Busy as can Bee

 Settling into our warm weather routine is always interesting. Three years of living in the country has been eye-opening. The first time we heard coyotes congregating together was creepy. Our first year here, we encountered a plague of frogs and toads. You could not walk at night because you would most assuredly squish one. After that came the invasion of some tiny beetle-like bug that only came out at night. Last year was an ambush of horseflies. My husband never went outside without a tennis racket and I just avoided going outdoors as much as possible. This year is really exciting - snakes! 

Cottonmouth, Tennessee (Photo credit: TomSpinker)

 We rarely see snakes and usually only if we look down in the creek but now they are out flaunting their snake-iness and taunting us at every turn. I almost stepped on one because it was out in the middle of a widely used area looking much like a stick. And, it was no mere snake, it was a Cottonmouth. This became obvious when I was just a foot away. My dog ran in front of me, the snake raised its head and  then displayed its cottony white mouth. I do not know what I said but my husband and son ran over with large logs and threw them on top of the menacing critter. All my natural medicine studies on first aid are not something I really want to put into practice, especially on myself and doubly so, with a venomous snake bite. 


 With that crisis averted, I continued on to my original mission - checking on the bees. Yes, we finally have bees, Carniolans to be exact. They are really amazing. My husband and I put them into the hive and it was intimidating but they really are a gentle kind of bee. I love them. They waste no time. As soon as they were dumped into the hive, they set to work. The few bees that did not survive the journey and the dumping, were promptly drug out of the hive. Any strange insect or bee that tried to invade were met by the guard bees. In a few days we will check on them and make sure the queen is doing her job. 

 Such order and organization, reminds me how important our role is as wives and mothers in light of what God has called us to do. The topic is one that is absolutely rejected by the world. Women love to look at staying home as drudgery  and it is a sacrifice but not one without blessing and joy...if you know Christ. In a Christian home, if the husband is truly fulfilling his role by loving his wife as Christ loved the church then they really carry the heavier burden. It is not always easy to willingly submit ourselves to a husband's authority, there is no doubt about that. Of course I want my way but there is no room to be one if I want my way and he wants his way. When you both fall into your God-prescribed roles, you both put your ways aside and Christ fills you with His way. 

 If you are living with a spouse that does not follow the Lord, you still have a responsibility to lay aside your flesh. It can be challenging but, nonetheless, you are required to do what God calls you to do and He is faithful to give you the strength to carry out your responsibility. If you deny that or whine that you cannot do it, you reject the work of the Holy Spirit. Excuses do not exist that justify slacking in your role, nagging, or cutting off from your husband physically or emotionally. Press on, find joy, and trust God. 

 That was a little necessary ministering to myself. Now I must get back to my responsibilities so I can produce sweet honey in my home. Today's agenda: clean up my husband's office since we moved it to a new room.

Field Trip to Scary Territory

 Sometimes if I listen to to the news or read articles long enough, I can get nervous about the state of affairs that this world is in and how that will affect Christians. This is quite likely the reason that I live under a rock as much as  I do. Well, that and the fact that I am constantly cleaning up after animals, but you heard enough about that from me. 

 Scary territory has been the theme for this past week and that is without keeping abreast of the news. 

 First, my son has asked me to help him get back on track and get back into school. He sort of dropped out after a year and a half and thought that was not the path he wanted to take. Now he has changed his mind. I am excited for him because he really wants the education this time around but he is nervous. Actually, I am not really doing anything except encouraging each step he is taking with awesome analogies like "how do you eat an elephant son?" or singing. "Just a spoonful of sugar, helps the medicine go down..." Even more inspiring is my combining the two into songalogies. "Just a spoonful of sugar helps the elephant go down..." 

 Oh yes, I am Proverbs 31 woman - NOT! Her children will arise and call her "beyond help." 

 The ducks were set free into the pond after I sold one of the males. They are very hesitant about their new territory  but at the same time, they are excited about the water. Better to be cautious than curious though. Curiosity killed the rooster...literally. Guess they are probably safer sticking close to their pen than swimming around for my enjoyment. 

 As for myself, I am trying to get into a program to get certified in an area of natural health. After taking this herbalist class, I have just been bursting with excitement to learn more. My transcripts have to go through plus two letters of recommendation and an essay. This has me more nervous than a duck in a new pond. But, this is not the scariest new ground I am about to tread.

 The scariest title goes to opening up to my new church family, some of which I know really well and some that I do not know at all. The dream of being in a church that is founded on the Bible's account of what church is and being an actual Body has been what I have hoped for but now that it is in my grasp, I am a-feared. 

 Pride is the main root of this fear (are you surprised). It is hard to open up to people you do not know very well and share not just prayer requests for others but for your own struggles. Who wants to cry in front of a bunch of people? And I guarantee you I will because God has given me the leakiest eyeballs ever. I want to obey and yet, I do not, not, not, not, not want to be vulnerable. 

 And yet God is so faithful to patiently teach me. These verses were in my studies this week: 

1 Corinthians 12:24-26

But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.

  Guess what I will be doing Wednesday? Bye, bye rock. 

Personal Twilight Zone

 Today's lighthearted post has been put on hold because I am hesitantly going to take you on a journey to my personal Twilight Zone.

A new day has broken and I awoke to find myself in a place I know all too well but comfort is not a benefit of this familiarity. This place is one that has followed me for most of my life. Years ago I dwelt there ceasing to leave but God (that is a beautiful phrase) pulled me from its bondage. Nowadays it is place that I randomly find myself in and make it a point to promptly vacate. Today I am there and the reason for it is fully known. I was vulnerable. I obeyed God and in doing so, I had to be made humble, drop my pride, apologize, and open up to others.

 The situation required confronting someone but when you have neglected to uphold this responsibility for years, you have to ask forgiveness. In the process, there was sharing of my own struggles and how God is working in my life but sharing those struggles in front of others that I do not really know comes at price for me. It is a fast train to this dark, lonely place. The obedience did not purchase my one way ticket, it was the self-imposed fear of rejection that did that. Truth is not in this place and any means necessary is used to keep me here. "They hate you now," "You cannot face them again," "Everyone will think you are an idiot," and "No one will talk to you again. Ahhh, refreshing as big glass of rotted meat. 

 So, today is a day of walking in Truth. I like to start from the beginning, literally. In the beginning God created...oh...you probably don't want to journey that far. Well, that's okay. I can just share a little lyrical journey in Truth, sort of a rhythmic catechism. Enjoy!

Biblical Illiteracy is for Real and So is Chicken Prolapse

 My post is late
My attitude is bad
Overloaded is my plate
And this poem is sad, sad, sad

 Wasn't I doing a good job keeping my posts up to date every Monday? Too bad it came to an end.  

 You know I love Spring. I do, I do, I doooooo! But, Spring also brings its wagon full of work and at the end of the day, I crash into bed asleep. Sometimes the fodder in my life gets too piled up with manure and sometimes that is not an analogy, it is literal. Chicken coop gets full of chicken manure, duck pen full of duck manure, backyard full of pig and dog manure, fish tank full of fish manure and someone has to clean it up. The funny stories and biblical applications get lost. 


 Some spare time must have cropped up because I read a lot of the Heaven is for Real responses. People...come on. Why must you validate my theories on unicorns? God's Word is divine, inspired Truth. All others are in vain, desperate spoofs with no eternal benefit.

 All ridiculous things must come to an end and I had to take care of a sick chicken. This is my first sick chicken and it is one of my favorite ones, too, so double whammy. Once I caught her, which is no easy feat, I had to hold her in warm water for 15 minutes. Are you getting a visual? 

 Little Miss Brownie the Frizzle chicken seemed to be egg bound but upon thorough examination, it seems she has prolapse of her vent. She had to have her insides pushed back in basically, then rubbed with some soothing hemorrhoid cream. Now she has to rest a few days in a dark, quiet place until she recovers. Yes, I realize that rubbing Preparation H on a chicken's backside is weird and funny.

 The whole experience has made me think though...

 If, and I use that term loosely, some true Christians believe that Heaven is for Real validates the reality of Heaven then maybe they have prolapse, too. Maybe they strained so hard to answer other people's questions about Heaven without checking the Bible that their brain just slid right out of place. Maybe someone should put them in a quiet, dark place with a Bible until they recover.

 But then again, maybe experiences are not what we should use to determine Truth.