Planting Trees and Psalm 148

On Friday night we were able to plant 18 trees in Grandpa Ferguson's pasture under indecisive clouds. I took these pictures shortly before watering the black hills spruce trees and wrapping the aspens so the deer won't eat them. It will be interesting to see if they survive, and if we can water them enough during a possibly dry summer.

I was inspired by both the clouds, which look like waves of water, and the prairie grass and my brother BJ's corn (which apparently is dying because it needs water), which both echo and contrasted the sky. Then Saturday afternoon, while the boys were napping, I found these words from Psalm 148 which reflect the the visual inspiration with scripture.

If you click on the picture, it should enlarge so you can read the words better.

Here is the blog post with pictures of my brothers building the ponds in December 2010. 
http://www.ochsnerfamily.blogspot.com/2010/12/building-pond.html

Contentment

Learn to like what doesn’t cost much.

Learn to like reading, conversation, music.

Learn to like plain food, plain service, plain cooking.

Learn to like fields, trees, woods, brooks,fishing, hiking and exploring.

Learn to like life for its own sake.

Learn to like work and enjoy the satisfaction of doing your job as well as it can be done.

Learn to like the song of birds, the companionship of dogs, and laughter and gaiety of children.

Learn to like gardening, carpentering,  puttering around the house and lawn, and being creative.

Learn to like the sunrise and sunset, the sound of the rain on the roof and wind and the gentle fall of snow on a winter day.

Learn to keep your wants simple. 

Refuse to be owned and anchored by things and opinions of others.

Lean above all, to make God the most important part of your life.


About a year ago I found this poem at my Aunt Julie's house, hanging by her kitchen sink.  I copied it and took it home, and hung it near my kitchen sink for a few months, then on my bathroom mirror, and then I brought it to my desk to do something more with it, to give it a little more life, and maybe make it easier to remember. 

{Click on to enlarge}


I could not find the original author, only that it was on the back of an obituary many years ago, though Aunt Julie's mom, who owns Camp Creation near Leighton, IA, changed some phrases in it.

I posted this poem on my blog about a year ago, and got responses from friends who really appreciated it.  So I thought some might enjoy reading it again.

I've been collecting things I find on contentment over the past year, but was impacted by one line in worship last week Sunday.  During the responsive reading of The Law, the congregation spoke, "We will be content through any circumstance, because of the strength of Christ with in us."

As a response to the tenth commandment, "Thou Shall Not Covet," we committed to being content.  And then I thought of this poem again, and pulled it out of the folder I had filed it in.

Healing Begins

A Prayer based on Psalm 90:

Teach us, Lord, to count our days
that we may gain a wise heart.
Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
Through Christ, our Lord. Amen.

There was a beautiful mid-winter sunrise earlier this winter over the Iowa landscape. One of the benefits of living in wide open spaces of the country is getting to enjoy the big sky in some of it's greatest moments of glory. Winter sunrises offer some of the most spectacular shows. Sometimes it is in unlikely places that we find beauty, like the middle of Iowa winters, in a cemetery.

Since I was up way to early, I drove to capture some photos of the sunrise before my "sons" woke up.

Several older cemeteries are scattered along roadsides, surrounded by farm land. If you grew up in the country, chances are there is one with in a few miles of your house with large conifer trees shading it.

There was a cemetery across from the church I grew up in that we sometimes would play in before or after soup supers and cadet car races when our parents were visiting and us elementary school girls wanted something to do, like throw rocks at the ducks in the pond and pretend we were making wishes in the wishing well. We had a Sunday School teacher that took us to the cemetery for a walk. We didn't think anything of it. It was just sort of part of the church landscape, an extension of the community. Some of us in the class had grandparents buried there.

Hearing stories from older generations reminds us that the cemetery and the community of people lived a little closer to each other. The church and the cemetery shared the same field, in-home funerals were common, and, more people died.

Today marks the beginning of the forty day journey of Lent: a time of renewal for those who follow Christ, beginning with the imposition of ashes and the scripture, "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return (from Genesis 3).

So why start a season of renewal with reminding ourselves of death? It isn't an easy way to invite a friend to church, "Hey, we are reflecting on death this week, why don't you visit?" Hmm...not likely to get a yes.

Sometimes it is some of the most unlikely place we find beauty, like the middle of Iowa winters, in a cemetery.

I was reminded of this when I heard, "Healing Begins" by Tenth Avenue North was inspired after praying in a cemetery.

This is where the healing begins, this is where the healing starts.
When you come to where you're broken within, the light meets the dark.

There is nothing like reflecting on death to help you get your priorities straight.

Search out the brokenness of Good Friday, so that he may heal you with the spirit of Easter.

May God the Father, who does not despise the broken spirit, give you a contrite heart.
May Christ, who bore our sins in his body on the tree, heal you by his wounds.
May the Holy Spirit, who leads us into all truth, speak to you words of pardon and peace. Amen.

The sunrise reflection in the windows of church.

May Be in Them

The following video was played during our worship service at Sully CRC yesterday, finalizing a study on scripture passages about "Life Together."

The scripture text is John 17, Christ's prayer for the church shortly before being arrested and making the journey to the cross.

The funny logo on the screen (which wasn't in the worship service!) is due to going from power point, to a video format, to a media down loader, and finally to blogger.

It is powerful to see the gospel of Christ at work in our lives every day.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Thursday Morning Photos

Zachary is three weeks old today, growing rapidly, and is more alert each day. Three weeks after Elliot, I was running a 5K, and so its been hard to come to grips that a Cesarean recovery is so much slower.

Early this morning I grabbed my camera and went on a short photo field trip in order to get outside, and have some solitude, which is hard to get these days!

Preach Christ or Plant Corn

Ezra sitting in the back window, watching Brian cultivate the soil before planting.

There is an old joke about the man who saw “PC” in a cloud formation and thought surely he was called to “Preach Christ.” After listening to many of his sermons, some church folks suggested that perhaps he was called to “Plant Corn.”

Thankfully, after Brian's first services on Sunday, he was affirmed that his call was to "Preach Christ," but he was also grateful to be able to plant corn this past weekend too.

A farmer in our congregation reminded Brian of this old story after hearing that he experienced both this weekend.

A full tractor cab.