Umm...I think I already knew that.

But it is nice to be affirmed.

I took the Spiritual Gifts test here: http://www.christianet.com/bible/spiritualgiftstest.htm ,



89% Teacher
89% Pastor
89% Leadership

These gifts exceed the normal ability level of an individual that may come through life experience or knowledge. In fact many refer to these gifts as a "supernatural ability" vs. "natural ability" that a person may posses.Everyone has God-given talents, but He also bestows supernatural abilities to those believers who will give themselves over to His Spirit. These individuals are used for ministry in His Kingdom to help members of the body of Christ. They are also used to extend the church’s witness and ministry into the world.

Monday Morning Garden Blogging

I've decided to add what I hope to be a weekly feature on my blog of the progress of my garden. I live in an apartment building and they have plots in the back of our complex that we can plant our gardens in. It is a challenge to say the least. The soil is depleted of all its nutrients and is acidic because of the pine trees surrounding the plots. Last year was a dud as far as my gardening went, a couple of cucumbers, a few tomatoes and a bumper crop of beans. This year I did raised beds of miracle grow soil and placed plastic around some of the crops to keep the water in and the weeds out. I amended the soil with lyme in the late spring and am using a fertilizer that is low in nitrogen. I also fertilize sparingly to protect the environment.

My Garden Plot, my sanctuary, my comfort and my joy.

The tomato plants I started from seeds. I have a plastic milk carton irrigation system but I haven't had to use it because we've been blessed with so much rain. We don't use hoses in our plots, just a sprinkling can and lots of walking back and forth to the spigot.

This is the store bought tomato plant. Most of my tomatoes are grown from seeds but I wanted fresh tomato plants 10 minutes ago yesterday, so I bought a plant with blooms already on it.

Welcome to the world little tomato, I am so glad you are here!!! Can't wait to eat you, yum yum!


Here's the cucumber plants. Last year the cucumbers got a fungus that ruined the crop. Hopefully with special care and a watchful eye I can prevent the same problem this year.


A little pepper plant growing protected by black mulch. This is my first year using a wooden chip mulch in the vegetable garden. When I owned a house I used my grass clippings for mulch in the vegetable garden, however living in an apartment complex that uses way too much chemical in its grass, I am changing my ways.



Here's the bean plants, they don't appear to be doing too well. I have not put mulch around them yet. Wondering if I should put down the plastic or the black wood chips?



Here's the lettuce and the gladiolas. I ran out of lettuce seeds mid planting and a parishioner of mine gave me some bulbs so I decided to plant them in the same plot. Perhaps I'll get some sort of creepy flowering salad hybrid.


My garden blog is not complete without a picture of my cat. She likes to think she is the queen of absolutely everything.

Friday five - Word association

Think summer......are you there? Below you will find five words or phrases. Tell us the first thing you think of on reading each one. Your response might be simply another word, or it might be a sentence, a poem, a memory, a recipe, or a story. You get the idea:

1. rooftop - There was a helipad on the roof of a hospital that I was a chaplain at, they changed it to a "healing pad" when they decided to change the landing place for their helicopter. It was a sanctuary, although it did get hot in the summer.

2. gritty - my sandals, especially after I've been in the garden.

3. hot town (yeah, I know, it's two words) - any town thanks to global warming.

4. night - comes later now that it is summer.

5. dance - don't ever dance at a reception of a wedding that you have officiated. My tee-tiny town is still talking about it and they have pictures. :)

I wish that was me.

No matter what life throws at me...

No matter what life throws at me, no matter what weighs heavy on my heart, no matter who thinks I'm whiney (even if they are a parishioner), as long as my garden grows, life is good. Please God help me to keep my eyes on the things that matter.

A Favorite Image of God

There is an musician whom I just adore. Her name is Carrie Newcomer and I was introduced to her music when she held a concert at my seminary several years ago. Her soulful music catches the essence of spirituality and Christianity in its purist form, before all the politics, before all the doctrine and before all the dogma. There is a simple joy that comes through in her music that shares her appreciation for all that God has created. In her song "Geodes" from her album "Geography of Light" she sings about the wonder of geodes, those rocks that are rough and gray on the outside but when you split them they reveal a kaleidoscope of colors. In her song is the following verse:


All these things that we call familiar,
Are just miracles clothed in the commonplace.
You’ll see it if you try in the next stranger's eyes,
God walks around in muddy boots, sometimes rags and that's the truth,
You can't always tell, but sometimes you just know.

This image of God walking around in muddy boots resonates with me because I am a gardener and the happiest moments in my life have been walking around my garden in muddy boots tending to the plants that I have grown from seeds. I imagine that God feels the same way about all of God's great creation.

Summer Meme

I was invited to participate in the meme through Songbird's Blog

So here it goes!

1.) What first tells you that Summer is here?

When I can start taking my tomato plants outside to get used to the elements and when I get my garden plot assignment at my apartment complex.

2.) Name five of your favorite distinctively Summer habits or customs.

Gardening and watering my plants

Grilling

Walking

Day trips

Going to the ocean

3.) What is your favorite smell of Summer?

The smell of dirt as I am gardening.

4.) What is your favorite taste of Summer?

Tomatoes from the garden and fresh rhubarb pie.

5.) Favorite Summer memory?

Walking along the Marginal Way of Oqunquit, Maine. The flowers along that pathway are breathtaking. There's a couple of fancy resorts along the way and my partner and I joke around about sneaking into the resort and pretending we belong there, but one look at us and you can tell we are not part of the rich and famous.

6.) Extreme heat or extreme cold? Which would you choose and why?

I'd rather have extreme heat. I don't do well in the cold where as I thrive in the heat.

7.) What books do you plan to read for the season?

-The Friday Night Knitting Club

-Unbinding Your Church

-The Practicing Congregation

-The Icarus Girl

Anything else that catches my fancy this summer at the library.

8.) How does the Summer affect your faith?

Summer increases my faith because of my gardening. I feel so unabashedly in the present moment as I am working on my garden. All my thoughts, worries and concerns drift away as I am concentrating on tending a piece of God's creation. My best praying happens in the garden and my best sermon writing. There are times I'll start singing a hymn I am so happy in the garden. However my fellow garden plot farmers think I'm a bit weird, especially when they see me talking to the vegetables.

If you read this post...consider yourself tagged!