Be Prepared: Step One of House Showings (and life).

 "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour" Matt 25:13.

I believe in the boy scouts--be prepared. If we are, no evil, which is common to man, would ever overtake us. I.E. my house, which is on the market, would be clean when the realtor wanted to show it.

Anyone who has ever tried to sell a house can attest, let it be a mess, potential purchasers will beat down your door.

Friday, while on my way to my concert (pay attention, I played second bassoon), Neil's cell phone rang. A realtor wanted to show our home. On Saturday. The next day. Mind you, we neared Potsdam, a town located about forty miles away. My concert would begin in an hour, and then I needed to return home. That spelled: L-A-T-E.

Fortunately, my house was sort of clean. I'd done the laundry, no mess paved a path throughout my home, but it wasn't move in ready. If it was, we would not have received that call.

Once back in Malone, Neil and I dug in. I wiped down the bathrooms and emptied the trash containers. He straightened his work bench. In the morning I mopped and dusted while he vacuumed. And in the matter of a few hours, we were able to sail off (literally) in our kayaks spying bald eagles, great blue herons and a family of ducks while another family explored our house.

How will our showing turn out? Don't know. But I do know--like the virgins in the parable, we prepared. We needed to trim our wicks and polish off the glass, but we had anticipated the potential of a showing and were prepared.

Being prepared applies to many things. Do you love your family? Make sure they know. You may have an argument before you meet your Maker, but if love is a way of life, the little mess you left behind won't be remembered.

And most important, remember you are going to meet your maker. Are you prepared?

Huyck Preserve: With Bassoon and Inspiration

Tootling My Own Horn

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when the desire comes, it is a tree of life. Proverbs 13:12

Ah. The bassoon. Who could ever create a finer sound and look so cool doing so? My dream, ever since I saw it in high school concerts, was to play one. But I never got a chance to learn it. Until...

Ellen and I searched for instruments to rent when I was in my thirties. She could find the ones she wanted: clarinet, flute. Instead, for twenty bucks, she bought a recorder.

Me? The owner of a music store told me I would have to buy bassoon. No one rented them. However, at a cost of $4,000, it wasn't an option. My daughter insisted on eating and having a roof over her head. (Demanding child). So I prayed, "Lord, if you want me to play the bassoon, You'll have to find one."

And guess what? Yep. He did. For ten bucks, I found one in a garage sale. And our band director at school had been a bassoon major. So now you say, "The rest is gravy. God willed it. Presto-virtuoso!"


Nope.

A few things interfered:

1. Abdominal surgery. It's hard to blow a bassoon with belly stitches.
2. The said band teacher moved.

But a dear friend who majored in music at Crane alerted me to a professor who would give non-Cranies lessons. You repeat, "Abra-ka-tah-tah-tah."

No again.

1. Seven years of traveling to Crane, produced a mediocre player.
2. So mediocre, my teacher got a job elsewhere.

 So what's my point?

Throughout this time, I knew God had answered my prayers. I met my husband who told me about the Adirondack Players. They took me on and taught me to play with a band. A member there alerted me to performance opportunities at Crane. I expanded my skills.

I now play second bassoon in a community band, in addition to first (read: only) bassoon in two other bands. And lo and behold (it's my blog and I can be cliche if I want to), I've been sight reading music, playing fast and accurately and sounding pretty good.

It took many years. It took due diligence and no symphony would ever take me on as even a stage hand, but I'm playing the bassoon.

God answers prayers. Usually not the way we expect, but if we're faithful, we will walk in His perfect way.

Fighting Snow-On-The-Mountain

Heb 12:15

See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.

 

Crawling on hands and knees, I curse (quite Christianly) the ground cover I once thought innocuous. The former owner of my home had planted it in the garden, and I, like a fool, thought it pretty.

Today, with mature beds this weed, which I’ve recently learned is Snow-On-The-Mountain, has overrun my garden and threatens to attack the town of Malone.

(Believe me, I’m not really to blame for this take-over of Malone even I could have conquered the stupid green thing with a mind of its own had I tried when it was small.)

To eliminate it, I have”

·          Mulched

·          Sprayed

·          Prayed

·          Torn both it and my hair out by its roots.

Despite these measures, when I leave my pristine flower beds for a day, those little suckers have once more reared their ugly leaves.

In order to annihilate this invasive plant, I must root out every fiber of its root. A small section left in the ground will set out tendrils and multiply exponentially.

So, too, is the sin in our lives. At one time I thought sin was harmless. If you loved someone, then “love” him or her physically. Man created gossip as a diversion. After all, we didn’t always have iphones and ipads to amuse us. And of course, we understand, we are so much better than the rest of society—like those who make front page news (of the yucky sort).

Some sin can be conquered easily. Our spouse may have let himself/herself go, but we understand it’s better to not pursue our coworker.   Other sins are like my notorious Snow-On-The-Mountain. Their roots tangle about our being. We pray, fast, confess, cover the stupid thing, and still it pops up. 

Continually.

What can we do?

Pray, fast, confess, read Scripture, and root it out. Unfortunately, some sin will always rear its enticing head—because it does, indeed, often beguile us.

But most important is to know sin’s nature. Don’t plant it. If we do, it will take over our lives.

Wear Red: The Color of Pentecost

A typical Western image of the Pentecost. Duccio di Buoninsegna (1308) Tempera on wood (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Fifty days after Easter comes the feast of Pentecost. For the Hebrews, this is the Feast of Weeks or the Feast of the Harvest. Although Israelites planted both wheat and barley at the same time, barley matured more quickly, and the Israelites reaped during the this feast while the wheat ripened in the fields. This is the second harvest. The first comes during the Christian Easter, the last during the last holy days in September or October.

The details of this holy day are found in Leviticus 23: 15-22. In a nutshell, these Scriptures define the feast of Pentecost in this way:

1. Fifty days after the Feast of First Fruits (the Christian Easter)
2. Sacrifice two loaves of bread and seven lambs
3. One goat is sacrificed as a sin offering, two more lambs are offered as a fellowship offering.
4. No work is to be done
5. During this feast, leaven can be consumed. In the final feasts, observant Jews will once again abstain from leaven.

Christians celebrate Pentecost as well. We find the establishment in Acts 2:1-4. During this feast the church was born with the following signs:

1. A sound like the blowing of violent wind came from heaven
2. Tongues of fire appeared
3. People spoke in other tongues

It is no irony that the Christian Pentecost occurred on the second major feast for the Israelites. The parallels between the feasts become salient when you learn that ancient rabbis believed Pentecost to be the day Moses came down from the mountain with the law. They called it the birth of Judaism or the Feast of the Giving of the Law. Note the following comparisons:

Birth of the Law                            Birth of the Church

Ex. 19:16-Lev. 20:1                                        Acts 2

Supernatural manifestations,                           supernatural manifestation, noise like

trumpets, thundering, lightening,                    a might rushing wind

thick clouds

fire, voice of God, law on a                            tongues of fire, grace engraved on the tablet of

tablet of stone                                                 our hearts

End result: fear                                               End result: peace

3,000 died                                                       3,000 found salvation and lived

Cannot look at Moses’ face                            the veil removed

The traditional church gives Pentecost the ecclesiastical color of red. Celebrate your observance by wearing red this Sunday.

Good Grief

Good Grief (Photo credit: Camps)

It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart. 3 Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better (Eccl 7:2-3
KJV)

Good Grief. Sadly, despair hits us all, and when it does, we think, "What a stupid term good grief is. How can it be good?" Apparently, God believes this to be true.

Wait a minute, you state (Yes, I know I'm schizoid and you didn't say anything), God wants us blessed. And that is exactly why grief is good. How? Let's consider.

1. Death comes to all of us. When someone we love or know casually dies, we will grieve. Therefore, we learn to not put off until tomorrow the encouragement and love we need to share today.
2. Discouragement plagues us all. We work hard, only to fail. But what happens because of failure? If we do nothing, it defines us. If we work harder, we will produce the good product we desired. J.K. Rawlings is renowned for stunning success after repeated failure. Colonel Sanders had his chicken recipe rejected 1,009 times before someone saw its merit. (http://www.onlinecollege.org/2010/02/16/50-famously-successful-people-who-failed-at-first/)
3. It makes us humble. Think about the braggarts you know, famous or not. Does anyone like them? 
4. It heals us. My Ecclesiastes' scripture clearly states sorrow's healing qualities. What niggles our mind? Where have we failed? If we correct those, the weight the devil heaves at us dissipates and we become truly free in the Lord.

Beauty Like a Goose: Ps 139:14

I thank you, High God — you're breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvelously made! I worship in adoration — what a creation! (Ps 139:14, THE MESSAGE)

Geese. Flocks of them vee overhead and awe us with their magnitude. Here in Malone, they congregate at the local pond, sometimes making the water appear to be a solid gray mass.

Millions undifferentiated by millions more. I tried to capture that proliferation in my photographs, but instead caught one in flight. And the beauty of the individual captured my imagination more than the bounty of the flock.

The round body captured the dim afternoon light and displayed his plumpness. Each feather is delineated, the curve of the wing fans like a flamenco dancer.

An ordinary goose is intricate, beautiful, vibrant and alive. And if a goose has such beauty, what about us? Travel to any city and see our proliferation. Those mobs annoy us, bump us, delay us. But God looks through the masses and see the individual. Intricate. Beautiful. Flawed. And His love blazes for each being.

How awesome is that?