Dear Young Mother...

I have been invited to a baby blessing for my grandson... Basically, it is a group of ladies that gather around the baby and pray for him at different stages of his life.  The church we are attending has had them for decades but I am new to the whole business.  Personally, I am not so sure of how I feel about it either.  I am all for praying for children and pray for my children and grandchildren daily but I'm not so sure about this once for all approach.  At any rate, I was asked to give a short devotion and these are my thoughts...

Dear Sarah,

One of my favorite quotes from Tozer reads "Our prayers will become effective when we stop using them as a substitution for obedience."

Prayer is good.  Prayer is vital.  Prayer is not the totality of our work as a Christian. All the prayers we offer up here today will be of none effect if we ignore the plain precepts that our Lord lays down in scripture.  You, sweet momma, and your man are the feet of the Lord's plan.  You are His mouthpiece, His arms, His enforcer.


let's read from Deut 6 verse 2

That thou mightest fear the Lord thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou and thy son, and thy son's son, all the days of thy life; that thy days may be prolonged.

As I watch you raise and love my son's sons.  I seek to encourage you that the time is short.  As a woman of God, you do not have the luxury of living for today... none of us do.  Living for today is a lie that Satan feeds our world to lull us to sleep.  It is imperative that we catch God's vision and to see down the telescope of time so that we not only raise godly children but  that we also raise godly children that will raise godly children.  What a waste if our work dies in the next generation.

Let's skip down to Deut 6: 4- 9

Hear O Israel, The Lord our God is one Lord:  And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.  And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: and thou shalt teach them diligently to thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way and when thou liest down and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.  And thou shalt write them upon the post of thy house and on thy gates.

Our Lord then repeats this entire message again in Chapter 11...

The Bible gives a very clear picture of raising a child for God and the picture it paints is that of a child underfoot...so beautiful and so contrary to what society teaches us about child rearing.  Satan hopes to cause us to run from our children. Let the pastor, youth leader, coach, school teacher or group peers be responsible for the training of your child.  And yet, God, lovingly in his word encourages us to run towards our families.  To work beside them, to dive headlong into their messy, chaotic, vibrant world and to teach them that they are a valued and important part within their family and within the family of God. 

By keeping them underfoot we are constantly available to point them to Christ, to remind them that they live in the presence of a holy God,  we serve as the frontlets between their eyes. 

I am reminded of a story that Christ told in Luke 11.  A man ended up with an unexpected visitor late at night and had no bread to give him so he ran to his neighbor and beat on the door asking for bread.  The neighbor answered, "trouble me not the door is shut and my children are with me in bed.."  If that isn't a picture of a child underfoot then I don't know what is.... and if you have ever had one of those little buggers turn sideways and take up all the room turning your spine into a pretzel then you know what I am talking about. When thou risest up and when thou liest down....cherish every moment and use it... even pretzel time... to teach Christ.

It is not enough to keep our children from evil.. to simply remove "bad" from their lives.  Further down in this same chapter we find a man that was healed from an evil spirit and he wandered around finding no rest for his soul.  His rooms were clean and swept but he had nothing wholesome to fill them with and so he went out and took to himself seven more spirits that were worse than the first.

A mother's duty is to fill her children's days by speaking words of light. Fill their lives with the presence of a Holy God.  Remind them that they are ambassadors for Christ and that they must serve Him with love, honor, and respect.  She must infuse every part of their being with Him.  Be watchful of their souls, sweep out the evil and replace it with good.  Examining their hearts and allowing them to see hers. 

We must walk with our children underfoot and constantly be leading them back to the feet of Christ because before you know it their feet will bring them to a path beside ours instead of under ours and that footing must be secure.

Stand By Your Man....

Not too long ago I bought a milk cow from a young dairy farmer. He was selling out and moving.  His farm was beautiful rolling hills dotted with Holsteins.  I had my choice of probably a hundred cows.  As we walked, I imagined his kids flying kites, catching frogs and coming home dirty and tired every night right before dark.  A hundred cows take a while to walk through so it wasn't a quick trip.

His wife joined us while we were walking and as we talked the conversation led to why they were quitting...


He shook his head and looked off into the distance.. "I need to drive truck for a while, to pay a few bills, and she just doesn't want to help me anymore."

She stood there, arms folded tight against her chest, staring at the same unknown spot on the horizon..  she didn't deny it but simply said.  "This was his dream, not mine.  I'm going back to my career."


There was a deep, hurting sigh from the farmer and I stood there feeling like an intruder as I watched an unspoken conversation take place between the two.  After what felt like an eternity of silence I asked about her career choice.


"I have the chance to become a manager at McDonald's and I am going for it."

Ladies, this is going to show you what a horrible excuse for a Christian I am... because I simultaneously wanted to give her a big motherly hug and ....I also wanted to slap her upside her head....hard.... the battle was real.  I did neither. Go Shell!


Then it was my turn to let out a big sigh... I couldn't help it.  This man sitting in his field with his hopes and dreams laying in a crumpled heap all around his feet.  And her.  We can give her some excuses.  It's just the age she's been raised in, her lack of biblical knowledge.. her will.  Maybe he is just a big, fat jerk.  Maybe she doesn't like cows. Not one of those excuses lessens the pain she is causing her family.  Not one of them validates her behaviour.

We stand around and lament that men aren't men anymore... good heavens, ladies, let's give them some real women and see what happens.

 In an instant I watched those same tired, dirty kids move from sitting in the cow bunks to sitting on the couch at some daycare, playing video games and popping pills for their ADHD  while she handed greasy fries and overpriced burgers to strangers who didn't even bother to look up from their phones to say thank you.

Would my opinion have changed if she would have said Lawyer? Doctor? ... No.

and I know there are some men who ask their wives to work outside their homes.  I'm not talking about working at home or away.... I'm talking about vision.

Purpose.

My man.

Your man.

Her man.

they were created for greatness.  It. Is. In. Them.  It's in you.  And while each person can achieve a certain level of greatness on their own.  When a man and a woman enter into a covenant relationship together, they become one flesh.  One team.  Every good team has a team leader and teams only win when they work together towards the same goal.

Don't punish your family.

To be drawn and quartered was a punishment ordained in England for treason. They would take the condemned person, tie him to horses and send those horses running in different directions thus ripping his body mercilessly apart. It is considered the epitome of cruel punishment.  Ladies, we draw and quarter our families when we pull against our man.


Let's contrast that with the words of our Lord in Ecclesiastes,

The fool foldeth his hands together, and eateth his own flesh.
Better is an handful with quietness. than both the hands full with travail and vexation of spirit.
Then I returned, and saw vanity under the sun.
There is one alone, and there is not a second; yea, he hath neither child nor brother: yet is there no end of all his labour; neither is his eye satisfied with riches; neither saith he, For whom do I labour, and bereave my soul of good?  This is also vanity, yea, it is a sore travail.
Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour.
For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up.  Again if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone?  And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.  Better is a poor and a wise child than an old and foolish king.


Stand with your man.  It is better to live a quiet and poor life at your man's side than it is to have the best career in the world,  live like a king and leave your children to their own devices.  Money is temporary and replaceable.  If you took all the money you have and burned it today, tomorrow you could earn more. For all that matters, you can steal more (please don't) or find more... money is always available. always somewhere. That man that lays beside you each night and those children across the hall?  They are irreplaceable.  They are God's gift to you and your gift to the world.

Do you ever wonder why in Proverbs 31 when the Lord is extolling all the character qualities of a virtuous woman one of them is  "Her husband is known in the gates"?  Because she put him there.  She freed him to be a leader by lifting instead of dragging,  by praying instead of nagging, she stood on her own two feet and became a woman of strength by becoming the woman of her man's dreams.  He owed her everything, and he knew it.... and a few verses down we find he praised her for it and so did her children.

Did the Lord give you a business mind? Skills?  Talents? Why would you ever waste them building a stranger's empire?  Get behind your man... square your shoulders, my dear, and boost. See his vision and give it all you've got.  Oh, it'll be hard work,  I know.   Some of it isn't going to be any fun.

We will be exhausted and some days reduced to tears.  But let's give that man of ours a wink even through the tears. Give our children the ultimate picture of a strong woman by filling their lives with peaceful joy.  That trail that our fella is trying to lead us down? Let's jump on it with both feet, girlfriend, and let's keep trusting in God because he has great things planned for us.

Crown Up.

~Proverbs 12:4   

Grafting...

We have been praying for the Lord to give us an additional piece of property for several years now, so far He has been asking us to wait. 

I hate waiting but wait it is. 

I decided that while I wait I can prepare though.  The piece has a spot on it that will be perfect for another orchard the only problem is is that when He finally gives us the green light we will be so broke paying for it that I won't have the funds to buy the new trees.  I don't want to buy the trees now because I have no place to store them until we get it... it's a mess, really.  So I decided to use the fruit trees that we already have and love.  I will graft branches from them to rootstock in preparation for the property.  They will be small so thus easier to stash until the Lord sees fit to bless us.

Grafting is a lot easier than it sounds.  first, you need rootstock.  you can find them online for a fair price and buying them ensures that you can control the height of your tree. Or you can buy seeds to grow grafting stock here.

The cheapest way is to just plant seeds from the fruit you are eating.  The girls and I are constantly throwing fruit seeds and pits in random pots of dirt and forgetting about them until they are big enough to graft... or in some cases bear fruit. don't laugh, someday you may be eating a Holverson apple and lovin' it.   The only drawback to this is most of them are standard roots so they will be tall. It doesn't bother me, I figure I can either trim trees or my husband's wallet and I would rather trim trees, the trimmings make good grafting starts.  Yes, it's a never-ending cycle.

Today, I am grafting apple. I grab my rootstock.

A dormant plant is ideal but today, this is what I had. Life is full of compromises, girls

full.  of.  them.


I  also grab a fresh limb from the tree I wish to duplicate... at least one of them is dormant.  You want the branches to be as evenly matched in size as possible... if one has to be bigger make sure the root side is the bigger diameter. A small root cannot support a large tree.

I then cut the root and the limb at an angle to expose as much cambium as I can.  Cambium is the green layer under the bark and before the wood.  That is the part that grows so you want to line up both layers of cambium touching as much as possible.

yes, I have pulled my rootstock out of the pot.  This is a much more graceful process when you don't have to photograph the entire thing with your cell phone, I promise.  

It helps to cut a second groove into the backside of the branches this will allow you to slip them together like tongue and groove. Giving added support.  I had to recut this branch after I pulled it apart to show you the slice.  It should not be this dramatic just a thin strip to wedge together.

Gently slide the two pieces together until they are well matched. 

When the cambium matches up as best as possible wrap it tightly with a rubber band (it will weather and crack off).   On the last wrap tuck the tip under the loop and it will hold itself.

Next you will want to heat some bees wax.  If you don't have bees you can get some here for a good price.   I use a dessert dish in a pot of boiling water like a double boiler.

once it is melted I can lift it out and pour it over the rubber band to seal it, unless I am grafting a branch onto a mature tree and then I use a paint brush to brush it on.

make sure both sides are coated.  This will all crack off and weather over the next year.  Don't pick at it for at least twelve months and then if it is growing well and you feel that you need to you can help it a little but it is really not necessary.

Then replant it being careful to keep the graft above the dirt line.

It is important to graft several trees even if you only want one.... any time you are dealing with living things you should expect a certain amount of failure. Having to find another spot to put a tree is much easier to swallow than not being able to dig a hole for any.

And that is just another easy way to fill your paradise with safe, wonderful, food.  Have a great weekend!