Religion and Spirituality

Those Crafty Cardinals

/ Bill Jones / 5 Comments
Cardinal nest with eggs

Cardinal nest with eggs

I’ve never thought of cardinals as crafty and clever birds, but when it comes to something good to eat, I found they will go to great lengths to get it.

Several years ago I planted six blueberry bushes in the backyard. The next year they were large enough to bear fruit, so I kept checking them during the spring days. I was excited during the weeks as the berries turned from green to purple. Finally, one Saturday, I declared that the next weekend would be blueberry picking time. The bushes were still small and there weren’t a lot of berries, but I still looked forward to having some from our own bushes.

I didn’t have time during the week to check them, but, on Saturday morning, I went out in high anticipation with my bowl ready. My jaw dropped and my heart sank when I found the bushes empty. During that week, the birds, (mostly cardinals around our house) had helped themselves and cleaned them out.

The next year and several years after that I put up PVC pipe to make a frame and put netting over the bushes. I used twist ties to put the sections of netting together and attach it to the frame. That would work for a while, but after a week or two I would look out the back door and see a bird in the bushes, about to kill itself trying to get out the netting. I’d open up the entrance way and shoo him out. As the season went on and the birds seemed to get smarter, I would have to let a bird out 2 or 3 times a day.

            Each time I would look around for holes in the netting. Sometimes the pvc had shifted or leaned and left a gap. Sometimes the pins holding the netting to the ground had come loose. I did watch to see how the birds got in. One day I saw one jump off the pvc onto the top netting. The bird’s weight caused a seam to open between two sections and he hopped through it.

Last year, I built a sturdy frame of 4X4’s and 2X4’s to hold the netting, including a 2X4 runner at ground level. I stapled the netting to the wood, and used squeeze-on clips to connect the pieces of netting. That kept them out until the last week or two of harvest season, when I noticed a couple of rabbits inside the netting and found that they had chewed holes in it. The birds followed them through those, but also figured out if they flapped hard enough on the netting in some places they could work their way between two overlapped pieces and get in.

When I built the frame and installed the netting, I set it up to be able to roll the netting up and secure it with cable ties to uncover the bushes (for easier access for me and the bees). After last season, I did that, and the netting has been rolled up since then. (you can see a picture on last week’s blog)

The flowers came and the berries began filling out on the bushes – hopefully for a good crop for this year. So, last Saturday, I decided it was time to lower the netting, staple it to the runner, and put a strip of chicken wire at the bottom to keep the rabbits from chewing holes.

As I neared the bushes, a cardinal flew out. I looked to make sure there weren’t any others there, and let out an “oh, no!” at what I saw. I moved closer and thought “maybe not, maybe not”. But, then I stood on tippy-toe and peered into the nest I had found. There were three cardinal eggs in the nest.

As I said, “crafty and clever” describes a cardinal. This one went so far as to build a nest and lay eggs, knowing that I couldn’t lower the netting and separate them (and the blueberries) from the mother bird. What a devious plan – but, maybe the little ones will hatch and be out of the nest before the berries are completely ripe. We shall see.

“And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13.

We can learn from the cardinals’ diligence (without the need for any craftiness or cleverness) in finding what they were seeking. As the verse says, if we search for God with all our heart, we will find him. He has always been there and always will be.

Green Acres – Where God’s Nurturing Comes to Fruition

/ Bill Jones / 33 Comments

 

“Green Acres is the place to be. Farm living is the life for me!”

Everyone reading this may not remember the 1960’s TV show “Green Acres”, and it’s possible some others wish they didn’t remember it. (It’s still in re-runs over forty years later). It was a corny comedy about a New York lawyer and his wife who moved to a run-down farm. Oliver Wendell Douglas’ dream was to be a farmer. He wanted to do something productive with his hands and hard work.

The comedy came from Mr. Douglas’ trials and tribulations as he pursued that dream. At times, when others questioned why he didn’t give up, he launched into a speech about what it all means as “you plant the seeds in the ground, wait with anticipation, watch the plants shooting up to the sky (or “shoosting” as his Hungarian wife, Lisa, said), and water and care for them until you enjoy the harvest of your labor.” Oliver just wanted to nurture something and have it come to fruition.

I admit to having had varying levels of “Green Acres Syndrome” through much of my life (wanting to be a farmer, while not knowing much about it). At this point, though, I do know enough to realize it’s hard work, that sometimes pays and sometimes doesn’t. I’m thankful for my regular salary, having a small tractor to bush-hog our old pasture every now and then, and having a few raised beds in the garden to raise a “crop” or two.

While the “Mr. Douglas” plans have waned, I can say the basics of the syndrome remain. It’s still a thrill to go through the process of planting, waiting, watching, watering and feeding, and then enjoying your harvest. I’m thankful my wife, Sharon, still gets a kick out of seeing her nearly 60 year-old husband coming toward the house like a little kid to show her my handful of tomatoes or carrots. What a blessing as the nurturing comes to fruition!

I guess the purpose of nurturing anything is to have a positive effect – to help it mature. The Apostle Peter wrote of the process of nurturing our faith: 

“For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 2 Peter 1:5-8 ESV

The verses before these explain that while we work on this process, it’s God Who gives us His power and His promises that enable us. God is nurturing us through it. As our faith grows and blossoms (through His help) it matures into that greatest of all things – love. And we know that God gets a kick out of seeing His children show Him the fruits of their work – as we love Him and love one another. What a blessing when God’s nurturing comes to fruition!     

His (God’s) delight is not in the strength of the horse, nor his pleasure in the legs of a man, but the LORD takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love. Psalms 147:10-11 ESV

And Take Your Chair With You!

/ Bill Jones / 2 Comments
Chair

Chair (Photo credit: elycefeliz)

The Lord blessed our Easter Sunrise Service again this year. That morning the chairs were neatly lined in rows in the grass on the east side of the church. The sound equipment was set up on a folding table and the speakers and microphone were in front on their stands. To anyone driving by, it would have been clear there was a service being held on the lawn. And, since many of the chairs were filled, it was also clear there were people who were committed to worshiping the Lord even when it was early in the morning and the temperature was a little nippy.

As the service began, a turkey’s gobble echoed through the woods across the road, and songbirds welcomed the sun as it rose above the tree-lined horizon. We sang praises to God, proclaimed Christ risen indeed, and heard a message about that morning long ago – when the tomb was found empty; About the joy that spread among those first disciples as they began to understand (and see) what Jesus had told them was true. He had conquered death for them and us!

We closed the service with that joy still in our hearts. As we left to begin breakfast preparations, the able-bodied folks folded up a chair or two and carried them toward the fellowship hall. Like ants, the chair-carriers converged from different directions and formed a single file, slow moving line into the building and around to the storage area. The sound equipment was also packed up and returned inside.

If someone drove by fifteen minutes after the closing prayer, they wouldn’t have seen chairs or people sitting in them – no evidence of a worship service, no evidence of commitment. By that time, the chairs were stacked away, and the bacon and eggs were on the griddles. The joy remained with us, but like the chairs, it was now hidden from the world outside.

Jesus called us to be light of the world (to brighten it) and salt of the earth (to season it with grace). That does happen inside the church building, but to be truly effective, our light and salt should also be evident to those who interact with us outside the church building – including those that just happen to be passing by at a particular time. We have to remember not to leave our joy and our commitment to Christ stacked and stored at the church house, but to always carry them with us as we go out again.

 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”  Matthew 5:14-16 ESV

Do We Cover Ourselves With Religious Tablecloths?

/ Bill Jones / 4 Comments
Woe unto You, Scribes and Pharisees

Woe unto You, Scribes and Pharisees (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As my wife, Sharon, and I wandered through the local discount store, a “50% OFF!” sign caught my eye. I picked up a package from the stack and read the label: “Religious Tablecloth”. I wasn’t sure how you make a tablecloth be religious, but apparently someone figured it out. There it was on the shelf for sale. I considered buying it and watching it to see how well it did in being religious (but, of course, it was only given that label because of “The Last Supper” design that was on it.)

Through years of helping Sharon decorate for Church functions, I have learned that you can cover up a lot of things with a tablecloth – like a stack of hymnals, a super-sized can of green beans or an old, nearly collapsed cardboard box. Then, whatever you set on it, from a flower arrangement to a group of candlesticks, will look good and you won’t see what’s under the tablecloth. I guess if you put a religious tablecloth over something, it will look good and appear to be religious too.

Jesus often condemned the Scribes and Pharisees for their hypocrisy. (He repeated the phrase “Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!” so many times in the 23rd chapter of Matthew that I sometimes call it the “Woe” Chapter). He said they were like whitewashed tombs – beautiful on the outside but unclean on the inside. “So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” (Matt 23:28 ESV)

We Christians can also be guilty of hypocrisy – of hiding under a religious tablecloth. We might outwardly appear to be following God, and even sincerely believe ourselves that we are. But in the place where it counts, in our heart, we may be envious or greedy or in other ways sinful. While we may be successful in hiding that from others, and deceiving ourselves for a while, we can never hide it from God. “…Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.” (Luke 12:1-2 ESV)

God knows our heart so there is no need to try covering it up. The best thing to do is to be obedient to Him, search our heart and confess our sins. God’s Word has given us this marvelous promise: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9 ESV)  If we trust in that promise and rely on His power to cleanse us, we won’t need a religious tablecloth to cover us. For what is within us will be revealed and be beautiful – a righteousness not from ourselves, but a righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ Himself! “Filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.” (Php 1:11 ESV)