A Flourishing Faith

When my family was young, we had an amazing garden every summer! We planted about an acre of sweet corn and about an acre and a half of vegetables. All summer long our garden provided just what we needed. In the fall, canning and freezing food was a full-time job in my kitchen! It was a productive family project; with a little effort and planning, it grew into a money-saving adventure.

Last spring, my son decided to grow a garden to help his family. He is living in the house he grew up in, so the land was all there, just not as cultivated as it was years ago. He had a farmer come and disk the plot, then he began planting. I could have told him that raking the ground to get all the weeds and rocks out might have been good. But no, he was the “fahma,” as he used to say when he was little and was convinced he could do it himself.

They didn’t plant corn the way we used to do it. We had a farmer come in and use his planter to till the ground and place the corn seeds. It was evenly done and grew into straight rows. We kept it weed free with a small cultivator and it took only a few minutes to run up and down each row with that machine.

My son decided that involving the whole family was a good idea, so they planted the corn themselves. One of them went down a row (there was no guiding string involved) plunging the end of a shovel handle into the ground. Following right behind were two kids with sacks of corn and the kernels were dropped into each hole. Right behind the planters was a person with a rake, who pushed the dirt over the hole (which was about eight inches deep). When he told me their process, I had to laugh to myself and wonder what this garden would look like when it grew.

To say the least, the rows were not straight because they hadn’t used a guiding string. The weeds grew up but the rows were so close that no cultivator could fit! Also, weeds were growing about as fast as mosquitos in the spring. Hardly anything grew because animals could either dig the plants out or eat the tender green leaves because there was no fence to keep them out. So much for the fahma! But I’m sure it was a great adventure for the family.

A little planning goes a long way; using the right tools is a great help, too. Just like planning and cultivating a flourishing garden, we need to cultivate our faith by reading God’s Word and sticking to a planned Bible study. Randomly picking passages is not the way to go. Dig deep to learn the story behind the story or the plan behind God’s purpose. Be a planter with a plan and let God weed out the things in your life that keep it from flourishing!

Joy Comes in the Morning

I don’t know if you have ever experienced a long, sleepless night, but I have. Whether I was worrying about a family member, going through a sickness, or just feeling extremely distressed about something, I could not sleep. No matter what I tried!

Somehow through the rolling and tossing and making a complete mess of my bed sheets, a thought would strike me. I am not alone. No, I don’t mean there was a predator in my bedroom; I realized that I wasn’t all alone by myself in my distress. God was there with me. And somehow through that thought a tiny pinhole of light began to shine on me again and I could see the distress begin to lift with the morning light.

Why does it take so long for us to realize that God brings joy in the morning? In the midst of struggles, why do we continue to wallow in the dark like a pigs stuck in the mud? Do we feel better in those horrid, dark places? No. Do we enjoy the fear of the night better than the light of day? No. Then why? Why do we burst into tears trying to find our way out of the darkness when God brings the light to us?

King David understood this dark place. He was there often when he sinned against God or became ill in his distress. He wrote the beautiful words of Psalm 30 when he penned, “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning” (NKJV). Oh, what wonderful joy we see when we take our eyes off ourselves and our problems and lift them to the Savior!

Remember this the next time you begin another long night of worry, distress or pain. God is there. Only HE can bring the light of His love to shine on your situation and bring the joy that comes in the morning! Amen!

Laugh Your Socks Off!

I use this phrase a lot because there have been times in my life that I feel like I’ve laughed my socks off! You’ve been there, right?

Just recently we were in the break room here at CBH. When I took out a cooked chicken thigh to warm up in the microwave, one of the employees sucked in her breath and said enthusiastically, “It looks like a turtle! Look! It looks like a turtle!” Until I could cut up the chicken, everyone was laughing and pointing at my meal. You had to be there to get the full effect but I laughed so hard, they laughed so hard, and it was great fun!

Laugher is good for your soul. The Bible tells us in Job 8:21, “He will yet fill your mouth with laughter, and your lips with shouting” (ESV). In Ecclesiastes 3:4, we are told there is “a time to weep, a time to laugh, a time to mourn, and a time to dance.” There’s a time for laughter in everyone’s life, no matter what you’re going through.

Instead of a banquet this year, CBH Ministries is trying to instill laughter among families and individuals in the West Michigan area. We’re hosting a Comedy Night Fundraising Event on September 23 at 7:00. A very funny Christian comedian, Michael Jr., is coming to entertain us, challenge us, inspire us, and make us laugh together. Won’t you join us and plan on laughing your socks off with us! You can purchase your tickets here: http://www.cbhministries.org/ComedyNight.aspx

To learn more about the event and to buy tickets, check out our website. If you can’t make it to the event, please consider donating to CBH. We’ve got lots of projects and goals that need your support to happen! We’re praying that we can finish up programming for iToadU.com and develop new, Christian projects that will reach out to children and their families.

The Missing Parent

I have four sons and a daughter. As my sons were growing up, they all did different adventures and trips with my husband. As adults the boys did an annual fishing trip with him and the fish stories began to grow like the hair on my sons’ faces! My boys will never forget those Dad times, especially since he passed away a few years ago.

The hard part about being the parent who is left is that those kinds of outings are hard to do with grown sons. It’s not like I’m the Dad figure who hunts and fishes and fixes car engines with them. I’m the Mom. I’m the cook or the comforter and all those other things Moms do.

When my sons start talking about their hunting expeditions or how they caught fish up in Canada or some other “manly” activity, I zone out! I start to think of things I want to paint or knit or sew. I don’t want to hear about where the deer got shot and how long they followed the blood trail. Ew! It’s like listening to what they did to the neighbor’s cat when they were little boys! (Believe me, you don’t want to know.)

So what’s a mom to do? Do I become a gun-toting hunter? Do I learn how to gut a deer or a fish without losing my cookies? Do I start wearing camo gear as my new fashion statement? What’s the answer to this challenge?

The way I have it figured is this—I am now officially a senior citizen, as much as I hate to admit it. I doubt I will become a licensed gun handler. I further doubt that I will ever enjoy processing deer meat or fish—I’d rather have an aquarium! So I’ll just fry your fish, cook your venison, and tell you when I hear a funny noise from your car. What do you say, boys?