A Sunday Stroll

Such a warm pretty day; I decided to take a walk over to the pond. Now I am having a sneezing attack from the pollen, but it was worth it.

I saw and heard geese; spied a frog and a fish in the water.

The grape hyacinth on the bank was prettier than where the frog was hiding.

Most of the daffodil blooms are gone, but the tulips are starting. I hope to make my annual trip to Peabody Retirement Community this week to see their beautiful tulips.

I wish I had a way to convey smell to you. I don’t know what this bush with white flowers is in front of Grace Village, but I noticed its sweet smell right away.

Some of the blossoms on trees emitted a lovely scent, too.

A house across from the pond.

The house on Wooster Road in front of some of the Grace Village condos is vacant, but that doesn’t mean there was no sign of spring life. The phlox is there.

Lovely Ladies Tea

My church had a special tea for ladies this afternoon. We were encouraged to invite guests as we were having a special speaker Brenda Strohben. There were about 3 dozen of us. 3 gentlemen kept the buffet table refilled and cleared away our plates from the tables. So many good things to eat: chicken salad rounds, jam and cream cheese fingers, cucumber sandwiches, pinwheels, cookies, cheese straws, mini eclairs, scones, fresh fruit. And of course tea (and a foamy punch).

One of the coordinators had china plates and cups and saucers and teapots in a multitude of patterns. She had used them at her wedding. The tables were decorated with pastel cloths with a lace overlay.

The cutest little “favor” sat at each setting.

A frosted cookie made to look like a teabag had a Bible verse that the speaker used in her talk.

I invited one of my neighbors who has been at Grace Village less than 2 months. She appeared to have a good time.

Our church does not have many special events for ladies. This was a memorable one.

The Things of Earth: Treasuring God by Enjoying His Gifts

Before reading The Things of Earth, I had never heard the term Christian hedonism. Apparently, this idea has been promoted by John Piper, but it is seen in the writings of Jonathan Edwards and other theologians.
Christian hedonism is based on the concept that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him. We magnify Christ in the right enjoyment of creation and culture.
There is a struggle with whether one loves God’s gifts too much and whether one loves God enough. What are we do with the things of the earth? In Colossians 3 “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” Yet I Timothy 4 states “Everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving.”
Rigney attempts to answer the tension of two opposing ideas. At one extreme, there is the Prosperity Gospel telling us to seek earthly blessings as they are a sign of God’s favor. Our Christian faith is a means to worldly gain. The other extreme is that the sweetness of earthly joys is a snare, distracting us from our single-minded devotion to God. We were created to live in the world and enjoy earthly pleasures so enjoying them leads to joy-killing guilt if we follow this last belief.
“God is not only everywhere, but He is everywhere working.”—Jonathan Edwards
Creation should be understood as the constant and pervasive revelation of God. He communicates himself to us through creation.
“We may ignore, but we can nowhere evade the presence of God. The world is crowded with Him.”—C. S. Lewis
We recognize patterns in God’s world. It provides analogies that deepen our understanding of life and of God.
“Earthly pleasures are shafts of the glory as it strikes our sensibility.” C. S. Lewis
Rejoicing in creation is rejoicing in the Lord. The misuse and abuse of God’s good gifts are pervasive and rampant in our world though.
Rigney presents what he calls the Comparative View and the Integrated View as ways to reconcile the tensions he introduced in the beginning of the book.
We must not elevate the gifts above the giver. That is idolatry. We must not think it is our own efforts that result in having good things; that is ingratitude.
In abstaining, we project the image of God as a miser. “In despising the gifts, we insult the Giver.”—John Calvin. The gifts from God are given to enlarge our minds and expand our hearts and enrich our souls so that we might love God fully and supremely and expansively forever.
There is direct Godwardness—conscious, intentional focus and devotion, but there is also indirect Godwardness—what we see God reveal as we engage with the world. Indirect Godwardness and enjoying the gifts keeps God from being vague and indistinct to us. We must have the direct Godwardness to orient our affections rightly toward God, however. It should infuse all of our activities.
Rigney discusses the distinction between creation and culture (what man creates and develops).
There is a section of the book about suffering, death, and the loss of good gifts. This is part of our creatureliness. We see that it is God’s glorious presence alone where we can find fullness of joy.
That wealth/blessings are to be used for certain purposes is discussed.
God is fundamentally a giver. To be a creature is to be a receiver. When we receive, we should know it, enjoy and delight in it, sing about it, know Him in it, enjoy Him in it. Be grateful receivers.

False Accusation?

 

You may remember that the past two years I have been putting netting around my crocus flower bed. I did this because I thought the deer were eating the plants. Now I am not so sure. I took the netting off April 3rd because it looked like there were no more blooms coming. Monday and Tuesday morning everything looked normal. Wednesday morning, 3 plants nibbled down to nubbins. Thursday morning, 3 more plants eaten. Friday morning, all of the plants chewed almost to the ground.

This morning I saw a big fat rabbit (maybe pregnant rabbit?) chewing grass near the flower bed. Aha! Though I didn’t catch it in the act, I believe I have found the culprit. I haven’t seen any deer in the neighborhood for a month maybe. Of course they may be around at night. However, I think the crocus destroyer is probably the rabbit. Naughty bunny! Looks like next year, the netting will go up again.

Over-Stuffed

 

I needed to go to Fort Wayne this week to exchange the ink cartridge I bought for my printer at Best Buy. I bought the wrong one. The only excuse I have is that I was distracted by the happiness for my sister-in-law buying a new laptop computer and when she asked the salesman to get an ink cartridge for her printer, I said get one for me, too. We both have Canon Pixma printers. When I got home I realized I should have checked the notation inside my calendar book; wrong cartridge. Her printer is not like mine.

Since I was in Fort Wayne, I stopped at Ollie’s Bargain Center that I had learned of on my previous trip to Half-Price Books. What joy to find a decorating book for a few dollars. More snipping for my folder.

And God decided to double my pleasure. At Half-Price Books another decorating book with photos I like.

Each book chock-full of lovely photos of the type of decorating I prefer, yet cheaper than buying a current magazine from the newsstand.

Though I do some weeding/discarding when I peruse my folder, I obviously need to find some additional folders. I had taped up the side once, but now the folder is so over-stuffed the only way to fix it is to remove some of the photos.

Today has had rain, snow, sleet, wind, brief sunshine, but has fallen from 39 degrees to 36 degrees since noon. A perfect day to sit in the recliner and go through my new books. I am itching to wear spring clothes, so tired of winter things, but that isn’t going to happen for at least another week.

A lot of the blogs I read regularly have slowed down. A few posts per month. Hibernating like me? Or maybe really busy, which also is true for me through the 17th. There is a public library sale coming up on the 15th. Maybe I better get busy buying folders; no telling what I might find at that sale.