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The Beauty of America

When you think of the beauty of America—geographically speaking—what do you picture in your mind? In listening to patriotic music recently, I realized that nearly all of our patriotic songs mention at least one picturesque element of the landscape of this vast nation. Here are just a few examples:

* From “America the Beautiful,” by Katherine Lee Bates: “O beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain, for purple mountain majesties above the fruited plain!”

* From “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee,” by Samuel F. Smith: “I love thy rocks and rills, thy woods and templed hills,…”

* From “God Bless America,” by Irving Berlin: “From the mountains, to the prairies, to the oceans white with foam,…”

Let me be quick to add that the United States is not the only nation whose geography is varied and beautiful. In fact, most countries have a vast array of natural or man-made beauty within their borders.

Today, however, I am focused on the geographical beauty of America, so I’m simply going to list several locations—both natural and man-made—that come to my mind when I picture “the beauty of America.” I’m eager to hear some of your favorite places, too!

*The Badlands of South Dakota

*Mount Rushmore

*Dave’s Falls in Northern Wisconsin

*Niagara Falls

*The Blue Ridge Mountains

*The cornfields of Northern Indiana

*Lake Erie (as viewed from Erie Metropark, outside of Detroit)

*The coastlines of Maine  

*The mountains and lakes in Northern Colorado

*The rolling hills of Pewaukee, Wisconsin

*And so much more!

Lord, Your creation amazes me. You have given me beauty to enjoy in the midst of sadness; natural splendor in times of uncertainty—each reminding me of Your power and majesty! Thank You for that. I also want to thank You for the the skills you gave to many people so that man-made displays of history or scenic views designed to allow a greater glimpse of Your creation could be enjoyed by Americans and by those who visit our beautiful country. In each, both natural and man-made, may I be reminded that every moment, every skill, every location is a gift from You!

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I would love for you to leave a comment with one or more of your favorite natural or man-made locations in America!

By Petals from the Basket | July 3, 2012 | Events |

How to Celebrate the Fourth of July

Nestled in the beauty of Northern Indiana, the little town of Nappanee has been the site of my Independence Day celebrations for the last several years. (I am sad not to be able to be there this year.) Sitting at the end of my parents’ driveway provides a front-row seat to the fireworks display that is shot from the little park in town. Viewing the droves of Amish families walking down the street toward the park provides nearly as much delight in my heart as the fireworks themselves provide.

My current plan is that the posts on Petals from the Basket this week will be about America. I want to start the week by posting three simple ways to celebrate our nation:

1. Plan to celebrate: 

Wear red, white and blue as often as possible this week! Eat strawberries and blueberries! Attend a fireworks display (and honor your leaders with respect if they choose to cancel them due to the widespread drought)! Display your flag! Buy a flag to display! (They’re surprisingly inexpensive.) Host or attend a barbecue! Read the Declaration of Independence (sooooo easy to find online)! Sing a patriotic song! Attend a patriotic concert! Just celebrate!

2. Positively speak of America:

Gossip, slander and hatred are forbidden by God. His Word contains no “exception clauses.” Do I like every law in America? No. Will I abide by the laws of America? Yes (unless that law conflicts with God’s commands). Stirring up a “mob mentality” on Facebook or via blog postings or newspaper articles is wrong—plain and simple. Yes, I trust Christ-following commentators and writers to tell me the Christian viewpoint on things I would not otherwise know. However, when they cross over into hatred, they are no longer welcome to plant their attitudes into a part of my mind or my heart. Yes, that includes brash, mean-spirited talk show hosts and columnists as well. If you feel comfortable following their teachings, please continue doing so—and I say that sincerely. This is, after all, a free country. But please, let your words of concern be spoken through the filter of a God-following heart. Yes, you represent leaders you believe in, but you represent Christ first.

3. Pray for America:

Will you join me this week in praying for America DAILY from now until Friday? I am choosing to focus my patriotic thoughts heavenward this week through a daily time of praying for our nation’s leaders, our church leaders, and our American troops who are serving on behalf of all of us.

I rarely “talk to God” on my blog, but this week I would like to end each post with a written prayer for our country. Some days I will use my own words; others, the words of Scripture or of songs. I trust you will join me as I plan to celebrate, positively speak of, and pray for this wonderful land I call my earthly home!

Father, I begin this week of celebration by thanking you for the freedom I have on this day to speak of You publicly and without fear. Let my words be true, but ever pleasing to You, when I speak of this country. God, please “bless America—land that I love. Stand beside her, and guide her through the night with a light from above.” We need You, Lord. You can do what seems impossible, and that includes opening the eyes of the leaders of our land that have no relationship with you. Lead believers into their paths that will teach them your truths and point them to the grace You freely offer all who believe. We need You, Lord. Thank You for hearing and answering our prayers as we bring them before You in the name of Your precious Son, Jesus. Amen.

By Petals from the Basket | July 2, 2012 | Events |

Saturdays, Scrub Brushes, and Sopranos

Today’s guest post was written by my mom, Lorraine Strohbehn. 

My friend Jenny recently brought us a stack of magazines. They were filled with memories from the good old days—that time enhanced by poor memory and good imagination. What fun these magazines are to read!

Jenny dropped off the magazines just after I had completed the weekly cleaning of our home. Perhaps that is why reading those old stories stirred my childhood memories of cleaning day.

As a young girl, helping my mother with cleaning was a regular Saturday task. Since I had no brothers or sisters, I was it—the co-cleaning lady alongside my mother—and my tasks always included washing the kitchen floor.

We lived on a farm and had a country kitchen which, to a nine-year-old girl, looked as big as a gymnasium! (It actually was pretty generous in size.) Our old oak kitchen table seated twenty-four when all the leaves were inserted. There was a wood-burning kitchen stove, a sink with a pump on one side and a bucket hidden behind the door, plus all the other usual kitchen necessities.

Cleaning that room truly was a monumental task—particularly the inlaid linoleum-covered floor. Because World War II was still going on, everyone wore composition-soled shoes because the rubber was needed for our military vehicles. Believe me, the black strokes and streaks made by those composition soles took a lot of coaxing to separate it from the linoleum! It seemed that all my mind could focus on was the distaste I had for washing that kitchen floor.

Then one Saturday I found a radio program sponsored by Texaco called “Saturday Afternoon at the Opera.” Your first reaction is probably to think that this was not a likely program for a youngster to listen to each week! However, I don’t recall a single alternative that came in clearly on our radio. With my mind fascinated by the music-related questions the panel discussed during intermission, I found that those black splotches really did come off easily! Even the baseboard looked great when it was freshly washed. Of course, at the end of the cleaning I also treasured any comment my Dad would make about a job well done!

As I look back, I am thankful for the challenge of what looked insurmountable every Saturday. Not because I loved scrubbing the floor, but because the task was lightened by music that would help me develop a taste for good music and the battery-charging effect it can have.

“Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.” (Psalm 100, KJV)

Maybe I need to have a keener realization that sometimes the things I appreciate the least are the ones that are teaching me the most. Do you have some of those too?

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I’d love for you to leave a comment for Lorraine today!

To read more from Lorraine Strohbehn, check out her “Lorraine’s Little Books” series, available via the links on the “Recommended Reading/Kindle Books” page.

By Petals from the Basket | June 29, 2012 | Family, Guest Posts |

Half-Year’s Resolutions

This Sunday is the first day of the week, the first day of the month, and the first day of the second half of 2012.

Some of you will read that and say, “Cool.” (Notice the absence of the exclamation point—just “cool.”) But some of you, like me, are thinking that this marks the perfect weekend—when all “scheduling tools” perfectly align!!!!! (Notice the multiple exclamation points!)

For those of you in the first category who live in some semblance of normalcy, life will go on, untouched by this phenomenon. But for those of us “abnormal” calendar perfectionists, it’s time to grab a fresh pen (for all good perfectionists know such an event cannot be properly celebrated with last week’s pen), buy some new paper clips (suitable for color-coding, of course), and start filling in the boxes on the untouched full-month-view pages of our 2012 planners!

Even if your planner starts the week on Mondays, this works! You have no fear of your starting page in the weekly section having a blank page on the back, thereby showing everyone that you are not as organized as you wish to be. Go ahead, admit it. It’s safe here. I KNOW I’m not the only one!

But this Sunday, July 1, 2012 is like New Year’s Day all over again! Fresh start, clean slate, new month, new week, new day, new beginnings!

In celebration of this “perfectly-aligned” start to the second half of the year, I would like to invite you to join me in making three—only three—”half-year’s resolutions.”

1. Body: Make one realistic goal regarding the care of your body. For example, drink more water. Exercise three times per week. Get more rest. Train for a marathon. Walk one mile per week. Do whatever matches your skill level and your motivation.

2. Mind: Set one realistic goal regarding the strengthening of your mind. Make it a priority in the second half of the year to learn something new. Read. Take a class this fall through your free community education courses. Learn how to use a new feature on your phone. Do a crossword puzzle or try sudoku once a week.

3. Spirit: Determine to accomplish at least one realistic goal in developing your relationship with God. Join a Bible study. Choose to have a God-and-I-Time at least three days a week. Memorize a verse, a chapter, or a book of the Bible. Pray for others. Pray for God to stir your heart with a hunger for His truth. Grow in grace and knowledge of Christ with the help of a weekly “Praise Walk.”

Maybe you already gave your best in the first six months of 2012. That’s awesome! Now better your best as we each choose to keep, gain, or begin the momentum of  growing in our care of the body, mind, and spirit as we face the first the first day of the week, the first day of the month, and the first day of the second half of 2012.

***Tomorrow is a special GUEST POST from my mom, Lorraine Strohbehn! Be sure to stop back by and read about the lesson she learned from a childhood chore!

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Thank you for reading today’s post.

Feel free to share your resolutions either via comment or email [petalsfromthebasket (at) gmail (dot) com].

By Petals from the Basket | June 28, 2012 | Bible Reading, Books, Events, Friends, God-and-I-Time, Ideas, Organization |

Lessons from a Pinterest Board

Some of you warned me. When I said, “I’m thinking about checking out Pinterest,” you said, “Let me warn you: it’s addicting.”  And it was. I think I bought into the old adage, adapted for Pinterest here, that “she who dies with the most ‘pins,’ wins!” Eventually I learned to use Pinterest in the way that works best for me, and in so doing, I also learned to use it as a tool, not a toy!

For those unfamiliar with Pinterest, let me briefly explain it through the eyes of my own use of it.

Through a simple process of adding a “pin it” button to your toolbar, you can save pictures or ideas from around the internet on your own virtual “bulletin board” housed on the Pinterest site. Example: While checking a recipe on marthastewart.com I see a great idea for some new pillows. By simply clicking the “pin it” button on my toolbar, I can pin that picture, and a direct link to it, to a board that I have labeled “my style.” Later, when I have time to sew, I can click on the picture on my Pinterest bulletin board and be redirected back to the original post and instructions on the Martha Stewart site.

But here’s the great part. I can also view pictures of, in this example, other pillows that my friends liked and pinned to their boards. Instead of taking time to use a search engine for “pillow patterns” and coming up with 13,600,000 search results (actual number), I can go to Pinterest and see pictures posted by people with my similar tastes and interests. Pinterest provides a great summary of my chosen topic, honed down into a viewable search and saving me the “search” time! To narrow my search even further, I can “follow” those whose interests and tastes mirror my own.

I personally summarize Pinterest this way: it’s the Reader’s Digest of the internet!

As I mentioned, you can “follow” someone’s board, thereby allowing you to access the ideas they add to their virtual bulletin boards. “Following” someone implies that you share an interest and states that you trust their judgment and their tastes. In most cases, you also know they have posted something that is tried and true.

Because the Lord Jesus Christ is far superior to any Pinterest board ever created, I would not even dare to compare Him to Pinterest. I would, however, choose to learn an important lesson from the Pinterest rage.

God’s Word, the Bible, has everything I need, all in one place. When I need an answer, instruction, or “words to live by,” I head straight to its pages. I trust what I find there. The words God chose to include were carefully chosen and each word was written by His guidance.

“By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.” II Peter 1:3 (NLT) 

Because of God’s great love for His, and His desire for all things to work for our good and His glory, He inspired Luke to write these words in Luke 9:23: “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me.” (NLT)

He wants me to be His follower! Obeying this command just makes sense for one who is interested in what He is interested in, who longs to learn from Him, and who trusts His judgment.

Do I recommend Pinterest? Yes. I’ve tried it and it’s worth sharing.

But above any recommendation I can give a website is my desire for you to choose to be a Christ-follower. I’ve tried it and it’s worth sharing!

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Thank you for reading “Lessons from a Pinterest Board.” I’d love to hear how you became a Christ-follower!

By Petals from the Basket | June 27, 2012 | Ideas |