APPLEOLOGY
Appleology is - the study of - and observations about - apples!
During our last Phoenix Seminary spring break, Darryl and I enjoyed some time in Watsonville, California. Watsonville is a gardener's paradise. One of our favorite places is a plant nursery which we visit as often as we can. While there, we discovered a photo collage in the gift shop capturing the same scene in a local apple orchard over the course of all four seasons. At the top of the collage someone had added the term - appleology!
We were so excited that we purchased the collage and then afterward tried to figure out where to put it! You see, we have loved apples for years, especially since Darryl taught through the book of Ecclesiastes and began shaping his own unique version of "appleology" theology!
My love of apples began early. Growing up in Iowa we had an abundance of apple trees. As a child I remember hearing about settlers who moved westward across America, carrying apple seedling trees with them. During the 1800's, a pioneer apple planter named John Chapman distributed apples seeds and sprouts to settlers and he became known as Johnny Appleseed! He left behind a tasty legacy for future generations.
Over the years our appleology theology has grown. Here are three of our favorite observations:
1) Life is like a conveyor belt of apples with one apple arriving every 24 hours - extract as much enjoyment as you can by taking the biggest bite possible!
You may not know that there are thousands of varieties of apples. You are probably familiar with some of best known varieties - Delicious, Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, Jonathan, McIntosh, Rome Beauty, to name just a few. Their color ranges from various shades of red -to green - to yellow. Whatever the color, they are juicy and delicious!
2) You can count the number of seeds in an apple, but only God can count the number of apples in a seed.
The apple is a pome - that is, a fruit with a more fleshy outer layer, a paperlike core, and more than one seed. The seeds - usually five - are enclosed in the core. Each seed has the potential of producing a tree that may live as long as 100 years - similar to a long human lifespan - and each tree can produce thousands of apples.
3) Even bad apples - the kind that cause us to cringe - can be embraced because they make us better people!
Since humans enjoy apples, it follows that pests would, too. So, once in a while, you might find a wormlike larva called an apple maggot in your apple. That's because the female fruit fly lays its eggs under the skin of apples. The apple maggots which hatch from these eggs burrow through the flesh of the apple, leaving rusty streaks in it. YUCK! We all have had the experience of biting into a juicy, delicious apple and seeing the path of a worm - or worse - seeing half of a worm!
Not all apples are the same - some are sweet, some are sour, some have worms. It is my choice to seek to EXTRACT as much enjoyment as I can from each moment, to remember that my life can IMPACT future generations tremendously and to choose to EMBRACE adversity as much as the good times! The truth is - each apple is what it is - a simple but graphic reminder that I am dust and my days on earth are precious and few. APPLEOLOGY!
Monday, June 6, 2011
Monday, May 30, 2011
I've been thinking about love...
Animated by Love
In John chapter 13 verses 34 and 35, Jesus says, A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.
Jesus transforms the original concept of loving - from loving your neighbor as yourself - to loving just as Jesus loves. This implies a kind of love where someone is even willing to lay down their life for another. Dramatic yes, but not often required from us today. However, what is required is a selfless focus on another person that requires dying to ourselves and our need to be the narcissistic center of our universe.
Darryl mentioned the phrase, "animated by love" in his sermon yesterday. I wrote it down in my Bible in John 13 and this morning I woke up thinking about it once again. When God wakes me up early, it is usually a sign that a blog is percolating!
In thinking about the idea of love, I remember an illustration about excellent loving that I have recorded in my life goals. It goes like this:
Imagine each person I interact with wears a strip of litmus paper on their forehead, designed to reveal the presence of love or hate in me - and all the gradations in between. Now imagine watching that litmus paper - as I encourage or discourage, lift up or tear down, make an emotional deposit or withdrawal.
This kind of visual aid holds me accountable to myself for my attitudes and reminds me of my continual dependence on God to supply me with a never-ending stream of unconditional love from His reservoir.
To animate something is to give it life. What a beautiful picture is created in my mind when I think about my spirit filling up like a balloon with God's love - full of vigor and zest. BTW - When you blend vigor and zest (my favorite "Z" word) you get an intense effect of enhanced enjoyment!
So, in essence, both people are blessed by animated love - the giver and the receiver. The more love I pour out - the more rich, vigorous and zesty my life becomes. Imagine our world if everyone operated this way! We would all be stumbling over each other to love anyone in sight and the world would be a very different place!
John 15:13, Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
In John chapter 13 verses 34 and 35, Jesus says, A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.
Jesus transforms the original concept of loving - from loving your neighbor as yourself - to loving just as Jesus loves. This implies a kind of love where someone is even willing to lay down their life for another. Dramatic yes, but not often required from us today. However, what is required is a selfless focus on another person that requires dying to ourselves and our need to be the narcissistic center of our universe.
Darryl mentioned the phrase, "animated by love" in his sermon yesterday. I wrote it down in my Bible in John 13 and this morning I woke up thinking about it once again. When God wakes me up early, it is usually a sign that a blog is percolating!
In thinking about the idea of love, I remember an illustration about excellent loving that I have recorded in my life goals. It goes like this:
Imagine each person I interact with wears a strip of litmus paper on their forehead, designed to reveal the presence of love or hate in me - and all the gradations in between. Now imagine watching that litmus paper - as I encourage or discourage, lift up or tear down, make an emotional deposit or withdrawal.
This kind of visual aid holds me accountable to myself for my attitudes and reminds me of my continual dependence on God to supply me with a never-ending stream of unconditional love from His reservoir.
To animate something is to give it life. What a beautiful picture is created in my mind when I think about my spirit filling up like a balloon with God's love - full of vigor and zest. BTW - When you blend vigor and zest (my favorite "Z" word) you get an intense effect of enhanced enjoyment!
So, in essence, both people are blessed by animated love - the giver and the receiver. The more love I pour out - the more rich, vigorous and zesty my life becomes. Imagine our world if everyone operated this way! We would all be stumbling over each other to love anyone in sight and the world would be a very different place!
John 15:13, Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
I've been thinking about predictability...
Holly Linda DelHousaye's Rules to Live By
Maybe you are a fan of NCIS like I am and you have heard Leroy Jethro Gibbs refer to his rules, an extensive series of guidelines (50+) which make up a code that he lives by and teaches people he works closely with.
Apparently, when Gibbs met his first wife, Shannon, she told him at their first meeting that, "Everyone needs a code to live by." Years later, after their marriage, Gibbs began writing his code of rules down, keeping them in a small tin inside his house.
I discovered that some fans pay such close attention to every detail in the NCIS scripts, that they can actually point out which programs make references to the individual rules, their rule numbers and even when there are discrepancies.
With all this stimulation to think about rules of engagement with life, I have been evaluating if I have a code of rules that I live by and what they are. I discovered, of course, that I do have a code that guides me but I have never taken the time to write my thoughts down before.
The last couple of days I have been busy gathering a few of my personal rules and, if you don't mind, I would love to share them with you:
Rule # 1: Whatever you do, do it with all your heart.
Rule # 2: Wherever you are, be all there.
Rule # 3: Don't just take up space - make your life count.
Rule # 4: Pay attention when God speaks.
Rule # 5: If you can bless a worthy person, do it.
Rule # 6: Respect authority and submit to it.
Rule # 7: Hang around good people and they will rub off on you.
Rule # 8: Chase every detail down when people are involved.
Rule # 9: Stick together - it's safer!
Rule #10: If you can pray with someone in the moment, do it.
Rule #11: When faced with a choice to encourage or discourage, always encourage.
Rule #12: Value compassion - it brings people together.
Rule #13: Embrace informal authority as far more valuable than formal authority.
Rule #14: Use the HUG - SLUG - HUG approach if forced to correct someone.
Rule #15: Understand that being the boss leads to even more restraints - not less.
Rule #16: To be successful you must build a strong support system and maintain it.
Rule #17: Cherish laughter - it is an instant vacation.
Rule #18: If you are in charge of a meeting, end at the posted time.
Rule #19: When you lead, do so excellently by being diligent and careful.
Rule #20: Life brings strange twists - adapt!
I know there are many more where these came from. I am wondering if I will eventually have 50+, too, that will help others know me and what I value. I think Leroy Jethro Gibbs is a fascinating character and so, apparently, do many others. We are drawn to someone who stands for something instead of falling for everything!
Maybe you are a fan of NCIS like I am and you have heard Leroy Jethro Gibbs refer to his rules, an extensive series of guidelines (50+) which make up a code that he lives by and teaches people he works closely with.
Apparently, when Gibbs met his first wife, Shannon, she told him at their first meeting that, "Everyone needs a code to live by." Years later, after their marriage, Gibbs began writing his code of rules down, keeping them in a small tin inside his house.
I discovered that some fans pay such close attention to every detail in the NCIS scripts, that they can actually point out which programs make references to the individual rules, their rule numbers and even when there are discrepancies.
With all this stimulation to think about rules of engagement with life, I have been evaluating if I have a code of rules that I live by and what they are. I discovered, of course, that I do have a code that guides me but I have never taken the time to write my thoughts down before.
The last couple of days I have been busy gathering a few of my personal rules and, if you don't mind, I would love to share them with you:
Rule # 1: Whatever you do, do it with all your heart.
Rule # 2: Wherever you are, be all there.
Rule # 3: Don't just take up space - make your life count.
Rule # 4: Pay attention when God speaks.
Rule # 5: If you can bless a worthy person, do it.
Rule # 6: Respect authority and submit to it.
Rule # 7: Hang around good people and they will rub off on you.
Rule # 8: Chase every detail down when people are involved.
Rule # 9: Stick together - it's safer!
Rule #10: If you can pray with someone in the moment, do it.
Rule #11: When faced with a choice to encourage or discourage, always encourage.
Rule #12: Value compassion - it brings people together.
Rule #13: Embrace informal authority as far more valuable than formal authority.
Rule #14: Use the HUG - SLUG - HUG approach if forced to correct someone.
Rule #15: Understand that being the boss leads to even more restraints - not less.
Rule #16: To be successful you must build a strong support system and maintain it.
Rule #17: Cherish laughter - it is an instant vacation.
Rule #18: If you are in charge of a meeting, end at the posted time.
Rule #19: When you lead, do so excellently by being diligent and careful.
Rule #20: Life brings strange twists - adapt!
I know there are many more where these came from. I am wondering if I will eventually have 50+, too, that will help others know me and what I value. I think Leroy Jethro Gibbs is a fascinating character and so, apparently, do many others. We are drawn to someone who stands for something instead of falling for everything!
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