{"id":285,"date":"2017-12-03T17:17:35","date_gmt":"2017-12-03T17:17:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/marklandbenson.org\/wp\/?p=285"},"modified":"2017-12-03T17:17:35","modified_gmt":"2017-12-03T17:17:35","slug":"mums-and-a-word","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marklandbenson.org\/wp\/?p=285","title":{"rendered":"Mums and a Word"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our area has been hanging onto just enough warmth to leave the hope and possibility of healthy plant life–no frost has arrived to officially announce winter is coming. Given the continued possibility of plant life my wife has been asking me to keep up on watering our garden and potted plants. I have protested, saying that surely no more garden vegetables are coming and surely the mums are dead dead dead. Here are photos today as evidence of my viewpoint.<\/p>\n

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Mum 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Mum 2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Mum 3<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Mum 4<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Mum 5<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So, it ought to be case closed but I have found in life that my wife is often right even when I think she is not and even if she is wrong it is usually a very good idea to go along with her. Lest any of you take this the wrong way I am going to take a slight detour to one scripture. I could go on here for a long time about the uniqueness of the marriage relationship among all others on earth, what that involves, and how we are so good at messing that all up but I won’t and if you want to hear more send me a message and we’ll have a blog post (or many) on just this.<\/p>\n

No, to stay on\u00a0mums<\/em> and to try to dispel the notion of any of the following: that I am afraid of my wife, that she’ll make my life miserable if I don’t do what she wants, that I am banking my good behavior in exchange for something I want from her or any other wrong idea. All are false. That is not to say that early on we were not just as baffled and lost on what marriage was but, with experience, it has come down to very simple terms for me. I am convinced this is the model for every man in marriage.<\/p>\n

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ephesians 5:25 (HCSB)<\/p>\n

In case you do not know how Christ gave Himself for the church.<\/p>\n

But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Romans 5:8 (HCSB)<\/p>\n

That is the commitment of a husband to his wife. No conditions. Now back to mums.<\/p>\n

So, I water the garden, the hanging plants, and then the mums. As I am watering the last mum, here is what I find.<\/p>\n

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On closer inspection!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The mum landscape looked pretty grim. I wanted to say dead dead dead, not worth our time and attention, not worth the water we were putting on them. Yet, when I bent down and looked more closely there was life and beauty.<\/p>\n

So, I say two things to you on behalf of the mums (they don’t talk much).<\/p>\n

Bloom Where You Are Planted<\/strong><\/p>\n

We are in the habit of being dissatisfied with our circumstances, blaming them for our failures, and looking forward to some change before we can make a difference in the world or be satisfied or happy. Messages hit us all the time that we need to change our hair,\u00a0bigger<\/em> our bank account balance, buy a new (car, gadget, etc.), go on a diet \/ exercise plan, get a new mate, change jobs, and so on. I have spent far too much time thinking about that next thing or new place or why it is so unfortunate that I don’t have more. One day while job hunting (even though already gainfully employed) God helped me see myself in the example of another. Here is the (slightly tailored) scripture that resonated so boldly with me then and now.<\/p>\n

Who knows if perhaps you were [put in this place] for just such a time as this?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Esther \u00a04:14b (NLT)<\/p>\n

I think to myself\u00a0I haven’t gotten the promotion I was promised<\/em> and\u00a0my coworkers are unbelievers<\/em> and\u00a0the system is broken<\/em> and … then … I think who will be light in a dark place if those who are supposed to be the light leave? Perhaps I am here to show that a person can do their best job even if they don’t get the promotion. Perhaps I am here to live out my belief in front of those who do not (yet) believe. Perhaps I am here to improve and work within the system and to deliver products and services that meet needs even in a poor system. Perhaps …<\/p>\n

Be a Good Gardener (or Shepherd)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wherever you have been given influence or authority or just presence, I (and the mums) call on you to not discount the darkness. What I mean is that I know how easy it is to drive or walk by the person asking for a hand out by telling yourself that they are just cheating you or are going to drink the money away or that the charity who is asking for money is just going to waste it. What I mean is that I know how easy it is to think that the government or the big business or whomever has more than enough and we can take some for ourselves for our own pleasure. What I mean is that I know the feeling that picking up the Bible or going into a church building sounds boring, intimidating, and useless. What I mean is that I know looking at someone who has failed you time and time again or appears to be of no worth and wanting nothing to do with them.<\/p>\n

God dedicates the entire chapter of Luke 15 talking about how we are to seek out those in dark places (and to choose to come of of dark places into the light) and what great a joy it is that a single person might be saved out of darkness, even and especially those who have strayed far. Here is a tidbit (read the full chapter for yourself).<\/p>\n

In the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels when even one sinner repents.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Luke 15:10<\/p>\n

Wherever you are in life today, I am convinced you are there for a purpose. My prayer is that you would yield yourself over to the opportunity to bring light and do good where you are and that you would allow the Good Shepherd to call and equip you in every such opportunity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our area has been hanging onto just enough warmth to leave the hope and possibility of healthy plant life–no frost has arrived to officially announce winter is coming. Given the continued possibility of plant life my wife has been asking me to keep up on watering our garden and potted plants. I have protested, saying […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marklandbenson.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marklandbenson.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marklandbenson.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marklandbenson.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marklandbenson.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=285"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/marklandbenson.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":296,"href":"https:\/\/marklandbenson.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285\/revisions\/296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marklandbenson.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marklandbenson.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marklandbenson.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}