The Daffodil

Yesterday morning, I looked out front at the daffodil (some people call them jonquils, and although they are closely related, they aren’t quite the same) growing and flowering in the front yard flower bed.  We had just had five inches of snow on Sunday, and a low temperature of 15 degrees during the night before.  The poor flower was wilted and drooped as if it had lost its last friend.  I thought to myself that, although hardy in the early spring, the snow and cold had taken its toll and it wouldn’t be there much longer.

Imagine my surprise today as I pulled into the drive this afternoon in sixty degree weather.  The flowers were bright; the leaves were perky; the flowering plant was none the worse for the wear.  Whatever had caused it to droop earlier was long gone, and the delicate flower showed its strength and resilience by continuing to herald the coming of spring.

I kind of like to take life lessons from things like this that I see from time to time.  And this one is pretty obvious, at least to me.  The flower that is at once delicate and susceptible to outside influences, when given half a chance, shows its inner strength and determination even in the face of great trial.  Of course, the flower didn’t develop that ability itself.  It was given that ability by the Creator of the universe.

And it’s just as applicable to us as the human part of the creation.  We may be swayed and blown about by forces beyond our control at times.  We may appear to be beaten down, and out for the count.  But there’s something that has been placed within us that makes us get up, and with half a chance to come away from whatever the experience is even stronger than before.

That “something” was not something that came to us by chance or by happenstance.  It was placed there intentionally by the Creator…knowing we would have need of it and knowing that we would use it to His glory as we marvel at the creative genius that made all of this.  “We are his workmanship,” Paul the apostle said.  And so we are.

You can probably think of several things in the created world that behave this same way.  Given half a chance, whatever it is that is going through a trial plows through the difficulty and comes out on the other side perhaps bloody, but unbowed (to borrow a phrase from Henley).  What a glorious and marvelous wonder this God of heaven is!

The Seasons

Tomorrow, March 20, 2013, at 6:02am CDT, spring arrives in Wichita, Kansas.  Now, I know that there will be days of cold, frost, and maybe even a spit or two of snow, sleet, or ice before the final thaw of the season.  But you gotta admit the advance of the seasons is coming to the time of the year that is the favorite of most people.

Spring is the time of renewal, refreshing, and reconnecting.  We paint the back yard fence.  We fix the guttering.  We clean up debris left over from last fall.  And we work in the dirt, plant seeds and seedlings, and think about the summer harvest of strawberries, tomatoes, green beans, and other garden goodies.  We long for the blooming of the roses, daisies, and other assorted flowers and plants.  We break out the barbeque grill, refill the propane bottle, and roast hotdogs over the fire pit.  We sit out in lawn chairs and watch the dusk come, the fireflies light up the air, and the kids play hide and seek.

Birds that we haven’t seen since last summer come back.  Robins, hummingbirds, orioles, and a host of other varieties nest in our trees and help themselves to some of the produce of our flower and vegetable gardens.  Butterflies appear yet again.  The monarchs make their annual migration northward.  The swallows come back as do the bluebirds, purple martins, and woodpeckers.

We also keep an eye to the sky.  For this is the time of colliding air masses, turmoil in the heavens, and scary-looking clouds…some of which give good reason to be concerned.  We rehearse one more time where we will go if the winds threaten, and we listen a little more closely on those days when watches have been issued for the wail of the sirens or the announcements on the TV or radio.  We make sure we have batteries, emergency lights, and other needs.  And we plan at least somewhat accordingly even as we go about the tasks we have scheduled for that day.

Later on in the summer, we go on vacations.  We play softball.  We canoe on the river.  We send the kids to summer camp and enjoy the time without them.  We become more home-bound as the heat cranks up, but we still enjoy the occasional shower or thunderstorm that pops up and, for a time at least, cools the earth and the air.  We find a pool somewhere, in a back yard, at the “Y”, or a public pool, and we cool down and enjoy the rays of a summer sun.

All too quickly, it’s coming to an end.  A cold front moves through and drops the temperatures down to the 50’s.  There’s a chill in the air.  Leaves start to fall from trees.  Birds leave for warmer climates.  Other birds move in to replace them and stay for the coming winter.  The orb spiders spin giant webs at the corner of a house, in the garage door opening, or between a couple of bushes.  The air masses collide yet again, but with less intensity than spring, bringing mostly thunder and rain.

And we repeat the cycle all over again.  For eons this cycle of the seasons has renewed, refreshed, and replenished the earth and all that live upon, above, or in it.  I’ve already seen many more cycles of the seasons than I will experience in the future.  But each one is an adventure.  Each one is different.  Each one reminds me that there is indeed a God that loves and cherishes His creation.  Each one renews my soul.

It Happened

Well, it’s finally happened.  The amaryllis that I kept from last year, put into hibernation, and got back out last fall has finally bloomed.  It’s about two months late, but I guess better late than never.

This is the one that, when it came out of the closet, had just a touch of green at the end of the bulb.  I knew it was a good bulb.  We put it in the window sill, watered it, and cared for it along with a couple other bulbs.  But while the other bulbs were blooming and growing leaves, this one just sat there.  Still green at the end, it did nothing for the longest time.

Finally, after the other bulbs had bloomed and were on their way downhill, the barest of change was happening in this one.  A flowering shoot peeked out of the top of the bulb and grew skyward.  Now that bulb has bloomed in all its glory.

I haven’t a clue why this bulb chose to bide its time and take its own dear sweet time to get to this point.  The other bulbs are long into leaf-growing mode and the flowering shoot has been cut away.  This bulb is a delight and is in and among the daffodils and tulips in announcing the coming arrival of spring.

Of course, there’s a lesson here.  When was the last time you fretted and worried over when an event would take place, the timing of which you couldn’t have changed for all the tea in China?  How often do we expend time and energy trying to move that boulder that just won’t budge?  When will we learn that some things work in their own good time, and not a moment sooner or later?

I couldn’t have changed the timing of the blooming of this amaryllis if my life depended on it.  I couldn’t reach inside the bulb and pull the flowering shoot out by hand.  I was already giving it the best environment it needed to bloom.  It just, for whatever reason, had its own timetable and nothing I could say or do would change that.

Next time you become frustrated because something is happening (or not) that you want to happen at a different time, think of my amaryllis.  It won’t make your “happening” come when you want it to come, but it may just settle you down and enable you to think more clearly, be less stressed, and “stop and smell the roses.”

To My Followers

To my followers:  I've posted two blogs today.  The first one below was written last week, but for some reason was never posted.  The next one below was written just today.  Sorry for the confusion.

Jay Plank

A Message

Every so often, I get a comment on one of the blogs. I enjoy the comments, even the ones (although there are few of them) that do not agree with me. Discussion on issues is a part of who we are. That’s why I do not have comment moderation enabled on this blog; however, I will remove a comment if it is patently offensive or otherwise inappropriate.

One of my recent commenters is a woman named Carrie Looney. I give her entire name because she did the same in one of the comments. I know who this woman is, but haven’t met her. I’m going to use the blog to send you a message, Carrie.

I’d love to correspond with you from time to time, but don’t have your email address. Use my blog email address aminnot-blogger@yahoo.com to send me your address, if you wish to do so. If you do, I’ll send you my private email address. If you’d rather not, that’s OK, too.

I know most of the others who comment. Kathy is a good friend from Western Kansas. WDK is a relative who lives not far away. Scotty is my son. Chris is a friend from Northeast Kansas. And so on.

Carrie is a special person, even though we’ve never met. She is a descendent of the woman who graciously volunteered to pay for my college education and provided just the right amount of love and support for us when things seemed to be at about their worst for us. Also named Carrie, she did things like this not only for me, but for countless others over the years of her life…people who the granddaughter Carrie will probably never meet. However, young Carrie seems to have an interest in knowing more about her grandmother’s efforts and in seeing some of the results of her grandmother’s work.

I’m not a young man any more. I have far more years behind me than I do ahead of me. Who and what I am today, however, is in large measure the doing of the woman who quietly stepped to my side that day almost thirty years ago and gave me hope. I’d like to think that I have been and am doing the same as I can and am able.

You may think that I devote far too much time to this part of my life and Carrie Lou’s role in it. If you think that, you don’t understand the immense importance of what God did for me through her. To say that I am here writing this, having an intact family and a decent job could, I think, only be said because of her effort on my behalf. I shudder to think of what may have happened had she not been there for me.

You too never know what effect you may have on the life of someone else. You don’t have to have a lot of money to have the most profound, life-changing effect on another. Kind words, a deed done well, a friendship, or just an understanding heart can literally give life and hope to someone who has that need. And you'll probably never, ever, ever know the full import what you did.

We Will Be There

One would think that with several days of non-activity, one would be able to post a blog on time.  For those two or three of you who read this, I try to post a blog every week no later than Tuesday on each of my blogs (work and personal).  The work blog was posted yesterday, on time.  The personal blog, well, this is it and it’s late.  And we’ve had several snow days this past week and a weekend in between.  We never lost power at the house and had I had plenty of time to do this, but no.  I just had to procrastinate, and now I’m doing a late one on Wednesday.

Would I be labeled as “old” if I said I actually enjoyed several days of not having much to do and being at home?  Yes, it did start to get a little old.  Yes, I did make a trip or two to a store during that time, and we were at Sunday events at our church.  But it really was kind of nice to be home with not much to do and enjoy the time.

And yesterday afternoon it was good to come back to work after almost a week of not being here.  The desk was just as I had left it.  The office fairies that are supposed to come in and clean up emptied the trash and probably vacuumed the floor, but they didn’t touch the desk.  Probably that’s just as well, though.  I might not have found anything had someone cleaned it during my absence.

Facebook was a wonderful way to maintain contact with the outside world during the storms.  I have great friends, and for the most part they are careful to not inject a lot of politics or bad thoughts into their posts.  I know some are struggling right now with issues of health, family, job, or other.  They struggle sometimes to maintain an upbeat attitude, but I continue to be amazed at the resilience of the human spirit.  I feel a connection, even now sitting here, with those I know are wrestling with some issues brought on by the fallen creation.  And I hurt with them as they pass through yet another trial by fire, and pray God’s grace and love continue.

I trust that they too, knowing that their friends are also hurting and working with the darkness of this present age, are praying for their friends as well.  We all are in the battle of our lives.  Some of us are manifesting the scars of that battle more acutely than others; but we all show the effects of it, and ultimately will be consumed by it, if only temporarily.  For we all are destined to die and return to the dust from which we are created.  We have the sure hope, however, of life unhindered by the forces of this world and forevermore living in a creation that is neither corrupt nor decaying.

And that, I think, is what makes us continue on…to be as upbeat and positive as we are.  We know there is more than this.  We know there is something better.  And we know that we will be there because of the love of the Creator God of the universe.

They're Still "Good"

Cardinals, titmice, chickadees, juncos, sparrows…all of these varieties of birds and probably more that I haven’t seen yet have been enjoying the grains and seeds I’ve put out on the patio and deck today.  I usually feed the birds, but when it’s warmish and no snow on the ground, they don’t come all that much.  But when the snow comes or it gets very cold, they’re all over the feast on the deck.

An interesting creation, birds.  Carrying very small brains, but having within them somehow the knowledge of flight and a small body that manages to stay warm in the coldest weather, birds in general are a lesson in both the simple and the complex.

For example, the chicken incubates her eggs for about 21 days.  During that time, the egg goes from a single cell to a chick complete with the knowledge to scratch the ground for food, drink water, and huddle together for warmth.  Baby ducks, ducklings, incubate for two or three days longer, and come out of the shell with the knowledge of water and swimming.  Other birds incubate their eggs for a longer or shorter time, but all come out of the shell with inherent knowledge of how to survive.

As simple and as stupid as one might think birds are, they in reality retain within them an amazing knowledge of direction and place in the environment, where to look for the food that they need, the dynamics of flight, how to raise their young, how to build a nest, and for many, where to migrate, how to get there, and how to get back…never having been there before.

We used to call someone a “dumb cluck” when we thought that person was less than intelligent somehow.  Of course, we were referring to a chicken.  But my mind about chickens and birds in general was changed when we kept chickens for several years when the boys were little.  There is nothing stupid or dumb about a chicken, or other kind of bird, for that matter.

These creatures of God’s creation do their part in the great scheme of things, and are good, just as they were millennia ago when He first created them and called them “good”.

Unity...No?

I did something this morning that I don’t do very often.  I read the forward of the New Testament in Modern English, translated by J. B. Phillips.  Phillips, an Englishman, lived in the first and middle part of the 20^th century.  He was an author, translator, and clergyman, having written over a dozen books in addition to the translation of the New Testament that bears his name.

I like the Phillips translation for its readability and the knack it has for seeing through what many times is an unintelligible or very stilted Greek translation, making it much more understandable to the modern day reader.  Although he completed his work in the late 1950’s, his translation is as fresh today as it was over 50 years ago.

The final paragraph to the forward talks about his being indebted to all kinds of people, and his having developed a gratitude that is, in large part, “…evoked by the assurance that has grown within me that here in the New Testament, at the very heart and core of our Faith, Christians are far more at one than their outward divisions would imply.  From this unquestionable evidence of fundamental unity I derive not only great comfort, but a great hope for the future.”

I’m not certain what you think about unity, denominationalism, the fellowship of believers, Christendom, and all that goes with these topics, but here is a man who, rather than being upset over differing opinions, division and strife, instead sees in the New Testament a unity among believers that goes far beyond the outward appearances.

Sometimes I wonder if we Christians in this modern day are more pessimists than we are optimistic.  I wonder if we tend to see things on the half-empty side much more than on the half-full side.  And I wonder if it may just be human nature to do so.

Just look at the news.  It is well known that news that is bad or controversial is a much better “sell” than the good news.  Yes, sometimes they’ll put a good news piece in the mixture, but by and large we hear about murders, car wrecks, bad snowstorms, and fighting among politicians much more than we hear stories about people helping people, the beauty of nature or some other good news.

How would it change us if we consciously began to see the good…to look specifically for areas of agreement and fellowship?  How would we begin to act if we tried consciously to fill our minds with those things that are good and right and noble about other people, rather than accent our differences and argue with those who don’t agree with us?  How much more could we accomplish working with God toward the redemption of the fallen creation if we quit spending so much time differentiating ourselves from everyone else and began to work together to mitigate such things as child abuse, sexual trafficking, pornography, dysfunctional families, hunger, and poverty?

I’ll leave you with the words of J. B. Phillips as he translates Philippians 4:8.  “Here is a last piece of advice.  If you believe in goodness and if you value the approval of God, fix your minds on whatever is true and honourable and just and pure and lovely and praiseworthy.  Model your conduct on what you have learned from me, on what I have told you and shown you, and you will find that the God of peace will be with you.”

The Simple and The Complex

I have kind of a “thing” for amaryllis.  As you know, if you read this regularly, I blogged about a couple of plants that bloomed very, very well recently.  What I didn’t tell you is that we have four bulbs all together that we’ve collected over the years.  I did mention one that hasn’t bloomed in a long while, but we also have another one.

That one is a bulb we got a year or two ago.  After it bloomed, we let it leaf out and we cared for it the rest of the summer.  I put it away in a dark, cool place for awhile last fall and got it out, along with one or two other bulbs, sometime in November of last year.

Both bulbs had a hint of green on their top, so I knew both were viable.  We put them in the window and watered.  The one bulb started growing leaves, but didn’t bloom, rather quickly…I’d say within a couple of weeks.  The other bulb just sat there.  The green on the top continued to stay about the same, but nothing else happened.

We were wondering if something was wrong with the bulb.  Then just a few days ago, we saw the hint of the tip of something coming out of the top of the bulb.  The next day it was clear that what was emerging was a flowering shoot.  This will be the first time I have been able to make an amaryllis re-bloom in a year following purchasing one.

Why it waited so long to come out, I don’t know.  The other bulbs started relatively soon after watering and putting in a sunny place.  And why this one will bloom when the other one, which I treated the same as this one, produced only leaves, I don’t know either.

I thought about these two bulbs when I went back to the kitchen at the church to get a cherry turnover someone had graciously left there.  There were two or three in the box, and I got to thinking about the mass production of those and how, if you do the same thing in the same way, you’ll get the same results each time…a perfect cherry turnover.  Except that with flower bulbs, that evidently doesn’t work, because I treated two amaryllis bulbs the same.  One bloomed.  One didn’t.  One started growing right away.  One waited two months to start.

I don’t know that there is any great and glorious eternal lesson I can learn from this.  It’s more a matter of understanding that living things, including people, don’t always conform to the accepted ways that things are done and we just have to know and understand that and work with and within it.  Life is a complex thing, whether in the form of a bulb or a baby, and we continue to marvel at what we see and yet don’t understand.

I think that’s one reason I so enjoy the orb spiders in the fall of the year when they spin giant webs at the corners of houses or in doorways or between limbs of trees and bushes.  These seemingly simple life forms have within their DNA the capacity to create a material that, pound for pound is ten times stronger than steel, yet has great flexibility and “stretchiness”.  They then weave this material into a true work of art that at the same time is critical for the survival of the next generation.  Tell me that isn’t complex and I’ll sell you the Brooklyn Bridge.

Getting back to the amaryllis, I don’t remember what color the blooms are on this plant just starting, but we will be able to enjoy a late-blooming work of art for the next several weeks as we watch it grow and mature.  And maybe, just maybe this coming fall, somehow all four of our bulbs will come out of the closet downstairs and bloom their hearts out again for us.  It’s worth looking forward to.