State Representative

Yet another election day has arrived, and with that day, a chance to make ourselves heard. Yes, our vote matters because we matter and what we stand for matters too.

How interesting it is to choose a person to stand in our place.

If I can’t go, who would best represent me? The way I think? The beliefs I have?

It’s easy for a volunteer to offer to go in my stead when things are running along swimmingly. When the economy is sound and there are no border problems and the water is as it should be. But what about when things are more difficult?

And why would someone volunteer to represent me anyway? What are their reasons? It’s an interesting question, I think.

Who wants to stand in my place and speak on my behalf and respect my opinions? Who can I trust to take my place?

I’ve cast my vote, and now I wait like everyone else to see who will stand in my place.

But pondering this election -- the candidates, what they stand for, their education and experiences, how well I know them or don’t know them --  all these things have made me also ponder my own state of representing the person that matters the most to me, Jesus Christ.

That’s what I’ve been thinking about as I’ve driven by the campaign signs and listened to the debates online and read the newspaper articles, and, of course, listened to the opinions of those I love and respect.

How am I representing Jesus on this earth? I’m standing in for Him. What kind of a job am I doing? Can He trust me to do it with integrity? Am I respectful to Him? Do I listen to what He has to say so that I can represent Him in the way He deserves?

My own state of the union address, I guess.

It’s easy to mark the ballot, but it’s really not easy to vote. There’s a lot to consider. But regardless of the outcome of this election, I’ll pray for the person who wins, for he or she will be my state representative, going to Austin in my place. And that matters. 

Tribute to Dixie Pechacek

She was one in a million. That’s the way I’ll always think of Dixie Pechacek.

Approximately two million people fled from Egypt all those years ago, yet only Joshua and Caleb crossed over into Canaan, God’s Promised Land. Two men in two million people, that’s one in a million. I mean no disrespect to Joshua or Caleb, but Dixie would have been one, too. She was one whose eyes didn’t leave God’s presence. She was one whose faith didn’t waver. And she was one whose actions didn’t contradict her beliefs. Dixie was faithful to God.

The last time I talked to her was at Bible study. She was feeling poorly and had yet another doctor’s appointment the following day. I remember saying, “Dixie. You’re going to have a huge mansion in heaven.” Sounds silly, really, but I didn’t have words big enough to tell Dixie how special she was to me.  

This past week at Bible study, we all prayed for her, and I’m sure the thought of her was on everyone’s heart during the lesson. God took his people out of Egypt to bring them into the Promised Land, and now God has brought Dixie out of sickness and into the dazzling beauty of His Promised Presence.  

She’s there now, anyway. With Jesus, that is. “Dancing in heaven,” as our friend Raini said. Hanging out with Moses, for crying out loud! Completely and irreversibly and joyfully free of diabetes and cancer and everything else that her fragile earthly body endured during this dot of a life on earth. 

She once told me that she thought I’d be a good Bible teacher, but I needed more life experiences. “Are you kidding me?” I thought to myself. “Do you know what I’ve been through already?” But she was right. I had a lot to learn. Several decades later, when she came to a Bible study I was teaching about heaven, I was humbled and thought once more, “Are you kidding me?” But this time for a different reason. “Oh LORD, Dixie needs to be teaching this thing, not me.” But I don’t think she would have listened to my protest. She had faith in God, not in me.

“G-R-A-C-E is God’s Righteousness at Christ’s Expense,” I hear her soft voice saying. I loved listening to her teach and talk about the LORD. If peace was a voice, it would have been Dixie’s, soothing and gentle, yet bold and sure. Somehow the voice of Jesus joined with hers when she read from His Word. I always listened, mesmerized.  

And I’m only one.

Yes, I’m only one in a million.

No doubt about it, I’m only one in a million who loved her dearly. 

Thank you, LORD, for sharing your sweet servant Dixie with us.

Amen.

“These Boots are Made for Walking!” – NOT!

“Use what I have,” I thought to myself, so I did. Ian’s cast-off boots became a charming little flower arrangement that surpassed anything I saw at Round Top last weekend. Well, maybe not everything. But still, they’re pretty cute, if I don’t say so myself. And proof that boots were made for more than walking!

Most things are.

“The earth is the LORD’s,

and everything in it, the world,

and all who live in it”

 (Psalm 24:1 NIV).

New Growth

To dead-head a rose bush is to cut the withered flowers to stimulate growth and make room for the new beauty to come.

If a gardener is careful and gentle, the new growth survives and the rose bush continues to bloom and flourish; if a gardener is rough and impatient, the new growth quickly disappears along with the discarded, dead-headed flowers, falling to the ground, disintegrating into the mulch, and consequently, the future beauty of the garden fades as well.

I’ve spent the last year revising and editing my first book. Computers make this task easier than it’s ever been before. If I purposefully delete a sentence and then change my mind, the back arrow button immediately returns it to the screen. If I accidentally remove a paragraph, one gentle touch on the back arrow button and the words instantly reappear. In fact, I can delete an entire chapter, representing months of tedious work, and the back arrow button instantly refreshes what was once lost. When I edit and revise on my computer, I can always push the back button and return to where I once was.

But not in the garden.

New growth is the beginning bud of a flower yet to be seen, a scent yet to be savored, yet it can be extinguished before it has time to unfold in one brief snip of a well-meaning gardener’s sheers. When a gardener isn’t concentrating on the task of dead-heading, there is loss. It’s simple, really. Gardeners must pay attention to new growth when dead-heading old blooms.

This past week, while preparing my garden for company, I was not gentle with the new growth; instead, I cut and slashed and eliminated new flowers along with those whose lives were spent. And then I realized what I was doing and stopped.

A gentle reminder from a gracious God who continues to give direction in the midst of my day. I must be careful to avoid harming new growth as I discard what needs to be removed. In my life and certainly in the lives of others around me.

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.

He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit,

while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful”

(John 15:1 NIV).

“But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these:

anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.

Do not lie to each other,

since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self,

which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator”

(Col. 3:8-10 NIV). 

Perfumer in Paris

Perfumer in Paris

Perfumery is an ancient, respected art.

While in Paris this past spring, we sensed a hint of how complex that art still is when we attended a workshop taught by Marina, a modern-day perfumer, who shared a glimmer of this ancient profession.

Marina was gracious, offering us water in flowered crystal glasses, and she was smart, explaining the art of perfumery as musical notes and chemical formulas. Once my sweet husband realized that chemistry was behind the work of a perfumer, his interest was piqued.

In musical terms, a fragrance is a harmony of three notes -- top, middle, and base. The top notes evaporate quickly, yet they are powerful because that first fleeting impression is what draws us to a perfume. The middle notes are the heart of the fragrance, dissipating slowly and staying for hours. And the base notes are the final aromatic notes, sometimes lasting for days. Together, they harmonize, creating a scent that attracts and delights, influences and lingers.   

In chemical terms, we learned that scientists can test the odor-laden air around a flower to reproduce its smell. 

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And then we experimented, trying different combinations of oils to see what we liked.

 Then the perfumer measured the exact amounts necessary to create the most pleasing fragrance.

And then she packed our fragrances in a beautiful bag for our return trip to Texas. 

"Then the LORD said to Moses, 'Take the following fine spices:  500 shekels of liquid myrrh, half as much (that is, 250 shekels) of fragrant cinnamon, 250 shekels of fragrant cane, 500 shekels of cassia -- all according to the sanctuary shekel -- and a hin of olive oil. Make these into a sacred annointing oil, a fragrant blend, the work of a perfumer'"

(Exodus 30:22-25 NIV). 

Yes, perfumery is a respected art that has been around for a long, long time!