Tag Archives: Jeremiah

Two lives imitating trees

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In last week’s post Two trees imitating life?, I wrote about two tree sculptures imitating life, or death, or maybe even tennis balls, depending on how you view the art. I promised to follow up this week with more about the blessed life being like a tree planted by water, and here’s a picture of some pretty cool tree roots to get you thinking of what the tree planted by water may look like:

Trees and their roots growing by a creek

The passage I shared with you last week actually describes two lives that are like trees, just very different kinds. One life is blessed, but the other is cursed.  Continue reading →

Two trees imitating life?

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I’ve been working on a book chapter about Jeremiah 17:5-8, in which Jeremiah compares a cursed man to a bush in the desert who will live “in a land of salt without inhabitant” (v. 6).

Well, I had never heard of a land of salt and really couldn’t picture what that might look like, and so I googled the phrase just to see what would come up. The Bonneville Salt Flats just outside of Salt Lake City, Utah, showed up in the list of hits.

If you read through the Google hits for the Bonneville Salt Flats, you’ll see words like “nothing for miles,” “desolate,” and “barren.” Famous races happen there, by car and on foot, but – and this is mainly for my sweet husband – please don’t feel like you have to go run the 100-mile race there … ever. (Even if you could leave your salt tablets at home and still be okay.) Despite the attraction for speed junkies, there’s a whole lot of nothing to this desert land.  Continue reading →

The Lady Baltimore

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Last August, when I took my in-laws to the local farmer’s market, they bought my husband and me a lovely hibiscus, called a “Lady Baltimore,” for our garden. The seller at the market promised that it’s a perennial in this area. I’ll admit to being skeptical at the time.

By the end of my in-laws’ visit, though, the plant looked like it wouldn’t even live to make it out of the pot and into the ground. But it did live, and I was delighted when it bloomed several times last August.

Although it was a single stalk last year, the seller promised it would grow back more bush-like this year, with multiple stalks. I was just happy when one stalk poked up through the ground this spring and started sprouting leaves and then buds. I’ve spent many mornings since the first sign of green giving it ample water to grow tall and strong.  Continue reading →

A replenishing place

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Hi, Friends,

Do you have a place where you go to renew your spirit or rejuvenate physically and mentally? For my husband and me, that place is the NC mountains. Even this time of year, when there’s still snow and ice on the ground – not to mention salt and sand on the roads – we love being there. How I feel when we’re there and when we’ve just come back is like the tree in this verse from Jeremiah:

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord … For he will be like a tree
planted by the water, that extends its roots by a stream and will not fear
when the heat comes.
– Jeremiah 17:7-8

Now, you may find it strange to have a verse about the heat in the middle of February, but I’ll tell you, my garden already knows that the heat is on its way. Two little crocuses have poked their heads up in my garden here at home, and when we were in the mountains over the weekend, I noticed that there are some bulbs there already eagerly forcing their way up through the thawing earth.

Continue reading →