Salt....

Salt....

One of my daughters has taken me to a salt shop in her town...what a fun experience..I didn't realize that there were so many salts, colors,  tastes, uses..it changes the taste of food,  preserves it, or it can kill the taste...you can cook on slabs of it..encase food with it...so many ways to use it...

 In the Old Testament, it was used with the offerings at the temple, or land was cursed with it and became barren..When we lived in Nevada, we drove by a barren area many times, the 40 mile desert....white with alkaline salts...the pioneers dreaded this crossing as there was no water except on both ends, very little vegetation, hot, dry and suffocatingly dusty...

As Christians we are called the "salt of the earth"... To help others taste and see the the Lord is good?  To help preserve life? And we come in all flavors?

Can be used in a multitude of ways? Many types? Purified in various ways?

Mined all over the world? Valued?

Lots of object lessons with salt...

But the thing to remember is not to lose it saltiness and become useless...ready for trampling underfoot..a wasteland..

I want to continue to be useful, at ready for helping to make life more "tastey" to those around me...

Thank YOU for salt, a simple little ingredient which can change the recipe of life...

Matthew 5:13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

"preserve it from corruption, to season its insipidity, to freshen and sweeten it."  Http://biblehub.com/matthew/5-13.htm

Leviticus 2:13 Season all your grain offerings with salt. Do not leave the salt of the covenant of your God out of your grain offerings; add salt to all your offerings. 

Colossians 4:6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. 

James 3:11-12 Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water. 

http://www.mountainretreatorg.net/faq/salt.html

http://www.saltworks.us/salt_info/salt-uses-and-tips.asp

40 years,. 40 days....

40 days , 40 years...

Our family basically lived in the desert for 40 plus years...all of our children were born and raised there,,except for a short sojourn to help with family.....my husband's heart was there with his search for minerals...we grew in the Lord there, tested and tried there in so many ways...God provided our source of income, our food, His love and provision in the desert...we never went hungry or thirsty and we had shelter there in the desert...

There were times we wondered if we were wandering in the desert like Moses  or being tempted like Jesus...would we ever see the promised land?? Or was that it?  Two of our children have chosen to lived in more well watered areas since then and two are in the high desert still...and God is with them wherever they go...

When Moses traversed the desert with the multitude of Israelites, they needed water, food....as well. They learned to follow God in their wanderings..He gave them His commandments, they built a tabernacle to carry with them, a generation passed away before they entered the promised land...they were tested and tried...they were provided for...

Jesus was led into the desert as well for 40 days...tested and tried ....coming shining through...He was the Word...and he used it effectively on the enemy.

And the angels ministered to His needs...when the devil finally left ...

Food for the Israelites,  daily Manna, quail, water...

Food for Jesus, the word of God...

Tests for the Israelites...

Tests for Jesus....

Worship for Israelites...learning about God, the tabernacle and all its symbols and accessories...the Ten Commandments...

Worship for Jesus..."worship the Lord your God and serve him only"

40 years...40 days....food, tests, worship, provision...learning...living...

Thank YOU for the 40 plus years you gave us in the desert...so much provision, Yourself...thank You for the lessons of those years..thank You that you are so much more than the tests..You are the Word in our lives...

Matthew 4:1-11 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 

After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 

The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” 

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:“‘He will command his angels concerning you,and they will lift you up in their hands,so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” 

Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” 

Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” 

Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him. 

Cutting down trees....

Cutting down a tree...

Over the years my husband and  I planted hundreds of trees.  Some in the dry soils of Nevada and others in the fertile, moist soils of California and Oregon....some lived, some were eaten by deer, many died..we had fruit from some, timber from others, shade from a few....we watered, fertilized, sheltered, and  tended each one as best we could...we pruned and even cut down some which had died for various reasons...

Three years ago, after death of my husband, when I purchased my first home by myself, I chose a few trees to be planted as well.  They have all been watered, tended, fertilized and pruned as well..some have grown and two died this winter in the warm and hard freeze.  So this weekend, I cut one down...will get the next one soon....that was hard...even though they are dried up and dead, I kept hoping they will start to grow again...but, less leaves to rake this fall, though...giving up hope is hard...those dreams of fruitfulness ....expectations of things to come...letting go...dried up, cut down, thrown into the trash, buried ...after growing so well...

It is a tiny picture of losing a loved one...the expectations are still there, the phone call that doesn't come, the wave from the familiar vehicle, the steps or laugh that sound similar, but not the same...that goes on for months and lessens  over time, but still comes suddenly without notice...

Three years ago, we had just finished one graveside service, one memorial and were planning the second memorial service...a cut down tree which had flourished so well...for one whose earthly journey had ended..but, his  productive legacy lives on...

Thank YOU for the trees which flourish and grow ....bearing fruit for years to come....legacies for the future...help me to let go of the dead and dying trees...those without hope, life...and flourish in new ways...

Genesis 1:11-12, 29 Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 

Psalm 1:3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,which yields its fruit in seasonand whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers. 

Jeremiah 17:7-8 “But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the waterthat sends out its roots by the stream.It does not fear when heat comes;its leaves are always green.It has no worries in a year of droughtand never fails to bear fruit.” 

Matthew 3:10 The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. 

Matthew 7:19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 

Other pieces of history .....

Other Pieces of history ......

Several years ago, we wondering through the graveyards in our town...way in the back corner was several old plots with marble gravestones for Chinese people...I don't know their story but found out other information as I searched..

The Chinese had helped build railroads through the area in the 1800's....as well as gardens for fresh food to the town... Their gardens were where the present day city park stands...they dug, by hand, ditches from the river to their gardens and one of those ditches was right below our office building and can still be seen today....so we walked it one day,..some of it has been dozed for buildings or roads, but a lot still exists..not connected to the river anymore ...

They had come by that industriousness honestly....when we flew in various parts of China and drove along the roads,we saw those similar ditches built by generations of people to dry hillsides making gardens wherever they could...walking paths to their plots of ground...not tractor paths..hoeing by hand their corn, and whatever vegetables they had planted..making the dry land lush with productivity...just as they did in our little town...

The ditches have deteriorated, but the legacy still lives on....people are still planting gardens, making the desert bloom, feeding livestock and families...

In Bible times, the people dug wells and named them or knew whose they were...they fought  over them, springs in the desert...towns, cities grew near the water...we need water to survive....the desert is still productive in the Bible lands, using that life giving water...

We need that water for life...we need that living water that only Jesus gives as well...so that our lives are not deserts, but living, always satisfied  with Him, keeping the channels open and well repaired for His  life to flow through us..

Thank YOU for life giving water...help me to give that water to others...cultivating lush gardens of life....

Genesis 26:15 So all the wells that his father’s servants had dug in the time of his father Abraham, the Philistines stopped up, filling them with earth. 

Deuteronomy 6:10-12 When the Lord your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you—a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant—then when you eat and are satisfied, be careful that you do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 

Isaiah 12:3 With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. 

John 4:6-15 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” His disciples had gone into the town to buy food. The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” For Jews do not associate with Samaritans. Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?” Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” 

Psalm 107:33-38 He turned rivers into a desert, flowing springs into thirsty ground, and fruitful land into a salt waste..... He turned the desert into pools of water and the parched ground into flowing springs; there he brought the hungry to live,and they founded a city where they could settle. They sowed fields and planted vineyards that yielded a fruitful harvest;......

http://elkorose.schopine.com/chinaditch.html

They listened....

They listened....

Reading Matthew 2, I was struck by the people who listened..

King Herod for his own gain....

The Magi for their safety...

Joseph, for his family's safety...

Mothers weeping for the children they had lost...

King Herod wanted to know where the Christ was to be born,  he had heard from  these foreigners that the king of the Jews was born and he didn't want to be usurped of his power!  To that end he killed all the boys in the Bethlehem and surrounding areas...oh, listening to the cries of those mothers...for the injustices of this man...

The Magi listened to the chief priests and teachers of the law as well...but to a different end...to worship this Christ...give Him gifts..not to destroy...

And then they listened to the warning to go another way to their country...I wonder what would have happened if they had told Herod...and not heeded the warning...

Joseph listened as well as he had before.  First, he listened to take Mary as his wife when he considered her pregnancy...then, now again to take them to safety in another country...Egypt ...a country their ancestors had escaped and journeyed from so many years ago..now was a safe haven..

Finally, Joseph listened again to return to Israel after the death of Herod, but to another town, Nazareth...not to Bethlehem ...

Moses listened..and led a nation..

Noah  listened...and saved his family and mankind....

Abraham listened....journeyed to a new land..

Samuel listened...in the night as a boy..

David listened...and led a nation...

The prophets listened and ....wrote so much scripture...as well as prophesied...

Paul listened ....learned, travelled...

And many more to write down Gods word...and follow God...

We can still listen to God's word, the Holy Spirit speaking truth..

Thank YOU for listening ears..let me hear words of truth and obey ...the ramifications can be life changing .....

Matthew 2:1-23 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written: “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;for out of you will come a rulerwho will shepherd my people Israel.’” Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.” After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route. When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.” When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: “A voice is heard in Ramah,weeping and great mourning,Rachel weeping for her childrenand refusing to be comforted,because they are no more.” After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.” So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene. 

Let there be light.....

Let there be light...

http://www.coolestone.com/media/12225/Starry-Skies-Over-Downtown-LA--Timelapes---1080p-HD/#.VUS_CYhHaK1

As you watch this video, you can hear scripture being read in the background ....

Genesis 1:1-5 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day. 

An astronaut reading from his place on the moon....at the time it seemed so fitting.  Not sure we could do that anymore without someone protesting...I remember when he read these words ....It was sobering that he was way out in space and felt the need to read scripture to all the universe...God was indeed there as close with him as He was here with us earthbound..that Presence who goes where we go and lives in those who believe...never leaving or forsaking...

The creator of light...and we are to be light in this world while we are here...

Genesis 1:14-19 And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day. 

Psalm 104:1-3, 19 Praise the Lord, my soul.Lord my God, you are very great;you are clothed with splendor and majesty. The Lord wraps himself in light as with a garment;he stretches out the heavens like a tent and lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters. He makes the clouds his chariotand rides on the wings of the wind.

 He made the moon to mark the seasons, and the sun knows when to go down. 

Matthew 5:14-16 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. 

Thank YOU for giving light to your world, your Word..help me to reflect that light to those around me....

May Day....

May Day...

When I was in kindergarten-3 rd grade, we did maypoles..circling a tether ball pole again and again with brightly colored strips of crepe paper, intricately braiding the paper on to the pole...we would practice again and again to get the right look...I think the teacher must have been a saint to help us do this or else she was just ready for a break to the outside and fresh air  after being cooped up with wiggly 5-7 years olds ...

We would also make cute little door hanger paper baskets for flowers to take home to our mothers...

As I look back on this scene from my early school days, they were so innocent and fun, we laughed and played...days were carefree and sunny...we watched very little  TV, saw very little violence, playing outside as much as possible, roaming the pastures near us, catching grasshoppers, riding bicycles, climbing trees, learning to sew doll clothes on miniature sewing machines....

When I was younger, I just assumed that everyone had a wonderful childhood, I was blessed...the other day some people were sharing about their lives and the dysfunction they experienced and I again thanked God for His provision for me...I had a great childhood, a great marriage, wonderful parents, grand parents, wonderful children.....oh yes, there were ups and downs, but there was commitment to one another, a commitment to work things out...a faith that saw us through the good times and bad..

As years went by, my "Rose" colored glasses through which I looked, saw many dysfunctional lives, hurting people who didn't get to experience the goodness I had been shown...whose lives were torn, shredded emotions, broken pieces of humanness...more violence, rampant fears, .....

I look back now and I see that there were problems in my family, we had our quirks, and dysfunctions, ....and we still have,  but we have had God's grace woven into our family fabric as well...helping us through the rougher times...hugs for everyone..smiles in the sorrows...the fruit of the spirit amidst the worldly attitudes ....

Thank YOU for the maypoles of wonderful colors of life....the braiding may have not been perfect...but the laughter still rings through the years ....thank You for the family You gave me...the baskets of flowers hung with care for a surprise....the giving, even the dysfunction which draws us nearer  to Your loving arms...

Psalm 103:13-18, 22 As a father has compassion on his children,so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed,he remembers that we are dust. The life of mortals is like grass,they flourish like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone,and its place remembers it no more. But from everlasting to everlastingthe Lord’s love is with those who fear him,and his righteousness with their children’s children— with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts. Praise the Lord, all his works everywhere in his dominion.

Praise the Lord, my soul. 

Jeremiah 31:3 The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying:“I have loved you with an everlasting love;I have drawn you with unfailing kindness. 

Galatians 5:16-25 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. 

But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 

Wikipedia.  "Traditional May Day origins and celebrations...

The earliest May Day celebrations appeared in pre-Christian times, with the Floralia, festival of Flora, the Roman goddess of flowers, held April 27 during the Roman Republic era, and with the Walpurgis Night celebrations of the Germanic countries. It is also associated with the Gaelic Beltane, most commonly held on April 30. The day was a traditional summer holiday in many pre-Christian European pagan cultures. While February 1 was the first day of Spring, May 1 was the first day of summer; hence, the summer solstice on June 25 (now June 21) was Midsummer.

As Europe became Christianised, the pagan holidays lost their religious character and May Day changed into a popular secular celebration. A significant celebration of May Day occurs in Germany where it is one of several days on which St. Walburga, credited with bringing Christianity to Germany, is celebrated. The secular versions of May Day, observed in Europe and America, may be best known for their traditions of dancing around the maypole and crowning the Queen of May. Fading in popularity since the late 20th century is the giving of "May baskets," small baskets of sweets or flowers, usually left anonymously on neighbors' doorsteps.

Since the 18th Century, many Roman Catholics have observed May — and May Day — with various May devotions to the Blessed Virgin Mary. In works of art, school skits, and so forth, Mary's head will often be adorned with flowers in a May crowning. May 1 is also one of two feast days of the Catholic patron saint of workers St Joseph the Worker, a carpenter, husband to Mother Mary, and surrogate father of Jesus.^[4] Replacing another feast to St. Joseph, this date was chosen by the Pope Pius XII in 1955 to create as a counterpoint to the Communist International Workers Day celebrations on May Day."