We All Live in a Capital I…
…In the middle of the desert
In the center of the sky
And all day long we polish on the I
To keep it clean and shiny
So it brightens up the sky
Rubbing it here
And scrubbing it there
Polishing the I
So high in the air
I have this Sesame Street jingle stuck in my head.
As a kid, it was one of my favorite songs, and now one of the only songs I actually remember from the television show. I used to sing it occasionally to Jacob a couple years ago, while he did his grammar lesson or dictation, to remind him to capitalize I in his sentences. He, consequently, thought I was crazy. Especially since I could never remember the words. And I’d sing that. “We all live in a capital I, in the middle of the desert, in the center of the sky. And all day long we polish up the I, and that’s all I’ll sing ’cause I don’t know any more. Capital I. Capital I.”
But now, I find myself spontaneously singing it every day, humming it, thinking about it while I’m trying to sleep at night. Don’t ask me why. Just one of those things that happens now and again.
As we work we sing a lively tune
“It is great to be so happy on a busy afternoon.”
And when we’re through with the day’s only chore
We go into the I
And we close the doorCapital I, capital I, capital I, capital I
It could be worse. At least I *like* this song. I could be walking around singing other 80s throwbacks, like the theme from the Gummy Bears cartoon show, or Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust” (all I can say about that one is, that when I was in 6th grade – the year my family moved to Upstate, NY – I was chosen to perform in a gymnastics night, and my physical education teacher played this every day during our warm-ups. No offense to anyone who enjoys Queen, but I hated the song. I suppose it didn’t help that this was the year I was teased mercilessly for being the only kid in 6th grade who didn’t even know who Queen was, didn’t watch MTV, and for telling people Peter, Paul, and Mary was one of my favorite music groups. Yeah. Guess I shoulda kept that little tidbit of information to myself 
).
So, for your listening and veiwing pleasure, Capital I:
Kinda sounds like something Peter, Paul, and Mary would sing, dontcha think?
Backyard Habitat, Phase II
With our trek to South Dakota temporarily postponed, Jacob and I dove back into our bird garden project. Today, we transplanted black-eyed Susans (great for attracting bees), a butterfly bush, yarrow, Ruby Bells, and creeping Jenny from various parts of our yard. I also moved a weed – yes, a weed! – from one area of the garden to another. Odd, I know. But it was a pretty weed, and I hope it will make a good ground cover for a full shade area of the flower bed.
Jacob manned the hose (what seven-year-old doesn’t want to get wet and muddy on a warm, sunny day?), and used his little trowel to dig holes for the smaller plants. We weeded some more, too, and I finished digging the pond.
We then took a trip to a locally-owned nursery and purchased – with money from our garage sale we’d been planning to use for the SD trip – a small Dogwood tree, Coronation Triumph Shrubby Cinquefoil, and Shadblow. All three are native plants to our ares, providing nectar for butterflies and fruit for birds. Already, the robins are munching on the sweet serviceberries; so did we! They’re perfectly safe for humans, and used to make pies and jellies in many areas of the country.
These particular plants, part of the American Beauties native plant collection, make it
easy to use trees, shrubs, vines, grasses and wildflowers that are beautiful and good for wildlife. According to the American Beauties website, native plant experts and wildlife experts have teamed up to create four gardens guaranteed to bring life to your landscape by providing food and habitat for a variety of desirable critters. Plus, a part of the purchase will benefit the National Wildlife Federation:
Buying American Beauties brings life to your garden and helps a great cause. Every American Beauties plant sold benefits the National Wildlife Federation and their work to create better home landscape environments for you and the colorful garden critters you love. When you purchase an American Beauties plant, 25 cents, 50 cents or $1 will be donated to NWF to help fund their home habitat work and outreach programs.
American Beauties, LLC is a partnership between Prides Corner Farms, Lebanon, CT, and North Creek Nurseries, Landenberg, PA, dedicated to promoting native plants to bring life to the garden. Since each region of the country has its own native plants, the eventual goal of the partnership is to grow and distribute American Beauties plants on a regional basis throughout the United States and help promote the message of NWF while doing so.
Currently, the American Beauties line is only available in the Northeastern United States. But plans are underway to launch programs in other areas of the country.
Living as the Body
Baker Books, the parent company of Bethany House, offers its authors a chance to choose books from its new catalog, and I chose a bunch a books that normally I would never pick up. One of these is New Monasticism – What it Has to Say to Today’s Church. I must say, I was expecting something very Roman Catholic. It’s not. It’s about living in community. And, as the author admits, it’s really not new.
Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove may live more communally than most of us, but he does share some penetrating thoughts for the Church to mull over. New Monasticism is his term for certain intentional communities, and these are the 12 marks of the movement:
1) Relocation to the abandoned places of Empire.
2) Sharing economic resources with fellow community members and the needy among us.
3) Hospitality to the stranger
4) Lament for racial divisions within the church and our communities combined with the active pursuit of a just reconciliation.
5) Humble submission to Christ’s body, the church.
6) Intentional formation in the way of Christ and the rule of the community along the lines of the old novitiate.
7) Nurturing common life among members of intentional community.
8 ) Support for celibate singles alongside monogamous married couples and their children.
9) Geographical proximity to community members who share a common rule of life.
10) Care for the plot of God’s earth given to us along with support of our local economies.
11) Peacemaking in the midst of violence and conflict resolution within communities along the lines of Matthew 18.
12) Commitment to a disciplined contemplative life.
I don’t agree with Wilson-Hartgrove totally – who agrees with anyone 100%? – but he certainly gave me food for thought. And the fact that he liberally mentions Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Life Together in the first pages seemed providential, as I had finished reading it just before picking up this book. While many things resonated and have caused me to reassess certain things, there were two illustrations that have continued to stick with me; they pop into my head numerous times a day, and I wonder, How is God calling me to use this?
The first point he makes is, of course, about living as a church. Today, the immediate family unit seems much more revered over the church body. But, as Jesus asked, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” No, I’m not saying those bonds have been completely dissolved, but I think they are no more important that our spiritual kinship with other believers. As such, we should weigh our decisions by asking, “How will this affect my relationship with the church?” just as much as we should ask, “How will this affect my family?” Wilson-Hartgrove uses this example:
Economic decisions really do affect our relationships – and not just when they end them. If we really are God’s family together in the church, one couple’s decision to buy a vacation home really does affect their relationship with a single mother who is working two jobs to pay rent and put food on the table. It’s hard to imagine how they could have an honest relationship with each other, even when they’re part of the same church (page 103).
Yes, he’s talking about money. But this concept does flow over into other areas of life, too. Even when we truly understand we, as believers, are part of one body, there are many, many ways we still do not act like it. And, yes, it’s because of sin. But shame on us if we use that as an excuse to not strive for better.
The second idea that has opened my eyes has to do with serving other. Literally and figuratively. Not to long ago, I said to my mother, “We should all go serve at the soup kitchen this Christmas.” Of course, she thought that was a wonderful idea, and I patted myself on the back for suggesting it. Here I am, thinking of others. Go me. But, as Wilson-Hartgrove points out, there is a certain hierarchy created in a soup kitchen: the well-off serve the less privileged (page 101). And, when that concept sunk in (actually, it was more like dropping a boulder on my head), I repented and rethought, and read about Communality, a Lexington, KY intentional community (home of writer Lisa Samson), where believers come together for frequent parties and potlucks, inviting those in the neighborhoods around them to come, partake – and everyone eats together.
I know, at least in my own circles, people sometimes feel they shouldn’t read books that come from well outside their paradigm. But, to me, reading something doesn’t mean I condone every word. And, my personal denomination doesn’t corner the market on truth. God can use anything to convict and change us. He’s used this book to continue a change in me.
If the book we are reading does not wake us, as with a fist hammering on our skulls, then why do we read it? A book must be an ice axe to break the sea frozen inside us. – Franz Kafka
Now, I must seek Him to understand what He wants me to do about it.
Second Tuesdays – Floresta
This month’s Second Tuesday ministry is Floresta, a Christian nonprofit organization that’s committed to reversing deforestation and poverty in the world by transforming the lives of the rural poor.
From its website:
Deforestation is a problem of growing significance all over the world. It is
especially acute in tropical countries. All of us are affected by this problem, but no one more than the rural poor who make their living in and around the forest.
There are nearly a half-a-billion subsistence farmers worldwide. Constantly fighting starvation and utterly dependent on their environment for survival, they are often trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty and deforestation.
Threatened by land which no longer produces, rains that no longer come, and springs which are dry, they clear the forest for agriculture or sell charcoal to survive, further degrading their land.
One of the things that makes Floresta special is that we don’t just focus on treating the symptoms of environmental degradation and poverty, we work to solve the root causes. The second half of our mission statement, “We teach, we plant, we create enterprise and we share the gospel” reflects the four primary tools we use: Community Development, Innovative Agriculture and Forestry, Credit, and Discipleship.
Floresta currently has ongoing community development programs in Haiti, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and Tanzania. It also has a Plant-a-Tree program, where $1 will enable Floresta to plant a tree and see it to maturity.
Are You Smarter than a Seven-Year-Old?
My son beat me at Scrabble tonight. By 21 points.
Yeah.
Now, I’m a fairly decent Scrabble player. I have an ongoing competition with my agent on Facebook (so far I’m up on him 9 games to 5). We’ve discussed how 
Scrabble, unlike chess, has a measure of luck to it – it all depends on the draw. So, as Jacob and I were playing tonight, he’s building words like QUITS, FIVES, and FLEX on double word scores, WELT on a triple word score, and I have AIUIOOA and RRRIIIU on my rack.
I’m not making excuses; that’s how the game is played and I would never take the win away from him. Meanwhile, he’s saying things like, “I need a beating Mom snack,” and “I can’t believe a seven-year-old is beating the Scrabble champion,” and singing, “I am winning, yes, I am,” to the tune of Johannes Brahms’ Hungarian Dance #5. Then, when the game was over, he called his grandfather and told him, “I just humiliated Mom.”
The highlight of winning? This blog entry. He’s thrilled that I’m telling the world of his victory. “This is the first time I beat you at anything,” he said. He’s forgetting the time he was five and put me into checkmate while I was on the telephone, not paying attention to the game, obviously.
No excuses.
