Last Post Here- Go To New Site

I have a new site for my blog: http://www.thislittleplot.com/
It is still under construction, but I will only be posting over there from now on..... thanks!

Urban Homesteading

Something to shoot for!

Reforming Marriage (3)

I have been plugging this book for a couple of weeks. Let me do it at least one more time. I will insert an entire paragraph (page 25):

The commands are given to our respective weaknesses in the performance of our duties. Men need to do their duty with regard to their wives- they need to love. Women need to do their duty in the same way- they need to respect. But men are generally poor at this kind of loving. C.S. Lewis once commented that women tend to think of love as taking trouble for others (which is much closer to the biblical definition), while men tend to think of it as not giving trouble to others. Men consequently need to work in this area, and they are instructed by Scripture to undertake it. In a similar way, women are fully capable at loving a man, and sacrificing for him, while believing the entire time he is a true and unvarnished jerk. Women are good at this kind of love, but their central requirement given to wives is that they respect their husbands. As Christian women gather together (for prayer? Bible study?), they frequently speak about their husbands in the most disrespectful way. They hurry home to cook, clean, and care for his kids. Why? Because they love their husbands. It is not wrong for wives to love their husbands, but it is wrong to substitute love for the respect God requires.

Cultivating the Plot

As my wife and I plan this season's garden, we each have different tasks and dreams. My wife primarily thinks of harvest: What do we want from the garden? How much from the garden? I think in terms of gettin'er done: Where do I plant? When do I plant? How can I use my space and time to achieve our desired end? So we have an end in mind- a plan, and we have drawn them up and ordered the seeds. In another month, I will work the soil on three of our raised beds and cover them in plastic to plant spinach, kale, lettuces and other greens and a few other cold weather crops.

Working the plot involves turning over the soil, adding a little compost if needed (we cover each plot with leaf mulch and other organic material in the fall), and removing any weeds. After the soil warms from the plastic, I will turn the soil again and remove any more weeds and then plant. All this planning and preparation is necessary to enjoy a good harvest at the end.

Isn't this process how any desired end is achieved? Plan, work (making, naming, separating) evaluate and enjoy? Do you see your task as a mother or father as cultivating your plot? What is the desired end for your children? How are your plans carried out?

Whose Justice?

Plato wrote four dialogues set around the trial and death of Socrates. Socrates was charged with heresy and corrupting the minds of the young and was eventually given the death sentence after the court found him guilty. Euthyphro, one of these dialogues, is set outside the court-house just before trial, where Socrates encounters Euthyphro- a self described expert on piety. Since the charges against Socrates fall in the category of impiety, Socrates engages him on the issue of piety.

The big question from Scrates is this: Is something pious or holy because it is approved of by the gods, or is something approved by the gods because it is pious (holy)? Euthyphro could not answer the question, so he argued that piety was a kind of justice, whereby we would seek to gratify the gods. But, as Socrates points out, does something gratify the gods because it is pious (holy), or is it pious (holy) because it gratifies the gods? Reason alone shows piety to be elusive. If Man, by his reason cannot determine what is truly pious, how can men judge Socrates for impiety?

In the other dialogues we learn more of Socrates ideas of the afterlife. After death a person is judged and receives a new life (life form) to learn from the mistakes or unjust deeds of their past. And yet, my question (not Socrates) is, how is one to learn true piety and justice? From Socrates own reasoning, we cannot and man is doomed to the eternal cycle, with no hope, no vindication, no Savior.

This is the similarity between atheistic and polytheistic religions/thought: there is no real justice, only a struggle in this life over whose justice is followed and no hope for any good or satisfying End.

Sonnet 29- Shakespeare

When, in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possess'd,
Desiring this man's art and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate;
For thy sweet love remember'd such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

Enjoying the Task and Enjoying God

This was suppose to be up yesterday- sorry. I am in the process of changing blog sites and didn't get a chance to do all I wanted. My blog site will be up and running very soon.

As I have written before, all we have is from God, and it is given as gift and task. Because ALL is gift this brings to bear two things:

First, is that the ONLY proper way to think, act, live, breathe, etc, is through gratitude. Giving thanks and praise to God for His gifts to us is our primary task. Out of gratitude comes humility, stewardship and generosity. I will be commenting on these in the future, but it is important to know that it is "meet and right to always and everywhere give thanks" to God. If you recognize the quote, it means you come from a church background that properly sees our Eucharist (thanksgiving- Lord's Supper) as the pinnacle and purpose of worship on the Lord's Day. Gratitude and communion go hand in hand, and what is enacted and celebrated on Sunday is meant to direct and carry you throughout the week in all your tasks.

Second, is that all life is lived by faith in the Giver. That means that if you are comparing your lot in life to other people and feel that some injustice has been carried out against you, you need to repent and trust in God once again. ALL is gift from a Giver that loves and knows you. These tasks he has set before you are NOT TOO MUCH for you to bear, neither are they beyond finding joy in them and especially in Him. These tasks are uniquely yours, stop wishing for something else. In EVERYTHING give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus!

I am convinced from Scripture AND experience, that enjoying God, and I mean a real joy that takes place even in the midst of sorrow, comes only when we learn to give thanks to God for all his gifts.