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| I used sand from Quicksilver's sandbox to cover the seeds. That is why many of the cells have a tan blotch in the middle of them. |
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| Do you see that bit of bright-red slightly above the center of the frame? That is a beet seedling. |
The "Merlin" beet seeds planted May 6 are starting to pop up. Five days elapsed time.
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| What an odd place for a woodchuck to take a nap. |
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| We sometimes have mice in our attic. These professional mice models were compensated with peanut butter and raisins for this photo session. |
Our house was built in the mid-1970s and has blown-in, cellulose (ground up newspapers) insulation. It is a pain to work around.
This is the best system I have used so far for trapping mice in the attic. The backbone is a stringer from a pallet. The traps are glued in place with yellow wood-glue.
If you ever fiddled with Designed for Assembly then you understand that rigid parts are much preferred to springy, flexible parts (like most wire harnesses).
One of the unexpected advantages of the slat that I used for the backbone is that it does not sink into the insulation.
Random factoid
The attendance at church today was about 40% higher than the norm. Today is Mother's Day and perhaps some of the mothers in the congregation suggested that accompanying them to Mass would bring them joy.
I don't think any arms were twisted and I saw no evidence that any frozen hearts were thawed. But at least 45 souls who do not regularly hear the words in the Bible attended church and heard readings from Acts, Psalms, 1 Peter and John in Charlotte, Michigan.
The words can fall like rain but if the hearts choose to remain frozen it will be to no avail. They will run off like rain on frozen soil. But the words DID fall like rain and their ears heard even if their hearts filtered it out.
I was told that Chimney Swifts (the bird) build their nests by taking a tiny gob of mud in their beaks and hurling at the place where they want their nest. Invariably, the first attempt fails. The pellet bounces off, but its impact removes some of the lichens, algae and tarnish from the brick (or wall of the cave). Perhaps fifty or a hundred or two-hundred attempts are tried and each fails. Each attempt prepares the site for eventual success, like successive passes of a plow prepares the field for the seed.
And then...a pellet of clay sticks. And then another...and another. Success builds upon success.
But is the 201st attempt any more noble or necessary than the first, the fifty-first, the hundred-and-first or the hundred-and-ninety-ninth?
No, it is not. And so the mothers and grandmothers tell the souls that have been entrusted to them "It will give me great joy if you go to church with me on Mother's Day this year."
They do their part.
The Holy Spirit will do His part.
The lost lamb? Well, every story is different.
Too often it's at the wits end of troubles they seek Him.
ReplyDeleteLike prodigal son left to eat what scraps he was supposed to feed the pigs with to decide to return to his father even as a servant-slave. But the story got better once he returned to a loving Father.
I've comforted the dying a few too many times in the sandbox.
It is comforting to know that one of the very few people we can say with certainty who is in heaven is "The Good Thief" who was crucified next to Jesus. He repented very shortly before he died and he was saved. So it is how we finish that matters...but we don't know where that finish line lurks.
DeleteOur priests often remind us that sometimes our example will lead others back to the church. They see us attending, we tell them of our prayer time, a few good words we heard in a sermon. Maybe someone else they know also talks of the Gospel. For some people, they might finally open their hearts.
ReplyDeleteSouthern NH
Down south in protestant circles, church growth is a real thing. Lots of church leaders mistake 'faith decisions' for disciples...
ReplyDeleteAnyway, a couple of times I've heard it stated that on average (I wonder about outlier's?) it takes 3.7 exposure to the gospel before a decision is made to accept the Lord.
I heard it preached once that if we expose them to a sincere faith that is more helpful than exposing them to a hypocritical faith.
Me? I've found that the best way is to live the gospel by loving people and let the Holy Spirit water the seed. Mom's are really good at that... Our prayers help a lot. And I really believe it takes a lot more than 3.7 exposures. But that's just me.
ERJ, I have always believed that sermons on things like Eater and Christmas and Mother's Day are some of the hardest to write and deliver - not so much from the subject itself as much from the fact that you will have folks there that are likely in church no other time. Speaking to them as well as the regular attendee would, I imagine, be difficult sometimes.
ReplyDelete