THE NEW EWE

"What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!'"

Luke 15:4-6

April 17, 2024

LIFE IN THE FOLD

A year or so after Jon and I got married, we decided that we would try putting in a vegetable garden. My dad was so proud and happy! He always had a pretty garden and loved for my sisters and I to go look it when we went to visit in the summers. When I was single and lived near him, he would often share things from his garden with me. Therefore, when Jon and I planted our first garden, he would call me occasionally to see how it was doing. I'd often call him for advice on how to care for it. I miss his gardening wisdom! He passed away in 2007.

Growing up, my parents always planted a big garden each year. My mom would can the various vegetables that they raised. We ate well during the summer months, when we could eat all the fresh produce that we raised.... well, not necessarily we.... our parents did the majority of the work.

The problems that Jon and I have had with our gardens is keeping the squirrels and rabbits and raccoons out of it. It's frustrating to do so much work, only to feed the neighborhood animals! But yet, ever so often, we get a hankering for fresh garden produce and keep trying. Some years we've had more success than others.

My niece and her husband have tried planting a small garden the past couple years. She recently mentioned that the story Peter Rabbit was cute as a kid and she felt sorry for him; but as an adult, she could see why the farmer was so irritated at him and his siblings. I agree!

Jon and I are planting a large garden this year, and have high hopes for great success. Honestly, I'm praying over it as I plant! We have a raised garden bed that we are using for onions, spinach, lettuce and carrots. Then we are going to till up a plot for the other things and plant them directly into the ground.

A couple weeks ago, we began preparing for planting. My job was to clean out the raised garden bed. Weeds had grown up in it since last summer, so those needed to be removed. There were even a couple small trees that had taken root and were trying to grow up in that area. Jon had to help remove those, because they did not want to come out!

The biggest obstacle that I had in the garden was trying to pull out all of the mint! Last year I made a huge mistake and had planted one little mint plant in the garden box with my tomatoes and squash. I had read where mint would keep squirrels out away, so thought it was worth a try. Plus, we like to put fresh mint leaves in our iced tea when we drink it. Win-win, right?!?

What I hadn't realized was how invasive mint was! I, also, didn't know that it's roots would spread and grow thick and it would end up taking over. I thought I had removed it all last fall. Not so! I pulled up mint and dug up roots over a large area of that garden box. Some of the roots had grown down alongside the inside edges of the box and were hard to get to. I spent a great deal of time desperately trying to get rid of all of those roots. As far as I knew, I got them all.... but we shall see as time goes by, if any pops up again or not. As I pulled the roots and mint leaves up, I stacked them in a pile, then we put them in the burn pit to get rid of. We didn't want the mint to take root in our yard and end up sprouting all over.

There are times when something can take root in our life, that seems like a pretty harmless little thing. It seems fine at first, we don't see how it could possibly cause any damage. But then we allow the seed to take root and spread and it becomes invasive to other areas of our life. In fact, it can begin to choke out other good seed that we are nurturing and trying to develop fruit. If we don't take care of it, what once seemed so small and insignificant can begin having a negative affect in our life.

We may think that it's not impacting anyone other than ourself, but the truth is, anything that is invasive and having a negative affect on us will also affect those around us. Sadly, it will also mess with us spiritually and often draw us away from allowing God to be priority in our life; and often, we don't recognize it until we find ourselves in a big mess.

John 15 speaks about Jesus being the vine and we are the branches. The Father is the Gardener. We have to continuously abide in Christ and allow Him to live within us. If we do, then we will bear fruit. If not, the Father cuts away every branch that doesn't produce fruit. Sometimes He does some pruning, so that we can become more fruitful.

There are times when we may need to allow the Father to pull out those things that have become invasive in our life, and sometimes that can be painful and there may even be some discipline involved. But when we submit to the Gardener, then He keeps our root system healthy and strong and makes us the best that we can be. And really, isn't that what we all should want?

We planted a few things, both vegetables and flowers, a couple of weeks ago. We have more to plant in another week or so, but these were our early crops. Every day we go out to check to see how it's looking. It has been so much fun the last few days, because we started to see little green shoots poking out of the ground. And now, every day we see changes take place. It's amazing how much growth we can see from one day to the next. It's exciting to see results from our labor!

I get my nephew's two youngest children on the bus in the mornings. Last week on Thursday the rose bush in front of their house only had one little bud on it. I wasn't there on Friday. When I went back on Monday morning, that rose bush was absolutely covered in fully bloomed flowers. I was astounded!!

When we are submitted to allowing the Father to prune us and are being deeply rooted in Him and drawing our nourishment from Him, then there will be growth and it will be amazing to see what He can do with our lives. We will recognize growth in other believers around us, which is exciting, also.

JON'S PERSPECTIVE:

This is also the third year for a pair of peach trees we planted. The first year, we planted them in the spring instead of fall, so I pinched off all the peaches that were starting to form. The trees were in pots, and fairly root-bound. So, I believe they needed the first year working on their roots, not on fruits.

The second year, they bloomed too early. A frost destroyed all the flowers just after they opened and started pollenating. Then one was damaged by high winds, and about two-thirds of the tree broke off. All that was left were some low branches.

This year, both trees are doing well. We did have a very light frost after the flowers bloomed, but they were protected in the shade of larger 200-year-old pecan trees, so survived it. The tree that was broken is bearing fruit--3 peaches. The other has dozens of peaches growing on it.

There are a lot of lessons I could pull from this. The best, I believe, is that sometimes, especially after a major upheaval or trial (like being transplanted at the wrong time of year), we need time to work on our roots. Read the New Testament. Attend church. Visit with other believers. Ask for help and guidance.

The second is that even after working on roots, we might be vulnerable to attacks. They can hurt us, or even break us. But we can come back, in time.

And thirdly, sometimes having the help of someone older or more experienced to offer shelter can make all the difference. Don't be afraid to ask for help, especially from someone who has been there again and again.

ON THE MENEWE:

Chicken Breast Casserole

Cut the chicken breasts in half to make 8 pieces.

Wrap a pieces of bacon around each piece of chicken; place in casserole dish.

Mix sour cream and cream of mushroom soup together, with a small amount of milk. Pour over the top of the chicken. Do not add salt.

Cook uncovered at 300 for 2-1/2 hours. (It needs to cook that long to get completely done and tender.)

Very delicious!

THIS, THAT AND THE OTHER:

Recently my 10 year old niece told her mom, "In the old days, they used honey on waffles. Back in the 80's."

Her mom responded, "The old days?!? We had syrup in the 80's!"

THOUGHT TO PONDER:

You are never too old to set another goal, or to dream a new dream. - C.S. Lewis

OUR HEARTFELT THANKS TO YOU:

We love you!

Loretta & Jon

http://www.graysheep.org