Summer is here and it’s tiger lily season–they are blooming all over town.
I am looking forward to all the blooms to come.
In other news, as you know, I have been reading books written in the 1930s and 40s by D.E. Stevenson and enjoying them enormously.
I just finished “Miss Buncle’s Book” and loved it. Stevenson has a real talent for characterization and for subtly drawing a picture of a town and its inhabitants. In this novel the main character has written a book (using a pseudonym) about a fictional town that is strikingly similar to the one in which she really lives. It is so similar that some of the inhabitants are outraged and want to find out who the author is, so they can take him to court for libel. Of course, they never imagine that the quiet, mousey woman who is the actual author could have written the book.
If you have ever wondered when the actual date of your conversion was (as I have), Charles Spurgeon has a comforting illustration.
And this is J.I. Packer on the six things you should tell yourself everyday.
I am currently reading the book of Matthew in my daily reading. Yesterday I read chapter 24, which is where Jesus tells his disciples about the coming ‘tribulation’. I was interested to see him referencing Daniel in verse 15:
“Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), 16 “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.“
This is why it is so important to read the Old Testament, and, indeed, the whole Bible. Jesus is referring to Daniel 9:27 and 11:31. The “abomination of desolation” refers to the desecration of the temple.
Jesus goes on to say:
“Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. 18 And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. 19 But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! 20 And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22 And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.”
Heavy stuff.
Well, I hope that isn’t too heavy for you on Wednesday. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)
Well, Don’s Iris are blooming! Mine are still buds, but I can tell it’s going to be a good year for the Iris. The peonies are budding as well. Truly, this a glorious season in the flyover garden to be relished and enjoyed.
Let us not forget that today is the birthday of Ulysses S. Grant. It might be a good time to take down his Personal Memoirs from off the shelf and read: “My family is American, and has been for generations, in all its branches, direct and collateral.”
Thanks be to God.
So check out the Iris in your yard, open up your Grant Memoirs, and praise God from whom all blessings flow.
*John Knox, inscribed on the Reformation Wall in Geneva, Switzerland
Daffodils, That come before the swallow dares, and take The winds of March with beauty; violets dim, But sweeter than the lids of Juno’s eyes.
–William Shakespeare, The Winter’s Tale (1610–11) act 4, sc. 3, l. 121
Yes, the big storm missed us. It just rained and then the sun came out. No big deal.
Tomorrow I do have a Big Deal–an Event to attend back at my flyover university. It is the kind that makes me very nervous, so pray for me. People always think I am so calm, cool and collected, but little do they know. I will be inwardly reciting my mantra: “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power and of love and of self-control.” (2 Timothy 1:7)
Plus, I don’t even know what I’m wearing.
But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
How was your weekend? Mine was a quiet one, mostly because I am still fighting this cold. I managed to “do” the flowers for church on Sunday–my maiden solo voyage so to speak and I was pleased with the result. I went to Trader Joe’s early on Saturday morning and bought a bunch of different flowers and then went to church, going in with my key and setting up in the sacristy…
Voila. Yay, me!
We went to church on Sunday (I had to check out my flowers) but I had a coughing fit during the sermon and had to leave and get a drink of water. I sat on a comfortable sofa and drank my water and listened to the sermon which was piped in. I have to say, it was quite nice. I rejoined the congregation after the sermon for the Lord’s Supper. Then the boy and the wee twins came over for bagels and cream cheese and we sat outside for some final driveway time of the season.
Lottie is such a big girl now–she sang along with one of the hymns and said the Lord’s Prayer (from memory)! The wee laddie filled out the Welcome Card, which he does every week.
After they left, I FaceTimed with darling Katie and her darling mother, making the weekend complete.
Well, have a good Monday! Go in peace to love and serve the Lord!
How was your weekend? On Saturday I went to a training session for new members of the flower guild where I learned how to make the flower arrangements for church on Sunday.
Linda (the head of the guild and my style icon) taught us all the do’s and don’ts of flower arranging and so I am confident that I should be ready to go when I have to do this by myself. Right? It’s good to learn new things, right? Right?
After finishing up her business in mid-MO, daughter #1 drove into town so we could make one last trip this season to our favorite Jeff Co winery after church on Sunday. It was a beautiful day and we spread out our picnic on the grass…
and enjoyed the live music.
Good times!
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God.
Yesterday I worked in the yard for a little bit because it was too beautiful a day to stay inside. I paid for it though with the sneezing fit it set off. Curses, pollen strikes again!
Meanwhile the iris continue to be insane.
Well, I feel like some Walt Whitman poetry, don’t you? His birthday is a week from today…
Not from successful love alone,
Nor wealth, nor honor’d middle age, nor victories of politics or war;
But as life wanes, and all the turbulent passions calm,
As gorgeous, vapory, silent hues cover the evening sky,
As softness, fulness, rest, suffuse the frame, like freshier, balmier air,
As the days take on a mellower light, and the apple at last hangs
really finish’d and indolent-ripe on the tree,
Then for the teeming quietest, happiest days of all!
The brooding and blissful halcyon days!
“Halcyon Days”
And a toast to brother Bob Dylan, whose birthday is today.
And I will offer in His tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord.
It is hot and sultry in flyover country. (Too hot.) The first of the iris are starting to pop…
…and the rest will soon follow suit…
Don sent this picture of a Celandine poppy (Stylophorum diphyllum) or wood poppy, a Missouri native that usually flowers for over a month…
…and these wise words:
The celandine poppy has taught me more about gardening than any other plant. I have planted it in multiple places in my garden over a 30 year time period. What I have learned is that plants thrive where the conditions suit them. It kept disappearing in places that I thought would be perfect. Finally I put it in a spot that supports its growth. Now it grows so well on its own that I have forgotten that it is there. People are like that too.
People are like that!
You have brought a vine out of Egypt; You have cast out the nations, and planted it. 9 You prepared room for it, And caused it to take deep root, And it filled the land. 10 The hills were covered with its shadow, And the mighty cedars with its boughs. 11 She sent out her boughs to the Sea, And her branches to the River.
Well, the world is apparently going to hell in a hand-basket, but the weather has been nothing to complain about here in flyover country. Yesterday the temperature soared to over 80 degrees. In fact, we broke the record high on Wednesday of 79 from 1992. (Temperatures are expected to be about 30 degrees cooler today, but yesterday was beautiful.)
(Don’t you feel better after watching ol’ Gordon MacRae? Truly, I did.)
I felt moved to get out of the house and I walked around the pond at our local park. A breath of fresh air and the sun on your face does wonders for your spirit.
Yes, the ice is gone. The crocus (croci?) are blooming in Don’s yard…
…but they have just barely poked through in mine. However, the Christmas cactus is blooming anew. How about that?
Well, Ash Wednesday has come and gone. There were no pancakes for moi this year. No ashes. I did receive a letter from the Bishop of the diocese of Missouri asking for money. It was addressed to “Dear Siblings in Christ,” because, you know, we don’t have brothers and sisters in this diocese anymore. That would be too gender normative. The bishop needs money to “accomplish positive change.” Good luck with that.
I am very grateful for Anne Kennedy and her blog posts. She reads the New York Times so I don’t have to and she responds to their articles so I don’t have to. Here she is responding to their article about Ash Wednesday and Lent. “I’m so sorry, but I must say it once more with tears—you are not a Christian if you don’t believe in Jesus, and one of the markers of your belief, the fruit, if you will, is that you earnestly desire to be in church with other people who believe. There is no ‘unchurched Christian faithful.’ That is not a thing…” Read the whole post.
I watched a good movie (which I had never seen) on TCM–The Naked City (1948). It is an American film noir directed by Jules Dassin, starring Barry Fitzgerald and Don Taylor as police detectives in the 10th precinct of New York City. Shot entirely on location in NYC, it depicts the police investigation that follows the murder of a young model.
After years of devotion to NYPDBlue and Law and Order, it was fascinating to watch this movie, which certainly blazed the trail for later TV crime dramas. It won the Academy Award for black and white cinematography and for editing, and rightly so. It was very well done and the final scenes leading up to the denouement on the Williamsburg Bridge are very exciting. For anyone who has spent any time in NYC, it is a fascinating picture. Here’s a blog post that shows all the film locations and what they look like currently. It was also fun to notice several actors in uncredited parts who later came to prominence in movies and on TV: Paul Ford, James Gregory, Arthur O’Connell, David Opatoshu, John Randolph, as well as Yiddish icon Molly Picon.
Well, it’s back to Leviticus for me. Enjoy your Thursday!
For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.
You will recall that years ago I planted seeds given to me by my assistant (harvested from her yard) and they grew and bloomed once. Since then the plants have grown but never bloomed. Either they were cut down by accident, eaten by deer (?) or whatever. But, hallelujah, they have bloomed again! This brings me joy. You can see, too, that the Tiger Lilies are still going strong (all over our flyover town). I guess they like all the rain we’ve had.
Meanwhile I have been reading Horseman, Pass By by Larry McMurtry. It is a good first novel, but not great. As I figured, it is told from the perspective of the boy, Lonnie, and Hud has only a small, incidental part. Someone in Hollywood must have had the idea that the ornery, bad guy would make a better subject for a movie, and they were probably right. They changed a lot in the book. I wonder what McMurtry thought.
“I just wonder, when it’s all said and done,” he went on, “who ends up with the most in this scramble. Them that go in for big shows and big prizes and end up takin’ a bustin’, or them that plug along at what they can kinda handle. Home folks or show folks. They’s a lot a difference in ’em.”
Here is Paul Zahl’s list of movies on TCM in July (Part II). As usual, we are on the same page. What he says about Bonnie and Clyde is right on.
Today is the birthday of Robin Williams. Maybe I’ll watch Awakenings (1990) or Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), my favorite RW movies. Or maybe I’ll watch RV (2006)–who knows? Just remember ol’ Robin and go for the gusto, or at the very least, reach out to someone with a smile. It might go a long way.
And here’s a toast to Don Knotts on his birthday: Just a little lower, Barney.
dual personalities 