Faith, Folklore, and Friends

I think that I shall never see A poem lovely as a tree. A tree whose hungry mouth is prest Against the earth's sweet flowing breast; A tree that looks at God all day, And lifts her leafy arms to pray; A tree that may in summer wear A nest of robins in her hair; Upon whose bosom snow has lain; Who intimately lives with rain. Poems are made by fools like me, But only God can make a tree. ........Joyce Kilmer He is like a tree planted by streams of water which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. Psalm 1:3

Heroes: Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin may be the most recognized name in United States history. He smiles to us on $100 bills; many towns and cities are his namesake. He was apprenticed as a printer when he was 12; in a few years, he published the Pennsylvania Gazette , then Richard's Almanack . Franklin was a lover of words, knew words could form nations. Franklin was a statesman, inventor, scientist. He was the dream designer for our country's infrastructure, giving us paved streets and fire departments. This son of a candle maker was curious, knew how to think outside his comfort zone. In the early 1700s, books were rare, and only the wealthiest families were able to afford them. Some managed to own a Bible, some lived their entire lifetime without seeing a book. In July, 1731, Franklin and some friends drew up an agreement to form a library. Fifty people invested forty shillings (two pounds) each, and pledged ten shillings per year to buy more books. Franklin and fift...

It's the end of an era. Meeting at the Tennessee State Fairgrounds, the Nashville Flea Market has been a monthly event for years and years.. It is consistantly voted the top flea market in Tennessee, and is among the top ten flea markets in the country. Vendors come from thirty states, they come with their trash and they come with their treasures. Thousands of shoppers descend from everywhere, some by the busloads. We look for rare coins, vintage clothing, the last dish needed to complete a collection. We haggle, consider, enjoy the process while munching kettle corn. The fairgrounds, opened in 1891 as Cumberland Park, are closing in June 2010. The flea market will be relocated. It may be even better than now. It will not be the same. ..... changes and war are against me ...Job 10:17

W e waited as the darkness of winter relented. We waited longing for leaves, for warm nights sleeping with the window open, insect songs and the smell of honeysuckle. We cleaned debris from the deck, envisioning friends in lounge chairs, sipping iced tea. We cleaned perennial beds, searching for green. We stacked the leftover firewood, winter's detritus in a dustpan swept up like the icy wind. Summer was born, a painful birth with pangs of thunder. When summer was new, we went for walks, caught fireflies, cranked up the grill. As she grew, with heat and humidity, we ran to hide in air-conditioned rooms, and we forgot. Then, while we weren't looking, summer leaked through our lives like water through our hands. Now its dead, ended, not a trace remaining. The block party, the week-end trips, Saturday afternoon cook-outs. Horseshoe games in the backyard, building a water fountain, transplanting vines. All the things we meant to do that are not going to happen this year. God grant...

The Gratitude Community is a reminder to be forever thankful. The site will link you to others who are sharing their lists. This week, I am especially thankful for: 26. Good coffee beans 27. Candles 28. Sleeping on sheets that smell like October 29. Fall weekends 30. Hearing 31. Crock pots 32. The smell of supper greeting me at the door after work 33. Order 34. Blank paper 35. Surprises in the mailbox 36. Leather shoes 37. Young voices calling to say goodnight 38. Sherlock 39. Yellow leaves on the deck 40. Things that stay the same 41. Things that change 42. Airplanes 43. Huckleberry bushes 44. Sweet students 45. Charlotte 46. Storm doors that let the light in 47. Hymns 48. Wildflowers 49. Buzzards 50. A bountiful crop of peppers Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!" Isaiah 6:8

Violet Beatrice Gean Stricklin October 26, 1917-November 11, 2007 It's my mama's birthday. The sun revolved and seasons changed ninety times while she was here. Uneducated, but wise. Beautiful, work-roughened hands never still. Her life was taking care of her family, and that she did well, even when the road was hard. She did massive amounts of laundry on a wringer washer; her clothes lines full every sunny day expect Sunday. She could coax nutritious vegetables out of tired clay soil, rising with the sun to do battle with weeds. Her quilts still warm our beds and our hearts. Known for her incomparable biscuits, she made enough in her lifetime to completely fill a Cracker Barrel. More familiar with pain than joy, she endured. She lived to see adult children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren. We are educated, talented, well-traveled, scattered. She lives in all of us. In heaven, we are promised a mansion, blissful rest. I'll bet my mama's has a clothesline, white robes...

Celebrate today with Brugmansia arborea . This Angel Trumpet grows in the back yard, a beautiful toxic plant that struts her stuff in autumn. And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. Matthew 6: 28-29

Just because you have seen something doesn't mean you understand it. Maria blows the stars around, and sends the clouds a'flying. Maria makes the mountains sound like folks were up there dying . From the Paint Your Wagon soundtrack; They call the Wind Maria . The wind is blowing tonight, blustery at times as a cold front pushes in. It rushes past my bedroom window, and I wonder where its going, where its been. Did this gust that scatters yellow over the deck begin small, a whisper that soothed another? It may have been born much colder, growing gentle as it mingled with warm counterparts that had spent the day racing over the Gulf, giving rides to sea gulls, sprinkling sand on tanned bodies. The soft wind that gently supports the wings of a butterfly in Africa can travel across the Atlantic, feeding as it goes, then push ocean waters over entire cities, entire communities, entire lives, before it loses its energy. The same wind that is harnessed for electricity can be the refre...

It was a big gamble. In 1902, debt-ridden Alexander Kerr borrowed money to buy a patent on a glass vacuum jar that could be sealed at home. A San Francisco glass works company believed his dream, and four years later, the business was thriving. When the 1906 earthquake devastated most of San Francisco, Kerr was informed that his factory, in the heart of the conflagration,had undoubtedly been destroyed. When the fires died, the Kerr factory was found intact within the smoldering ashes, not one glass jar broken. The two-piece canning lid, invented in the Kerr kitchen in 1915, increased their business explosively. It is still being used today. When Alexander died in 1925, Ruth took over, managing the successful company in comfortable shoes and the Bible on her desk. The Kerr's business motto: Every time Kerr makes a dollar, God gets a dime . It works. "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the Lord Almight...

We've been told since childhood that little things matter. We didn't believe it. We know the biggest wins. Biggest house, biggest car, biggest checkbook. Biggest resume, biggest menu, biggest circle of acquaintances. We break our backs and hearts working for the biggest. We forget the little things. In the fourteenth century, Yersinia pestis , a desert-dwelling bacterium, very little things, found a new home in the guts of a flea. The flea, in turn, moved on up to bigger home on a rat, happily regurgitating infected blood to its host. The rat, never one to stay in the same place, found a bigger home on a ship heading for Europe. Without great effort, they killed twenty-five percent of the population of Europe by spreading the Bubonic Plague. Topsoil is full of little things. In a fertile shovelful of dirt, we can see earthworms, tiny bugs, other unidentifiable creatures. What we can't see, without a powerful microscope, is about six billion organisms, more than the number o...

Its in the news. Astronomers excited about seeing for the first time many earth-like planets in the solar system. Twenty-first century technology allowing a peep into the heavens; images that Galileo and Copernicus couldn't fathom. An Austrian astronomer recently estimated the number of stars to be approximately 70 sextillion. 70,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. More than the grains of sand on Planet Earth. They have been there since the fourth day. They have been in their place, waiting, serving their purpose. Twinkle, twinkle little star. Up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky. The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Psalm 19:1

Ann Voskamp began the Gratitude Community to list at least 1000 gifts from our Heavenly Father...a list to praise the Giver of Gifts and remind us not to overlook the good things in our lives. My list starts today. 01. My Father, and his mercy 02. Jesus, and his redemption 03. Holy Spirit, and his comfort 04. My good husband 05. My first born son 06. My baby boy 07. Two daughters-in-law 08. Two grandaughters, the joy of my life 09. My earthy family 10. My spiritual family 11. Clean water 12. Sunshine 13. Topsoil 14. Books. Books. 15. Freedom 16. Education 17. Bats 18. Birds 19. Banjos 20. Bach 21. Salt 22. Shelter 23. Taco Soup 24. Toothpaste 25. Teaching

Celebrate this day by seeing what's around you. Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever . Psalm 107:1

Albert Einstein,1879-1955 , is the most famous scientist on this planet. The father of modern physics, he is best known for his theory of relativity. Einstein is known for other works including modern quantum theory, equations of motions, wormholes...the list is long. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921, and other prestigious awards adorn his career. On January 3, 2000, Time Magazine named him "Person of the Century". Amazing, what one man can think of! His inspiration? Einstein said, " I want to know God's thoughts; the rest are details." "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts ." Isaiah 55:8-9

The morning sun lightens the eastern sky; it peeps above the horizon. Its a new day. Showers running, breakfast clatter, phones ringing, traffic outside increasing. Lost shoes, television blaring, did you sign the permission form? Noise pollution inside, outside. Our bombarded brains scream. Priorities set by popular culture, we are controlled by clocks, datebooks, deadlines. Seeking to satisfy standards we don't set or understand, we can't spare time for what's really important in our own lives, terrified we will lose our spot on the merry-go- round. The best things in life are neglected while we scurry to make more money to buy more stuff to impress more people that we don't even know. Stop. Be still. Our life here is short, too short to be spent foolishly. We pray for direction, but can't hear when He answers through our shroud of commotion. Calm. Down. Listen. Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth...

It's a big, scary world out there. Twenty-four hours a day, multimedia saturates with information. Some useless, some just plain silly, the majority unwelcome. News of terrorism, wars, natural disasters, impending epidemics, fuel prices, abuse, unemployment--it never ends. Christians are promised that we will never left alone or unattended. Legions of angels hover about, guiding, clearing the road ahead. Not scared of the darkness or what lies waiting, they are in complete control, obeying orders sent from the throne. Mighty warriors of God gently hold us in their hands, moving us out of harm's way. Clothed with power too wonderful for earthy eyes, they comform to recognizable images: the kind man with salt-and-pepper hair wearing a black turtleneck, the grizzled old man in a battered Ford who gets you to the airport on time, the homeless unkept there at just the right time. We are told of accidents where trees were missed by mere inches, where a young father was ...

Harvest time is here. The tiny seeds we planted in April have grown abundantly.They have produced blossoms to lure insects, striving only to reproduce themselves, but inadvertently providing food for our families in the process. The plants have consumed copious amounts of water and minerals from the soil, and have grown tall. Leaves colored and brittle now, plants lean against the October winds that have pushed out the humidity and opened windows. Butterflies and honey bees abound, rushing for that last bit of nectar before its gone. Squirrels scamper across the back yard, jaws puffed with nuts, adding all they can to their stash. Hummingbirds stop by for a bite before they head across the Gulf of Mexico to winter. Every living thing was created by God with instincts to prepare for lean times, to gather the harvest, to reap Earth's bounty before it is gone. Multicolored quilts wave from clotheslines, getting fresh for snuggling. Firewood is stacked, dry and waiting. Beautiful, flee...

Every day is a gift, time to try again, another chance to do it right. We wake up and decide. Twenty-four empty hours that we fill up, knowing after they are spent, they will never come again. Before we let the dog out or the aroma of coffee fills the kitchen, we can choose to make this good day. There may be speed bumps to avoid, some so enormous that we scramble to find an alternate road. Mistakes made yesterday, or the day before, or the year before, will rise up, seeking to influence our thinking, but they are powerless, gone, forgiven, a part of the past, not a part of this new day. All of us have regrets of time and opportunities wasted, sometimes simply because it was easier not to try; fear of failure can be so frightening. Determine to make this day special! Fill it with things that will bring good memories, smiles when we remember it. If we make a small difference in some one's life today, we will make a large difference in our own. This is the day which the LORD hath mad...