A Lesson of Dying...From a Dandelion

While endeavoring to become a better reader, I am currently completing a book about Lilias Trotter, a missionary to the Arabs in Algeria. I have been so blessed by her story and the description of the trials and victories she encountered while bringing the gospel to the Muslims of Africa. Ms. Trotter was an incredibly gifted artist and her numerous watercolor paintings beautifully express her love and heart for the African land and its people. I have been comforted and challenged by so much of the book, but one part particularly touched my heart in the area of dying to self. Using nature to create a picture for us, Ms. Trotter uses the dandelion, a "flower" more commonly considered a weed, but one that now I can look at as a beautiful picture of a spiritual lesson.

Unable to do it justice using my own words, I will rely on Ms. Trotter herself to teach this vital lesson of the Christian life, the lesson of dying to self. 

"This dandelion has long ago surrendered its golden petals, and has reached its crowning stage of dying-the delicate seed globe must break up now-it gives till it has nothing left...There is a sense of wrenching: it stands ready, holding up its little life, not knowing when or where or how the wind that bloweth where it listeth may carry it away. It holds itself no longer for its own keeping, only as something to be given: a breath does the rest, turning the "readiness to win" into the "performance" (2 Cor. 8:11). And to a soul that through "deaths oft" has been brought to this point, even acts that look as if they must involve an effort, become something natural, spontaneous, full of a "heavenly involuntariness," so simply are they the outcome of the indwelling love of Christ." 

Isn't that a simple and tender picture?  As the dandelion dies, losing the beauty of its slender yellow petals, replaced by a globe of seedy white, its whole purpose of existence is to be in readiness, waiting for the breath of breeze that will scatter the soft seeds abroad to settle where they will. 

As daughters of the King, there must be times, in each of our lives, a complete dying of our own wishes and desires, dreams, plans, a crucifying of our flesh; every part of us surrendered to the will of Christ, everything placed under His lordship. In doing so, we may be perceived by others to have "lost our chief beauty" just as the dandelion flower does, but in our Heavenly Father's service, nothing is ever lost that is given to Christ (Matthew 16:24-26). With expectancy, we await (Psalm 62:5), with faith and trust we look toward Him (Psalm 9:10 & Psalm 123:2), and at the "breeze" of His Spirit's direction, we immediately and without fear, allow ourselves to be "blown" over the ground that He wishes to "scatter" us upon and we take root and grow in the land He plants us in. As it is only by dying will the dandelion flower be able to be multiplied and flourish, so also it is only by dying to the flesh and fully surrendering to the will and voice of Christ, will we be used to the full effectiveness that the Lord desire for each of His daughters so that His name and kingdom will receive further glory. 

Would that all our eyes would be turned toward the Keeper of Our Souls and our full trust placed in the One that is already in our tomorrow. Would we be willing "die" to everything that our flesh craves for, and our hearts be in a position of complete and peaceful surrender... every day. 

"Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through                                                               the power of the Holy Ghost."                                                             Romans 15:13

Picture credit:https://liliastrotter.com/fifth-sunday-lent/dandelion/

Family Life - January and February 2022

It is March already! And we are almost through it too! So I am once again combing two months for a family update because it is almost time for a March update! January was an intense month for our family on the farm with a series of winter storms. Kentucky weather is quite unpredictable, but one thing that is most often the case is that we get the worst of our winter weather after the first of the year and sometimes as late as March. This year, January was the month of serious weather for us. Our intense weather follows a similar pattern every year. It begins out warm, sometimes up in the 50s (one time this year is was up in the 60s), but then it begins to rain and the temperature drops and the rain can change to freezing rain and sleet, then ice and eventually snow. This is the most difficult weather on the cattle in that they are wet from the rain and then with the temperature dropping so low, it can be very serious for them. It is intense on the cattle crew as well as we simply try to keep all the cattle alive, keep an eye on mamas that are due to calve, young babies already born, keep all the cattle fed with hay (sometimes supplementing with some grain to provide extra support for them), jacket those calves that are struggling, chop ice to provide water for all the groups, and keep hoses drained to avoid the water pipes from freezing and bursting! 

Storm #1
"The crew" all bundled up and heading out.

A highlight memory from this winter was when Hope and I were trying to get
a hypothermic calf and her mother up to the barn. Hope was going to hold the
calf on the 4-wheeler and I was going to drive and we were hoping the cow 
would follow, but when it became clear the mother wasn't going to cooperate, 
I went back to the barn for some feed, a feed trough, and some more help. Upon
returning, we assigned positions and began the slow walk back to the barn with Hope
holding the calf in the feed trough while Olivia pulled it with the 4-wheeler and 
Leah and I following with the cow. Only a short way into our journey, the 4-wheeler got 
stuck in the deep snow (it had been predicted only about 3 inches, but we were over 6
at this point) and so leaving the calf sitting in the trough, Olivia and I pulled the plastic
 liner out of the frame and began pulling it up the hill. Being that it was plastic, the liner
acted much like a sled would and for the most part, it pulled pretty easily, but going 
uphill made for a good workout! The calf and mama got the barn safely and baby 
recovered fine. =)

Hope is such a faithful worker in every kind of weather. From getting up in 
the middle of the night to check on mamas, being out in the late hours
to make sure everything has been completed, sacrificing herself to keep babies 
alive, and continuing everyday to give of herself for the success of the farm, 
she is a blessing and a wonderful role model.

 It is such a blessing to be able to work together as 
siblings!

 I had the joy of getting to work with Hope at different times this winter.
Trying to catch calves to jacket, hauling calves on the 4-wheeler,  
checking coyote traps, laughing at our frozen hair, and wrestling a
calf in the snow we were trying to get with his mama, winters are
hard, but carry a lot of good memories that bind us together. 

In late January, with no regrets about leaving the cold, I flew to
Florida for a week of prison ministry. 

My "prison friend" AmyGrace and I. Our friendship has been surrounded
by pencils. The first day we met, we sharpened over 1000 pencils for the
upcoming seminars and now, almost 4 years later, well it hasn't changed...
we still sharpen pencils!

Before driving south for the week, our girls team was able to 
take some time to steal away to Panama City Beach. 

Early morning travels.

"The Girls Team"

On Valentine's Day, Caden took Olivia, Hope, and I out for dinner. 
He was so sweet!

For their 29th wedding anniversary, Mom and Dad took a little getaway down
into Tennessee where they visited the National Confederate Museum (our family 
greatly enjoys the War Between the States).

Hope's 17th birthday!

Olivia's 19th birthday!

Gathering to pray over Olivia. 

Emma and Stephen found out the gender of their baby!
We all voted whether we thought it was a boy or girl and then 
popped a balloon that was filled with appropriate colored confetti. 
I voted girl...but was wrong! I am getting nephew in July!!!

Fully Known, So Fully Loved

I have a very sweet friend in my life who holds a special place in my heart, even though the length of our friendship has been rather short and the time we have spent in each other's company has been considerably shorter. Last summer, it worked out for us to meet up and have a good long visit while walking nature trails. 2 hours of blessed fellowship later, with aching feet, but with a refreshed and joyful heart, I hugged her goodbye. Not too long after that, I received a sweet letter from her which contained little cards, written in her beautiful cursive and surrounded with lovely artwork, on which was written some of the highlight points from things we had visited about during our visit. On one was written a scripture passage I had shared that had had special meaning to me recently, another had "Be Loved", another "The gospel changes everything". What a blessing this was to me! I carefully tucked them in my Bible as special markers. 

This past week I came across one of them again and it touched me in a new and special way. It read,

                                                          "Fully known                                                                                                                                                             Fully loved" 

God knows me fully and utterly completely. Nothing is hidden from His sight (Heb. 4:13), it is all open to Him. All my yuckiness and the filth my sin creates, the secret wickedness my heart harbors, the hidden desires of my heart that are contrary to the Spirit, it is all as an open glass before Him. And yet, I am fully, completely, and unutterably loved by Him! When He looks upon me, He sees not the filth of my sin, He turns not away from the stench of my wicked and deceitful heart (Jer. 17:9), but because of the sacrifice and subsequent victory of Jesus Christ, when He sees me, all He can see is the righteousness of my Savior that I am clothed in (1 Cor. 6:11)! Covered in Jesus' righteousness! Let that sink in! The unutterable love that provided that for you and me! Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ, nothing!

                                       Because I am fully known, I am fully loved. 

Revel in that glory today. Live open before the Lord and delight in the knowledge that you are fully loved by Him. 

"Who shall sperate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword...Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through His that loved us, For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." 

Romans 8:35, 37-39

The Lord Will Provide

The Lord Will Provide                                                                               by John Newton

"Though troubles assail,

And dangers affright,

Though friends should all fail,

And foes all unite;

Yet one things secures us

Whatever betide,

The Scripture assures us

'The Lord will provide.'"

"The birds without barn

Or storehouse are fed;

From them let us learn 

To trust for our bread.

His saints what is fitting

Shall ne'er be denied,

So long as 'tis written,

'The Lord will provide.'"

"His call we obey,

Like Abram of old,

Not knowing our way,

But faith makes us bold.

And though we are strangers,

We have a good guide,

And trust, in all dangers,

'The Lord will provide.'"

"We may like the ships

In tempests be toss'd

On perilous deeps,

But cannot be lost.

Though Satan enrages

The wind and the tide,

The promise engages--

'The Lord will provide.'"

"When Satan appears 

To stop up our path, 

And fills us with fears,

We triumph by faith;

He cannot take from us,

Though oft he has tried,

This heart-cheering promise,

'The Lord will provide.'"

He tells us we're weak, 

Our hope is in vain,

The good that we seek

We ne'er shall obtain;

But when such suggestions 

Our spirits have tried,

This answers all questions--

'The Lord will provide.'"

"No strength of our own

Or goodness we claim;

But since we have known

The Savior's great name,

In this, our strong tower,

For safety we hide;

The Lord is our power!

'The Lord will provide!'"

"When life sinks apace,

And death is in view,

This word of His grace

Shall comfort us through.

No fearing nor doubting,

With Christ on our side,

We hope to die shouting--

'The Lord will provide!'"

(Picture from https://www.tuttartpitturasculturapoesiamusica.com/2015/02/Eliseu-Visconti.html)

Family Life - November and December 2021

 November and December just moved right along and I thought of a family update quite a few times, but it just hasn't happened until now. Life doesn't slow down and especially around the holidays, things can seem to move faster until now, here we are, already in February! The Smith farm is thankful for this fact however. The faster winter moves along, the better it is. I am not a cold weather person in general, but when you have to work in it, winter really looses its enjoyment. =) But January has moved through and as my dad says, February is a short month. 

Back to November and December. 

As a gift from my family, I was blessed with a plane ticket to fly out to Kansas in November to 
visit one of my best friends, Emily and her husband and little guy! I was able to
spend about 10 days out there drinking in the Kansas scenery, loving on Emily's
little boy, being apart of milo harvest, and of course, many many hours of 
talking. =) It was a blessed trip and I am so grateful for it. 

This was taken back in the fall, but I thought it was too cute not to post. 
Here is Snoopy and Lady (or Ladybug). 

We had 2 turkeys raised by some Mennonite friends of ours and when it was 
time to kill, Dad went over and was able to learn and be apart of the process and
then brought them home for Mom and I to cut up and freeze. It was a great
learning experience and has made us feel much more confident with raising
and killing our own meat birds. 

I was working at my "office are" aka the dining room table in the living room
and I had visitor come by to watch me. 

Hope and I, armed with (healthy) hot chocolate working on Dad's Christmas gift. 

The Smith Family Christmas 2021

Our Christmas celebration with my dad's family. Here I am with my
cousin Allie and her husband Grant. Cousin friendship is precious. 

Christmas week we had the blessing of having our pastor's family up for 
lunch, Christmas cookie decorating, and hot chocolate. 
Above are all the girls...
And below are the men. =)

Christmas Eve, we went to visit with our great-grandmother. 

Also that night, we were able to visit our WW2 veteran friend, Mr. Tarter. 

Sibling friendship is amazing!

Emma and Stephen had an exciting announcement to make at Christmas! 
Baby Seaford coming July 2022!!!

So entered 2022!
Happy New Year to you all!