A Heart in Perpetual Bloom

a bouquet from my uncle's family

"My soul! Seek from God the spirit of thankfulness, and cultivate habitually the grace of praise. It is a soul-purifying and a God-glorifying grace. It keeps the heart in perpetual bloom, and converts the life into a daily psalm!"

~Octavius Winslow, Consider Jesus

a decorative fall birdhouse from a Bible study friend

Last Thursday, my chronically inflamed gallbladder was surgically removed. Considering that I only fainted once and no one else did, we're calling it a success. (I told the nurse I was a tough stick!)  The recovery crawls along, but no apparent complications have arisen, and the eating restrictions have not been problematic. Eventually my body will learn to digest fat without that little bile pouch, but right now it doesn't know how, so I need to protect it with low dietary fat intake.

Wouldn't it be nice if the chronically inflamed parts of our soul and spirit could be excised in a matter of a few hours under anesthesia? Fear, gluttony, pride, covetousness, lust, anger, gossip, . . . gone in a morning? Then again, perhaps I wouldn't be able to bear the post-op pain for such a soul surgery.

I'm living slowly this week, waiting for pain to subside and strength to return, but I wanted to touch base with you and thank God for His care in these recent days. Thank you for your prayers. May the Lord adorn your life and mine with perpetually blooming hearts full of praise and thanksgiving.

Thank You, Father, for

2307. Your protection and provision in my surgery
2308. Confirmation that this was the cause of my abdominal pain
2309. My surgeon praying with my family and me before I was taken to the OR
2310. One less body part to misbehave
2311. Your presence at home with me
2312. Loving husband working from home 2 days to look after me
2313. Loving husband who knows how to scramble egg whites and not burn toast ;)
2314. Mom and Daddy keeping tabs on me and coming by just for hugs
2315. Ebony's instinctive vigilance
2316. A wren coming to visit the garden yesterday
2317. Flowers from family
2318. Visit from Mezzo
2319. Abundant kindness from my Bible study friends in providing meals through next Monday
2320. One of them bringing a little birdhouse along with the food
2321. Pain medication to help me rest fairly comfortably so I can heal
2322. Sleeping well every night so far except the first one
2323. Every excuse to read a novel
2324. The prayers of God's people
2325. The living God who hears them


 

Remontant {A Repost}

In the current "pruning" season for my family and me, my thoughts keep returning to this post. It was composed in spring at the end of the first blooming of our roses; in the current fall season, the severely pruned roses have begun to bloom again after months of shaggy branches and bare rose hips. The blooms remind me of God's hope. He does not discipline His children to cast them away, beloved. "For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it" (Hebrews 12:11, ESV). If you are in a season of discipline and pruning, dear Crumble, may the Lord strengthen you to "lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees" to press on, eyes fixed on Jesus, in the race of life (Heb. 12:2, 12).

re·mon·tant

–adjective

1. (of certain roses) blooming more than once in a season.

–noun
2. a remontant rose

May blooms so new she still blushes at the attention,

Yet first frenzied flush of flowering already fades,

Sere calyxes bereft of glory.

The catalog assures, "R - repeat bloomer,"

Remontant:

Time to deadhead, then,

Sharp shears in sure hands

Nipping just above a growth bud,

Spurring spent shrub to sprout new stems,

To bloom again,

Bloom much,

Bloom longer.

The wound but paves the way for glory.
       ~crm, 5/6/11

A fresh bloom from one of our remontant roses

"I am the true vine, and My Father is the vineyard keeper. Every branch in Me that does not produce fruit He removes, and He prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit. My Father is glorified by this: that you produce much fruit and prove to be My disciples" (John 15:1-2,8, HCSB).

Butterfly Blessings

What the caterpillar calls the end of the world,

. . .the Creator calls a butterfly.

In the roller-coaster ride of the last two weeks, the arrival of the autumn butterfly migration has proven a perfectly timed gift. Butterflies remind me that God sees and knows me and that what seems a tomb in this life may be the place where wings are grown. I pray our winged visitors' images in this place encourage you and remind you of the hope begotten by the resurrection of Christ.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory (1 Peter 1:3-8, ESV).

Thank You, Creator of the birds and butterflies and wildflowers,
that You who provide unstintingly for them will do no less for Your blood-bought sons and daughters,
for Your sovereignty over weather and timing,
for Amore's labor and foresight in making a garden the bees and butterflies enjoy,
for a believing surgeon with praise music playing in his waiting room,
for confirmation that my abdominal pain this last month requires surgical remediation,
for completion of all the paperwork on time,
for companionship in a very long first appointment with my new rheumatologist,
for the compassion of the physician's assistant who took my history,
for giving them insight (we think) and a plan, pending lab results, to help me heal,
for Your wisdom, foreknowledge, providence, and sovereignty over two pieces of hard employment news in the same day for a loved one,
for an unexpected encounter with and hug from a pew neighbor at Subway,
for grocery shopping with Amore,
for my dad and husband working together on a house project Saturday afternoon,
for more space in the garage than a week ago,
for my first visit to my Nonni's new home yesterday,
for her happiness in this great change,
for a few thoughtful gifts she selected for us in her moving preparations,
for my aunt and uncle's hard work and hours (likely days) of assistance to her in this process,
and for a promising, timely series on Psalm 46 begun today on Revive Our Hearts.
(gratitude list # 2224-2242)

Praying friends, please pray for us this week as we trust God with another outpatient surgery for me Thursday. We're grateful for you! You are always free to share your own prayer requests with me in the comments or by email at crumbsfromhistable [at] gmail [dot] com.



 

The Finish to the Story

"Is it not true that again and again in the biblical picture of things, the story has to be allowed to finish?

"Was it not the case with Lazarus's household at Bethany, and with the two en route to Emmaus? And is it not the case with the Whole Story, actually--that it must be allowed to finish, and that this is precisely what the faithful have been watching for since the beginning of time? In the face of suffering and endurance and loss and waiting and death, what is it that has kept the spirits of the faithful from flagging utterly down through the millennia? Is it not the hope of Redemption? Is it not the great Finish to the Story--and to all their little stories of wandering about in sheepskins and goatskins as well as to the One Big Story of the whole creation, which is in itself groaning and waiting? And is not that Finish called glorious? Does it not entail what amounts to a redoing of all that has gone wrong, and a remaking of all that is ruined, and a finding of all that has been lost in the shuffle, and an unfolding of it all in a blaze of joy and splendor?

"A finding of all that is lost? All sparrows, and all petitions and tears and vigils and fastings? Yes, all petitions and tears and vigils and fastings.

"'But where are they? The thing is over and done with. He [Elisabeth Elliot's second husband, in this case] is dead. They had no effect.'

"Hadn't they? How do you know what is piling up in the great treasury kept by the Divine Love to be opened in that Day? How do you know that this death and your prayers and tears and fasts will not together be suddenly and breathtakingly displayed, before all the faithful, and before angels and archangels, and before kings and widows and prophets, as gems in that display? Oh no, don't speak of things being lost. Say rather that they are hidden--received and accepted and taken up into the secrets of the divine mysteries, to be transformed and multiplied, like everything else we offer to him--loaves and fishes, or mites, or bread and wine--and given back to you and to the one for whom you kept vigil, in the presence of the whole host of men and angels, in a hilarity of glory as unimaginable to you in your vigil as golden wings are to the worm in the chrysalis.

"But how does it work? We may well ask. How does Redemption work?"

     ~Dr. Thomas Howard, "On Brazen Heavens," in his sister Elisabeth Elliot's essay collection On Asking God Why, 26-27, emphasis mine.

Moonflower Prayers {Reflections on Prayer}

Moonflower prayers

Trumpet fragrance into darkness,

Blooming unseen, past expectation,

From day-sown seed.

***********************

Thanks be to God, who gives mercies like manna, apportioned according to each day's need. From the past week:

God's steadiness supporting me in a roller coaster of a week,

landing hard a few times on the Rock of refuge,

enjoyable family dinner last weekend,

a very smooth HIDA scan Monday,

a visit from our little neighbor girl Monday night,

my second-youngest nephew trusting Christ for salvation Monday evening,

my grandmother's courage to leave her home of 51 years,

God's provision through my grandfather of a very nice new home for her,

the happiness in her voice lifting some of the sadness I felt,

ghosts of many good memories and a few tearful at the empty house,

the butterfly migration arriving at just the right moment,

a timely emailed encouragement from a reader I've not met,

blessed fellowship at our last Ephesians Bible study,

test results showing clearly the reason for my abdominal pain,

two new doctors this week,

21 pages of paperwork yet to be completed,

good, inexpensive copiers at the office store for medical records,

rich, encouraging fellowship with a seminary friend over a three-hour lunch,

honeycomb words,

picking up a friendship after a few years out of touch with each other,

praying together to close our time,

hopeful interview for a loved one in need of employment,

blessed rain moving into the area,

time with my beloved this evening.

(gratitude journal 2132-2155)