Water me!

As temps reach into the high 90's (and above), watering my tomato plants, herbs, flowers and roses has become part of my morning ritual. If I forget, they show it by 4 p.m. wilting pitifully.

We need spiritual watering every day or we, too, wilt under the heat of the day's demands and stresses, even its joys and successes.

Dear God, water me!

Farm report

I harvested my first 2 tomatoes over the holiday weekend. They're tiny and have end rot, but they're still mine! I salvaged what I could and made bruschetta. Dinner guests swore they could taste the home grown among the store bought. :-)

I also harvested basil and made pesto. If Italian grandmothers could make it without a food processor, so can I! It too about 30 minutes of chopping but was worth it. Really good.

Jesus said, "The harvest is ready. Send harvesters into the fields..." What good is growth unless it's put to good use? Even tomatoes with end rot have value, and so does every person. How will God use me today, harvest the growth that's been nurtured over the years in me?

Independence Day 2010

We sang "America, the Beautiful" at the end of Mass this morning. I'm not an overly patriotic person, but that song stirs in me pride in my country and hopes for our future. It reminds me of the faith of our founders and the prayer that undergirded their efforts toward independence. Singing of "purple mountain majesty" reminds me of the mountain vistas that have taken my breath away. "The fruited plain" reminds me of the agricultural communities in which I've lived and how beautiful those fields were in the heart of summer. We Americans have so much for which to be grateful. We take too much for granted and pray too little for our future.

At least I do.

An exorcism

Yesterday, every time I typed a topic into a search engine, full page advertisements appeared. I told the resident computer expert (David) that my computer was demon possessed. He asked: "What have you been doing?"

Innocent little me? Honestly, I don't know. But somehow thirty-four run-of-the-mill little demons and one big ol' bad devil of a root virus had not only taken up residence, but organized a coup. This machine was no longer 'mine'.

Who did this? Why create mayhem for an anonymous stranger? How can someone, presumably, find pleasure in that?

It's beyond me.

However, I do know: If it weren't for David's expertise, I'd still be wandering around in the wilderness of annoying, unwanted advertisements.

Our lives can be taken over, too, by habits and ways of thinking that destroy our lives and the lives of others. God has given us a way out, in effect leading us out of the wilderness of self-destruction. Through Christ, God rescues and restores us. How cool is that?