Homeward Bound

This spring I have started a garden. It is as if a switch has gone off in my brain the moment I turned 30, and now I desire to plant things, water them, and watch them grow. I am a total amateur, ignorant of the entirety of it. I now have a few tomato plants growing outside, some zucchini already sprawling out. I have one bead dedicated to cantaloupe; but my peppers are still inside waiting to get a little bigger before I transplant them. We will see how it goes on my first year, maybe we will get some yield? I have learned this much: never set the bar high on the outset. As a novice I am at the mercy of others. I watch some youtube videos when I can, and in doing so I learned you are supposed to prune your tomato plants. There are strategies and a world of opinions on the topic, but apparently there are branches that grow at 45 degree angles called suckers, which in most instances, should be snipped. The video said these suckers block out the sun from other productive leaves and restr...

Few things strike our sensibilities quite as harshly as humiliation. To be brought low, to fall down, to struggle, to run out of answers, to become weak and poor—this is a hard place to fall into. But what if I told you the “valley of humiliation” is really green?  I am reading through part II of The Pilgrim’s Progress for the first time. It is a real shame I have put it off as long as I have as it sheds much light on the characters met and places visited in part I. The first part tells of Christian’s perilous journey from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City. Part II, perhaps less well known, is the story of Christian’s wife Christiana and their four sons as they follow in Christian’s footsteps towards that same City. It is all an allegory for the Christian life and one of the most celebrated works in the English language. It is also loaded with Scripture.  Throughout part II I am very curious how women and small children will fare on such a difficult journey. ...