Planning Your Garden

I live in the city of Philadelphia in a traditional row home. My backyard is what many call “a postage stamp,” meaning it is small. Philadelphia has the largest city park in the USA. Unless you have been here to see it for yourself, it is really hard to describe, but it runs all through the city and it is something to behold. But it has its downside too—for one, a bunch of squirrels. I mean squirrels like you’ve never seen before and there is a city ordinance that you cannot kill them. They are a big problem. If they get into your attic you end up paying an exterminator big bucks to set traps and take them to the park and set them free. They love to bite into your tomatoes even though they don’t like them, they will still bite into every one on the vine…errrrr. Another downside to the park is many neighborhoods are being pledged with raccoons and opossums. The city has nothing setup to help get rid of these critters and the past 5 years, we’re seeing more and more of them. They too eat in your gardens. So, a person like me finds it hard to have a vegetable garden because I’m in a neighborhood that has lots of trees and critters out of their natural elements looking for food. And at times I find myself a little envious of others as they talk about starting to prepare and plan for their gardens.

But you know there is one garden we should all work on no matter where we live. It is the garden of our lives as Believers. The Bible tells us that whatever spiritual seeds we plant (sow) in this world is the spiritual harvest we will reap or receive. Works the same as in the natural. If you plant tomatoes, then tomatoes are what you get. You don’t plant lettuce seeds and get grapefruits….impossible. So, just as we plan our natural gardens each year, we should be as diligent in making sure we have planted good things in our spiritual ones.

Natural gardens don’t take care of themselves anymore than our spiritual ones. A natural garden has to be planted, watered, weeded, fed, pruned, protected and harvested at the right time. Our spiritual gardens of love, kindness, generosity, hospitality, helps, friendship, and selflessness must also be planted (sowed), watered, weeded, fed, pruned and protected too. The spiritual harvest is continual and a result of the seeds we have been sowing.

To care for a natural garden there are several key tools one needs to ensure a good harvest of the things planted. Same thing applies for the spiritual realm in the gardens of our hearts and actions. Our essential tools are Faith, our Bibles and Prayer.

Faith (trust) helps us to continue to love and be kind to others even when they a not kind to us. It keeps us in obedience with the things of God even when it seems like it is a waste of time or it’s just not working. With our faith we continue to be able to sow good seeds no matter what.

Our Bibles feed and water us. The spoken Word of God keeps us full of Him and refreshes our weary souls. When we are feeling used up and parched it will revive, refresh and water the dryness our spirits might feel. It helps us not to give in to the temptation to repay evil-for-evil and therefore sow bad seeds that will affect our harvests. It also helps us to protect our heats and weeds out that which is not good.

Prayer gives opportunity to talk to the One who has all control. Prayer is where we can lay the hurts and pains of life at the Cross. It is the place to ask for forgiveness (when we mess up) and receive help to forgive those who have hurt and used us. Prayer helps keep our love walk in check. And it’s also a time to hear from our Father to see what He has to say about our garden and how it looks to Him.

When planting a garden decisions have to be made, “What are we going to plant this year?” Some people plant many different items, others only one or two. But since the Word of God tells us that “Love covers a multitude of sins” I would have to say spiritually, maybe we should focus on sowing as many seeds of love as we can and let the other things follow. ~Smile~

Sisters, spring is around the corner and many of you are thinking about planting gardens, I want to challenge you to also think about your spiritual gardens. What type of seeds have you been sowing lately? Is it time to rearrange things in your lives so you look more like what God wants you to be? If you are not sure—reach for your Bible, you will find the answer there for sure.



Love & Hugs
Ponnie


See you tomorrow!

Were We At The Same Place?

This past weekend Tovah and I attended the Philadelphia Flower Show. It’s a big deal each year and people come from all over to see it. It’s an event that generates extra revenue for the city. Hotel bookings are up, there’s an increase in the sightseeing tours, downtown shopping and restaurant business. The city of Philadelphia gets very excited about the annual flower show. There’s even a Black Tie event the night before it opens.

Each year the flower show is vigorously advertised to the point you are enticed to think about going. The tickets are pricey and might not fit into the budget of a large family, but that doesn’t stop you from wanting to be a part of it, especially if you live in the city. With Tovah leaving for college in August, she thought it would be nice for us to go this year since she has never been. God willing this time next year she will be away at school and unable to attend. So, we went!

As you can see from today’s picture, it was beautiful! But, I found it to be super crowded and in general the people were rude. There was a lot of pushing and shoving to get in front to take pictures. When I would say “Excuse me” to get by, often the person didn’t move or half moved. One woman backed into Tovah almost knocking her over and didn’t even apologize. I found myself praying because I really wanted to let her have it, for being so ignorant. But then we started running into people who were friendly…and others who were at least more civil. We even had someone offer to take a picture of us and we retuned the favor. All-in-all it was a nice time, but the day itself was great because Tovah and I went to lunch afterward and really had a good time.

My Facebook post later that day was “My feet are tired!! Flower show was nice except for ALL the rude people!! Will post pics tomorrow....need a nap! :).” Well, this prompted comments from friends who had also attended. They loved it! In fact one person had also been there Saturday. She had such a good time and found the people to be so friendly, that she questioned (in jest) if we were at the same place.

This made me think about how living in the Kingdom of God can sometimes be like that. All of us have the same things available to us through the Blood of the Messiah, yet we see things so differently. Our Bibles say the same things, yet we don’t read things the same or believe them the same. How can that be?

Well, just like the flower show, my focus became “how rude" the crowd was because that was what I was hit with first thing. It took prayer and eventually running into people who were more gracious for my focus to be directed more on the beauty of the flowers and exhibits than the people. I think it is the same in the Kingdom of God. It all depends on our attitudes and focus.

There are so many of us today who will live an ordinary day. We will not experience any emergencies, bad news, illnesses or tragedies. We will just have a day like any other day without incidence. But if a survey were taken on how our day was—it would be hard to believe that we all serve the same God, read the same Bibles and have the same instructions for living life. Some of us would be grateful and talk about the goodness of the Lord for such a fine day. Others would complain that it rained and they hate the rain. We would have to listen to story after story of the “pain in the butt” boss, or how my husband couldn’t even make up the bed, so that started my day off on the wrong foot. What about the fact that it’s “Monday” and so many of us just hate Monday and wish we could skip over it?

I could have let the rudeness of others spoil my day on Saturday and wasted my money, but I thank God for prayer and His understanding. The same goes for today; we can miss the many blessing interwoven throughout our day if we focus on those things that can be a hindrance or we can purpose to see all the beauty that lies before us.

Sisters…enjoy your day with a heart of appreciation and gratitude! Don’t sweat the small stuff or the indifference or rudeness of others.



Love & Hugs
Ponnie


See you tomorrow!

He Takes The Lead

So I had a thought this week. Actually a friend of mine had a brilliant thought this week and I’m stealing it because it really made sense to me. I love ballroom dancing. I’ve been taking a class with some friends and it’s one of the most amazing, fun things I think I’ve ever done. I can’t help but dance to just about every song I hear (yes, very obsessed).

My favorite part of ballroom dancing is that, as a follower, I don’t have to worry about a thing! I just learn my steps and my partner just leads me where he wants me to go! It’s great (mostly because I have a special talent for running into people so it’s good that I don’t have to pay attention to that). I do have to pay attention to something though. Unless I want my lead to literally drag me around the floor, I need to pay attention to the small cues he gives me, telling me which way he’s going to go or what step he’s going to have me take. Is he going to turn his shoulder slightly to cue me to do a promenade? Or is he going to step back instead of forward? I can’t see ahead into what he’s going to do a few steps ahead. All I can tell is where he’s telling me to go right at that moment.

Hmmmm. Make you think of anyone? Maybe the leader who clears our paths for us and makes sure we don’t bump into anything too hard and get hurt? Or the incredibly cool guy who leads us across life’s dance floor (sorry, talking about ballroom dancing so I have to sound poetic). I suddenly had this idea of God as this leader in a waltz (or tango or whatever your favorite dance is, mine’s waltz ~Smile~). Oh yeah! I can’t tell exactly where he’s going to move me in the future! I can’t even control him but guess what? I don’t have to worry about that because he’s the one who sees the whole ballroom floor. He’s the one that sees all the obstacles I don’t see and (the fun part of dancing); he’s also the one who will move me into the really challenging steps to make sure I’m not hurt by the obstacles. I really don’t have to worry about a thing! I just listen the cues and do what he tells me!



Blessings,
Lydia

Until next time, remember to allow the Lord to fill your days!


Ponnie will be back on Monday!

Yes, Your Highness!

I thought with all the hoopla of the impending royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton this would be a great blog to rerun for my single sisters…enjoy!

Good Morning Majestic Women of God!!

Majestic: adj. of or having majesty, grand, noble, dignified. Some days we just need to be reminded of who we are, and as daughters of the King of kings, we are royalty and we should never forget it. Yet, in our desperation (not caring what happens because hope is gone…leading to poor decisions) to be married, women often forget the position that the Blood of Jesus (Yeshua) has placed us in. Today I’m hoping to get you excited and thinking about just what that is!!

Being a citizen of the United States of America, whose government is a democracy, I had a hard time grasping the concept of a nation ruled by kings and queens. I would have to say the most famous example for me would have to be England. Growing up England’s reign of kings and queens was a large part of our history because before the Revolutionary War, England had rule over us. Still the intricate part of the royal kingdom wasn’t the forefront of my history lessons and it wasn’t until Prince Charles’ marriage to Diana, was there any great interest for me as to the private and special life of the royal family. I remember being glued to the television watching the wedding and sucking up all the news for months after the announcement of their engagement. But like most, their happily ever after, fairly tail lives had a tragic ending, starting with divorce.

Even after becoming a Believer and finding out that God was the King of all kings and that He has a Kingdom that rules in the supernatural, I still was very clueless as to what this all really meant? What true effect did that have in my life on this earth?

Though growing up with Disney’s “Cinderella” and those types of movies and fairy tales, I learned at a very early age that my life was only going to reflect the part of Cinderella’s life that had the mistreatment and servitude. This consisted of the ugliest room in the house, fewer basic needs than mother and sister, and lots of physical and verbal abuse. And no matter how hard I tried, nothing I did was ever good enough. So when I started hearing that I was seated in heavenly places with Jesus (Yeshua) and that His Blood paid the price for me to be part of the Royal Kingdom. It meant absolutely nothing! I’m like, “What???” But as God began the journey of my becoming a new creature in Him, and replaced the old tapes of “You are nothing and you will never be nothing” with “I have loved you with an everlasting love and you are fearfully and wonderfully made, because of My love.” I had the courage to look at what does it mean in my life that my Father is King of all kings.

I shared with you a few weeks ago, that marriage is between God and the man, and that we as women do not have the burden of finding a husband. Well, such is the same in a natural royal kingdom. Not just anyone has access to a princess. She is protected from those who are not on the same social standing and background as herself. She doesn’t go out and find a husband. Her courtships are overseen by her family, namely her father (the king) and mother (the queen). In fact there was a time when the marriage was prearranged (still happens in certain countries) by her parents, she could have been betrothed (promised) to someone as early as birth. But as times have changed you don’t see that so much and the prince and princesses have strayed far from what used to be. There was never a divorce in a royal family. Not so anymore. It’s as if the rules of conduct no longer apply. Sort of what some of us think when it comes to the Word of God! It applies to some, but not to me.

The point here is that a royal princess (and there are many royal kingdoms around the world) is born into a special place and standing. So are we when we are reborn through faith in Jesus (Yeshua). We are not to be connected to just anyone or anybody. We are special. And 2 Corinthians 6:14 is quick to point that out. Not only should we not be connected to a non-believer, but also a Believer who is not suited as a right match. This is why we have to wait on the Lord and His wisdom, because we in our humanist will mess it up every time. If for some reason you disagree, look at the divorce rate in the Church. Why is that? How many people get married who are Believers without God’s blessings? Sorry to say, “Way too many.”

Over the years I have come to see that (just as I used to be) many of God’s daughters do not know who they are in Him. And that causes an awful lot of problems for women. If you don’t think you are of much value, then you sort of settle for “whatever”. And the truth is, “whatever” is never good enough for royalty. If you go to Kay Jewelers or a department store they have quite a bit of jewelry on display that you can touch. Most of it is costume or of a lesser value, then that which is in the locked display cases. Go into Cartier’s of France and everything is in locked cases and their very, very, very best is in a vault and they have a special room to take the perspective buyer to, in order for them to view these special gems. As daughters of the King, we are those special jewels that are locked in the vault (our Father’s protection). We are not for just anyone to have. Only those whom the jeweler knows has the funds or standing can even view the finer jewels. I’m sure that if the Queen of England desires to purchase a piece of jewelry, she doesn’t have to leave her palace or country home. It is all brought to her to view and or custom designed to her specifications. That is the way royalty is treated. ~Smile~

I challenge you to begin to see yourself as someone who is really special. Not desperate! Not desperate for a husband, not desperate to fit in, and not desperate for attention. But that you are so very special that you wouldn’t put yourself in a position to marry just any man. He would have to be much more than just a male who professes to know the Lord. In fact, you are so special that you can’t even imagine a man in your life unless God chooses him giving you the freedom and confidence to know that he is the one for sure! Does this mean to start looking down on people and walking with your nose in the air…..NO!!!! That is not what I’m talking about. What I am saying, is that a royal princess is trained from birth that she is special and has a special standing in life. Are we to be gracious and kind in this special place? Oh yeah!! That is how we show the love of God to others. I just want you my sisters to begin to understand exactly what the Blood of Jesus (Yeshua) has done for you. And when you began to get an understanding of “Who” you are, the spirit of desperation (that so many single women in the Body of Christ are experiencing), will began to give way to a new found confidence and love in Him.

The solution is the same and won’t change. You will have to get into the Bible and see what it has to say about who you are in the Lord. The Bible is key for us and we really can’t get around not reading it if we want to have victory in our lives as Daughters of the King.

If you didn’t have a chance to read Cheryl Mackey’s special blog written especially for you, on Thursday, February 11, 2010, please take a moment to go over it. She was very open and honest about her desire to be married and what she had to learn before God could trust her to be a wife. It’s a very inspiring and enlightening read.

Seeing yourself in a new light is always exciting. So be diligent in placing yourself in high esteem as our Father does. It will begin to change how you see your every day life. Knowing that you are special in who you are this day, right now, should put a little pep in your step and hope in your heart.



Love & Hugs
Ponnie

Lydia is up tomorrow!

Decisions, Decisions…..DECISIONS!

Stress: tension, a state of mental or emotional strain or suspense

Stress! It’s something that we all go through whether you’re a single mother working two jobs, or a married woman managing a business. In my particular case, I’m a teenager being bombarded by numerous college offers and the looming cloud of upcoming SAT’s. Junior year of high school can be really stressful because it’s the year that colleges really look at. With honors classes, student teaching, and student council duties, things can become pretty stressful. It can also be unnerving to walk through the door and find a large stack of college letters waiting for you. YIKES! (Even as I am writing this blog my 5 year old niece brought me a stack of thirteen college letters…LOL!!)

Ever since I was a little kid I have wanted to be a teacher. Most kids probably haven’t chosen their career path at 7 years old, but I knew what I wanted to do. As I am now deciding which colleges to apply to, millions of questions are running through my mind. “Which college is right for me?” “Do they have a good education program?” “Can I even get into this one?” Researching colleges can be a very stressful task that a lot of teenagers are going through, especially if you are not sure about which field you want to go into.

One thing that I had to learn the hard way is that you can’t let others define who you are or what you do. When I would share that I was looking at a particular college I was given words like “I wouldn’t apply there, you probably won’t get in.” or “I know someone with 2100 SAT scores and a 4.0 GPA average, if they couldn’t get in there’s no way that you can get in.” WHAT?! It was devastating. I really wanted to scream, “Well who asked your opinion?!” But seeing as my mother raised me to do the right thing, that wouldn’t be very Christian-like would it? ~smile~

Fortunately, I learned to turn my mindset to, “Even if I don’t make it, I at least have to try.” Philippians 3:14 says, “I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.” We can do all things through Christ, whether it’s applying for college, working toward that job promotion, or overcoming a huge obstacle in your life. What we all forget sometimes is that God is always there to support and guide us. Sometimes you may feel like you are at the end of your rope and things can’t get any better but we have to remember that God is always there for us. Our strength is in Him and he will help us through all things. I am trying to remember this everyday as I am preparing for the next big step in my life.

While this is a long and wearisome process at times, I am super excited about college. I am also excited to grow in God and to achieve that which he wants for me. Knowing that God is always with you is such an empowering thought when you stop and take the time to think about it. I Can Do All Things Through Christ! So don’t let someone discourage you from trying something new or reaching for something that seems impossible, because nothing is impossible with God. I hope that this has been an encouragement to all of you and I look forward to sharing more of my college searching experience with you in the future.

Special Note: This blog originally ran March of 2010, and since then Tovah was accepted at the 3 colleges she applied and has now made her choice. She is scheduled to move into her dorm August 25th and will be majoring in Early Childhood Education. Her college of choice was one she was told, might be to hard for her to get into. As she has said, “We can’t let others define who we are or what we do.”



Until next time.

Love You All
Tovah


Ponnie will be back tomorrow