Tola, the son of Puah, the son of Dodo

Interesting names, aren't they?  I'm reading in Judges and ran across Tola and Jair today, judges in Israel.  They come after Gideon, the story of whose deeds reads like an amazing adventure story (Judges 6-8...read it yourself!).  Gideon would be a hard act to follow and chapter 10 starts with Tola and Jair, about whom Keil and Delitzsch make the rather stinging comment, "Of these two judges no particular deeds are mentioned, no doubt because they performed none."  Ouch.  


But then the commentary goes on to elaborate and that's where I found some comfort and encouragement for myself today.  "Tola rose up as the deliverer of Israel, even supposing that he simply regulated the affairs of the tribes who acknowledged him as their supreme judge, and succeeded by his efforts in preventing the nation from falling back into idolatry, and thus guarded Israel from any fresh oppression on the part of hostile nations."


Keeping Israel from falling back into idolatry, while it may not qualify as a deed of valor, certainly was an enormous accomplishment, especially when you consider how quickly Israel's heart reverted to idolatry.   And in this I find an example to follow - to be faithful in encouraging others to follow the Lord with their whole heart.  It may not be the "conquering nations" kind of feat.  But helping Jesus conquer even one heart and keep it from idolatry is a worthy endeavor.

A case in point...

A found object - quilt top from my grandmother

Using up the scraps of many different prints

I was lying on the floor exercising this morning when I happened to notice, inside one of the under-bed storage boxes, a quilt top I had forgotten about.  It was one I got after my mom died and I'm pretty sure that it was pieced by my grandmother, Celia Peterson.  Most of the piecing is by hand but a few of the seams connecting blocks are machine sewn.  I'm not sure what decade ii is from - the 1920's or 30's perhaps?
  
The fabrics in the quilt are a perfect example of the "using up the remnants and scraps" I was talking about.  The prints are the kind she would have perhaps gotten to make my grandfather's shirts and her everyday dresses.  Some of the blocks have rather odd, asymmetrical combinations of prints that make me think she was trying to use up whatever she had.  


I remember many times lying in bed looking at the pieces in a quilt and remembering the dress or apron the print came from, whether it was mine, my mother's or grandmother's.  I'm sure if my grandmother were here she could tell me what she had made out of each one.  Little pieces of history, sewn into a quilt.  I wonder what else is hiding under my bed???

Thoughts on a day at the quilt exposition

Almost thirty years ago we were living in Germany and I was blessed to find a group of women who were learning to quilt.  The teacher was a lovely American woman who lived around the corner from us.  I was a novice at quilting but having come from a long line of quilters and wanting to learn I joined the group.  At the first meeting I was astonished to see the beautiful things these women were working on.  But the thing I found most astonishing was that they had all gone out and BOUGHT coordinating fabrics from which they were making their quilts.  A large part of the group discussion was concerned with questions like whether this particular green was right to go with these other colors.  The reason I found this so amazing was that in my experience quilts were always made from the remnants and scraps left from the sewing a woman had done for her family.  These "scrap quilts" were beautiful and useful and to me they spoke of the creativity and resourcefulness of hard-working women who used scraps too precious to waste and, given the limits of their color and pattern selection, were able to create something beautiful and useful.  It somehow seemed like cheating to me that you would just be able to go out and pick all your own colors - where was the challenge in that?  I wasn't sure I liked the idea but I got used to it.

Fast forward thirty years.  Yes, I've been going out and buying fabrics for quilts.  But since we buy most of our clothes ready made these days, who has a big box of cotton scraps lying around?  Well, actually I do but probably many women don't.  So my thinking has evolved on what constitutes a "legitimate" quilt.

What brought these thoughts to mind was an experience I had today.  Becca and I went down to Long Beach to the International Quilt Exposition.  As we wandered through the huge hall we oohed and aaahhhed over the antique quilts on display.  The further we penetrated into the quilts created in the recent past, we both became strangely silent.  After a little while we decided to go check out the vendors.  Here there were hordes of women and hundreds , yea verily thousands! of nearly irresistible bolts of quilting cottons, fat quarters, patterns and every sewing and quilting gizmo and gadget known to man.  Some booths were so tightly crammed with women one had to wait outside until a little opening appeared and then catapult oneself into the space, hoping eventually to get over to see and touch the things on display.  Every so often we'd go back to viewing the quilts, which, oddly, had very few people browsing through them.

After a couple forays we looked at each other and had to confess that we really didn't like what we were seeing.  The workmanship and detail on these quilts is beyond belief.  The subject matter and message of the quilts was, however, vastly different from that of my old quilts.  A quilt that shows the abstract form of a naked woman, or one depicting a giant pink octopus with his arms wrapped around a clock tower, or one with the four foot wide head of a child painted in thread across the quilt, or one with rubber ducks glued to the surface - well, even though the workmanship is amazing and I admit that they are works of modern art I have to say that they didn't appeal to me.  The execution may be flawless but I don't like the message.

So once again the concept of "quilt" has been re-defined and there's no stopping progress.  I'll go on making my old-fashioned kind of quilts and I guess that's legitimate.  Maybe art is most valuable when it's an expression of who we truly are.  But my feet hurt too much tonight to think very deeply about that...

Matters too difficult for me

I have been ruminating on the topic of humility lately, the result of a Bible study I was engaged in with some friends.  Always an enlightening study.  A new National Geographic arrived this week and I was reading the article on fossils of amazing whales that are found in the middle of an Egyptian desert (!).  The subtitle is "An Egyptian desert, once ocean, holds the secret to one of evolution's most remarkable transformations."  The article is fascinating and contains about 20 pages of text and photos.  The last two paragraphs captured my attention, though.  One of the researchers is a man who "ironically, himself grew up in a strictly principled Christian environment, in a family of Amish Mennonites in eastern Iowa.  'My grandfather had an open mind about the age of the Earth', he says, 'and never mentioned evolution.  Remember, these were people of great humility, who only expressed an opinion on something when they knew a lot about it.' "  


I really like what he said.  I was reminded of Psalm 131:  O Lord, my heart is not proud, nor my eyes haughty; nor do I involve myself in great matters, or in things too difficult for me.  Surely I have composed and quieted my soul."


At the end of our discussion on humility last night we made a list of things that reveal whether we have true humility.  Here are a few of the things:
- Do I have a sense of turmoil?  Is this "all about me"?
-How much of my conversation revolves around "I" and "me"?
-Am I able to accept God's grace for past sins and failures?
-Am I miffed if I do not receive recognition for my accomplishments, my appearance, my status?
-Do I associate with the lowly or do I seek out those who will make me look good?
-Do I defend myself or am I teachable?
-Do I express criticism or do I look for signs of grace in other peoples' lives and give thanks?


I think the comment in Nat'l Geo points out to me another checkpoint for humility - do I express opinions on things I know little about or do I compose and quiet my soul in God?

Hanging on by a thread

One of the things I never visualized myself doing was piecing a quilt by hand. Then I discovered Inklingo. It's an ingenious system for printing the patterns on the fabric using your ordinary printer. Snip, snip, cut them out. Love it. Every piece perfect and marked for sewing. Now I'm addicted. Sewing by hand is so peaceful and relaxing; the feel of the thread between my fingers...ahhhh.

The first thing I've "inklingoed" are these stars. Getting those points matching perfectly...? So much easier with this system. Today I started the next step of adding the frame around the star. More pointy joins but still no huge problems. I figure I'll get better as I go along. It is so lovely to have this little project to pick up in spare minutes and see something grow. I have my printed and cut out pieces in a lovely little handmade basket my friend Tee Bayless sent me. Handy dandy.

One more time

After two years of fussing and fertilizing, potting and pruning, tying and transplanting - only to have some very inferior tasting tomatoes that only the birds seemed to love - well, I resolved this year NOT to raise tomatoes in pots on the balcony. Heck, I know when I'm beat. This resolve went the way of all resolutions, of course, when persistent little tomato plants kept popping up in my pots, the seeds lurking in the compost I so lovingly make and distribute. I was ruthless, though, and only allowed one random plant to continue growing. I even went so far as to transplant it and give it more compost. It has now grown to the stately height of five feet and is covered with blossoms and little cherry tomatoes that are ripening in the hot sun. I was delighted to find it was a cherry tomato, hoping that perhaps they would have some flavor. Time will tell, unless the birds get there first.

I was also blessed by two potted pepper plants and a potted eggplant given to me by a friend of Anne's. Unfortunately the eggplant doesn't seem to be thriving. I can't figure out if I'm giving it too much water or it's getting too much sun. This is my maiden voyage with eggplant. It has five eggplants on it though. Perhaps they will make it to maturity. Perhaps not.

I much prefer the German (probably French) word for eggplant - aubergine. Why give a beautiful thing an ugly name? If the aubergine make it they will serve double duty because I plan to use those deep purple fruits as a centerpiece first. The plants also have lovely furry leaves.

I was thinking back to the farm today, remembering how every seed you stick in that rich black soil sprouts and bears fruit, "some thirty, some sixty, and some a hundredfold".

Answers in unexpected places

If someone were to tell me, "Write a paper explaining everything you know on the topic of 'The Sabbath' " I'm afraid I wouldn't have been able to write much. Oh sure, I know about the command to honor the Sabbath, etc. My understanding of the reason for the Sabbath, however, has always been woefully shallow. Knowing something is important to God is one thing. Knowing why is another.

Answers come in unexpected places. The other day I was reading K&D's commentary on Isaiah 58 and was absolutely floored and enlightened by their words. The discussion began at vs 13 "If because of the sabbath, you turn your foot from doing your own pleasure on My holy day, and call the sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable, and shall honor it, desisting from your own ways, from seeking your own pleasure and speaking your own word, (14) then you will take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; and I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken."

Here, slightly abridged by my own discretion and emphases of my own added, are K&D's thoughts:

The third part of the prophecy now adds to the duties of human love the duty of keeping the Sabbath, for the service of works is sanctified by the service of worship. The duty of keeping the Sabbath is also enforced by Jeremiah (17:19ff) and Ezekiel (20:12ff; 22:8,26), and the neglect of this duty severely condemned. The Sabbath, above all other institutions appointed by law, was the true means of uniting and sustaining Israel as a religious community, more especially in exile, where a great part of the worship necessarily fell into abeyance on account of its intimate connection with Jerusalem and the holy land; but while it was a Mosaic institution so far as its legal appointments were concerned, it rested, in a way which reached even beyond the rite of circumcision, upon a basis much older than that of the law, being a ceremonial copy of the Sabbath of creation, which was the divine rest established by God as the true object of all motion; for God entered into Himself again after He had created the world out of Himself, that all created things might enter into Him. In order that this, the great end set before all creation, and especially before mankind, viz., entrance into the rest of God, might be secured, the keeping of the Sabbath prescribed by the law was a divine method of education, which put an end every week to the ordinary avocations of the people, with their secular influence and their tendency to fix the mind of outward things, and was designed by the strict prohibition of all work to force them to enter into themselves and occupy their minds with God and His word. The prophet does not hedge round this commandment to keep the Sabbath with any new precepts, but merely demands for its observance full truth answering to the spirit of the letter.
Again, if you call (i.e. from inward contemplation and esteem) the Sabbath a pleasure (because it leads you to God, and not a burden because it leads you away from your everyday life; cf Amos 8:5) and the holy one of Jehovah honorable...then, just as the Sabbath is your pleasure, so will you have your pleasure in Jehovah, i.e. enjoy His delightful fellowship and He will reward you for your renunciation of earthly advantages with a victorious reign, with an unapproachable possession of the high places of the land - i.e., chiefly, though not exclusively, of the promised land - and with the free and undisputed usufruct of the inheritance promised to your forefather Jacob, - this will be your glorious reward.

I am a visual thinker and the picture they paint of God entering into Himself after He had created the world out of Himself and His desire to draw all men into Himself...well, that picture of the Sabbath was an entirely new one for me. And I must say a convincing one. How well I know that unless one periodically ceases from the active pursuit of daily outward things one will rarely "enter into themselves and occupy their minds with God and His word."

I'm not advocating a strict adherence to the outward form of keeping the Sabbath. But I see for myself the need to plan in periods of conscious ceasing/fasting from daily outward things to occupying my heart with God and drawing into His rest.

I could never hope to say it as well as K&D but if I had to write that paper, at least now I think I'd have a few more millimeters of depth to my answer.

Shared Riches

One of the absolute delights of this season in my life comes from the convergence of two gifts: the gift of unhurried time to bask in God's Word and the gift of a set of books - Keil and Delitzsch's Commentary on the Old Testament, 10 volumes of inestimable value. I share so often from the things I've gleaned from K&D that Pete has suggested that I write a book that simply highlights my sifted riches from their writings. I see merit in the idea because their commentary is not an easy one to read. Most people simply do not have the time to comb through discussions of the innuendos of different Hebrew words and the comparison of various commentators' exegeses of passages to arrive at the nuggets of truth buried at the heart.

I happen to have the luxury of doing exactly that and every day my heart beats a little quicker in anticipation of the riches I know I am likely to find. These godly expositors had an amazing gift for putting each passage of the OT into the overall context of salvation history. One might expect biblical scholars from the mid-1800's to have written something that, while accurate and scholarly, was dry and dusty. In reality, their words have an amazing freshness of truth, faith and devotion. When I die and my children go through my books I'm sure they will wonder at my worn copies and at all the red pencil lines highlighting passages of explanations.

All of that as a foundation for what I really wanted to write about. But perhaps that should be a separate post...