JUST SOME RANDOM THOUGHTS

The Five Minute Friday website has been down with a case of unresolved technical issues, so in lieu of an FMF post, I'm sharing some random thoughts that have been percolating in my mind over the last several days.

I had a very large spider plant that was not doing well. Repotting it in a much larger pot with fresh soil did not help, and the leaves kept dying one by one. Every day I was pulling out new ones. I could not, however, bring myself to give up on it and toss it. 

No matter how dead any of my plants may seem, if there's even the tiniest evidence of something green, I just can't bear to part with it. Instead, come spring, out on my balcony they go, where they have a chance to revive or die. My desire is for them to thrive, and usually they do.

I do not share the same feelings for all God's creations though. I know everything He created has a purpose and plan, but when it comes to stink bugs and spotted lanternflies, I can't even start to imagine what that plan could possibly be. From my perspective, they are just a very annoying and destructive plague I would love to see wiped out. 

This year it's the spotted lanternflies that have taken over. They are swarming all over my windows and balcony, keeping me from being able to sit outside, and have destroyed most of my tomato plant and all but one of the wildflowers. 

Though I can't bring myself to stomp on them, it is with great gusto that I spray them with vinegar until they are at least stunned enough that I can go out and water what's left of my plants, without having them fly into my hair or onto my clothes. 

And then I listened to a livestream where the pastor preached a message about how God's heart is for salvation--not condemntaion, and even though I'm not exactly seeing its connection to stink bugs and lanternflies, it did give me something to ponder.

The gist of the message was that God wants ALL to come to repentance and for none to perish (not even the most vile person you can imagine), and even though we have free will and not everyone will choose to do so, He is gracious, compassionate, patient, and longsuffering, and goes after us again and again until there finally will come a time when it will be too late for those who refuse to respond to His call.

Is that our heart as well, or are there some people we don't wish to see saved? Are we like the prophet Jonah who tried to run from God when God told him to go to Nineveh and preach His message to the Assyrians? They were a brutal and ruthless people and Jonah knew if he took the message to them they would repent and be saved, and he did not want that to happen.

The pastor told of a time back when Osama bin Laden was assassinated, that as he walked out of a bulding in DC, a reporter stuck a microphone in his face and asked him what his reaction was to this breaking news. His response was, "The Lord takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked." 

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Do you think that I like to see wicked people die? says the Sovereign LORD. Of course not! I want them to turn from their wicked ways and live (Ezekiel 18:23, NLT).

The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise as some understand slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9, BSB).

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

 

P.S. TO THOSE OF YOU WHO SUGGESTED IT

Even soapy water does not seem to phase these spotted lantern- flies. They have completely taken over.

MELANCHOLIC MONDAY

It made my heart happy to see some flowers and a few tiny budding tomatoes on my tomato plant. But will they survive? That is the question.

Having pulled through oppressive heat and a nasty fall when it got toppled over by tornado force winds during a recent storm (even though the pot had been secured to the balcony rails with a bungee cord), it is now weathering something even worse. An invasion of spotted lanternflies.

Several sources on Google said spraying the lanternflies with white vinegar would kill them instantly, but that is not what I'm experiencing at all. If anything, the vinegar just seems to be attracting more and more of them.

Each bug I spray jumps to another spot, or onto me, and I have to keep spraying and spraying it until I just about drown it--if I can get it to stay put long enough for that. 

My joy has turned to melancholy.

I took these pictures this morning just as a reminder of what might have been.

PERCEPTION

This post was written for Five Minute Friday

Word prompt--PERCEPTION

Five minutes to free-write about it

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What came to mind when I saw this week's prompt was a poem by John Godfrey Saxe. 

The words are his--not mine--so I can't take any credit for free-writing this post, but it probably did take me about five minutes to find a free downloadable version and an image (courtesy of Pixabay) to go with it.

The Blind Men and The Elephant

It was six men of Indostan, to learning much inclined,
who went to see the elephant (Though all of them were blind),
that each by observation, might satisfy his mind.

The first approached the elephant, and, happening to fall,
against his broad and sturdy side, at once began to bawl:
"God bless me! but the elephant, is nothing but a wall!"

The second feeling of the tusk, cried: "Ho! what have we here,
so very round and smooth and sharp? To me tis mighty clear,
this wonder of an elephant, is very like a spear!"

The third approached the animal, and, happening to take,
the squirming trunk within his hands, "I see," quoth he,
the elephant is very like a snake!"

The fourth reached out his eager hand, and felt about the knee:
"What most this wondrous beast is like, is mighty plain," quoth he;
"Tis clear enough the elephant is very like a tree."

The fifth, who chanced to touch the ear, Said; "E'en the blindest man
can tell what this resembles most; Deny the fact who can,
This marvel of an elephant, is very like a fan!"

The sixth no sooner had begun, about the beast to grope,
than, seizing on the swinging tail, that fell within his scope,
"I see," quothe he, "the elephant is very like a rope!"

And so these men of Indostan, disputed loud and long,
each in his own opinion, exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right, and all were in the wrong!

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

 

PATH

This post was written for Five Minute Friday

Word prompt--PATH

Five minutes to free-write about it

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I was once on a path. A very good path, I thought. A path that led to everything I had been searching my whole life for. I was so convinced it was the right path, I tried to persuade others to follow it as well. But God, in His infinite mercy and grace, did not leave me there.

It took extreme measures on His part, as I sincerely believed I had found all the answers and was no longer on a quest. But, in a most improbable way--probably the only one that would have captured my attention--He stepped in and rescued me from the darkness I thought was light. He opened my eyes to the lie I had bought into, turned me around, and set me on the path that really was the right one.

The details of this rescue mission are documented in my memoir, Sincerely Wrong: An Improbable Journey. (A free PDF copy is also available by clicking on the link in the sidebar of my blog.)

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Following is an excerpt from my book's AFTERWORD (pp 125-127):

Were I to see you headed towards some imminent danger, such as a cavernous hole in the sidewalk, it would be unconscionable of me not to warn you about it, and I would not hesitate to do so, even yanking you aside if necessary. . . . Don't be deceived, as I was, into thinking that there are many paths to God, or that we get to Heaven by being good. Although we were created to have fellowship with the Lord, Adam and Eve's sin caused us to be born into a fallen world. The Bible tells us in Romans 3:23 that "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," and in Romans 6:23, that "the wages of sin is death." Because of sin, a vast gulf separates us from our Heavenly Father, and there is no way we can cross it through our own efforts. Only one path can lead us to eternal life, and that is Jesus, "The way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through [Him]" (John 14:6).

The good news is that "God so loved the world [you and me included] that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). . . . This gift of salvation that is being handed to you can only be received by grace, through faith. It cannot be earned by good works (Ephesians 2:8-9), and as much as it is not God's will for anyone to perish, He will not impose His will on you or force you to accept it. The choice is yours.

WORDLES WEDNESDAY

 

PERHAPS

This post was written for Five Minute Friday

Word prompt--PERHAPS

Five minutes to free-write about it

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Over the years, the Lord has used my plants to teach me many things. Perhaps He is about to do so again?

Every summer I put my plants that are on their last legs out on the balcony to give them a last chance to revive or die. Usually they do perk up and thrive, like the spider plant on the left. 

A few, like these cuttings from my jade plant, however, do not. Barring an extraordinary miracle, there does not seem to be any perhaps in its future.

As for the wildflowers and tomato plant, will they have a chance to bloom and bear fruit given how late in the season I planted them this year? Perhaps yes, perhaps no.

Right now it's looking very iffy, as is the peace lily cutting, and the kalanchoe plant that was doing so well on my windowsill, but does not seem to be enjoying being outdoors as much as I thought it would.   

Pondering the uncertainty of these things fills me with gratitude that there is no perhaps with God. He has given us His Word (the Bible) so we need have no doubts.

Romans 3:23 clearly states that we have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God. There is no one on earth who always does what is right and never sins (Ecclesiastes 7:20). We all, like sheep, have strayed and left God's path to follow our own ways (Isaiah 53:6). 

But God does not want anyone to perish (2 Peter 3:9). He wants everyone to repent and be saved (1 Timothy 2:4). He longs to be gracious to us (Isaiah 30:18), and loves us so much "that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16).  

God did not appoint us to suffer His wrath, but to receive the gift of salvation that Jesus died to appropriate for us (1 Thessalonians 5:9-10). There is no perhaps about it. The choice is ours.

TRANSFORM

This post was written for Five Minute Friday

Word prompt--TRANSFORM

Five minutes to free-write about it

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The transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly is quite amazing. So is the way a good haircut can transform the way you look. Or how adding a couple of ingredients can transform the taste of a recipe that turned out so yucky you were about to toss it.

My readiness to toss the recipe got me to thinking of how God doesn't just toss me out when I fall short. It led to a moment of deep gratitude that He is patient, longsuffering, and never gives up on me--even when I would have long given up on myself. No one is too far gone for Him to transform.

God loves us so much that while we were still sinners He sent Christ to die for us so that we could be forgiven of our sins and receive the gift of eternal life (Romans 5:9, Isaiah 5:5, John 3:16,36). The gift of salvation is a free gift that can only be received by grace, through faith. It is not something you can earn (Ephesians 2:8-9).

When we repent of our sins and invite Jesus into our hearts, the slate is wiped clean and we become a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17) with a new identity as a child of God. 

God accepts us just as we are, and transforms us from the inside out through the power of His Holy Spirit. It is not something we can do in our own power.