Seed Ordering

Color has been arriving by mail over the past couple of weeks by way of seed catalogs.  These bright and cheerful  items come during the bleekest days of winter.  Not only do they arrouse interest in the planning of the garden for the coming year, but they are a delight to they eyes.

Inside these pages are all sorts of new varities that, while they may not tempt me, are amusing to read about. 

I'm just not in to purple vegetables that really weren't made to be purple, if you know what I mean.  Purple peppers??  I'm just not interested. 

The "Flower Section" of these booklets are bursting with color and are a delight to the eyes.  While I enjoy growing a few flowers, I don't have the time and engergy to give them the attention the poor things deserve.  I have a few favorites that are low maintenance.  These tend to be my go-to staples.  Maybe I'm in a flower rut.

Our garden is divided into two sections.  The first section will have been in use for seven years, so we are giving it a "rest".  We are still not sure what that is going to look like.  We have been counciled by friends to plant a green manure on this section.  Which is all well and good, but I don't want to plant something that will reseed itself and become an invasive weed that drives me nuts the next year.  My husband and I still need to do some other checking, but we would like to plant something and then till in under before it becomes a problem.

This also presents the issue of trust.  This will mean that our garden will be cut in half.  Some things that take up a large amount of space will have to take a break for the year.  Vegies such as sweet potatoes and perhaps corn will be purchased at our local farmer's market.  With the economic situation looming, we are considering making the garden section that we will be working this coming season a bit larger.  Our kids laugh that the garden keeps getting larger and it is just the two of us!  We do want to plant, not only for ourselves, but to share with others as well.  Trust comes in knowing that we need to do our part in planting and caring for our crops and that God is resposible for the outcome.  (Of course, that is the case every season, but with a smaller area, it will be more of a test.)

So, until the ground is ready, I need to sort through my seed box to see what I need to order for the spring planting.  Who knows what new thing will strike my fancy to try...if we have room!



"Sow your seed in the morning,

   and at evening let not your hands be idle,

 for you do not know which will

   succeed,

whether this or that,

or whether both will do equally well." 

--Ecclesiastes 11:6  (NIV)



There Is Much To Learn

It seems I don't get out much.  Not only does that apply to my physical body, especially in the winter, but to my spiritual mind as well.  I fear being swept up in bad doctrine.  I may hear something that may delight my ears, but is not True.  My concerns come from a fear of not knowing what I believe in a well-grounded way that I can communicate it properly and that do not discern truth from error correctly.  I have my "go-to" guys, R.C. Sproul, T. David Gordon, and others.  No doubt there are many sound men of God of which I am unaware.

While contemplating a couple of books for a book club, my friend suggested a book, Christless Christianity, by Michael Horton.  I have heard of Michael Horton.  I've even heard of the White Horse Inn.  I do believe I may have listened to it in the car at one time.  (CAUTION:  CONFESSION OF EMBARRASSING IGNORANCE ALERT!!)  I had no idea what the history of the White Horse Inn was, what these guys were about or even who they were or what their backgrounds were.  Alas, The White Horse Inn website complete with audio.  There is opportunity to have all questions about The White Horse Inn answered.

The first broadcast that I listened to was, "The Great Commission Survey".  (Check out the upper right hand side--if you scroll down it was the last one.)  For this survey, one of the producers of the show asked some folks at a Christian convention some interesting questions.  The answers are remarkable in that they display the mindset and ignorance of the average Christian today.  Some of my answers surprised me.  It is amazing how one can be sucked into the catch phrases of the day.

The broadcast was thought provoking and has given me cause to repent and desire to know more about how I can effectively communicate my faith.  I have much to learn and it looks as if this is another place to satisfy my weak knowledge.

May I be daily more and more conformed to thee,
   with the meekness and calmness of the Lamb in my soul,
   and a feeling sense of the felicity of heaven,
   where I long to join angels free from imperfections,
   where in me the image of my adored Saviour
      will be completely restored,
   so that I may be fit for his enjoyments and employments.
--an excerpt from Retrospect and Prospect from the Valley of Vision

Color!

Some of these winter days have been cold and gloomy.  The usual Western Pennsylvania winter.  It was nice to see that my "Christmas" cactus came through with some color for me!

Even though it is not much, I'll take it!  What a nice bright color to make these days seem less oppressive.

I've often wondered why this plant is called a Christmas Cactus.  Mine has never bloomed at Christmas--Thanksgiving, Halloween, Easter and other days in between.  This one may have been Groundhog Day!  It seems to be several plants in one.  Different parts bloom at different times and one part blooms a very pale pinkish-white.  Plants are amazing.

THOU MAKER AND SUSTAINER OF ALL THINGS,
Day and night are thine,
heaven and earth declare thy glory;
but I, a creature of thy power and bounty,
have sinned against thee
   by resisting the dictates of conscience,
      the demands of thy law,
      the calls of thy gospel;
   yet I live under the dispensation of a given hope....
Render my obedience to thy will holy, natural, and delightful.
Rectify all my principles by clear, consistent,
    and influential views of divine truth.
Let me never undervalue or neglect any part of thy revealed will.
May I duly regard the doctrine and practice of the gospel,
   prizing its commands as well as its promises.

--a portion of, To Be Fit For God,  from the Valley of Vision

Dorothy L. Sayers

Rabbit holes.  It seems I fall into them regularly when it comes to the internet. 

While trying to find information about one professor at Grove City College, I stumbled on this Q & A with Dr. Janice Brown, an English professor at the college, about Dorothy L. Sayers.  Although the session is dated from 2007, the information was valuable to me as I attempt to learn more about this British author (even if it is by accident).

The book that Dr. Brown mentions in the interview is available at Amazon.com and you can find it here.

There is even a DLS Society page. 

Enjoy checking out the "Rabbit Holes"


“None of us feels the true love of God till we realize how wicked we are. But you can't teach people that -- they have to learn by experience.” --Dorothy L. Sayers

Frosting

Yesterday morning just a hint of snow had fallen. It left the pine trees with the appearance of having been frosted. 

There is just a hint of green under the big pines. The way it is snowing right now, that won't last much longer. The weather man is calling for 3-6 inches. We'll see, of course. He has been known to be wrong once in awhile.  It may be that, Hazel, the John Deere will see some action tomorrow morning.  At any rate, it is a good night to settle in with a good book or movie.

It's the Big 448!!

Happy Birthday to the Heidelberg Catechism! 
Here is a brief history taken from the Christian Reformed website:

The Heidelberg Catechism was composed in Heidelberg at the request of Elector Frederick III, who ruled the Palatinate, an influential German province, from 1559 to 1576. An old tradition credits Zacharius Ursinus and Caspar Olevianus with being coauthors of the new catechism. Both were certainly involved in its composition, although one of them may have had primary responsibility. All we know for sure is reported by the Elector in his preface of January 19, 1563. It was, he writes, "with the advice and cooperation of our entire theological faculty in this place, and of all superintendents and distinguished servants of the church" that he secured the preparation of the Heidelberg Catechism. The catechism was approved by a synod in Heidelberg in January 1563. A second and third German edition, each with small additions, as well as a Latin translation were published the same year in Heidelberg. Soon the catechism was divided into fifty-two sections so that one Lord's Day could be explained in preaching each Sunday of the year.

The Synod of Dort in 1618-1619 approved the Heidelberg Catechism, and it soon became the most ecumenical of the Reformed catechisms and confessions. The catechism has been translated into many European, Asian, and African languages and is the most widely used and most warmly praised catechism of the Reformation period.


Here are two examples of the Catechism:

Lord's Day 1
Q & A 1


Q. What is your only comfort


in life and in death?


A. That I am not my own,^1


but belong—


body and soul,


in life and in death—^2


to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ.^3


He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood,^4


and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil.^5


He also watches over me in such a way^6


that not a hair can fall from my head


without the will of my Father in heaven:^7

in fact, all things must work together for my salvation.^8

 Because I belong to him,


Christ, by his Holy Spirit,


assures me of eternal life^9


and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready


from now on to live for him.^10


^1 1 Cor. 6:19-20


^2 Rom. 14:7-9


^3 1 Cor. 3:23; Titus 2:14


^4 1 Pet. 1:18-19; 1 John 1:7-9; 2:2


^5 John 8:34-36; Heb. 2:14-15; 1 John 3:1-11


^6 John 6:39-40; 10:27-30; 2 Thess. 3:3; 1 Pet. 1:5


^7 Matt. 10:29-31; Luke 21:16-18


^8 Rom. 8:28


^9 Rom. 8:15-16; 2 Cor. 1:21-22; 5:5; Eph. 1:13-14


^10 Rom. 8:1-17




Lord's Day 10

Q & A 27


Q. What do you understand


by the providence of God?






A. Providence is


the almighty and ever present power of God^1


by which he upholds, as with his hand,


heaven


and earth


and all creatures,^2


and so rules them that


leaf and blade,


rain and drought,


fruitful and lean years,


food and drink,


health and sickness,


prosperity and poverty—^3


all things, in fact, come to us


not by chance^4


but from his fatherly hand.^5


^1 Jer. 23:23-24; Acts 17:24-28


^2 Heb. 1:3


^3 Jer. 5:24; Acts 14:15-17; John 9:3; Prov. 22:2


^4 Prov. 16:33


^5 Matt. 10:29

© 1987, CRC Publications, Grand Rapids MI. www.crcna.org. Reprinted with permission.

Bread Baking Day (with a quilt side show as an added bonus)

While I cannot claim to be a bread baking expert, I enjoy doing it.  I enjoy the eating of fresh baked bread even more!  There is nothing like a slice of warm homemade bread with butter or homemade jam or jelly.  It just doesn't get much better.

Baking bread is an art, of sorts.  There is still much I need to master.  There have been times when I have crafted a beautiful brick.  Then there are times when this happens:




This lovely bowl made three medium sized loaves, (of which I should have taken a picture...I'm still getting the hang of this) that turned out great!  Sometimes I like to use the smaller pans since it is just the two of us and there is nothing like putting all this work into something so wonderful and then have it go stale.

You will notice the kitchen towel.  It is from my great-aunt.  After she died the extended family was given the opportunity to see if there was anything they wanted.  There were still old clothes from another great-aunt.  I was able to get this kitchen towel, which needed a wee bit of mending, and an old house dress.  I used the house dress in a small quilt that I made for my Amish rocker.  That way I'll have a piece of her with me.

She was a large, Scots-Irish woman who never married.  Of course, she made her own clothes and to have something that she made that I could use the fabric, makes my quilt extra special.  Here is a piece of the fabric I used in the quilt.

It gives me joy to have pieces, no matter how small, that are part of our family's past.  It gives me a connection.  There is something about a thing that is passed down--not just material things, but a faith that has been passed down as well.  Just as Timothy's faith was passed down from his mother and grandmother.  There is a legacy that is more important than any "thing".

Thou has made known to me
   that to save me is Christ's work,
   but to cleave to him by faith is my work,
   and with this faith is the necessity of my daily repentance
   as a mourning for the sin which Christ by grace has removed.
--from Reconciliation  from the Valley of Vision