Month: July 2015

Are you contagious?

/ Patsy Kuipers / 1 Comment

As part of my horticultural studies, I spent several months interning at a botanical garden near my home. Each day was different as I and another intern assisted the Head Gardener with whatever he needed to get done. I found the majority of our activities to be interesting, educational and, for the most part, enjoyable. However, one activity repeated every couple of weeks throughout the summer wasn’t much fun. That task? Removing leaves affected with early blight from the tomato plants. It was a rather tedious process which required us to dip the blades of our pruners into alcohol after every snip of an infected leaf. Why? To decrease the possibility of spreading the disease to other areas of the plant or to other plants entirely. In addition, we bagged up the diseased leaves and put them in the trash, not the compost bin, since blight spores can survive on plant debris, causing more problems later. Even though following the procedure took more time than clipping a succession of leaves with no dipping in between, it was worth it. It slowed the progression of the blight, enabling the tomatoes to survive and bear fruit.

Removing diseased leaves from a coneflower one evening this week reminded me of the great lengths we went to in our quest to protect the tomato plants. As is often the case when I’m working in my garden, my thoughts turned to spiritual parallels. Criticism, anger, gossip, complaining. They can be as contagious as any disease and every bit as deadly when it comes to relationships. How are we to keep from spreading the spores of negativity? Just as the alcohol cleansed the blades of the pruners, immersing ourselves in God’s Word can purify our thoughts and refine our intentions. In Philippians 4:8, Paul encourages us to think on things that are excellent and praiseworthy; whatever is noble, right, pure, lovely and admirable. And in 2 Corinthians 10:5 he says we are to take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. Difficult? Absolutely! But the One who is making all things new took our infirmities upon Himself and heals us by His wounds that we might bear abundant fruit for His glory . . . love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control . . . conditions others won’t mind catching.

Listen!

/ Patsy Kuipers / 7 Comments

As usual, I over-packed for a recent vacation. Nonetheless, I somehow managed to forget my mascara. Not wanting to appear eyelash-less for an entire week, I put “buy mascara” at the top of my to do list when I started out on my first field trip. Shortly after leaving my home-away-from-home I came upon a CVS, but it was on the other side of the street and I would have had to cross traffic to get to it. “Surely there will be another, more conveniently-located drug store before I reach my destination”, I told myself. Alas, there was no such drug store and I ended up stopping at a Walmart. Not only was it busier than the CVS would have been, it also required crossing traffic plus I got turned around in its convoluted parking lot both entering AND exiting.

A couple of days later I was heading off on another adventure. It was almost, but not quite, time for my afternoon tea. I passed a Starbucks soon after getting underway. Knowing I had at least an hour’s drive ahead of me I thought, “I bet I’ll pass another Starbucks soon.” Nope! This time I ended up backtracking to a Target which Siri indicated was home to the closest Starbucks. I had to endure the busyness of the store itself, its parking area AND the traffic on the mall access road leading to said parking lot. All told I added at least 20 minutes to my trip.

When would I learn? . . .

As most travelers know, it’s best to return rental cars with a full tank of gas to avoid excess refueling charges so finding a gas station was top priority as I started to the airport. I didn’t have to look far; there were two within a stone’s throw of the hotel where I spent my last night of vacation. Knowing I had a 35-mile drive I thought, “There will be more gas stations along the way.” (Cue internal conversation.) “Whoa! You’re not going to follow that logic again are you?! Do you really want to risk having to go off course to find another gas station and make yourself late for your flight?” (Anyone else out there have these conversations with themselves?) I’m happy to report I had learned my lesson. I pulled into one of the stations, refueled, and went blissfully on my needle-past-full, stress-free way to the airport.

As I drove I couldn’t help but think about other times when I don’t listen, times when I choose not to heed obvious directions when it comes to my spiritual journey. God promises to instruct us in the way we should go. He speaks clearly through Scripture, sermon messages, the godly advice of believing friends. Even so, there are instances when I’m slow to obey or I decide to take a different route altogether. And my detours often result in frustration and lead to needless sorrow. Yet God is compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love toward me, his sometimes wayward daughter. He tenderly draws me back to himself and leads me on the sure pathway Home.

Anniversaries and accountability

/ Patsy Kuipers / 4 Comments

It’s not like me to forget an anniversary. Remembering special events is important to me. Maybe it was the fact I was spending a few days at the beach, blissfully disconnected from the calendar and my normal schedule, when this particular milestone came and went.  Regardless of the reason, it’s too significant to me not to make mention of it, albeit belatedly: July 1st marked the one-year anniversary of my first blog post. After a lot of thought (I’m nothing if not deliberative!) and some trepidation, I started writing in this public forum. My objective: to share some of what I’ve learned spiritually and horticulturally since losing my beloved husband to a heart attack on a warm spring evening in 1997. My primary message: God is faithful, He loves us, He can be trusted. Examples and evidence of his goodness are plentiful throughout his creation and parallels can be drawn between how He cares for the natural world and how He attends to our needs.

I appreciate all of you who’ve read, commented, followed and encouraged me to keep writing. I hope you’ll have even more reasons to come back to the garden with me in the weeks ahead as I add some new pages to this blog, something I’ve been contemplating for a while . . . which leads me to accountability. Now that I’ve told you about the planned additions, I’ll be more likely to follow through! And I’ll be expecting a (gentle) inquiry or two if I don’t . . .