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May 19, 2012 |
This week more things got done on my to do list than I expected. I keep it in pencil, or the electronic equivalent of pencil in case re-scheduling seems wise. It is interesting how long pens and pencils last these days. A while back I decided to see how long it took to actually use up a pencil or pen these days, if I just used the same one at my desk or by the phone. They last a long time, much longer than when I went to school and we needed a dozen or so sharpened pencils at any given time and a certain number of pens as well. Pencils still last longer than any eraser that pencil happens to have, so it is still useful to have a good eraser.My grandmother used to wrap a rubber band around each pencil by her pianos to keep them from rolling into the piano and rolling away quite so fast. The most unique item a piano tuner ever found in a piano where I lived was a small, rubber ball, about an inch in diameter. No wonder that key stuck a little. Usually all the piano tuner found was dust. And wrapping a rubber band several times around a pen or pencil does make it easier to keep track of it in other places as well. One thing, for sure, even though we use fewer pens and pencils these days, I don’t think this electronic, computerized world has decreased paper usage all that much. When you can page multiple pages per minute, you can just print more that you don’t need faster. I do try to think before I print and it is wise to have print copies of some, but not all things. I did shred some papers this week that have no eternal value. “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,” declares the LORD.
“I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.” (Jeremiah 31:33)
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May 12, 2012 |
This week we re-introduced a simple variation of an old idea, not the traditional mother-daughter banquet but a women’s tea honoring our mothers. Everybody has a mother somewhere in the picture and everybody knows mothers, that makes the inviting just whoever is able to come. (Admittedly we didn’t invite the men, but that sort of thing according to them isn’t their cup of tea or cup of coffee for that matter.) We had a few readings, one serious, the others humorous with a couple songs in between, sandwiches and cookies and mostly conversation. I think the conversation was the highlight, or the multiple conversations at the various tables. There was a lot of remembering going on. So next year, with a couple slight modifications we will try hosting it again. Rambling, free-floating conversations may seem like a waste of time at times. They don’t rate very high on any sort of productivity scale, other than creative scales. Some of the best ideas come from those free-floating conversations, but if the house is on fire, no time for chit-chat. It’s time for action. But if the house isn’t on fire and the creek isn’t rising and the harvest is in, there is nothing like good old-fashioned conversation. “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” (Colossians 4:6)
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May 5, 2012 |
Our hedge is blooming, not solid white, but patches here and there. I don’t recall having seen that type of hedge bloom before. Perhaps it means that I am not keeping it cut back severely enough, but as I trimmed it, I noticed that multiple buds were still left. So let them bloom. The part I have not trimmed as much is not blooming. Go figure. Anyway, it is a nice contrast to last year when blooms were scarcer, but the hedge was one of the plants that stayed green despite the lack of rain. Today’s sunshine and calm was good for the benefit golf tournament I had a shift helping out at. The board I am on meets during the lunch hour once a month, so there is not much time to socialize, but it was good to get to know some of the folks helping out a little better. It’s time for recognition of graduates and all the assorted activities related to that, especially if you are closely connected to a graduate. There are different traditions in different places. We went to one awards banquet this week and tomorrow the graduates connected to our congregation will be recognized during our monthly potluck. Some of the graduates I know more than others, since we have not been here all that long, but hopefully there will be more opportunities despite the fact some are headed off to college elsewhere and work. “In days to come Jacob will take root, Israel will bud and blossom and fill all the world with fruit.” (Isaiah 27:6)
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April 28, 2012 |
This week a fire extinguisher was mounted outside my office, in addition to some others elsewhere. I knew something was going to happen concerning fire extinguishers, but had not kept overly informed about the details. I don’t think that has anything to do with the heat of conversations, but more with the fact that it is a visible location without interfering with the décor along the hallway which includes a wall of crosses from various families and historical displays among other things.Despite the fact that things are no longer bone-dry in these parts there is still enough tinder in the countryside to fuel wildfires. Not that fire extinguishers are any sort of weapon against that sort of thing. The best weapon is prevention or fleeing the fire’s path (unless you are part of the fire-fighting crew). I thought I maybe saw a bit of spearmint poking its nose out between the shed and the fence. Maybe it will come back and help choke out the bindweed that grows there out of reach of weed trimmer or lawn mower, not that you can ever totally choke out the local version of bindweed, mostly just keep after it so it doesn’t choke out something else, like the persistent rosebush on the alley fence which is minuscule compare to the neighbors, but is slowly becoming more like a bush than a stick. It may not have as many blooms as its neighbors, but it still blooms. “Without wood a fire goes out; without gossip a quarrel dies down.” (Proverbs 26:20) “The islanders showed us unusual kindness. They built a fire and welcomed us all because it was raining and cold.” (Acts 28:2)
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April 21, 2012 |
Today I sorted out the church kitchen junk drawer, a collection of genuinely useful objects. My motivation was for people to be able to grab something that writes out of the drawer. As it turned out all the pencils that needed sharpening had floated to the top of that container. And now we have multiple pairs of pliers and scissors in sight rather than sunk down to the murky bottom of the drawer. Actually, it is not that murky. It is plenty clean with plenty of stuff. Even the oddest things in that drawer have a purpose, although it does help to put like things, or sort of like things together. I am not holding my breath as to how long that drawer will stay in any particular order. And the only thing I tossed was pens that would not write, an occasional pencil that did not sharpen well and a couple of backing cards for double-sided tape without the tape dispensers attached. The small pencil sharpener in the drawer did not work particularly well, but the one in my office drawer sufficed, and I did not worry about lead poisoning since I learned early on that pencil lead is really graphite. And the small pencil sharpener in the junk drawer was put back in its place. Mission accomplished, next time we need writing utensils in duplicate or more, they will be functional, even if the drawer is re-arranged. The odds and ends in that drawer address all sorts of problems. There might be a few people who have the luxury of drawers to store things in that don’t believe in junk drawers for those things you need that cannot be easily categorized. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)
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April 12, 2012 |
The neighbor’s yellow roses along the alley are smiling due to rain and not hail. I am not sure whether that is early or late for these parts. It is a touch of sunshine after the rain. We had sunshine for Easter, so the children enjoyed hunting eggs outside. Somehow that is more fun than inside. One of the littler ones was too shy to hunt eggs. But that is OK. Sometimes the shy ones when they are young are the most outgoing later on. And even if the quietness remains, that usually makes a good listener. Listeners tend to be in shorter supply than talkers anyway.Thunder and lightning and rushes of rain make an awesome display, but a quiet, steady, ongoing rain can do just as much if not more good. Rushes of rain that don’t have time to soak in are good for starting to re-fill lakes and streams that have been going dry. So the yellow roses are a little bit of early sunshine thankful for the rain. Our sunshine was our daughter and family visiting over Easter weekend. “Where then does wisdom come from? Where does understanding dwell? It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing, concealed even from the birds of the air. Destruction and Death say, ‘Only a rumor of it has reached our ears.’ God understands the way to it and he alone knows where it dwells, for he views the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens. When he established the force of the wind and measured out the waters, when he made a decree for the rain and a path for the thunderstorm, then he looked at wisdom and appraised it; he confirmed it and tested it. And he said to man, ‘The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.’” (Job 28:20-26)
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April 7, 2012 |
This week we have been moving crosses around. It is a serious matter, but it does seem a bit odd to be asked to basically back-seat drive someone carrying crosses in and out of the sanctuary so none of the pews and other things are scratched or damaged. The cross fashioned out of two sturdy tree branches for Maundy Thursday and Good Friday is replaced with the Easter Sunday morning cross wrapped in chicken wire for the young people to decorate with flowers.Where crosses were carried in Roman days, no such care was required. One thing I have learned having moved around over the years is that each place has its own traditions, or if the traditions are the same, they might mean something slightly different. I know that sometimes I cannot remember just how we did it last year, and not everybody else can either. What is a blessing is the loving care with which things are done, even if we sometimes invent our own meaning for why we do it that way. Every parent with young children wondering why we decorate the cross with flowers probably has a variation on the basic explanation, and that is OK. Tomorrow some will bring live flowers and others various silk and paper and tissue paper flowers. It really doesn’t matter how coordinated the effort is. Last Sunday’s palm branches were carefully saved for a background of green. The young people are not so concerned about how well-designed the placing of the flowers is, just as when young people decorate a Christmas tree. And somehow it is a joy to see. “The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon; hey will see the glory of the LORD, the splendor of our God. Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way.” (Isaiah 35:1-3)
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March 31, 2012 |
Late last Monday evening the power went out and then the wind came and went. It was another half day until the power was restored. Having no urgent need for power to sleep or stay warm or cool, we waited to find out about the half dozen or so power poles that met that demise via the wind. It turned out to be a nice morning to sit on the neighbor’s front porch for a while and watch for signs of electricity. The places that had generators did not slow down much at all. We didn’t get hail here later in the week, the extra large, extra mean size. It attacked the south end of the county. Mostly what we have gotten is wind without damage. Being without electricity half of a day does not count as damage, since by not opening the refrigerator or the freezer things stayed cold enough. There were state tests to take at the school, so hopefully the lack of power did not damage student results throughout our county temporarily without its usual source of power. That is all the school staff needed was one more complication in that process. There were enough rooms with windows where the students could see to take the test. The mid-day flashing lights for the school zone got by with only half a shift. I doubt anybody driving through complained about not having to slow down another few more miles an hour. “Wisdom makes one wise man more powerful than ten rulers in a city.” (Ecclesiastes 7:19)
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March 24, 2011 |
I learned in church last Sunday that Lipscomb County has its first stoplight. When not in use it resides out of sight at the Texas Department of Transportation barn which is across the highway and on the other side of the alley from our home. In other words, it is portable. Flashing lights such as those at the intersection of Main Street and the highway are not considered a real stoplights, at least in these parts where there is a certain pride in being stop-light-free. A stop is required if you turn onto the highway, but the flashing red-light is really just a glorified stop sign.So I suppose that means that there are a few road repairs that will be happening now and then. There are definitely places where some of the pavement is absent. Now many of the expanses of purple henbit flowers around town are absent also, mowed down. There are different theories on whether it is necessary to spray a few days before mowing. We sprayed, waited, enjoyed the rain, and then mowed. I did the waiting and enjoying part this year. A generous rain is waking up the grass to compete with the weeds. Watering helps, but the grass seems to know the difference between rain water from clouds and water from tubes running to sprinklers. Anyway the several days of on and off drizzling rain pleased the farmers. Harvesting crops is still a possibility. I put the ice melt containers away over at church, and the shovel. We could get a surprise and need them, but they are not that hard to get out again, if needed. We’ll still take the moisture, however, it comes, even though ice is on the bottom of my list. “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” (Psalm 119:105)
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