Kitchen Riches From My Gardens

...kitchen windowsill...and the cherry tomatoes are not even in yet. When they are, I will be overrun. Hundreds, it seems, hang ripening.

...one of my gardens - this one has green peppers, tall beautiful basil, and (believe it or not) daylilies and gladioli, all jumbled together. And it looks amazing. I am totally into pottagers, with their mixture of vegetable, herb, flower and fencing, with pathways. I'm working my way into that. I really like this photo, with its tiny perspective.

This garden has tomatoes, pole beans, squash, cucumbers, cantaloupe and sunflowers!

Another part of the same garden spot. Please ignore the orange hammock, still hanging. It was a souvenir my daughter Sarah brought back from Cambodia a few years ago. It lost its place when our tree was taken out by the storms awhile back. It still hangs from its other anchor, with nothing to hook up to. I've been meaning to cut it down - it would take all of five minutes. Honestly, I pay no attention to it, and only notice it now, "screaming" at me in this picture.

Some of you just won't understand, but I've felt poignant today. Always, long about mid-August, I begin to notice a difference in the light. I know that sounds crazy - it is still "high summer". But I see it...the light is ever-so-subtle in its shifting and changing. It heralds a coming fall season.

And again, I am sad. I think of a line from an old Gladys Taber book, "Stay a little, summer, do not go..."

This anomaly started about two years ago. I just began, inexplicably, to love summer. I guess summer is the true "Season of Harvest"...it is when the harvest becomes real and exciting. You have to understand, I've always been an autumn girl, and always loathed summer. No more. Tho' the heat has been awful, we here have gotten enough rain.

I am sure if I lived in some of the drought stricken areas of Texas, Oklahoma, and other places, I would not feel the same way.

But I live in east Tennessee, and so...

"No one can believe God is not good when the August gardens are in their heyday." ~Gladys Taber, from the wonderful book "The Book of Stillmeadow"

An Idea for Your Spent Sunflowers

I always buy or cut (when I have my own plentiful supply) several bouquets of sunflowers for my girls' birthday, to decorate the house. Their birthday was a week ago today, and so the bouquets are spent...

So I tied some twine around them, and hung them on a tree in our back garden...

...to attract the goldfinches.

And it works!

...and looks so beautiful.

Try it. I think you'll love the look of it, and will love seeing the goldfinches in your garden.

Weak Is The New Strong

ingredients for bruschetta - one of summer's gifts of wealth...each ingredient, simple but powerfully healthy for you. I include it because anyone can grow the ingredients for little-t0-no cost, and yet the health benefits are pure riches...and I love it so much, I am making it fit in with the idea of this post...and because it is my blog. And because I am quite proud of my photography, here.

The Bible never said, "Let the strong say 'I am strong'. " That sounds like a simplistic, even silly statement. But it is a profound thought. The Word of God says, "Let the weak say 'I am strong'."

Oh yeah...and "Let the poor say, 'I am rich.' "



How boring is it, when the rich say, "I am rich"? So passe. So unoriginal. So unsurprising. So obnoxious, even, when the rich find ways to let you know it. All the rich are supposed to do - Biblically speaking - is to share their riches. And maintain a humble heart.



But when the poor declare "I AM RICH".....well "wooo-weee, shut my mouth and slap your grandmaw"...because the whole, wide, watching world gets to decide whether the poor man does indeed enjoy riches money can't buy, or whether he is crazy. (Sorry, lines from country music songs, completely unrelated to what I'm talking about, keep popping up in my head. Have compassion on me...after all, YOU could be in my head, instead of me.)


We underestimate ourselves and others when we base that estimate on unbiblical notions of what is weak and what is strong. Some of you have lost dear friends because of an inaccurate assessment regarding what God sees as weak and what He sees as strong. He will surprise you, if you ask His opinion on strength and weakness, and if you ask Him with a tender heart.

I will rather boast in my weaknesses, so that the strength of Christ can be well-seen in me.

(More) Ordinary, Yet Extraordinary Time

My liturgical friends are now observing a season they call "Ordinary Time". It is a sort of "time between times". In the liturgical year (the Protestant-version observance of which I do see some merit, if you insist on the Gifts of the Spirit to also be in full operation) there are two seasons called "Ordinary Time". The first is the short season, loosely speaking, between Christmas and Easter.


The second span of Ordinary Time lies in the months between Pentecost and Advent. That is the time we are now in, this first week of August.


There couldn't be a more fitting name for the weeks between June and November. August is so ordinary and so "middle" - hot and humid here in the south, and there is no football yet. (Football is my liturgy. Proud Southern Protestant am I. Every big game, a feast.) The days can seem to melt one into the other, in an endless molten mush of 90+ degree days.


But tucked into August is fresh corn on the cob, Kentucky Wonder pole beans, lots of tomatoes, sunflowers, sunsets, cicadas, country music, flip flops, and cut-off blue jeans. August does have its own liturgy (liturgy simply means "the work, or response, of the people") it has its own continuity, and we do well when we respond with appreciation and enthusiasm, specific to August's finery.



I have a very special reason to respond in praise and thanksgiving - an anniversary of the spirit. It deserves to be canonized in the Atchley annals of history, and given its own feast.


Two years ago, this first week in August, my Preacher and I were dealing with some stuff. Nasty stuff. So, two years ago, because of this nasty stuff, I began to experience the then all too familiar symptoms of a migraine. I would get them almost every month or so. I mentioned this to The Preacher, without even expecting a response. By then, these headaches were like a storm brewing...it was obvious to me what was coming. I would sort of see the clouds gathering and make the observation.

He laid his hand on the back of my head, while I was standing in our bathroom, and prayed a simple prayer. I cannot begin to tell you how ordinary this prayer was, in that season of "ordinary time", two years ago. I can tell you that I expected nothing. Whatever conclusion that might make you draw about me, it is no-nevermind to me. But you need to know that I didn't expect a thing to happen. I sure didn't expect what happened next.

A definite warmth came upon the back of my head. I even thought it might be the "leftover warmth" of his hand - I was that hell-bent on expecting nothing. But I did make a note that it was a curious thing. Curious-er and curious-er, because that warmth lingered...and lingered a few minutes more.

That migraine never came. And it has never materialized in all these two years since. Not even once.

What does God want to do for you, in this "time between times", this season of Ordinary Time? You serve an extraordinary God.

New Discovery - Evernote

Picture me, if you will, running into Applebee's, finding all of you sitting at "our" table. Then, I ask for a bite of this or that from various plates, because I am on a tight schedule and can't stay to order a whole meal.

(Hmmm...that, in fact, is exactly what my husband is doing, even as I type. He's sitting at Applebee's with a buncha boys from California, Florida, and Tennessee...but he's not staying too-too long. We have to be right back at a conference we're all attending at 8 in the morning...)

But, I have something really cool to show you. So I whip out my smart phone and show you Evernote.

This is a place where you can store anything and everything you want to remember. You can create notebooks under various headings, and you can save images from the internet, you can save links, text, files, voice recordings, and you can even snap a picture of, say, a receipt, and store it in your Evernote account.

You "tag" everything you save, so you can find it fast, later on.

I'm so geek-fierce, I wish I could stare at my geek self.

Oh, oh, and you can save anything on any platform (smart phone, desktop, laptop) and it automatically syncs, so that you can retrieve your information from any other platform, at anytime, anywhere.

This kind of stuff, and tequila makes me crazy. I love it. (Just kidding about the tequila. I have never had a drop of it in my life, I don't believe. I do enjoy the occasional glass of wine, just for full disclosure purposes. I hear tequila makes your clothes fall off, and that is a deterrent for me.)

Last, but not least, I want to pitch something about "good works" at you. I am in a mentoring/discipling relationship with a couple of younger women (and have been, for going on a year now). My daughters are my "natural" disciples, and a couple others have sought me out, following up, acting on what I tell them, not wasting my time, and not asking that I chase them down. I'll be adding, over time, women of various ages, and I want you to know this: I don't believe in meetin' for "sin management." Nor do I believe in meeting for emotionally therapeutic purposes. I don't do emotional drama. But I do believe that the gospel itself is therapeutic, and will, over time, address every emotional issue we have...and we all have them.

I believe in calling forth your destiny as one of the great host of daughters who will proclaim the gospel. See, my theology affects not just my destiny, but it also affects my day, and thus it affects how I feel about you.

The Word became flesh (John 1) because the Word has always, from Genesis up to this very moment, become flesh. It's sorta what the Word does. It can't NOT become flesh. The law was given, but grace came....clothed in flesh. When the gospel is sown into a young woman's heart, it will take on the mantle of good works, done in context with others in a local church.

This has nothing to do with "accountability" sin management groups. That stuff is Chucky Cheese middle school kids-play, compared to the sort of relationships that encourage each other's destiny. How? Not by doing something novel to relieve boredom, but by sticking and staying with people God has placed on your left and right in the local church - inspiring the girl beside you to cease identifying with her sin,stop comparing and competing (women are worse than men for that...) and start identifying with the Finished Work of Christ, and live lives that adorn the Gospel.

Just that. Those two things. True Discipleship...and Evernote. Believe me, one can assist the other, and back again. Evernote could be a potentially wonderful tool for my efforts. I just need the time to surf the learning curve.

Okay, see ya! The Brunette Preacher's wife is blowing this joint...going home (figuratively speaking - remember, in my imagination, we are at Applebee's) and going to bed. Kisses and hugs all around - I love getting to spend time with my home-girls, both IRL (in real life) and via blogs.

Come on by Trinity Chapel this week! I will be there, every day, and would love to meet you, play hooky from a session or two, slip out and have a caramel machiatto together.

Don't forget to check out Evernote, and don't forget that a negative doesn't suddenly become a positive. Sin consciousness and sin management might be temporary tools to help someone struggling to form a new identity - but it is the new identity that will set them free.

The Gospel that radically declares you righteous, grows the good works that adorn the gospel that radically declares you righteous . Synergism, holistic living, abundant living, and easy yokes were God's idea first.

If you have a complaint about what Imasayin' to ya, take it up with Management.

Preach the good news of God's grace first. Use words, if necessary. Use Evernote to keep track of cool things.

What Is It, Really, To Be Redeemed?

(this image from the blog Na-Da Farm)

What part of you is redeemed by the blood of Jesus? Only the parts you are able to polish up?

When you mix legalism with Gospel, you end up preserving the Gospel as a priceless artifact, instead of living it as the scandalous reality Christ meant it to be. You relegate it to a supernatural idea, or a stern standard. The law cannot vivify anything, and make it leap to loving life.

But grace! Ah, grace is alive with earthy life. We encounter grace in exactly the way we body-bound mortals encounter all of life, that is, by "doing the dishes." We encounter grace in our flesh, through our work and through our relationships.

Ordinary living, when you finally "get" grace, becomes the powerful vehicle that drives the message of the Gospel deep into your consciousness - and not because there is some transcendent secret to be found in cooking, cleaning, crying, forgiving, friending, laughing, shopping, drinking coffee, doing dishes or making love. Rather (in light of the fact that you are the very righteousness of God, in Christ) all those activities simply serve to mediate the mystery to you - namely, the mystery of "Christ in you, the hope of glory".

Christ in you, Christ "as" you, Christ as your wisdom, sanctification, and redemption. Your choices become the fruit of the Holy Spirit, as your mind renews itself to the exact proportion you apply the Gospel to your day, not just your destiny.

No easy road, this. Those who talk of "cheap grace" have never understood grace at all.

Why I Say "Amen"

I am a one-woman amen corner. And it doesn't matter who is speaking, whether it be my husband or someone else, when I hear True Truth, I say (a sometimes enthusiastic) "Amen!"

I feel sorry for anyone too self-aware to speak that simple but powerful declaration in church. It is so much more than a mere affirmation to the speaker. It is so much more than even myself agreeing with what has been spoken. Oh, the Amen is so Biblical!

Let's go to the Principle of First Mention. We first see the Hebrew "Amen" as the required response to the law of God. In fact, first mention is something about the belly swelling and the thigh rotting, and all the women were to declare...."AMEN!"

Then, if you study it out, the "Amen" was significant in the Old Covenant, as the primary response of God's people to what was the Word of the Lord in their time. There was no real "Amen" before the law. And after the law was given, the law was all they had. (That sounds so simplistic, but it is profound!) All God's people had, as a means of relating to the One True God, was Mosaic law...of course they loved it. The law was the mechanism that set them apart from all the other nations of the earth. Of course, the "Amen" was spoken by them in response to what they heard.

That small-but-powerful word, "Amen", in all its Hebrew glory, and in its original form, found its way into the New Covenant Greek. How did this happen? Because Christ is "The Amen". He was the plan, from before the world began.

Look, if you will, at almost every "Amen" declared in the New Testament. You will find it is a hearty response to the Word of the Lord in our time. You will find it is the hearty response to....grace.

The "Amen" is the hearty response to the person of Christ.

No longer is it the hearty response to a list of rules and their blessings and consequences. No longer is it a response to anything we can or can't do, should or should not do.

Now, the Amen is the heart's response to what Christ Has Done. And my gospel-loving-girlfriend, whenever you hear this Gospel being preached, it will do your heart good to declare, "Amen!"

It is plumb powerful. Every time you do it, you are declaring your heart with your mouth, and that can't help but change you, bit by bit, declaration by declaration.

For crying out loud, say it out loud. Don't whisper it. Say "yes!" to the good news!

The way we relate to God has changed radically. The veil has been torn all-two-pieces, all of human history cleaved into two separate epochs, Before Christ, and After Him. The law was given, then Grace came (John 1). In Christ, every word of the law was fulfilled and finished. His obedience has become the Only Obedience - and all our obedience flows as a response to His gift of righteousness. Any "obedience" other than that which is grounded in this belief- and this believed radically - is self righteous sin, it does not flow from faith, and it will not cut muster.

The message of the grace of God - Christ Alone - is all we have. Christ is the Word of the Lord, declared to us, in our time (Hebrews 1). Of course we love it!

My heart throbs with emotion and my eyes well with tears as I say to you right now:

Oh, if David, the man after God's own heart, knew in his day what we know in ours, what do you think his response would have been?!?! Do you really think he would have clasped the law to his bosom, and insisted that he remain, even to the smallest degree, in the Old Covenant? Do you really think he'd not fall to his knees in awe and ceaseless praise at the sight of Jesus, died and risen for his sin? Oh, this was the man who prophesied, "Blessed is the man whose sin is forgiven, whose iniquity is covered - blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute sin!"

What if David were told, "Not only does Yahweh not impute your sin to you, David, He credits to you His holiness!" What if David had been told what he did not yet understand about Yeshua - God coming to earth as man to keep the law in David's place? What if he was told, "Behold, the lamb of God, who takes away your sin, David!" Do you really believe he would desire the shadow more than the Substance?

No, I tell you by the Spirit, David would completely unclothe himself and dance, at this kind of Good God-News. His heart would throb with passion, his eyes would spill with tears, and he would, in our time, say something like this:

"Thou hast commanded us to keep (understand, implement) your New Covenant diligently - O that my ways were directed to keep your New Covenant! Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto the gift of Jesus Christ! I will praise you with uprightness of heart, when I will have learned of your Gift of Righteousness! I will keep this New Covenant - for you have promised you will never leave me nor forsake me. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Thy Gospel...Jesus Christ have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee. Blessed art thou, Oh Lord, teach me this New and Living Way. With my lips have I declared all this Good News from Thy mouth. I have rejoiced in the way of Your New Covenant as much as in any and all riches!" (a few verses in Psalms 119, reverently paraphrased and transposed into New Testament reality.)

It is all about Jesus, in our time.

At the very least, King David would respond, "AMEN." When we join him and others, in this very ancient and Biblical response, we finally step from our solipsism into True Community. "The Amen" has always been as much a corporate response as it is individual. The "Amen" lets us take our place among the elect of God.

"The grace of the Lord JESUS Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen."

"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen."

"Grace be with all those who love our Jesus in sincerity. Amen."

"I am the First and the Last. I am He that lives, and was dead; and behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen. And I have the keys of hell and of death."