The Fern and the Bamboo - message of hope and expectancy

Ferns

Someone sent an email with a story about the fern and the bamboo.

A man was about to give up on the world. Before he checked out, he decided to have a last talk with God. He went for a walk in the woods and asked God to give him one good reason not to quit living.

So God showed him the fern and the bamboo. Turns out that if both seeds are planted at the same time and equally nurtured, the fern shoots up and is quickly beautiful. Each succeeding year the fern grows more luxurious.

Nothing at all happens to the bamboo seed for four years, despite the nurturing and tender care. In the fifth year a tiny, almost insignificant sprout appears. Within six months the bamboo is over 100 feet tall. For five years it had been growing a root system to support its height.

The moral is:

• Each of us has a different purpose.
• Each of us is beautiful and useful in God’s plan.
• We should be patient with ourselves while our root system is growing.
• We shouldn’t waste time comparing ourselves to others.
• Just do the best we know how, and God will be pleased.

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The fern and the bamboo story is a useful metaphor of hope, patience, and trust.

For me, it’s also helpful to know that the God who carefully plants and tenderly nurtures the seed is not remote and distant, but that He/She is right here – for us to lean on – in good times and bad. That He’s right here to answer our questions, hold our hand, guide our footsteps, shelter us from the storm. That because God is an infinite Mind, He is never too busy to care for any of His children. It’s what He loves to do most.

We love Him, the Bible says, because He first loved us. As we feel that nearness, that closeness, that tender oneness with Love itself, we feel connected with the rest of His creation. It becomes natural and easy to love, forgive, be kind and patient with others.

When friendships are not warm and fuzzy

Unlikely friendship

I guess I’m way behind the rest of the country, but I finally saw the musical “Wicked.”

What a happy surprise! While there are other themes, this was a story about friendship.

Two women who initially despise each other are thrown together as roommates. Gradually they appreciate and value their differences, hostility dissolves, and they recognize how their lives have been transformed and enriched as a result.

As they are about to part, realizing they may never see each other again, the ladies sing about the substance of friendship:

I've heard it said

that people come into our lives for a reason,

Bringing something we must learn,

And we are led to those who help us most to grow

If we let them, and we help them in return.

Well, I don't know if I believe that's true
But I know I'm who I am today because I knew you

Who can say if I've been changed for the better?

I do believe I have been changed for the better . . .

Because I knew you I have been changed for good.

The purpose of relationships is to bless. Someone wisely said, “When a relationship ceases to bless, it ceases to exist.”

The most important relationship any of us has, is to God, our creator. It’s like that of a ray of light to the sun. The ray has every quality of the sun, and is vital to the sun’s shining – but is not the sun. The rays never touch each other, and do not intrude on each other. Each is needed and important to enhance the effectiveness of the rays next to it. Yet they are related to each other only by their relationship to their origin, the sun. The sun is their authority to go light up the dark places of the earth.

God, infinite Love, is our authority to light up the angry, hurting, misunderstood places of the earth. I believe that everyone who comes into our life experience has something to teach us. It isn’t always fun; sometimes we bristle at the lessons. An African-American friend once told me that something I had said was racist. I was crushed. Typical white reaction, “Me? How can you say that about me?”

Over time, I’ve understood what she meant. And I have tried to be more sensitive to the words I use and how they might be heard. It’s called thinking before speaking, and has been a very good life-lesson – one that I am still learning!

While grateful for warm and unconditional friendships, and amazed to be on the receiving end of such kindness, I am also grateful for those who have had the courage and honesty to tell me when they think I’m out of line.

As long as we are willing to learn, and to forget about being offended, we’ll be blessed even by those relationships that may not be warm and fuzzy.

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Love never loses sight of loveliness.
Its halo rests upon its object.
One marvels that a friend

can ever seem less than beautiful.
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Ten Commanments - Jackson County translation

This email came with such down-to-earth simplicity, perhaps even Moses would smile.

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Seems some people in Tennessee have trouble with those "shalts" and "shalt nots" in the Ten commandments. Folks just aren't used to talking like that. So, some folks in middle Tennessee got together and translated the "King James" into "Jackson County" language.

The Hillbilly's Ten Commandments (rearranged per Moses)
(posted on the wall at Cross Trails Church in Gainesboro, TN)

(1) Put nothin' before God

(2) Just one God

(3) Watch yer mouth

(4) Git yourself to Sunday meetin'

(5) Honor yer Ma & Pa

(6) No killin'

(7) No foolin' around with another fellow's gal

(8) Don't take what ain't yers

(9) No tellin' tales or gossipin'

(10) Don't be hankerin' for yer buddy's stuff

How does God speak to us?

As a voice? As ideas?

When my friend Duane was about 12, he was going to meet his mom on his bike. He pedaled to an intersection, and stopped. He heard a voice say, “Stand away from there.” It made no sense to him, and Duane blew it off. Then it came again, clearly male, clearly a voice, “Stand away from there.”

Duane knew enough about his Bible stories, that when a voice came with instructions, it was a good idea to obey. So after hearing this voice the second time, he promptly moved his bike back about 50 feet. Moments later, two cars hit each other in a freak accident, right where he had been standing.

A few years later at the University of Illinois, one late night he put his coat on to go over to the English Department to copy some papers for a project. As he wrestled with the mental turmoil of a girlfriend problem, he asked God, “Speak to me, tell me what I should do.”

He recognized the same voice he had heard as a kid. This time it said, “Shut up and sit down.” He heard it distinctly twice. Duane laughed to himself -- he didn’t know God spoke like that! He did know that he had been feeling awfully sorry for himself. He sat down and did not go out that night.

The next day he learned that three armed men had broken into a building that housed the English department as well as a gymnasium and shot up the gym after a school dance was over. They hit a man with a rifle butt too. Duane would have been in that building, he said, at the very time and at the very spot violence occurred.

Both these memories meant safety and protection for Duane. But -- everybody's different.

• How does God speak to you?
• Why does God speak to you? Is it always for safety?
• What’s the best way that you hear God speaking?

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Here are a few ideas:

Childlike receptivity

The inaudible voice of Truth is,

to the human mind, "as when a lion roareth."

When you pray, go into

your room and shut the door,

pray to your Father who is in secret.

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The power of love and unity - in the wild

Tourists on a safari were taking movies across a lake as a herd of African buffalo plodded down the dusty path for a drink. The camera captured greater drama than the observers could have imagined. The conversation between the guide and the tourists serves as narration for the episode.

The lead buffalo are ambushed by a pride of five or six lionesses. They turn and run for their lives. The lions quickly cut a youngster off from the parents and bring it down.

Within moments we witness the strength of unity. The whole buffalo herd -- perhaps 50 strong -- has rallied and challenges the lions. The determined herd approach the lions cautiously (after all, they are meat on the hoof). Yet they are clearly on a mission.

The urgency for a quick rescue replaces caution as individual adult buffalos chase the lions off, one by one. One large bull even gets close enough to catch a lion on his massive horns and toss it into the air – the lion lands on its feet, running. After all but two of the predators had been run off, to everyone’s amazement, the baby buffalo struggles to its feet and rejoins the herd. The herd does not leave until the remaining two lions have been routed.

The age-old question arises: where is God in such a crisis? If we look, we see an amazing momentum taking over, strong elements of intelligence acting to right a wrong.

• Communication. The entire herd understood one of their babies was in a life-and-death struggle. Instantly they responded as one.


• Intelligence. Somehow these animals that look dull and slow to us, became quick, strong, agile, and brave. They acted as one. Their unanimous purpose to rescue the baby was greater than their fear of becoming the next victim.


• Mother love. One of life's examples of mothers ready to lay down their lives for their offspring – both human and animal.


• Father love. One of life's examples of fathers as protectors making things right when their offspring get into trouble.


• Strenth to walk away. When the baby arose to leave the lions, they didn't stop him.

God is found in these qualities of courage, decisiveness, and unity expressed -- resulting in the rescue of the little buffalo.

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A mother's affection cannot
be weaned from her child, because
the mother-love includes purity
and constancy, both of which are immortal.
Therefore maternal affection lives
on under whatever difficulties.

Mary Baker Eddy
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Graphic violence makes this a difficult video to watch, and I am not recommending it .

But for those who wish to see the courage of the buffalos, click on the photo below.

Praying for those in danger

Holly's a generous and gracious friend. She hosted a fun and different kind of party the other day, for a few moms, their kids, a couple of grandmas. We brought food snacks and home baked cookies. Holly supplied toiletries and “flat rate” boxes from the post office.

She sat the children at a long dining room table with paper, pencils, and crayons, and a list of the names of a dozen soldiers. They selected a name and began writing: “Dear Fred” or “Dear Victoria” (yes, there are women serving) telling who they were, what school grade they were in, and thanking the soldiers for serving.

The youngest drew crayon pictures. Maybe they’ll decorate a soldier’s barracks somewhere.

While the kids wrote, we packed the treat boxes, which we hoped would help the soldiers feel loved and cared for.

Some moms at the party support the war, some do not. But we all care about the men and women so far from home, so distant from the sanity of life without ambushes and hidden explosives.

A couple of days later, Holly took a dozen filled boxes to the post office. She sent each one with a prayer for the protection, good judgment, peace of mind, and safe return of the soldier whose name was on the box.

The 91st Psalm, that wonderful song of safety and protection and trust in God’s care includes this promise – that God will deliver us from the snare of the fowler.

3,000 years ago trappers of birds set snares and carefully hid them under dust to capture unwary fowls. Even though that song-writer could not know about the hidden snares of the 21st century, the Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs ), the same God can be leaned on to deliver from harm today.

As those care boxes fly across the Atlantic, I too pray for the safety of these men and women. That they hear the angel voices that warn them of danger and guide them on safe routes; that even in the chaos of war they find comfort and peace of mind.

I pray for the people of Iraq and Afgahnistan too, that they find the same comfort, the same care and protection from a loving God who is impartial in his goodness.

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I will say of the Lord,
He is my refuge and my fortress, my God
on Him I lean and rely,
and in Him I confidently trust.

For then He will deliver you
from the snare of the fowler
and from the deadly pestilence.
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Do you have any loved ones in harms' way? How do you pray for them?

mysoldier.com

anysoldier.com

Respect for life - even when it's homely

I guess it’s a Chicago area phenomenon, the 17-year cicadas. They have been singing to us, in some areas VERY loudly, for over 3 weeks now.

My friend, Marge, has been teaching her boys respect for life with these small alien things – which have the disadvantage of not being beautiful. They do not hurt people or other animals. They are not skillful flyers. This failing makes them easy to catch, mid-air delicacies for dogs, squirrels, seagulls and anything else that’s hungry.

We peer at each other as these six-legged wonders tickle their way up my arm. Perhaps they do not think I am so pretty either.

The frenzied decibals of the early June mating calls are already diminishing. Soon they will be silent 17-year memories. What’s to be learned from these infrequent visitors?

I think Marge has it right. To give us human beings a gentle opportunity to step away from the fear and arrogance whose tendency is to destroy anything that’s different; to appreciate and value uniqueness; to teach children the fathering qualities of compassion and curiosity, and the importance of protecting the helpless.

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The one Spirit includes all identities.

God is the Life, or intelligence,

which forms and preserves the individuality

and identity of animals as well as of men.

This creation consists of the

unfolding of spiritual ideas and their identities,

which are embraced in the infinite Mind

and forever reflected.

Mary Baker Eddy
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About cicadas

Choosing our own thoughts

“The Silver Chair,” one of the classic Narnia books, sends the children on a quest to find a kidnapped prince. After many adventures they finally discover him imprisoned in an underground world. They are about to escape when the wicked queen returns. She uses her evil magic to lull them into a stupor where they dreamily repeat “There is no Narnia, there is no sun, there is no blue sky.”

Even in this stupor Puddleglum, the gloomiest of the rescuers, recognizes this as thought manipulation and refuses to submit. He rouses the children and the prince to claim their mental freedom. When the desperate queen assumes the form of a giant cobra, the prince destroys the snake, and they make good their escape.

We have a right to choose our own thoughts. Like these fictional heroes, we too are faced with manipulative suggestions. Every day. Such as:

• Aggressive drug company ads creating markets for their newest products.
• Media reporting the worst and most outrageous headlines
• Entertainment. Sigh. Well there is quality stuff out there, and if you’re willing to do a little research, you can find it.

These manipulations distort our views of reality. And like the wicked queen in the story, would almost convince us that there is nothing good, no sun, no blue sky.

The most insistent manipulation may be simply what the material senses report – that matter gives, governs, controls, and destroys life.

But what if matter itself is a distortion of reality, a corruption of God’s true creation? What if God’s laws are friendly, dependable, supportive, and good? And what if these laws are supreme – in spite of so much evidence to the contrary? What if we can tap into these laws by getting to know our Maker better?

A friend called and mentioned how she leaned on God’s laws. She had been ironing fusible interface onto a piece of fabric, but it turned out to be double-sided and unexpectedly stuck to her iron. In the confusion she tipped the steam iron and poured boiling water onto her hand.

She chose to turn immediately from the evidence of a burned hand to God’s law of harmony allowing no room for an accident. With that law sustaining her, she continued with her projects for the evening.

Every time her mental media wanted a report on the hand, she refused to go there, and turned back to God’s restorative law being the only one governing. By the time we were talking, 24 hours later, her hand was clean and clear. (She thought it was cool to share this in a post.)

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“As vapor melts before the sun,
so evil would vanish before the reality of good.
One must hide the other.
How important, then,
to choose good as the reality!”

Mary Baker Eddy
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Who's knocking at the door?

“Behold I stand at the door and knock.” I have always loved this image of Christ. Not pushing, not forcing entry. Just knocking. Taking the initiative and then waiting.

The rest of the verse says, “if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.”

The ball is in our court. Do we want to hear Christ knocking? Because if we want to, we will. It can be a scary thought, or a very cool thing, because if we open the door, Christ invites himself to dinner. What then? How ready are we for that?


Some Christians interpret this literally, as Jesus personally standing at the door of our house and knocking.

My sense of it is more as a mental and spiritual persistence. It’s God, Allah, whatever your name for the Creator, inviting our attention. Eager for an amazing dinner conversation. With us. Why? That’s what we want to know. Why with us? It’s totally humbling to contemplate.

I think it’s to help us understand our purpose. Our Maker wants each of us to know how loved we are, how cared for, valued, esteemed even. Well, that makes so much sense. It’s easier to love others when we feel loved. It’s easier to be generous and patient, when we feel loved.

And, those conversations are on-going. It's our nature to want to know how much God loves us, how we relate to God as children to a Father or Mother. We can answer the door and invite Christ in any time. When we’ve absorbed all we can for the moment, the conversation ends. When we have more questions, when we’re ready to let our thought expand to discover more of God’s love in our lives, we hear that knocking and open that door.

In today’s multi-tasking world, how refreshing to look forward to a one-on-one focused conversation with the Designer of the universe.

What's it been like for you to hear Christ knocking at your thought?

Episode of the cookies

Here’s an email story that’s just come around again, and is worth repeating.

A young woman was waiting in the VIP lounge for her flight. Anticipating a lengthy wait, she had brought a good book and a baggie of chocolate chip cookies.

On the seat next to her where the baggie of cookies lay, a man came and sat down. He opened his magazine and began reading.

The woman took out the first cookie, and the man also took a cookie. She was mildly annoyed, but said nothing. She waited awhile and took another cookie. The man did too. This continued till there was only one cookie remaining. She was highly offended by now, and wondered if he would eat the last one.

He took the last cookie, broke it in two, and offered her half. In a huff, she stormed out to the boarding area.

Settled in the plane, she was riffling through her purse where she discovered to her chagrin, an unopened baggie of chocolate chip cookies.

The man had shared his cookies with her, not the other way round. She couldn’t help but compare her self-righteous indignation with the stranger’s nonjudgmental and kindly generosity. Needless to say, she felt quite ashamed and humbled.

Moral: Things are often not what they appear to be.

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Bible wisdom on anger

“He that is slow to anger
is better than the mighty.” Prov 16:32

“It is better to dwell in the wilderness,
than with a contentious and an angry woman.” Prov 21:19

“Be not hasty in your spirit to be angry:
for anger rests in the bosom of fools.” Eccl 7:9

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