"Lesson's From My Grandfather's Orchard"

My grandfather on my mothers side had an orchard. Grandma and Grandpa lived in town a few miles away but they had a farm too! My aunt and uncle lived in the house, but grandpa did the chores twice a day and tending two cows for milk and a few chickens for eggs. I remember that grandpa spent a great deal of time in the orchard each day with the trees.

He seemed to be alone, but now that I think about it, he was there having mental time, thinking and cleaning out the cobwebs from his mind. Maybe having discussions with God? He could tend the trees; sit down under the trees and rest or take a nap as long as he needed. He would clean under the trees,fertilize and water them, and some of the trees every year had to be pruned. The trees produced lots of good fresh fruit that supplied their table and the aged people they cared for. They had plenty to gave away and some was sold for money. That was good.

There are lessons here if we look at the things he did. My grandfather was slow and meticulous, but cared for his trees and animals. In return the trees produced for him. His caring. feeding and pruning of the trees allowed new shoots or growth to produce more good fruit each year. It might seem cruel to trim away at the trees, but that is the way to get rid of old dead or dying limbs that were not going to produce fruit. The new growth came forth and kept producing strong tasty fruit.

God works much the same way for us. He tries to keep us producing good fruit. We most of the time, get in the way by trying to keep our old habits, bad thoughts or opinions, and we stop producing. We accumulate so many bad attitudes that God has to clear away the old to make way for new thoughs, habit, opinions and attitudes to form new clean, clear ones.

One way is to wake us up to hear him and what he wants from us, what he planned for us to do for him. By pruning away the old dead stuff in our lives, we can again hear our maker. He needs us to listen to him and he will help us renew our lives and make us new creatures. He wants us to be happy and warm people so we can love as we are to love. We are to learn to produce the fruit of the spirit as is stated in Galatians 5:22; Love, joy, peace, longsuffering,gentleness, goodness and faith, meekness, temperance. God loves us and wants us to be like his son Jesus, at least to do our best and be as close to Jesus as we can be. May you produce the fruit like the orchards.

7/24

-----PSALMS 23:2

He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.

We mostly just say the words and do not think about what the words mean. At least that is what I have done for most of my life. Most of us are in a hustle bustle world and do not take time to pray, read or stop and rest.

My husband and I want to sell our house and move from where we are right now. We are in the mountains up 7200 feet, this is a resort area, in the winter lots of snow and we can not get out some times for several weeks. There aren not too many people here during the week. Most of the people come up spuratic and on vacations or to rest. My husband and I are retired now, but we remember when we were in the on the go rat race as most people are, but now it is different for us.

Now we are, for the most part, separated from most people most of the time. It seemed unusual for some time, but now it is rather natural. I think that God is saying to us that it is time we lie down in green pastures; and live by the still waters, we have a lake here. We do things when we want to do it and we rest when we want to. We have little distractions except for the TV, and the phone which we can control if we want.

As I see it, our young people are inundated with constant mental distractions; texting constantly, too many TV programs and games, the computers, I pods and other high technology. These are wonderful and useful gadgets and have their place, but they are for the most part taking up too much of our thinking time and not giving the brain the time to process the input. Too many people are just taking in information and not doing anything with it. People are becoming burned out on information.

If we are allowing God/the Holy Spirit to work with us, he said, "He makes me to lie down in green pastures;(rest and think), He leads me beside the still waters."(A peaceful place(quiet time). He restores our soul and leads us in His paths (v3).

I wonder how many of us have quiet time or are we on the go and busy 7/24?

"Messages"

Growing up in a large family (14), I was the oldest girl and second in the family from Ohio, as children the atmosphere was that our importance was of little significance except to work. So I grew up feeling that the only way to get any recognition was to work hard. I became a work a holic and thought that was the way it was for everyone else. That is excluding the rich and the spoiled. I knew no other way to get my feeling of importance. There was no love shown.I could feel it from visiting family but not my folks, oh yes, occasionally my dad would give me a hug, but that was far and few between. I had to continually prove my importance, so I grew up to think perfection (what ever that was), was what I needed to do or be.

I got married and had children, it was my goal to be the best wife and mother ever. Well I blew that because I became so demanding and through that I over did it. I had to have everything as perfect as I could get it. I would have parties and beat myself to death, cleaning, cooking, preparing the house and everything for the best party. It was for me, and everyone marveled at everything being so perfect, but some said they could not have us over because they could not compete. I did not want them to compete, we wanted to be invited to their house too!

I was so bad at the perfection part that if I went to bed and noticed that the drape was out of place, I had to get up and fix it so I could sleep. Dumb, but that was the way I thought and thoughts take over. As far as the mother part, I thought I was a very good mother; taking the kids to everything, getting them into everything I could, getting what I could for them, allowing all their friends to come to our house and on and on. Unfortunately, that was not what they really wanted.

I know now that the messages I was sending was not love, it was to work and do for themselves. It was the one thing I did not get that I could not give....love. What a shame, for I loved them above all else and wanted to be the best for them. However, I did teach them some very valuable things and I hope one was to give love and not try to make love.

The messages we pass on are the way we feel and think, children can feel that better than all else. God is love and if you have God in you, you will pass on love without even trying, I am sorry I was not with God as I should have been for my family. God bless each and everyone of you!

"THE PENNY"

Today I walked to the post office and in the middle of the road on the way I spotted a penny. I always pick up the pennies, I think of a penny as pennys from God, he is reminding me that we are not alone and that he is going to help in what we need.

I put the penny in my pocket and kept fingering it. It was rough, beat up and discolored. So often we think the penny has no value, and worst of all if it is beat up and ugly. When infact, any penny has the same value as the other, it spends the same shinny, rough and beat up. We can add it to others and it spends just like new. We can take it to the bank and they will send it to the Federal Reserve Bank where they will either exchange the penny, melt it down, shine it up and have it re-enter the market again.

I could not help thinking how this is the way we see many people. We see only what is on the surface, the battered up outside, the roughness of the personallity, and think they are worthless and have no value. We can help them to see God (The Federal Reserve), and they can be re-established, renewed and return in a new state and back to usefulness. God restores us back to a new person and we become very valuable to others. We all have value in Gods eyes, we just need to bring him into our lives and folow his little voices and he will not steer us wrong. God sees in everyone value. He has a plan for all of us to be used by him.

Ask and he will receive you and meet your where you are and restore you to new again as the penny,you will soon see your value.

God Bless!