Child sacrifice

In 587 Bc the great city of Jerusalem was destroyed and its inhabitants carried off. The people had been forewarned by Jeremiah and other prophets who for 40 years prior to the fall of this great city had preached repentance to no avail.

What was it that Judah was doing that brought about the destruction of the city? I alway imagined rather vague sins of disobedience and pride. But. . . "The spiritual condition of Jerusalem was one of flagrant idol worship. King Ahaz in Isaiah's day had set up a system of sacrificing children to the god Molech in the Valley of Hinnom just outside Jerusalem. His son Hezekiah led in reforms and clean up, but Hezehiah's son Manasseh continued to foster child sacrifice along with gross idolatry which continued into Jeremiah's time. Josiah's reforms repressed the worst practices outwardly, but the deadly cancer of sin was deep and flourished quickly again after a shallow revival. Religious insincerity, dishonesty, adultery, injustice, tyranny against the helpless, and slander prevailed as the norm, not the exception. . . ."

Religious insincerity, dishonesty, adultery, injustice, tyranny against the helpless, and slander? Yes, that could be us. But idol worship?? child sacrifice??

Maybe it's all in how we define ourselves--just like the people in Jerusalem, who ignored the prophets, justifying themselves because they were following the law. So, think about this, since 1973, more than 52 million abortions have been performed in the United States. 52 MILLION. That seems to fall into the category of child sacrifice to me.
But they are legal so it must be alright.

Why do we expect God to be any more lenient with us than he was with his Chosen People. Why do we assume (just as they did in 600 BC) that we are too big, too powerful, too righteous to be destroyed?

Maybe it's time for a change of course. . .is anybody listening?

Working in the garden

Been out trimming mesquites. AGAIN. Three acres of Mesquites can be a year round job, even with a house in the middle. But, paraphrasing Jacob, a natural tree is an enemy to the garden. Especially mesquites and pomegranates. Some trees want to grow up, but those two seem to believe they were born to be bushes. They are so busy putting out suckers and side branches they would never reach their potential without me and the trusty saws-all. But once they are trimmed up they can become actually amazing.
And something else. The living water? Unless you are trying to grow a garden, create an oasis around your house and home in the desert, that expression may not have as much meaning as it could. But, I start and end my day with watering. And, things I never thought I could grow are flourishing. Cut off my water and we are dead here. I mean literally--DEAD. There goes the corn, the strawberries, the callow lilies the daffodils, all of it.
Pulling weeds I thought of this "There is order in all things" and I thought it must be our job to find it. I mean left to themselves the weeds would wreak havoc, where now they are tortoise food! They never even imagined they were putting all that energy into growing up so I could pull them out for tortoise food.
My husband says the corn rows looked like they were planted in the dark. That is the kind of order I like. Kind of mellow, wandering rows that end up at the right spot at the end of the field.
I do know this. There is hardly a nicer way to start a day.

And the fruits of your labor shall be sweet!

Perspective

OK. I've listened to the news.
But outside the sun is shining, corn shoots are poking through the soil, broccoli is getting bigger on every broccoli plant, onions are in bloom--yes I let them go too long again!, and the melons, squash, cucumbers, etc are showing their little sets of leaves. Grapes clusters are forming, peaches and nectarines are there in their infancy. . . Hope is in the air, at least in the back yard.

Standard and Poor's? Here it's Standard and Wealthy's--there is the promise of good things to come--
and without a television I think my perspective is improving!

Treasure

The scriptures are very clear. There are two types of treasure. The treasures of the earth are controlled by Satan and include money--mammon, gold, silver--and power. But the treasures of heaven are a different sort. The treasures of heaven include Knowledge, family and posterity, snow, clean water, sunshine, golden grain, fertile fields, health, etc.

So when the Lord promises the righteous treasures, don't expect that he is going to fill your bank account, and never equate your bank account, the size of your home, the elegance of your car to the measure of your righteousness.

How lucky am I? I am rich. My life is filled with treasure. And none of it is in the bank.

But, I increasingly fear that the treasures of heaven are in danger from those seeking wealth and power above the well being of those with whom we share this earth, from those who arrogantly pollute and poison our water and air, who genetically alter the fruits of the fields, who unwittingly produce retroviruses, filoviruses, microscopic fungi that have the potential to destroy life, to cause infertility and vague, indeterminate illnesses as well as specific and deadly illnesses.

Sunshine is the strongest virus killer we have--why didn't we ever get sick while we were bug collecting, sitting around UV lights in hot, tropical jungles?
The center for disease control decontaminates workers from level 4 virus labs by bathing them in UV light--it's out there in our sunshine.
And sunshine is free! Try using a clothes line, lay out in the sun, read a good book while you're there and quit buying antibacterial cleaners! They are effective for less than 5 seconds, the sunshine makes you feel good all day!

And to those who simply choose not to have family because it's too expensive? Aren't you valuing, believing in, putting your faith and trust in the treasures of the earth over and above the very real treasures of heaven?

Take a risk. The Lord will provide. You can't afford not to have children. They are our greatest treasure. So seek knowledge about everything, including the Spirit. Choose wisely. Live with joy.

Your lives depend on it!

Feeling warm and fuzzy?

Here's a link worth reading:
http://www.examiner.com/drug-cartel-in-national/napolitano-is-too-late-drug-cartels-issued-their-own-warning-months-ago

Every second, a choice

All of them. Every moment of your life, every instant, looks like this. Do you see?
You are always in a universe of choices. Any moment of your life can go in any direction you choose.
How?
Learn to choose.
How?
Learn to see. This is your life, what it looks like to God. Every second of every day.

from "The Hummingbird's Daughter"

III. The grimmest fairy tale

Finally, we had the story of the 8 little children who lived on the edge of the cold North Sea. The oldest girl was the leader, and the children took care of one another. They lived by their wits, gathering sea shells in the summer to sell in the village so that they could survive the cold of winter all together in their snug little house.

But there were trolls in the mountains, and the trolls hated the sounds of happy laughter. Of course they wanted to make the children miserable. They planted a sea shell made of ice from the heart of the troll King on the beach, and the oldest sister picked up the shell.

The cold went right up through her fingers and into her heart and the laughter stopped. Before long she left the beach and the sunshine and went to live with the trolls.

Her brothers and sisters looked everywhere for her. When they discovered that she had been captured by the trolls they pooled their money, bought a mirror and climbed the high mountain. They slept in the pine needles under a tall tree outside the entrance to the dark cave the trolls called home.

With the first light of dawn, the little brother held the mirror so that the rays of the sun shone down into the cave, melting the trolls into puddles of dirty water and freeing the beloved big sister.

My oldest daughter hated that story. I didn't get it. I kept telling it.

I thought the story was about good and brave children who would do anything for one another. I think for me the meta message was that even the biggest, the strongest, the leader could by vulnerable and that only by working together could everyone be safe and saved. Or maybe, that by working together even the smallest and weakest could overcome obstacles as dangerous and treacherous as the trolls, bringing everyone back home.

So, after all these years, I want to say that the story showed how good and brave all 8 of the children were and how much they loved each other.

And there are still 8.. . And there are still trolls that hate the laughter of happy people, which is why we have to pool our resources, climb the steep mountains, sleep under pine needles--whatever it takes--to make sure that every one of you knows without a doubt that they belong to this group that will not abandon them in the cold and dark.

Come out into the light.

It isn't easy to do alone, but you aren't alone.

And no. This story was never about a bad big sister. She was the best and the brightest--her brothers and sisters gave everything they had because they needed her with them.

So much for fairy tales.

Good night.