The Giving Tree

 

The Giving Tree, a book written by Shel Silverstein and a favorite read weekly to my boys at bedtime during their childhood.  I have a signed copy tucked away for when they want to read again as young men today.

 

A Giving Tree...a Pear Tree growing in our own backyard with ripened rewards waiting for little hands to come pick.  Our Grandson, Jasper just had to find a way to knock down a few during his last visit.  His determination brought him a bounty of fresh & delicious pears for his trip home with a little help from his Nona lifting him up to the nearest branch. 

 

One night, as I slowly drifted off to sleep enjoying the image of Jasper under our Pear Tree, another image in another backyard quickly came to mind...one taken many years ago on a day filled with the chilly air of Autumn in the mountains of West Virginia. 

 

 

I can still smell the crisp Autumn air in my Grandmother's backyard.  The Apple and Walnut trees gave us an aroma of what was to come...fresh applesauce canned for the Winter and fresh cracked black walnuts that were added to the banana walnut bread I can still smell.



If I could, I would like to have just one more picnic on the patio.. a small area where our gatherings took place many times a year.  The painted metal chairs were exchanged for a redwood stained picnic table and a couple of foldout chairs.  We just had to have a place to put the "Sun Tea" my Dad enjoyed making for our gatherings.  We'll have a celebration on a grander scale someday when we all see eachother again in an even better place.

 

I remember eating soooo many apples, my tummy hurt!  Everyone warned me but I did it anyway...craving the juicy tartness sprinkled with salt when the apples were still green.

 

My Sister, Jeanine, was 8 years older than me and probably not as impressed with the new delight I had discovered in our Grandmother's backyard.  Nonetheless, her presence was always welcomed in my mind...she was my big Sister!

 

What's one of your favorite tastes from your childhood?  Something sweet? Something tart?  Something made from the heart?  Something from your own backyard?

REST AND RENEW

...those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.  Isaiah 40:30-31, NIV

Do you ever feel like you are a part of the movie, "Ground Hog Day" when the character played by Bill Murray wakes up everyday and repeats the same habits and patterns expecting a different result? Finally he learns that in order to achieve something different, one must put their self centered needs aside and try harder to do something different in choices and learned behavior.

This whole concept of watching this kind of thing happen in the lives of individuals you care about can be maddening.  It can take your breath away and stop your blood flow.  Habits of others can pollute the air even in the most perfect setting.  After years of same events, even the strongest of heart with the best intensions cannot stand up to the spills of addiction 100% of the time.  The evils of addiction contain characteristics of deceit, confusion and defeat.  On the positive side, we have to remember to pray the evils away and ask that they be placed "under our feet" and that we be protected in all ways in Jesus's  Name in an effort to keep calm and have some kind of victory over the negative cloud that happens in the lives of people who have to pick up the pieces from the choices others continually make.

At what point do you stop picking up the pieces for people who's "way" has become perverted with addiction?  Perversion applies to many areas of the addict.  Many of us think it's of a sexual nature.  And yes, it can be and usually is, however, Webster's Dictionary provides us with another definition:  "the process of improperly changing something that is good". 

From what I've witnessed, it takes a lot of planning and effort to purposefully change something that is good.  It also takes a mindset of abjection, corruptness, demoralization, dissoluteness, and debaucherty.  All big words in a big world of deceit.

My interest in starting a blog was to write my life story for my kids and grandkids in order beginning with the lives of my Grandparents, Parents, Siblings then ending up with me and my kids and grandkids.  Well, the plan has changed and I've decided to get on with it...writing what is current and blending the past.  I'll still try to keep an order of things from the past as best as I can with photos and such.  But this moment in time makes me reflect on my Mother.  I always looked at her cheery disposition and wondered what had changed inside of her later in life.  I can tell you that I know a little bit of what happened.  It's other people and their choices that effect you and your "constituion".  They help to change your personal limits and tolerance which would otherwise be flexible. Takes a toll on your disposition sometimes. 

But God's promise rings true everytime.  He will renew and restore your strength.  You do not have to compromise what you believe to be true because God is on your side.  And Our Creator is "all-knowing"!  You cannot hide from your Maker, my friend.  In the end, Truth wins!

Today is a new day for all of us.  Be sure to take time to be still and talk to our Heavenly Father...tell him all about what holds you captive in an effort to release the blood flow again...the flow of energy and love.