They get done more quickly as well because I stay focused on it. My front living room is painted (with a lot of help from my husband). I have permanently delegated the boys laundry to them. They are 16 and 18 – so this is no devastating burden trust me and well, they didn’t die. I might, but they haven’t.
My memory is returning, and actually I’m discovering that I might not have really lost it, I just have more certainty (clarity) during events (because I’m paying attention) that it’s easier to recall things. I don’t change what I remember based on someone else insisting it was some other way. Okay so that little tidbit drives my husband and youngest nuts, but that’s okay. I feel better knowing I have the clarity back.
My mother still thinks it’s just menopause. I think it could be that menopause has made my ADD worse and harder for me to manage on my own. I cheated during my 90 days – I tried going a week without the meds and everything went back to the way it was. No more cheating, I’m sticking with this. This works.
I’m accomplishing goals, thinking clearly, speaking and writing with clarity (most of the time – not counting hormone days), I’m setting goals and achieving them. I feel better about myself, and my happiness is returning because my self esteem is returning. I’m calming down and not so hyper and bouncing off the walls. I’m not perfectly organized, I’m just learning how to be perfectly me and I’m okay with that.
It’s just been one of those days.
Okay, it’s officially an off day for me today. I write a blog, save it to draft (I think) come back later to find I hit publish instead – lovely. That happens sometimes I know. I just hate it when I’m saving ideas to be used later as a main blog. I’m re-writing it and I’m holding it until later. It was a rant that was nothing more than my shooting the side of the barn with buckshot. It made absolutely no sense.
I have my days where I am embarrassed to admit that I sometimes like the unchurched, more than the church. I have no clue if that makes sense. It’s just a feeling and feelings don’t always arrive in neatly wrapped packages. After reading blog after blog for this and against that with Christians tearing apart other Christians, I had to ask myself and God, if it’s worth bothering anymore. Know what I mean?
We are a confusing lot. Loving our neighbor in word only some days. Not only do we tear apart other denominations, we tear apart other races, the other sex, and we even tear at ourselves and our own church. And some days? I just get tired.
I read something cool today and given the Lenten season, it fits.
With our church talking about Sharing the Gospel with Compassion, we need to find out what compassion really means. Henri Nouwen puts it well in The Wounded Healer:
“Through compassion
it is possible to recognize
that the craving for love
that men feel
resides also in our own hearts,
that the cruelty that the world
knows all too well
is also rooted in our own impulses.Through compassion
we also sense
our hope for forgiveness
in our friend’s eyes
and
our hatred
in their bitter mouths.When they kill,
we know
that we could have done it;when they give life,
we know
that we can do the same.For a compassionate man
nothing human is alien:
no joy and no sorrow,
no way of living and no way of dying….This compassion
pulls people away from the fearful clique
into the large world
where they can see
that
every human face
is the face of a neighbor.Thus the authority of compassion
is the possibility
of man
to forgive his brother,
because
forgiveness is only real
for him who has discovered
the weakness of his friends
and the sins of his enemy
in his own heart
and
is willing
to call
every being
his brother.”
I’m presently working through the reality that I, myself, am far less compassionate and forgiving, than I would like to believe. I tend to take the out of sight and out of mind approach to forgiveness. If I don’t see you and I don’t think about you then I can pretend I’ve forgiven you. That’s not what God wants from me or for me for that matter.
That’s not forgiveness. That’s just a wall to hide behind.
Ponder something with me if you will – if you have ever been seriously hurt by someone – I mean truly truly hurt – and while you worked through forgiveness (like I have with this issue) but yet never saw them again or spoke to them – is it really forgiveness? What if said person joined your church, broken, repentant, and ashamed and wanted to be reconnected to the body, would you accept them? Would you be able to? What if it was an ex-spouse, or employer? What if was a friend who lied about you and you suffered consequences as a result. What if was someone who stole from you. What if…
It’s easier to think in the what ifs of things that never happened to us – but when they have? It’s much more difficult to honestly answer yes – I would accept and embrace them back into the body.
I have to honestly answer that question for myself – as I really don’t know. I’d like to believe I could, but my heart has been so hardened, I don’t know what I would do if they suddenly showed up like that.
Which tells me.. God and I still have some work to do this season. Compassion, confidence, forgiveness are gifts of God I pray that I don’t continue to take them lightly.
What I Was Really Upset About
I accidentally posted a rant blog. Right here, Right in this space. I’d meant to save it as a draft, but hit publish instead.
Maybe it wasn’t an accident. Maybe – it was a subconscious passive aggressive way of saying what I really feel. Of saying that I’m tired of LCMS ripping itself apart.
rather than a page of my mindless ranting, why don’t I simply tell you the truth about what set me off.
Pictures like these on LCMS blogs.
With scripture like this to back it up. Malachi 4:1 (ESV) “For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the LORD of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.”
That – is what set me off.
I search for other Ablaze bloggers and I find hate – and dissension. I find very few people on the blogosphere speaking positively about the Mission of LCMS today and it saddens me. My enough button got pushed. I got discouraged, for a day.
I woke up this morning, and I studied my new verse, like I do every morning, and I remembered God’s word’s to me this month:
Hebrews 10:35-36 – “So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded, you need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised.”
My confidence is not in politics, pastors, church boards or myself. My confidence is in Christ Alone.
What is this thing that I let grow last summer?
I pretty much ignored the back strip of my yard last year, allowing the ground to settle from grinding out the Bradford Pear and Pin Oak trees that I lost. While I was resting it, this wondrous weedy looking thing appeared. At first I thought it was a bush planted by errant birdseed. When it reached over 5 feet tall, I decided it needed cutting. The stems were very strong, yet pulpy and fibrous instead of woody. Does anyone know what this is? I have no clue.
Wordless Wednesday
Caption anyone?
Somebody stop me, I’m being a perfectionist again.
THIS is why I never get anywhere. I find pictures like this in magazines I should not be reading, and I give up hope. I found this photograph from Better Homes and Gardens that has given me, at the very least, inspiration and major doses of fear. I love beauty, and I kill things – bad combination if you ask me.
Looking at my yard today, it’s hard for me to believe that it used to have trees and was actually very pretty when we bought this house eight years ago. The previous owners had lilacs, azealas, redbuds and rose of sharon – all I which died when I moved in.
Before any of you think I really do stink at this, let me add there was new construction in the church next door. They built up their sidewalks along the fenceline, making our strip of homes the new “low zone” sending water to our yards and saturating our lawns. My shrubs all died from root rot or so I’m told.
I need french drains, but can’t afford them. I have right of way “issues” along the line and cannot dig to replace what died – and so, I’m being creative and building up in those places. – which will probably force water into my house, now that I think of it. I need french drains.
My front yard is almost completely planned, and planted. My side yard will be next. I’m looking through my garden scrapbook of hopes and ideas that I created last year,(consisting of photographs cut out from catalogus and magazines) and discovered that I own nothing yellow. Nor do I own trees anymore expect one. (The ice storm took care of those puppies) so, in a moment of spontaneous creativity I bought this:
The Spring Hill Catalog calls it a Golden Chain Tree. I have the spot picked, and the bed ready. I know once my husband sees it, he’ll think I’ve lost my mind and maybe I have.
I’m learning to keep a file of all plants and their facts for easier reference later on. These are the basic facts according to my catalog.
Botanical Name: Laburnum alpinum
Form: Deciduous tree
Sun Exposure: Partial Shade/Full Sun
Height/Habit: 20 – 30′
Spread: 18 – 25′
Spacing: 20 – 25′
Hardiness Zone: 4 – 8 (-20 degrees F) I live in zone 7
Foliage Type: 3-leaflet compound obovate leaves to 3″ long.
Flower Form: Pea-like, in pendant clusters, resembling wisteria blooms.
Flower Color: Yellow
Flowering Date: Late spring
Planting Requirements: Nothing special in maritime regions; inland, plant in a sheltered site, north or east slope, in sun but with protection from the wind.
Soil Requirements: Well drained but moisture retentive garden soils.
Growth Rate: Moderate
Unique Characteristics: One of the very few yellow-flowering trees for the spring garden, in blossom, small tree is completely covered with flowers.
Pruning: As little as possible, only to repair damage or provide head clearance – heals poorly.
Time of Pruning: Late summer.
Additional Information: All parts of plant poisonous. Very important note – must keep this away from the animals.
I only paid $19.00 for it, which I know sounds like a waste of money considering the fact that I don’t know if it will live or die. But then all my plant purchases are like that. With my skills? There is no telling.
Afterall – my houseplants are silk – if that tells you anything.
Sharing the Gospel with Compassion!
The writing is on the wall and unlike what happened in the book of Daniel chapter 5, this writing is good news indeed.
The Lutheran Church of Our Savior, Tulsa, has a new mission statement. Sharing the Gospel with Compassion! I know that can sound vague at first – it does goes deeper than that. Once we find our mission statement and know our focus there is a process involved that puts a firm foundation underneath that and a place to give it wings. A process that involves knowing and following the Word of God, humility, and a lot of seeking the Holy Spirit in prayer. It took following this process to find our new mission statement.
This process also gave us new vision, new value statements, and new goals. This process helped us find one Big Hairy Audacious Goal or BHAG,as Carol,our facilitator, called it: to build a community center that reaches out to youth (ages 2-18) and young adults. That’s our three year goal. When the three years is over – or our goal is complete, we set a new one.
Getting there was hard work. Fear kicked in. Agendas began to surface. We almost slid into – what is normal but counterproductive – the desire to create a goal so big, so hairy, so all inclusive, that it fails. Carol wouldn’t let us do that and kept us focused.
Who is Carol you ask? The woman for LCEF who facilitated our congregation while we walked/worked through the Strategic Ministry Plan, a program sponsored by Lutheran Church Extension Fund.
What prompted us to do bring in an outsider? Our church had some division, lack of focus, business meetings that last for hours on end with little truly accomplished. We are a 50 plus year old church that trying to be everything to everybody and we are tired. It’s not that we are lazy, it’s that we are working ineffectively, running in too many directions. And we were arguing over which direction was the “right” one.
A family in our church found this program, brought it to our attention last fall and we voted to do it. Not try. DO! This isn’t some outside contractor. This isn’t someone with something to sell or an agenda.
This is a Lutheran program that is based on these premises:
We seek our agenda from God the Father instead of consultants.
We trust God the Son to set the example for our actions instead of basing our decisions on other congregations.
We rely on God the Holy Spirit for our direction instead of relying on focus groups and surveys.
It is a process that is:
Designed by Lutherans for Lutherans.
Grounded in the Word of God and bound by LCMS doctrine.
A faith-based process.
About the work (calling) of the congregation.
Committed to a comprehensive plan.
For a congregation of about 500 or so, coming together in unity, service, focus and prayer isn’t as easy as it sounds. We have so many ministries, so many needs, so many opinions that we, as a church admitted if we did not get a handle on this, we would spend our days, doing good work, but working unproductively. We needed a focus. We needed help and we needed guidance. And we needed objectivity. We needed someone with ministry specific training, someone who understands the basic, and maybe not so basic, tenants of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod to help us.
This is a long process. One that asks a lot of questions and requires a lot of time in prayer. It requires open hearts, open hands, and willingness to seek the face of God and listen to the Holy Spirit. We spent an entire month in prayer both privately and corporately to prepare for this weekend.
Their brochure puts it this way:
Carry out God’s
Plan and Watch Your Ministry Flourish!
Lutheran Church Extension Fund’s Strategic Ministry Planning (SMP)is a faith-based process that helps you go to God with “empty hands,” asking Him to help you set aside personal agendas and to reveal His plans for your ministry. Using a process that is fully participatory and grounded in the Word, we will help members recognize, accept,and take action on God’s calling for your congregation’s
ministry.
I’m proud of my church. Most of us showed up for this program. More than half of the congregation anyway which is a miracle in itself really.
We split into groups of four with one only “rule.” We were asked to sit outside of family and boards and mix it up a little. We did that. In voters meetings we tend to sit with our boards and families, but not for this.
The funnel of ideas and goals started rather large, with broad questions. She was casting a net for us to start with. Our groups agreed on one answer, of 4 or 5 words, for each question and Carol (our facilitator) put the answers on the wall. The common themes began to emerge throughout the first night; Missions, Outreach, Compassion, Love, Forgiveness, Christ. All of our small groups were saying the same thing. The Holy Spirit was at work.
Once it came time to get to the ‘nitty gritty’ as I like to call it, of creating a mission statement, values, and goals, we had to stick to the words on the walls. Carol would not put in words that we did not as a church put on the wall.
When things got hairy, and they did because we are imperfect people, we stopped and prayed as a group. When we got stuck in fear (and we did) Carol had us write down on cards what one thing are we afraid of losing if we agree to this goal. When ever fear strikes we repent as individuals and confess those fears, lay down those agendas, and turn back towards God. Pastor led us in a corporate confession and absolution and we continued. We are a confessional church after all.
What is really cool is they don’t leave us hanging after we create the goal. LCEF comes back to help us step through the second tier of this BHAG. The ministry boards of the church will come together to examine it and create the steps needed to reach it.
The center is not an exclusionary. We aren’t getting rid of things we are already doing and replacing it with the newest fad. Business of the church continues. Carol will help keep our leaders feet to the wheel and make sure we, as a congregation, stay focused.
I’m excited for the future. Knowing our church’s values, vision, and goals IS exciting.
Jeremiah 29:11-13 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
Don’t throw away your confidence
“So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded, you need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised.”
Hebrews 10:35-36
I made a commitment to God and to several of my new blogging friends to memorize one new scripture verse on the 1st and 15th of each month. We all began with a bang and most of us are still here. A lot of us chose paragraphs in our enthusiam and Beth and Amanda at Living Proof Ministries Blog lovingly suggested this might be too ambitious and to please start smaller. They were right. I was struggling with mine. I spent February committing my first verse (small paragraph) to memory and meditating on that. The fact that it is our new benediction for 2009, made it all the more fun.
God had actually impressed my first verse on my heart last Spring when I bought Seven Celebrations for the Soul by Kathy Troccoli. I picked that Bible study for our new women’s Sunday School class long before I knew what Pastor’s verse for the year was going to be.
This is my new memory verse for the next two weeks. I’ve been praying since last fall for a focus. Something that God wanted me to learn, grasp, inwardly digest and the word “confidence” keeps coming back, again and again.
So be it. The truth is, I am extremely insecure. I’m not nearly as confident in anything as people seem to think. What amazes me about that is neither are my heros in the faith. I was blown away when I discovered that. I love this new verse. I know I’ve read Hebrews time and time again and yet, I missed it somehow.
Don’t throw away your confidence.
Persevere in carrying out the will of God.
God knew that the time for me to hear those words, was now.
Deana O'Hara - Speaker, Comedian, Writer 