Sacred Trust

Twice this past week I have been reminded of life's most precious gift. Most people think of it as a miracle. And even if you do not believe in miracles you most certainly stand in awe when first you see a newborn, whether it is a human or an animal, or even something people rarely see, a newly hatched praying mantis.

If you see a newly hatched preying mantis you are privileged indeed. I have witnessed the hatching of these beneficial insects. For about the first 30 minutes of their life outside the egg case, their bodies are transparent and you mostly see two big black eyes. As they age in minutes they take on their natural color and you notice the triangular head and long legs with the forearms in praying position. The hatching occurs outdoors when the warm days of late spring or early summer arrive. They can be hatched indoors. I have witnessed that in a classroom when a child had forgotten to take an egg case from his desk in the fall. It interrupted a spelling test I was giving to a class of second graders. The child thought they were spiders but I soon saw that it was instead several hundred tiny praying mantises leaving their egg case. The heat in the room initiated their hatching.

Being able to witness the birth of a pet kitten or puppy is much more common but still a mesmerizing event. You want to protect these newborns and give them their best chance of survival.

Many years ago I accidentally ran across some newly hatched turtles. I had no idea they were down under the ground the day that I began to dig a hole. After a few lifts of my shovel I saw something white, then the tiny brown turtles crawling about over the clods of dirt, leaving their soft, white shells behind. Needless to say, I left them where I found them. Their mother had deposited her eggs in the most advantageous place for their survival.

Today after church it was cold and windy so I offered to drive a lady home. When we arrived at her house she wanted me to come inside to see something. I was unaware of what she wanted to show me until we got inside. What I saw was her one month old grandson. His name was "Eli". He may have been named after the high priest and judge of Israel, Eli, in the old testament. Little Eli will grow up with family to love and protect him, unlike the baby turtles and praying mantises which will have to fend for themselves.

The other occasion in my mind this week took place on Saturday at our church. The ladies had gathered for a baby shower. Our only member who is young enough to bear children was being honored that day. She too will bear a son. He will have much loving support from parents, grandparents and even great grandparents to give him encouragement and guidance as he finds his place in this world.

The sermon today was taken from Matthew 19:13-14, and it emphasises my thoughts today. These verses tell of the occasion when young children were brought to see Jesus. He was traveling with his disciples and they did not want Jesus to be delayed by any interruptions. However Jesus said, "let them come to me for of such is the kingdom of heaven". I think Jesus was pointing out that children are valuable to us and we should make time for them.

Being a parent is probably the biggest challenge one can face with no formal training to show the way. It is learn as you go with help coming from various sources. Fortunately our make-up is such that we instinctively want to protect these helpless babies. For they are indeed precious gifts to be loved and nurtured. Nature instilled the female of the animal species with a maternal streak to fend off any danger in order for the innocent ones to thrive. Just watch enough nature films and you will see what happens when a mother bear with cubs is encountered in the woods. The same spirit can be seen in other animals and in birds. For us of the human ilk it becomes more complicated and for longer duration. Suffice it to say, new life demands the best from us and as in most other things, your results are generally a reflection of your effort and expertise.

Accepting the responsibility of new life is a sacred trust, not to be taken lightly.

It is a Growing Thing

For about three or four years our church as been negotiating to build a sign which is more visible from a main road leading into our town. After quite a few bumps in the road, it was erected and lights put in along with signage. After a few months I noticed something had been added to the sign. It was just two words "Try Prayer". I hope it stays there. It is not as catchy as some church messages I have seen but it really says it all.

Those of us who have lived a lifetime and have found peace and contentment have learned how to be in that state of mind. No one knows for sure how prayer works but I have given it a lot of thought. Studies which focus on people who have lived long lives give a hint to what happens when prayer becomes an attitude of living. If you ask old people their secret to longevity they give various answers. No one answer seems to be THE answer. But many have a contented attitude which has it's root in believing God's promises.

Solomon was the last King of all Israel. He pleased God by asking for wisdom, and he was rewarded with it, and with wealth and power as well. Proverbs 4: 5 says "Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not...." Also in 4: 7 "Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom : and with all thy getting get understanding."

For those who have been raised in the Christian faith this seems a natural thing. For others it may sound like a lot of foolishness. Others may think, it sounds like a "cure all" and an instant solution. But those who have this attitude of love and forgiveness, have reached this state of being over years of practice.

Immature faith asks God for things, mature faith asks God for wisdom and peace. This is what I think happens: Through prayer your mind is fed with positive thoughts, you gradually come to a state of being, accepting of differences without judgement. My doctor once told me "your body wants to be well". If that is true then your mind which controls all of your body, can better work in a state of tranquility. Casting out negativity in your thinking, allows your mind to heal in all areas.

In our day of wireless communications and the infusion of computer science, I have my own
view of how prayer works. Some how I think of God as an ever present, giant computer which can send and receive in a nanosecond. I do not mean to be sacrilegious, it is the way my mind can grasp such a complex issue. I do not understand how a computer works nor how God manages things but it may all boil down to faith acquired over a period of testing.

Perhaps the two words on the sign "Try Prayer" is an all encompassing answer to any of life's situations, bolstered with the faith gained by doing just what it says.

Three Pleasures

Life is full of small pleasures, things we might not think of as pleasures until they are no longer available. To be blessed with three together for a whole day is noteworthy, I think.

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of driving two friends to a bridge club meeting. The home we were visiting was not far away and when I pulled up into the driveway I saw beautiful yellow mums in a huge pot and in another pot beautiful pansies. When I commented on them one of the ladies said, "they are artificial". I certainly could not tell from a distance but when I got closer I could see the difference. How clever, I thought, in the dead of winter when I only have Daphne Adora in bloom, she has mums and pansies galore. I just had not thought to use artificial flowers outdoors.

Most of the ladies present I had known from previous times when I filled in for a missing player. So, it was pleasant to greet them and then enjoy their company and friendly chatter. Whereas they enjoy the game they also enjoy the companionship.

The pleasure I had not expected was to sit at a table where the view was constantly changing. The hostess had two bird feeders just outside a large window. Everyone was entertained by the antics of a variety of birds. At first my back was to the window so it was a while before I changed seats and was able to see what everyone else was seeing. For the first time I saw a red finch. That was one pretty bird. Also there was a Rufus sided tohee hopping about under a bush. I have one which likes to peck on my window in the spring and summer. I think he likes the shrubbery in front of my front window. I named him Tommy and looked for him each morning when I came downstairs.

I will have to admit that the games were fun as I had some good hands to play. I had some good partners to play with also. It does not take long to learn what to expect from some players. I suppose each of us is predictable in some ways. I had to work hard not to see my left hand partners hand as she held it out on the table. She also had a habit of holding back on playing Aces. Sometimes that is a good idea when you are in a no trump but it can be more advantageous to take the lead if you have sure winners or want to send the lead to your partner.

The biggest surprise to me was when the scores were tallied. I had excused myself to visit "Mary's room" before the trip back home. When I reentered the room, I was notified that I had high score, and was handed a fist full of dollars. I really did not want the money and gave it to a S.S. teacher to use for her class. Never in my wildest had I expected to have the high score. Since I was out of the room when the scores were tallied I will have to assume that it was not a mistake.

I am in my 20th year of retirement. I was the oldest lady in the group yesterday. For so many years I had obligations which kept me from doing some of the things I enjoy most. After retirement I had four years as a caregiver which was a mighty weight to carry. When that weight was lifted, it was like a bright spring day greeting me every morning. Being free to do as one pleases is a wonderful gift, especially when one can walk, talk, hear and still drive !!!!

If you ever think you have no pleasures, just try doing without the simplest of the ordinary tasks you have each day. You might just change your mind.

I Did It Anyway

During the 50's and 60's my husband and I moved to the great state of Maryland. We left the green hills of southeastern Kentucky to seek our fortune on the sandy shores of the Delmarva Peninsula. We met a lot of nice people there, some of those friendships are still in place today. Two of the people we met are living near me now. They are my son and my daughter, who were both born in Maryland. I thought they had heard most of the stories of my life but I was wrong, so I have more for today.

In 1969 my husband took a new job and we moved to the fine state of Georgia. Many changes took place in the first few years of living here. One was my decision to work for a masters degree in Atlanta in Early Childhood Education. This was around 1975. I had thought of taking this step while in Maryland but decided not to do it at that time. Mostly because it would be too demanding to attend classes, study, work , be a proper mother to my children, and wife to my husband.

In order to be admitted to Georgia State I was required to take an exam. I chose to take the Millers Analogy Test. It was a pass/fail test and in due time I was scheduled to appear in class on a set day in the summer quarter.

A few days before this first class I walked to the mailbox in front of my house to get the mail. As I was walking back I was looking through the letters and not paying too much attention to where I was stepping. I stepped on a gravel in such a way as to turn my ankle. It was painful but I dismissed it as a minor inconvenience. After a couple of days I decided I must have it looked into as it was too painful for walking. Diagnosis, hairline fracture at the ankle and it required a cast be worn for a month at least. I got this all taken care of quickly and was scheduled to appear at my first class the next day.

I had to be driven into Atlanta as I could not manage the bus ride and additional walking at this point. My class was on the second floor of the building and the only way I could manage was to sit on the bottom step, scoot myself up to the next step and so on. Once inside the classroom I found two chairs, one for me and the other for my foot with the wet cast. After class I was expected to meet my driver at the nearest exit . It was much easier to scoot down the two flights of stairs than it was to come up. This first class was called "The Open Classroom". The impaired walking did not stop me at all, and I walked away with an A.

We had a garden that summer and it was my first real garden. Of course I did not do any of the work required but I did get into the garden on a regular basis to check things out. During this period I was weaning myself off the crutches. One day I did need them as I was going to be out and about. However I could not locate them, my witty husband had a suggestion, "maybe you left them in the garden". After I had a good laugh I did locate them inside the house.

Obstacles can of course get into the way of completing a goal. The old adage "if it is worth doing it is worth doing right" comes to mind. Or, once you set your hand to the plow, don't look back. Maybe it is just being stubborn or not wanting to say "I couldn't do it", but I hate to give up once I set my mind to do something.

Once my doctor said to me "with you it is all or nothing, isn't it?". I was puzzled by this as I really did not understand what she meant. So, I did not respond. Since that time I have thought of it and I suppose it means just what she said. If I commit to something, I go all out for it. Perhaps it is wisdom to know what I can comfortably accomplish. Maybe the term "foolhardy" would apply !! Whatever it is, I am not easily deterred. Like it or not, like the leopard, I cannot change my spots.

Laughing With Milk and Cookies

For almost two weeks I have been out of melatonin, which helps me sleep more soundly. The store where I purchase this sublingual pill has it on order but in the meantime I have had to resort to other aids. Of course I try to get back to sleep but if it fails to happen I get up, go downstairs and have milk and cookies, or some other starch.



Last night around 2:00 I had to resort to this simple snack. I took my food into where the television is and clicked it on. The station on which it was preset happened to be Public television. A program was in progress and it seemed amusing so I kept it on and soon found myself laughing and enjoying it all. I had not heard of this group of Political Satirists. They not only had great singing voices but some very clever lyrics. After an hour of great entertainment I wanted to know who they were.



I went to my primary source of information and googled Capital Steps as I had seen that on the screen at some point. Apparently this group has been around for decades. If you want to know more you can google them as I did. However, they basically began as staffers on Capitol Hill just putting on a skit for a party many years ago. This original skit for a party was such a hit that it grew into the performing group it is today.



The thing that was the funniest to me was a one man running commentary. You had to listen intently to catch his words. Throughout the entire piece he switched initial sounds in words and it was one long laugh fest. Perhaps it seemed particularly funny to me as that is what I have done since childhood but not intentionally. In my last post I mentioned the "cot hoffee" that slipped out in front of my friends.



Now I am on a search to find out what term is used to describe this twist of letters which is so funny to me and apparently others as well. I would welcome any input my readers may have on this subject.

Tongue Twisters

At some point most children learn to say or at least hear the Nursery Rhyme "Jack Sprat". In case you have forgotten, it goes like this:
Jack Sprat could eat no fat,
His wife could eat no lean.
So, between the two of them,
They licked the platter clean.
Silly words seem to entertain children. There must be something in our psyche which needs to be released in humor. Whether it originates initially because something in our mind needs to reduce stress or the neurons in our brain get a "hiccup", I do not know. Perhaps it is just that being with children makes us want to be childish.

When I was very young my older sister's husband would regale us with silly rhymes and foolish sayings. He did this when we were passengers in his car. Once while driving past some people who were walking down a country road, he leaned his head out the window and sang, " I feel like HELLLLLLLping some poor soul". It had the intended effect as we would double up in laughter.

An incident occurred when I was around five years old which must have been a "hiccup" in my neurons as it certainly was not intended. I was at our barn with my father and he sent me into the house with a message for my mother. He needed a little bill book in which he kept records. No doubt I had been told to rush into the house with the message. I was told years later that this is what I said " Mother, mother, daddy needs the bull bick, the bull bick" It took some deciphering to figure out what my father needed.

Another example of my "hiccups" was in reference to Ronald Reagen's favorite snack which he kept on his desk in the oval office. I called them "belly jeans". Well, yesterday it happened again. This is how it came down. I was standing in the church fellowship hall having hot coffee and a cookie. I was talking to my good friend Lou. I do not see her often and we had to soon leave to be in the sanctuary on time. We were blocking the way of her husband as he wanted to pass and had hot coffee in his hands. I stepped back thinking he was clear and he kept coming, I kept stepping back. He said "Are you afraid I'm going to hit you". I said "No, I didn't want to spill the "cot hoffee" on you.

I really wish I knew what causes me to twist my words like that. Thankfully it does not happen often, actually years apart. There have been other examples, I just cannot think of them right now. There may be a name for this strange language glitch. If anyone out there knows how to explain this I would really like to know. It can be embarrassing to have the gears slip in my head and come up with silly words. Since I have been doing this for almost 80 years, and it does not happen on a daily, weekly, monthly or even yearly basis, it must not be harmful to my health !!

Free At Last

Extracting yourself from a sticky situation can apply to many situations in life. Who among us has not felt great relief when freed of some obligation or commitment which was distasteful or confining. We need some of these experiences in order to appreciate the happy times. I know I am greatly relieved when I exit the dentist chair after sitting with my mouth propped open for an hour. I have an agreement with my dentist "never longer than one hour", no matter what!

I must admit that I was walking on air when I was once again living alone after a less that stellar marriage. I shared a whole bottle of wine with my good friend to mark the occasion. My friends noticed a change in my demeanor and commented on it. So, I am never lonely as I have something in my past with which to measure my being alone.

Which brings me to a gardening incident. I first noticed it several years ago. I saw the large green, shiny unmistakable leaves of a magnolia tree peeping up from between two huge logs. The logs had once been a mighty oak with twin trunks. This oak made the mistake of dropping too many acorns in my flower garden. After years of digging up the sprouted acorns I was less interested in shade than I might have been. Also one other unforgivable mistake this tree made was to allow it's roots to invade my space by finding their way into the drain line to my house.

With much regret I gave the order for this proud tree to be cut down. It fell toward the woods and the two trunks fell side by side. In the picture you can see the stump which is still firmly attached to mother earth.

How a seed from a magnolia tree found it's way into this small crevice between the trunks will remain a mystery. I had thought for some time it should be given more space in which to grow. But getting two huge trunks cut away was a daunting task, or so I thought.

It took only about ten minutes or less for Jim to make short work of this job. The new blade on the chain saw seemed to relish buzzing through these trunks, in four different places. The two workers rolled the logs away and exposed the lower trunks of the magnolia, now free to expand and hopefully yield many beautiful , fragrant blossoms in years to come.

What brought me to this train of thinking today occurred after I read a story about a young girl who fell while dancing around her bedroom. She told about the blood gushing from her head and how frightened her parents were. This story took me back to the summer of 1970.

My husband and I took our children to a family reunion at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. My daughter brought her friend Patty along and they shared a space on the floor of the screened porch there. It was a pleasant spot with the tall palmettos in full view. All was well until one night when I heard screaming coming from the porch. Rushing to see what on earth could have happened, I saw our guest holding her hand to her ear. Underneath her hand blood was coming from her ear. She had awakened in pain and none of us had any idea of what had happened.

We lost no time in getting Patty into the car and in great haste we made our way to the hospital across town. My husband slowed down for the red lights and then seeing no traffic (this was like 2:00 in the morning ), he sped on through. At the hospital she was taken in right away and minutes later the problem was solved. The doctor took an ear wig from inside her ear where it had been scratching and trying to get out of HIS bad situation ! She was still in pain from having the ear canal scratched but some medication made it bearable.

There was some speculation of how this insect found it's way into her ear. Perhaps it came in from the palmettos so close to the porch. These beetles are survivors. Their fossils have been found dating back 208 million years ago. However it happened, Patty was relieved to be free of it and I doubt the earwig had any time to enjoy it's freedom ! We were all relieved to be back home and have our charge save and sound after a harrowing experience. If there is any wisdom to be gleaned from this story, perhaps it is that nothing lasts forever. Memories come pretty close however.

Dumbstruck

Sunday I was sure the secondary roads would be icy at 9:15 in the morning. So, fearing black ice, I missed my appointment with my friends at church for our Bible study.

Monday, however, turned into a cold, but sunny day. At around 2:00 I bundled up and headed for the vineyard to prune a few vines in the first row. When I drove my golf cart down the rows, I could not believe my eyes. Every vine had been neatly pruned in both rows and I just sat there. I was remembering the Cobbler in the fairy tale who left his work on the bench to be finished in the morning. The elves came in the night and made the shoes. Like the cobbler, I had no work to do, for someone had done it for me. Of course I knew there were no fairies to prune vines so I began to think my son-in law had instructed his workers to do this on Thursday when he was up here. Common sense told me that could not have happened as they were busy all day where I could see them.

One other possibility came to mind, it must have been Rick. But how could he have done it when we had all of this rainy, cold unpleasant weather. I could think of no other person, that must have been the answer. Not wasting any more time on wondering I began to pick up the vines on the ground where they fell. Such long, fine vines would make excellent wreaths or baskets. My mind kept going back to how anyone could have worked so fast in such cold air.

I will explain Rick and how he may have done this. I met Rick one day last summer when he showed up at my front door. He had two bottles of wine in his hands and wanted to give them to me. He had heard that I grew grapes and he was looking for some to use for wine making. I told him he was welcome to pick the grapes in the fall. I do not like to see them fall to the ground to no purpose.

About two weeks after this meeting I was driving to town past my vineyard. I saw men working in the second row of grapes, putting in posts and shoring up the posts needing better support. I stopped and over came Rick with his friend, T.J. He saw that this work needed to be done and he just came over and did it. He worked six hours in the boiling sun. I was impressed with his initiative. He asked what was growing down below the grapes. I took him to see the kiwi. He had not seen them growing before and was like a little kid learning about them. I said maybe next year when I expected a good crop he might want to try and make wine with them, if it could be done. His response made me laugh. He said "You could make wine with manure, but you might not want to drink it". Amen to that !

Rick did come in the fall and pick grapes, buckets and buckets of them. I lost count of how many gallons of wine he made. He just loves to make wine and give it away. The wine he brought me that day is still in the bottles, never opened. Wine is fine but not for me. I am more inclined to things like grapefruit juice and water, or a cup of hot tea. I like to keep my mind clear and to have my wits about me. Then, when I see something that my eyes can hardly believe, I know it must be so, even when it seems impossible.