Abide

During the school year, I typically do a devotional with breakfast. Eating food, physical and spiritual. After both are finished, I retire to the living room and spend about 10 minutes (sometimes 15) reflecting on the thoughts of the devotional and cultivating an inner space of peace and clarity before the work day kicks into gear. A daily short Sabbath of sorts. I need that time. 

I am a firm believer in the weekly Sabbath. For Christians, it is typically observed on a Sunday. I avoid doing work and shopping that I can do on other days. It is not a hard and fast rule always, though. For example, today I bought a hoagie at Wawa. That is a plus in Sabbath-keeping despite shopping because I do less work. Tasks like mowing the grass, laundry, cooking large (besides a specific meal), are delegated to other days. Saturdays tend to be the day where I made a To-Do List and knock tasks off. I have to make lists, it allows me to calculate steps and how much time and energy is needed to take care of things. 

I am not good with keeping information like To-Dos in my head. A list frees up room for me to use my mind to decide, not to remember.

Last Wednesday was the first day for staff to be back at school. It surprises people when I tell them that I work a good chunk of the summer. I have a decent amount of time off but the summer is a time to do schedules and register new students. Low tide in some ways, but very intense and focused in its own way. Frankly, I both enjoy and dread the summer. So, it is a bit less of a contrast for me to return than the teachers and students who may have not stepped in the school since the first week of June. Tomorrow the students are back...

On last Wednesday morning, in one of these short ten-to-fifteen minutes Sabbaths which is both a clearing of the mind and soul and a planting of ideas and thoughts, I prayed that God would give me a word for the year.

The word "Abide" came into focus. Fans of the Big Lebowski, which I most definitely am, will know that the "Dude Abides." In the context of the movie, it is not easy to figure out entirely what abide connotes. The Dude is a slacker, a pot-smoker, whose number one life activity--besides trying to prove that he is not "The Lebowski" that the bad guys are looking for, is bowling.  

In a biblical sense, abide means to draw from Christ. I did a bunch of reading this afternoon about Jesus being the vine and we being the branches, which is one of His several "I am" statements in John. It comes from the growing of grapes. In Israel in New Testament times, according to one Commentator, it took three years for a grape vine and branches to be able to support the grape. Up until then, the vinedresser would prune healthy branches and cut barren branches out. Although the Commentator didn't mention this, I thought it was an interesting parallel to the cultivation of the Disciples. Jesus's ministry with them was three years according to biblical scholars. He tells them to abide in the vine. 

Jesus would still be with them through the work of the Holy Spirit but they would no longer walk and talk with Him as they had previously. There is a reality of His vine-like presence that transcends the physical; it is spiritual. I know that there are many days, particularly when working, that I feel frayed and frustrated and I have to silently ask God for His peace and tranquility and wisdom. I can sense that I am coming to the  end of myself. It is in typically trying to find a way through a difficult situation where the answers are not clear. 

Although I don't grow grapes, I do grow hops for beer out back (first year). Hops, for those of you who may not be familiar with them, are bittering agents in beer. Beers are a balance between malty sweetness and bittering hops. Most beers are some combination of both, with IPA's for example, being quite bitter. It has been fascinating and fun to watch the hop vines wrap around the trestle out back; a construction project that maxed out my carpentry and mechanical skill.

The vines climb up to the top and then make their way back down. I am hoping at some point to have a wall of hops, providing a space of seclusion amidst a tight neighborhood comprised of adjoined townhomes. When I planted the hops, they were tender shoots. Now, at the base of the plants, those first vines now have developed bark and are sturdier and well-established. If they were to be cut in half, no hops.  

The key thought is that our nourishment from God's ground comes through the work of Christ. His teaching, alive as it is, provides sustenance. It always surprises me how practical Jesus's words are; they are rarely pie in the sky but deal with the sandal meeting the road types of themes like forgiveness, humility, charity, and other attributes at a low-ebb in our society.

I am growing four different types of hop varieties out back and it is interesting that they have different rates of growth that appear to not be because of environmental factors. Pennsylvania is typically too hot and humid for hops to prosper but I did plant them close to the porch which provides a degree of shade that is necessary. On the sunny side, the leaves are few and parched. On the shady side, the leaves are lush and I am even getting hop cones my first year which is pretty unusual.  These hops will be in a batch of homebrew at some future point. They are not just ornamental but practical. Although I do admire their beauty.  

The shady side of life is where God will meet you. Step out of the sun and turn your gaze to your soul. He will cause the growth inwardly despite external circumstances. 

A freshly picked hop cone...  

   
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