Eternal message of a short life

I confess that Abel, of “Cain and Abel” fame, is one Biblical character I've never given much thought to. Actually, no thought whatever beyond a passing glimpse as I re-read the tragic story of his murder by his jealous brother. For me, Abel was shrouded in a cloud of unknowing and not understanding. It seems he appeared so briefly on the stage of history and was plucked up so quickly from it. What in the world did his life have to say?

This year as I undertook to memorize Hebrews 11 Abel suddenly stood front and center on the stage, the leader of all those in that great hall of fame of the faithful. In this beautiful passage of inspired Scripture, the writer talks first about faith in general, then creation and then the first person he mentions by name as living by faith is Abel: “By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.” Hebrews 11:4 NASB

I'm so grateful for Hebrews 11 because it gives us a lens through which to interpret people and events of the past. All of history, actually.  When I look at Abel I see someone who enters the stage and then quickly exits it. When GOD looks at Abel, He sees a person of faith who actually has the longest speaking voice of anyone in history! I've been challenged and encouraged by that last phrase of verse 4: and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks. Yes, Abel was on the stage of life for a short time. But his faith during that short time has given him an immortal voice. And what he has had to say through all those long millennia of time is significant. Bruce Waltke, speaking about how God rewards the faithful in various ways, says this: Abel believed God, and he died. Enoch believed in God, and he did not die. Noah believed God, and everybody else died...the first three heroes of faith celebrated by the writer of Hebrews (11:4-7)...experienced radically divergent results from their faith. The common denominator of their faith is that they all pleased God.¹ One of the important truths I learn from this verse is that faith does not guarantee a long life but it enables whatever life I'm granted to have significance in terms of pleasing God and giving him glory. And since giving God glory is the purpose of life, faith enables me to fulfill my purpose regardless of the length of my life or visible outcome of my service. Faith enables every person, regardless of their circumstances, to please God and to have significance in His eyes.

Instead of looking at Abel as a “tragic” figure, I now see him as someone who fulfilled his purpose in God's kingdom in an incredible way. His example shows me that faith doesn't necessarily guarantee justice in this life. It also teaches me that the outcome of my faith doesn't end when my life does. It shows me that every act of faith is significant in God's eyes. Abel's act of faith and God's testimony about it earned him the murderous wrath of his brother. Nevertheless, his life has borne testimony for thousands of years and will continue to speak to encourage people of faith through all time. It is hard to imagine that a long and peaceful earthly life for Abel could have produced a more fruitful outcome than the short one by which he glorified God! His father Adam certainly had a much longer life (930 years) and yet Abel, not Adam, is the one who leads the parade of faithful in Hebrews 11. Faith, not any other criterion, is the measure of my significance. And this is eminently logical when we realize that our significance comes not from how much pleasure we extract from life, how many things we accomplish or experience but from how much glory we give to God whose ultimate purpose for the world is “to glorify himself by establishing his universal rule over his volitional creatures on earth through Jesus Christ and his covenant people.”² My faith aligns me with that storyline, establishes God's rule over my life. And Abel's short life still speaks those truths to me, even though he has been dead for thousands of years.  For me, Abel, no longer shrouded in mystery is now shrouded in wonder.

1Waltke, Bruce K. with Charles Yu. An Old Testament Theology: an exegetical, canonical, and thematic approach, 1^st ed. 2007, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan. p. 287

2Ibid, p. 144

Uglies to Ruglies

As a child, you kind of take things in your home and family for granted.  When I was growing up, our home was filled with colorful rag rugs that were made by my grandfather on an old, handmade floor loom.  I guess I assumed everyone's grandpa made rugs.  My grandmother would take old clothes, cut the buttons off them, remove any zippers and rip or cut the cloth into strips which she would then wind into balls.  Gramps would take these balls of strips and weave them into sturdy rugs.  There were stacks of neatly folded rugs of every imaginable color and combination in their house.  Some were given as gifts and the whole family was supplied with them.  It was always fun to look through them and pick out which designs and colors I liked best.   I still have a number of those rugs and treasure every one.  I don't think Grams and Gramps ever heard the word "recycling" but they certainly had the concept mastered.

Back home on the farm (in Illinois) waiting for my return is the same old loom.  It's been moved a few times but ended up back where it started (although it was old when it came to our family so who knows where it started or how old it is).  It's set up in a big sunny room on the second story of our garage.  I used to help my aunt warp it for her rugs so I learned how she did it.  The method was effective but very time-consuming.  I figured there had to be an easier way if one only knew it!

Fast forward a few years to living here in California.  I discovered a local adult ed program offered weaving classes.  There aren't many places where you can learn to weave any more so in January I started the class.  My hope was to learn more about looms so I could work with our old loom better.  The class has been great and I am working on a smaller loom there but the principles will all carry over.  I'm looking forward to getting the old loom up and running again when we move back.  There's just something about weaving that appeals to me.

To that end, I thought I'd clean out my fabric stash and get ready to make my own rag rugs.  Most people who sew have a fabric addiction to one degree or another and I'm no exception.  My stash fills a good sized armoire.  In sorting and organizing my fabrics I came across a number of pieces that made me shake my head and ask myself, "What was I thinking when I bought that piece of fabric???"  But now I've started a fabric recycling project that I call my Uglies to Ruglies Project.  I'm taking the "What was I thinking?" fabrics (and other remnants) and ripping them into strips which I wind into balls.  Eventually they will find their way into rugs.  Even the most heinous fabric design will work when it is scrunched up and woven into a rug.  One quilter I know says, "If it's still ugly, you just haven't cut it small enough yet."  The same goes for weaving - rip it into thin strips and it works.  Here are some of my balls of "uglies" that are waiting to become "ruglies". 

And here's Mary and me learning to use a warping board at our class.  It's a simple but brilliant invention.  

And finally, the loops and braids of warp ready to be tied on to the loom.  Unbelievable but it really worked!  Gramps would be proud of me.

The home stretch for this trip

The sands of time are running out on this visit to Illinois.  I said to Pete at dinner, "I wish we had just one more week here."  He said, "We'd never leave if we did."  So I guess it's good we're leaving on Wednesday.

We had to get up at dawn today and this is what I saw out the west window.  Can you see the two stars?

And this is what I saw out the east window.

We hustled through some chores to be ready when the guys came to blow in insulation.  They added 10 inches of cellulose above the living room and kitchen.  When they were done, Pete fired up the new carpet steamer (same model we have in CA) and I started boiling water for it.  I had to go upstairs in the garage to search for something to heat large quantities of water.  I felt like I'd "stuck in a thumb and pulled out a plum" when my eye lit on these old treasures.  They haven't seen the heat of a stove for many a decade but two of the three were water tight and served perfectly to heat many gallons of water.

While Pete was steaming the carpets and I was boiling water, I decided to take the second oven door apart (I'd done one already) and clean all the glass.  That led to cleaning both ovens.  I also cleaned the concrete floor in the basement one more time.  Then it was off to town for lunch.  We spent the afternoon setting up wireless internet for Maynard and Sue.  And Pete put up new doorbells on the front and back doors.  Tonight we want to install blinds and wash the basement floor.  Then we'll be done with the big projects for this trip.  

I had a burn pile going out behind the pig house this morning.  Lots of construction bits, boxes, dead branches from the yard and old stuff to burn.  It just wouldn't have seemed right if I hadn't had at least one big conflagration.  One of the joys of country life.  

We've been in California seven and a half years now.  I just re-read some of the blog posts I wrote when we were newly transplanted and it brought into sharp focus some of the changes that have occurred - internally as well as externally - in our lives in these last years.  

There hasn't been a time during the years here that I haven't felt the desire to be "back home" on the farm.  From the beginning, however, we made the choice to embrace the life God has given us here.  And from today's perspective, I cannot imagine my life without the experiences and relationships that have HUGELY blessed and enriched my life out here.  God has deconstructed and reconstructed so many aspects of my life, accomplished so much healing, and given so many opportunities for growth.  Just like the California sunshine causes things to flourish, these years have been a flourishing season for us, not because of the climate and location but because of God's work.  The relationships He's given us have made us immeasurably richer and for that we are immeasurably thankful.  These have been golden years in the Golden State. 

We aren't leaving California and our life here yet.  But somehow knowing there is a definite end in sight gives a different perspective on life.  I think it's what Moses was talking about in asking God to teach us to number our days.  For many years I've had that verse framed above my desk:  "So teach me hourly to contemplate the fleeting character and brevity of my lifetime, that I may present to you a heart of wisdom."  I think that must be Keil and Delitzsch's translation of Psalm 90:12 because it's not any recognizable version.  Life is fleeting and brief and during that short interval we must somehow cultivate a heart of wisdom.  We can only do that if we gain an eternal perspective during this short earthly sojourn.

The other day I mentioned to Pete that when I look back over my life I have so few regrets but the one regret I do have is that I didn't trust God more.  He immediately agreed with me and said, "Amen and amen!"  For the life of me, I can't understand why that has been a struggle.  But perhaps that's sort of like a healed blind person trying to remember what it was like to be blind.  

   

A dabbler's dream come true

As long as I can remember, I have loved learning crafts that were once necessary for life and which now have been replaced by industrial processes.  I've learned how to make soap, churn butter, make bread out of home-ground flour, knit, keep bees, roast coffee beans, shear a sheep, quilt, raise a garden, prune an orchard, keep small poultry, spin wool, do heirloom sewing, make candles from my bees' wax, can and dehydrate food, make jams and jellies, hook rugs, upholster furniture and make cheese from our goat's milk.  You name it, I've probably tried it.  I once even learned to make a basket, albeit a very wobbly one.  The irony of all this is that as a student I was never really terribly interested in history and these are all pretty much historical skills.  It was science that captured me but maybe it's the science of these different things that appeals to me.  And while I absolutely LOVE learning new skills, I have never felt compelled to perfect any single one of them or specialize in any one of them.  I just sort of dabble in them.   I want to understand and be "capable" but have no desire to limit myself to any one thing.  And heaven knows I've never turned any of them into anything profitable! As my dear husband can attest, these were never "profitable" ventures by any stretch of the imagination.  I strongly believe, however, that value should not always be measured in riches as much as in enrichment.  I've been very enriched simply by the learning and most especially by the people I've met and learned from along the way.  And I hope I've enriched a few people by passing along the things I've learned.

Today another of my dreams started to come true - today I joined a class to learn to spin and weave.  I've spun yarn from my sheep's wool before but was self-taught and I'm sure I have a lot to learn.  And I have woven on small and large looms before but again, pretty much self-taught.  There aren't many places you can go for classes in these things and I'm fortunate enough to live near one of them.   So today I took the plunge and signed myself up.  I can already tell it's going to be a life-changing experience!  I was astonished to see the number and types of looms in the room.  One of the first orders of business was to be assigned my very "own" loom.  That's enough to give a crafter heart-palpitations.  Oh, what a little beauty I begin my learning on.

This is a 24 inch four-harness loom and if that doesn't mean anything to you, don't worry about it.  It's a BEAUT.  Weaving requires you to learn a whole new vocabulary of loom parts - everything from dents, lams, reeds, rockers, rollers, harnesses and heddles to beaters, brakes, beams and aprons.  My head was swimming just listening to the experienced women talking about their looms and projects.  It also requires you to learn to read a weaving pattern (there's probably a special name for that, too, but I don't know it yet).  And I've already discovered that there is a LOT of math involved.  No calculus, just simple math so there's hope for me.  I chose a simple pattern for my first project and this is what the plan looks like.  I'm going to make a table runner using cotton warp and for the weft I'm going to use wool yarn I spun from my own sheep.  At least that's the plan right now.

The thing that captured me with this pattern was the note at the top, telling its history.  It is the pattern used to make a homespun linen towel (still in existence, at least at the time the pattern was published) that was woven by one Catherine Flick in Gettysburg, PA in 1776.  That just blows my mind.

Before I start I have to "dress the loom" which I suspect will take a while as I have to learn everything from the ground up.   Today I worked with a warping board (more math) and next week I'll get busy putting the permanent warp on.  I'm really gonna be looking forward to Mondays!  It's a dabbler's dream come true.

My first encounter with a guava

Since moving to California my familiarity with fruits like kumquat, persimmon, pomegranate, papaya and mango has grown.  I love kumquats, persimmon and pomegranates and am on friendly terms with all the others.  I will never forget the morning I set the breakfast table with homemade bread, fresh strawberries, blueberries, melon and pineapple.  Micah (4 or 5 at the time) came to the table, looked around and asked, "Where's the mango?"  Even a grandmother has to roll her eyes once in a while.  

Saturday a friend gave me some guavas from her tree.  I had to ask her how to eat it, never having seen a guava in my life.  So today I gave it a try.  Hmmmm.  Let's just say I won't be rushing out to buy a guava tree anytime soon.  But it was definitely interesting.  Maybe in a smoothie?  I even resorted to YouTube for How to eat a guava (always ready to believe I'm doing something wrong here) but even that didn't make a convert out of me.  Those seeds are surely high in fiber but kind of a hurdle to the palate.  Maybe it's an acquired taste?  

Aren't these persimmons lovely?  Friend Candice blessed me with them.  Yum.

In Catherine Marshall's book Christy I believe there is a story about how finding a persimmon tree with fruit on it saved a mountain family from starvation.  They were able to harvest and sell the fruit at premium price and buy what they needed to get through the winter.  That gave me a kindly feeling toward persimmons even though I had no idea what a persimmon was when I read the book eons ago.  I'll have to see if I can find that book and story.  Amazing how a good story can stay with you through the decades.  Hmmmm...seems like no matter what topic I start thinking about it always ends up back at a book.
  

Bunny rug

I have never heard of a four year old asking for a hooked rug but apparently watching me hook rugs gave Lucas the idea that he wanted his own rug.  And of course it had to be one depicting his favorite animal, a bunny.  So when he asked me if I would make him a bunny rug I said, "Of course!"   He immediately wanted to cut the wool strips for it.  I tried to explain that "these things take preparation and time" but what is time to a four year old?  He had a bee in his bonnet so we cut a few wool strips just to satisfy him that the bunny rug was on its way to becoming reality.

A few days later when he came to visit he looked around and whispered in my ear, "Where's my bunny rug?"  And a week later at his birthday party he opened all his presents with apparent joy but a moment later he whispered into my ear, "Oma, you forgot my bunny rug."  Obviously, this bunny rug was not the whim of a moment.  So Oma got to work.  It had to be a small bunny rug because large ones just take too long.  But small ones are doable and here, at last, is Lucas' bunny rug.  Of course Micah wanted a rug, too, and when I vetoed the idea of a ninjago rug (whatever that is) and a few other flash in the pan ideas he agreed to a squirrel rug.  That one is still in the works.  Thanks to my talented friend Mary Johnson of Designs in Wool for the delightful patterns.