God's peace versus the world's peace

A few days ago I came across this verse in my quiet time with the Lord, as I'm going through the book of John.

John 14:27
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the
world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be
afraid.
KJV

So, there's true peace from the Lord and false peace from the world. I had heard this before and even acknowledged it, but a light bulb went off in my head. It spurred my curiosity.

So how do we know when we are feeling true peace versus false peace? Gotta love the PC Study Bible. Here's a couple commentaries on this verse.

John 14:25-27
The world's gifts concern only the body and time; Christ's
gifts enrich the soul for eternity: the world gives lying vanities, and that
which will cheat us; Christ gives substantial blessings, which will never fail
us: the world gives and takes; Christ gives a good part that shall never be
taken away.
The peace which Christ gives is infinitely more valuable than
that which the world gives. The world's peace begins in ignorance, consists with
sin, and ends in endless troubles; Christ's peace begins in grace, consists with
no allowed sin, and ends at length in everlasting peace. As is the difference
between a killing lethargy and a reviving refreshing sleep, such is the
difference between Christ's peace and the world's.(from Matthew Henry's
Commentary on the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition, Electronic Database.
Copyright (c) 1991 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.)

"A killing lethargy" reminded me of when some say that those in overt sin eventually seer their conscience, accepting the world's peace as a substitute for the real thing.

John 14:27
1. Not as the objects which men commonly pursue-pleasure, fame,
wealth. They leave care, anxiety, remorse. They do not meet the desires of the
immortal mind, and they are incapable of affording that peace which the soul
needs.

2. Not as the men of the world give. They salute you with empty
and flattering words, but their professed friendship is often reigned and has no
sincerity. You cannot be sure that they are sincere, but I am.

3. Not as systems of philosophy and false religion give. They profess to give peace, but it is not real. It does not still the voice of conscience; it does not take away sin; it does not reconcile the soul to God.

4. My peace is such as meets all the wants of the soul, silences the alarms of conscience, is fixed and sure amid all external changes, and will abide in the hour of death and forever. How desirable, in a world of anxiety and care, to possess this peace! and how should all who have it not, seek that which the world can neither give nor take away! (from Barnes' Notes, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1997 by Biblesoft)

To have such peace with the Lord, that you are ready to die, without fear or thinking "Am I truly in right standing with God?"

Many questions arise for me.

How do we relate to one that is not walking with the Lord (they may be of another religion all together) and says that they are at peace?

How do we explain to someone that has never experienced the peace of Christ, what it is like?

What about the one that apparently did walk with the Lord and is now walking in overt, Biblically-stated sin and claims that they are "at peace"?

I suppose the analysis of deception is relevant here. A person that is deceived doesn't know they are deceived because they are deceived.

Phil 4:7
And the peace of God, which passeth all
understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

KJV

In some ways, this verse makes it even more "sticky". It passes all understanding. We can't put words around it and package it with a bow. It is much deeper than that.

So when we are to "let the peace of God rule in [our] hearts" (Col 3:15a), how do we know if we are experiencing true, Godly peace? It passes all understanding. It's like trying to explain to someone how you knew when you had met your spouse and you were going to spend the rest of your life with them.

"I just knew." (with a huge smile)

The singles that you are talking to give you blank stares or say, "Yea, right. Now tell us really how you knew!"

"No. Honestly. I just KNEW."

"Ok, Ok. Now tell us the nuts and bolts of how you knew."

"That's all I can tell you. I just knew." (another huge smile)

How do I know when I'm at peace with God? I just know...with a deep, restful, beyond understanding knowing. And it seems that the longer that the "Lord and I walk through the fields together", my spirit is more and more sensitive as to whether I am at peace with Him. He is faithful to lead and guide, bringing me back to an ever deeper closeness with Himself, when I have begun to drift or made a decision that was not His best.

He is SO good. There is no better feeling on earth than being at complete peace with God our Father.

Sewing modest clothing

I have seen post after post from women that are frustrated at trying to purchase decent clothing for themselves and their children, specially their daughters. We have become a culture that wants to flaunt our bodies. In the process, clothing designers have moved that philosophy down to even our children...and people are buying them.

It is sad that at 4 and 5 years of age, my husband and I are having to teach our children to look away and guard their eyes when there are those walking around stores in little more than bikinis. It is a skill that they will need to utilize for the rest of their lives. "Oh, be careful little eyes what you see..."

I understand that there are different perspectives on what is modest, but I am simply presenting here a few ideas that we have incorporated.

Though this post has the potential to get into quite a debate, my heart is to share that it is possible to sew modest dresses for your daughters and yourselves (I'm talking to women here although I'm sure there's men out there that may want to tackle such a project as well.) if that is on your heart. I am here to say, "Rah! Rah! Rah! Rah! You! Can! Do! It!"

I haven't been sewing clothes for too long. Maybe 5 years or so. In that amount of time I have learned tons. In fact I just learned how to put in an invisible zipper. Hint: you need a special foot on your sewing machine that makes it really easy. For the most part, follow the pattern, and you will learn basic techniques that transfer to most sewing projects. Of course there's always tricks to the trade as they say, but you can do quite well without them.

When I was in high school, I made a quilt and some other smaller projects in home economics class. I will never forget what I was taught there: use lots of pins and a good sewer will be a good riper. I don't see myself as a great sewer yet, but I have done my fair share of ripping out seams and pins are my friends even though it takes me a bit longer. The finished product is much more satisfying for me.

Here is a jean jumper dress that I made some time ago. It is starting to get worn-looking, but my daughter loves it. I put daisy buttons on for fun. I can find shirts to wear underneath at Walmart or garage sales. I also have had her wear pants as she is quite an active child! I know some make pantaloons. I have considered that, but now that my daughter is 5, she likes the thin sweatpants that I find cheap. I just got a pattern at Walmart or JoAnn Fabric and lengthened the skirt.



Here is a dress that I recently made. I got the pattern here. They do a great job and I've been more than happy with their products.


Here is the most recent dress, hot off the press. This type takes longer because you are basically making two dresses; a regular dress with a jumper over the top. But, I really like them, so every once in awhile I do it.

I hope that your are encouraged to give sewing a try if you are frustrated with what is out in clothing stores. Like I mentioned, I'm not the best seamstress out there, but if someone has questions, I'd be happy to try to help you.

"Praise the Lord!" and flowers

My 5 year old daughter absolutely LOVES flowers. She is bringing me flowers at least a couple times a day. I enjoy it so much. When I'm driving home, I often stop to pick up the mail on our main road. While I'm walking across the road, she jumps out to pick a couple flowers that are in the ditch. She knows where every flower is on our property and she is the first to notice any new ones that sprout up. She must be my mother and grandmother's heir!

In the last few weeks we have really noticed our need for rain around here. The lawn looks ratty because we are afraid we'll kill it totally if we mow. In some ways it's pretty. The daisies have started blooming in the grass again. So last week my children were in their rooms for nap time. My daughter doesn't take a nap so often anymore, but she needs to rest so that mommy can rest. After 20 minutes or so, she comes out of her room with a bouquet of flowers for me.

"Did you go out your window to get these?" (Her window is only 2' off the ground. Great for fire escaping. Not so great for "fun" escapes.)

"Yes! And mommy look at this one! It's so pretty. I got it out of the garden and this one I got in the grass by the trees and this one was growing by the house...."

What could I say? They WERE pretty.

She also loves the garden. She is forever saying, "Mom! Come out here! I have to show you something!" So I go out and she jumps in excitement at the zucchini, the peas or the broccoli.

Being the dramatist that she is, the same day she went through her window to get me flowers, she came out of her room again and said, "Praise the Lord, it's going to rain! Mom, I looked out my window and it's dark over our house and PRAISE THE LORD it's going to rain!"

And you know, she was right. After weeks of not a drop of rain, we got a gully washer. The thunder woke my 18 month old from his nap and my other son woke up so everyone was awake and watching the wonderful, nourishing rain. My 18 month old went about crazy. He's a slow one for talking, but he was screeching and pointing for me to follow him to the window. When I complied, he would climb up the couch and up into the window sill to screech and point some more. If I walked away, the sequence started all over again until I followed him back to the window.

There's no doubt about it. Praise the Lord for His love for us in the big and the little things of this life!

Ps 34:1-3

I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall
continually be in my mouth.
My soul shall make her boast in the LORD: the
humble shall hear thereof, and be glad.
O magnify the LORD with me, and let
us exalt his name together.

KJV

Companion Planting

A few weeks ago I wrote this post about building our raised bed gardens. Since then the majority of the garden has gone hog wild and it has been so much fun to watch those plants grow! I had heard about companion planting before, but had never tried to implement it. Well, this spring I had ordered a couple books on companion planting, but this book is by far my favorite. Sally Jean Cunningham has done an excellent job of writing a fun, informative and inspiring book called Great Garden Companions. I devoured it and tried to incorporate most of her ideas. There are going to be some changes next year, but overall I'm thrilled with how my garden is growing. Hopefully we will have trellises inbetween the boxes for viney crops and flowers to grow on next year to utilize space better and give it an added flare of fun. And, I'm going to try starting my flowers for the boxes from seed to save some money, for a homeschool educational project and just for fun.

My pictures do not really show it well, but it may give you a bit of an idea of how things are going. Even though my boxes are 4' x 48', it is divided into 4' x 8' sections. This section has broccoli, cauliflower, asters and marigolds. We just picked our first head of broccoli for supper last night and I'm going to have to get much of it cut and in the freezer tomorrow.

This one is quite hard to see, but there are peas growing up a wire trellis on the north side of the section, then a watermelon plant that is taking over with onions, asters, zinnias, marigolds and my daughter's geranium. Oh, and there were radishes interspersed too. You can see the soaker hose coming out the end of the box. That has saved me MUCH time in watering!
Here are my tomatoes with basil peaking up between the plants. In the past we have used cattle panels for trellising up the tomatoes, but it just didn't happen this year. They are sturdy, and work wonderfully. You just stack the panels 3 high with about 1' inbetween layers and use 2x4's or something for a frame. They are a bit hard to explain, but really quite simple. I'll have a picture next year! You can see white PVC piping at the base of the plants. I't 6' pipe that is cut in 6'-8' lengths. I use those around the new scrawny plants when I first put them in the ground. That way they are protected from the wind. I haven't figured out how to start tomato plants from seed without them being scrawny and leggy, but they seem to take off just fine once they are in the ground and they've always produced for me. I hear that some people have problems with cutworm, but I've never had that problem when using these around the base of the plants.
And here is the "3 sisters". It's kind of silly to plant corn in raised bed gardens. I'm going to have to stand on a ladder to reach the corn, but I just HAD to try it! You plant corn seeds in a 2' circle. When they come up a bit, plant pole beans just outside the corn. Then plant squash inbetween. The pole beans are growing up the corn and the squash is a ground cover for weeds. It works beautifully, but the squash really needs more room than a 4' x 8' section. It's going over the sides and into my potatoes and broccoli. Oh well. Next year those trellises between the boxes will really help.
So there you have a brief overview of some companion planting techniques. I hope it's helpful for anyone that may be considering such a venture. It is tons of fun, but you have to get over the fact that it's not a traditional way of gardening. It's cheerful to have all the flowers in amongst the vegetables and there's good reason for having them, but for those that have never seen such a technique, it may take some getting used to.

Happy gardening!

The "Lost Forty"

Yesterday we took an excursion to a little known treasure of a state park. The "Lost Forty" is 144 acres of land that was surveyed incorrectly years ago. The team of surveyors at the time apparently didn't want to go out in the cold rain of November and thought that a nearby lake was larger than it was. Hence the 144 acres was never logged. Because of that, it is a rare look into what this area looked like before the loggers came. 350 year old red and white pines tower above you as you meander on the walking trail. A couple of the trees my husband and I could barely touch hands around the trunk.

The children just loved it! Sincer there wasn't anyone around, we let them run down the paths as long as they stayed in sight. We had a regular homeschool field trip, learning to identify the trees, what happens to trees when a forest fire goes through (a fire went through part of the area years ago and you can tell which way the fire was heading by the marks on the base of the tree trunk) and the history of the area. Of course pictures don't do justice to the magnificence of the area, but I had to try!

We were the only ones there when we first arrived and by the time we left, only one other vehicle was there, but we never saw them, and a van was pulling up. It was amazing to us that on a national holiday, no one was really there. Yet, you really could get lost getting to the Lost Forty, with lots of gravel roads. It feels like you are in the middle of nowhere, yet what a special middle-of-nowhere place it is!

Ps 19:1
The heavens declare the glory of God; and the
firmament sheweth his handywork.
KJV