Beauty In The Garden

This week has been so incredibly beautiful. The garden in the front and back yard of my home is at its peak before the heat of summer begins to incite stress on the plants. As I sit outside to read in the beauty of the morning or evening I marvel at the garden which Joyce so loved to work and improve. After 3 years of toil and selecting various plants over and over again, this spring required very little additions to the garden. About the only work that has been required is the need to weed!

As I reflect on all the work Joyce put into her "living art project" it strikes me how closely her life resembled her garden. She worked diligently at the garden in order for it to produce beauty. It is not some random plants surprising us with their beauty. They were planned and cultivated to produce their beauty. The plants that could not stand the soil and heat conditions had to go to make room for plants that were better suited for the conditions and thus were more productive. Then there was the nurturing of the plants to bring them to maturity so they could show forth their "glory". Oh how Joyce loved to work in the garden. Well, as I said earlier, she did a good job of enabling the garden to show forth it's "glory".

The beauty of a person's life takes much the same type of "garden work." Unless we plant and cultivate certain qualities and characteristics within our spirit we will not have much beauty showing forth from our lives. The qualities of generosity, love, kindness, gentleness, peace, contentment, awe and wonder do not arise and exhibit themselves without being planted, cultivated, and nurtured. Only as they grow and become mature do their beauty become pronounced enough to "shine forth". The '"glory" of our lives is ultimately linked to the fruit of our lives which reflects God's handiwork in and upon our lives.

Weeding in the garden is a constant just as is it necessary to weed out of our lives those "things" which will overtake the cultivated plantings of our lives. If I want to see the fruit of generosity shine forth then I must make sure that greed, fear of the future, self-indulgence, and various other "weeds" remain plucked out of the "garden of my soul."

In other happenings: I just received a call from a monument dealer wanting to send literature about a burial plot. The caller asked my age and then asked if I was married. I instinctively said yes and then quickly added, "wait a minute, I mean no". Then I had to explain that my wife had died 3 weeks ago. To this information the caller said, "Oh my god, I am so sorry for this call." The caller fumbled through the rest of the call and I found myself laughing at the awkwardness of the scenario. I didn't have the heart to tell the caller I won't be needing a burial plot as my wife was cremated so I probably will be too. So in a few days will come some junk mail about burial plots I will not be needing.

Enough of this post for today. It's time I go cultivate some good plants "in my soul" and do some more "weeding" at the same time!

Blessings

Rainbows Do Exist

Saturday evening. 6:05 PM. Wall of rain approaching from the south. Sun shining in the west. It was beautiful outside. I so enjoy standing outside (under a covered shelter of course) and watching a storm approach and unleash the torrents of water from the clouds. Having grown up on the plains of Kansas it is an awesome sight to take in - the approach of the storm - the fury of the storm - and then the RAINBOW! Living here in Texas has certain perks, but Rainbow spotting is not one of them. They tend to be infrequent and small when they do make their appearance. (I suppose this is one reason leprechauns are an endangered species in Texas.) Saturday I was reminded of the glorious goodness of God as I went outside to watch the approach and experience the fury. And then there it was - a RAINBOW arching over CTC! Oh the beauty and joy of simple pleasures.

Tomorrow the first of the CTC'ers head out for missions. Sherry Williams heads off to Camp Dry Gulch for the summer as she serves as a counselor at the camp. She is the first of 13 we will send out to various corners of the world during the next six weeks. Places such as Oklahoma, Africa, Guatemala, Honduras, Italy, and Mexico will have CTC'ers walking on their soil.

I am expecially proud of the Mexico team. Many times we let inconvenience stop us from "going forth". In this case, there was the concern of the violence in Mexico that caused some to hesitate, then the "Swine Flu" outbreak caused some hesitation. Through it all, Joe Yosten, leading the team kept his eye on the goal, never waivered and now is two weeks from launching.

Thunder clouds are building up around here. It is Memorial Day so this is expected. No problems here at the Hall household though as I had 20+ over for a grill out last evening. This afternoon I go over to someone else's place and let them worry about a rain out!

Last night as the last guests left the house I noticed the sign by the front door Joyce had made many years ago to identify our unigue status in the world. The sign reads, "Welcome to the Hall's Nuthouse". The thought crossed my mind that now that all the females have left the house, maybe the sign should go. Then horror of horrors - the thought occurred to me that perhaps it was I who made the sign necessary! So, the sign stays until I notice some consistent, long-term signs of normalcy around here instead of short spurts that vaporize all too quickly!

Have a great Memorial Day. God bless our troops! Blessings

Light Headed

I feel light headed at this time. Something is missing. Wait. I know what it is. Proverbs 12:4 states, "A wife of noble character is her husband's crown." That's it. My crown is missing! It is amazing how we men do manage to 'marry up' most of the time.

Speaking of crowns. Twila Paris' song Let No Man Take Your Crown has these lyrics:

A crown is heavy, you could fall beneath the weight

Consider carefully before you abdicate

The King has given you responsibility

And when you wear it, you wear His authority

Let no man take it, let no man take it.

Let no man take your crown

Let no man take your crown

Till at His feet you lay it down

May you be ever faithful found

Let no man take your crown

If I'm unwilling to be sure the job is done

Then I compel the King to find another one

Who will be diligent to carry out the plan

Let us determine to accept every command

Let no man take it, let no man take it

He had a reason for choosing you

You have a reason to follow through

Let no man take your crown.

Great song, great lyrics. Guard the crown the Lord has given you to wear!


Blessings

Surviving the Whirlwind

Hi everyone. It has been three weeks since my last post so I hope someone checks in to read this. I think I am ready to resume so sort of regularity in posting. Well, I have survived the death of my lovely wife, Joyce. Joyce received her crown of righteousness which Paul refers to in 2 Timothy 4: 6-7 on May 3 2009. What an awesome woman of God she was. God was so generous in his grace being poured upon my life in this one simple act - allowing me to be married to Joyce for nearly 35 years. In fact, there is not a time since my high school years in which Joyce was not part of my life having met her my freshman year at Oral Roberts University.

Her journey the past 5 years has been one filled with incredible experiences and times with the Lord and intimate moments with Him in such a manner that Joyce was fully embracing parting this life and walking with Jesus in the fullest manifestation we can experience for eternity. At one time in this journey she reflected upon these moments of heavenly visitations (as she described them) and proclaimed, "The best that we experience in this life pales in comparison to that which we experience when we are fully in his presence."

Two things have struck me the past weeks since her passing. First, Joyce's uncanny ability to focus on the Lord's presence (which always ushered in his peace and joy) in spite of everything else swirling around her. This was her priority once she found she had a lump on her breast. She was determined to not let cancer consume her attention, focus and life. Rather, Jesus was going to get her attention and focus. As a result of her laser-like focus on this, she spoke one morning that the past three years of life have been the best three years of her life because Jesus was nearer and more personal than any time before this incredible journey.
The second thing that has struck me is the lack of anything of monetary value that Joyce had.
My wife was always first and foremost a practical gal. But I never realized how much this was true until I began the "cleaning out" process of her stuff. There was nothing of great value to hang on to except her wedding ring (which was a hand me down from her family.) Everything else of value was valued due to it coming forth from her person. Things such as her writings, art, etc. hold value because it came from her heart.

This "cleaning out" process brought to mind an episode of my life when my youngest daughter, Christabelle, and I were preparing to head to Europe for her High School senior trip. (Oh the benefits of homeschooling!) We were shopping at the local Goodwill store in Gainesville when I commented to Christabelle, "How ironic this is. Here we are shopping for clothes at Goodwill when next week we will be in Paris, Venice, and Vienna." But this was how we had learned to live through the years - putting value on the experiences and memories rather than on material things.

This is enough of a post for this morning. I'll most likely post many other reflections of our life together in the days ahead. Some psychologist somewhere would say this is probably good therapy for me. Personally, forget the therapy! This is a wealth of stuff to write about. This is a treasure store of topics which is needed for this guy who struggles in writing even a simple letter!

But now I am off to see the movie Star Trek.

God is so very good!
Blessings