No Picnic

The phrase "every night is date night" caught on - just a random comment, sort of tongue in cheek about every night at home - together -  being one of bliss.  Well, not bliss, but you know, agreeable to say the least.  Jokingly, Mike added to the phrase,"every night is date night....but it's not always a picnic."

I get it! 

After 49 years of marriage, some evening meals are more memorable than others.  Some we cherish. Some we want to forget, even as recent as a few nights ago. A later golf round for him. Distraction and poor communication on my part made for a  "no picnic" night. My fault and I apologize. 

 

Picnics are supposed to be light-hearted, casual, mostly outside, often celebratory with alfresco food and crisp white wine.....a spirit-lifting kind of meal and often spur of the moment.  It's not so much about the food, but the experience of  changing it up a bit - especially during this time of sheltering.  So, why not find the picnic basket, fill it with some simple, favorite foods, and carry it to the back yard?

One of my favorite stories in the Bible is when the resurrected Jesus is grilling fish on the beach and the disciples, dejected, have returned to their jobs of fishing. They're not far from shore, when their master calls out  from the shore and asks them if they are catching anything. Disillusioned and exhausted they hold up their empty nets.  He tells them to throw them to the other side and they can barely draw in the full nets.  Peter looks up and  recognizes the person as Jesus and heads to shore, followed by the rest of the disciples.

A meal together of grilled fish and bread after thinking Christ was dead must have been some happy picnic. The surprise element for one thing. Disillusioned about loss and exhausted from trying to keep their jobs filled their hearts and minds and there was little time to think about a meal, much less the picnic Jesus had prepared. And then, just to simply be together again with Jesus had to be the true fellowship for which they longed.

Don't you see the similarities for us today? We were created for fellowship - to not be alone. We were made to break bread together. But we're disillusioned about our losses and exhausted trying to keep life as we know it. It's no picnic on many days. Jesus told his disciples -  and he tells us - this life will be difficult. There will be tough times, but keep on loving each other.

And plan the picnic.

"They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts..." Acts 2:46

Weed Control

We continue to marvel about the beautiful spring here in the South. Days are pleasant and nights are cool.  But the forecast is for a heatwave this weekend and with it will come the weeds.  Funny how weeds take off when the temperature rises.

A recent date night at home “reran” the weed conversation we have every year.  As little green shoots start to emerge along a stone wall, he says to me “we have got to get these weeds out of here.” I make a mental note to hide the weed spray, and say,” Just give it a few more weeks and you will see they are not all weeds, but my perennials.” 

 For a while you hardly notice the weeds. They appear overnight, it seems, and grow right there along with the grass and the perennials. Then there they are - shooting up with an attitude and spreading like wildfire, creeping around and between the blades of grass, and in the blink of an eye, they have choked out all the good.

A gardener must take swift action to save the good. The directions on the container of weed control say to treat weeds during the growing season. Spray the weeds while they are growing to stop them. I do that. I spray with a vengeance— nutgrass, crabgrass, and a multitude of "other" grasses that do not belong in my lawn and each day I celebrate a little more of the death of the “bad guys”.

By contrast, there is a parable in the Bible where Jesus talks to the disciples about weeds and wheat. The farmer sows the wheat and while he is sleeping, a villain comes in and sows weeds along with the wheat. The workers ask the farmer if they should pull up the weeds, but the farmer says to let the weeds grow with the wheat, that he will separate the two when it is time for the harvest, keeping the wheat and burning the weeds forever. (Matthew 13)

Reading through the Parables might be helpful these days.  You can find 50-60 in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. What are they? Parables are stories about everyday people and situations that are designed to teach a lesson about God and His will for life today.  And there is timelessness to the parables as well as a haunting beauty and mystery. But as humans, we want the explanation. Just what does the story mean?

This comparative gardening lesson from the parable teaches me that for this moment in time, I am the wheat – the believer in Christ. I am not a weed – the non-believer. And gratefully, I am not to judge, but I am to be discerning. I should be able to distinguish between weeds and wheat—the good and the bad, the godly and the ungodly for we are all in this life together. I am to control the “invasive and harmful weeds” that want to choke out the good in me. Destroy me. I have to be on the lookout for them. And I am to cultivate the good with nourishment and attention. Remaining faithful when we don’t understand  life is one of our daily challenges as believers. Especially now. We live in a world where right and wrong, wheat and weeds have gotten diluted – there is a lot of gray.

Can we tell the difference? 

Oh, it's hard work. We get weary and just want to ignore those things in our lives that seek to invade and destroy. We cave and allow darkness to overwhelm our souls. Until that final harvest comes that is spoken of in Matthew, we must work the fields—whatever crops up -  and wait—and trust. We must educate ourselves and know the difference between good and bad -weeds and wheat, truth and lies. We must know what to stand for, and where to draw the line.

 As gardeners, we must know our plants. As Christians, we must know our beliefs – what is right and wrong.

In the reading the sower said to let the wheat and the weeds grow together. And we are called to Love one another; bear one another’s burdens; speak the truth in love. Matthew 5:44-45 says "For he causes the sun to rise on the bad as well as the good, and sends down rain to fall on the upright and the wicked alike."

 So if we are called to live with the weeds, how do we do it?  Henri Nouwen says the wisdom of the cross is the descending pathway that is concealed in each person’s heart.  But because it (the descending pathway) is so seldom walked on it is often overgrown with weeds – our very own.  He says the way we live with weeds is to identify our very own. 

Ouch.

Hard to admit, isn’t it?

  

Soul-Planting

Many of my friends have expressed their desire to maintain a slower pace of life. In the midst of this frightening, world-wide crisis, we are already worrying about our future -  how things will be in two weeks, two months, two years.

In many ways, we have better learned how to care for each other. My husband jokingly (or maybe not) says every night now is date night. A walk around the garden. A candle lit for supper on the porch. We are softer around our prickly edges. The margins some of us work to protect have been enlarged for us and have shown us how to slow down. We are liking it, but will we hold onto the good we are discovering?

Little by little, as the pandemic numbers recede and things begin to open up, I, too, wonder if I can maintain this sense of calm. Admittedly, I can't help but feel a little cringe when I'm notified my Pilates classes are resuming, or I'm invited to play golf or lead a Zoom meeting, knowing those are hours and minutes that have been savored in my little margin of calm.

How do I keep the good.....and resume the good?

Well, Jesus tells us not to be anxious about tomorrow but to concentrate on what we must do today. The God who clothes the lilies and cares for my precious birds will  care for me. Jesus said, "Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today's trouble is enough for today."

Jerry Sittser, in his book Discovering God's Will, says, " Jesus wants us to devote our time and energy to all the little tasks we must do every day, not just to the big decisions we occasionally have to make. The little responsibilities we do prepare us for big responsibilities later on, little actions set the stage for big ones, and faithfulness in thing that appear to have only modest importance enables us to respond wisely to duties that seem -and perhaps are - very important.

"Whoever is faithful in very little is faithful also in much." Luke 16:10

Thomas Merton, a Trappist monk and author of many books on spirituality, believed that the present moment is pregnant with incredible possibilities. "Every moment and every event of every man's life on earth plants something in his soul. For just as the wind carried thousands of winged seeds, so each  moment brings with it germs of spiritual vitality that come to rest imperceptible in the minds and wills of men. We must be sensitive and mindful to God as he works in our lives. Most of these unnumbered seeds perish and are lost, because men are not prepared to receive them: for such seeds as these cannot spring up anywhere except in the good soil of freedom, spontaneity and love. And how do we become good soil? By seeking God in the present moment - the only moment we have."

Freedom, spontaneity, and love - the ingredients for good soil.

We have this moment.....

Friday's Prayer

My friend, Darren Hensley, is a man of prayerful words and offers this prayer today from my church:

Steadfast and Merciful God, 

Spring is a time when storms gather and blow quickly into our lives, followed by sunshine that reappears as the clouds dissipate. Signs of new life break forth everywhere. It is a time when we feel the primal energy of creation. 

O God, the seasons come and go and the winds of change come upon us.  They remind us to notice the fleeting quality and uniqueness of every passing moment. We acknowledge life’s unending rhythms. We learn to adapt and to move forward. Yet, this time, things feel different. 

Contending with the insistence of our need for protection by sheltering and isolating ourselves, we are also struggling with economic need as persons who have lost their incomes wrestle with the realities of feeding their families. We have more questions than answers as we face the tension of emerging from our homes and reopening our society while the grip of this pandemic endures. 

We long for predictability and assurance, but it is so hard to give up what we cannot control. There is sadness and anger and even despondency or denial for what has been taken—for those who have succumbed to this disease, for those whose livelihood has vanished, and for those who despair that the events of these past months will alter their lives forever.  

O God, our deepest longing is not for perfect autonomy, but for You—the true source of eternal life. We pray for patience and forgiveness for others and for ourselves. Help us to be aware of the many blessings that surround us, while acknowledging the cares we carry close to our hearts. For the good we receive from others comes as a conduit of Your gift to us for well‐being and wholeness. 

By the power of the Holy Spirit, let us summon the courage during these days to be honest and authentic. Let us know a willingness to be vulnerable and to embrace a living faith of depth and engagement. Let us be seen in our woundedness, just as Your Risen Son showed the disciples the wounds in His hands, side, and feet. 

All light leads to and is gathered in Your Son—and shared in grace and abundance and generosity to a world in need, a world so loved. 

For it is in Jesus’ holy and precious name we pray, Amen.