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God is an amazing gardener and we are all part of His garden

 

Scruffy wondered if God could still love him, when he made so many mistakes…but in the story “Scruffy Finds His Way”, he discovers that God never stops loving him…never gives up on him. 

We are all made by God for a purpose…each of us is nourtured in a different way…each of us looks different…acts different…but is never-the-less still part of His creation…His garden!

I love to garden. It is such a joyful release for me to putter away in my gardens turning the soil, rearranging perennials and planting annuals. Soon after the snow melts and the earth warms I enthusiastically dive into my gardens and begin the process of preparing the soil for another season. Then I plant small seedlings in the spaces in between the perennials with the hope that the garden will explode into colour and beauty. I sit back to admire my work, filled with the anticipation of what the next few weeks of sunshine and rain will bring. Morning after morning I wander by my gardens looking for the blooms that I worked so hard to produce. As I peruse the vista before me I notice several things. Although planted at the same time in similar soil, some of the seedlings grow faster and better then others. These seedlings seem anxious to burst forth into bloom, to produce that for which they had been planted. Others are growing but at a much slower rate, some are barely struggling to survive and sadly some have been plucked out by the birds and lie dead on the ground. My response to this is to pour a little more effort into the struggling plants; to gently dig around their roots to encourage their spread and growth, to give them extra feedings of fertilizer to strengthen them. The better the plant, the better the bloom! Another thing that I notice is this; the same type of plants can produce different looking blooms. No two marigolds look exactly the same. Each section of the garden provides a different display of colours, heights and shapes. It’s food for the eyes! How dull a garden would be if it were filled with identical plants and flowers!

I’m positive that our heavenly Father loves gardens as much as I. Indeed, He created the endless variety of plants and flowers and gave us eyes that could discern the subtle variances in colour. In scripture it describes God as being a gardener- like me (but much, much better)! He too, works in His garden, pruning and cultivating to produce the best garden. He does whatever is necessary to produce good results. Just like my little seedlings need to be planted in good soil, so too do his vines need to be connected to the food source in order to survive. (John 15) We are all part of God’s garden. It is His desire to have us burst forth into bloom in the garden where we are planted. Like the branches described in John 15 have to be connected to the vine in order to thrive so too, we seedlings need to be buried deep in the soil that will nourish us – Jesus. Without this soil, we will not survive. Once we are planted in Jesus, God makes sure that we grow and flourish. And just like in my garden, some may take longer to bloom then others and no two blooms are alike, but together we make the garden beautiful.

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love is…

Love is…

An important part of Scruffy’s story is that he discovers that no matter what mischief he does that the Maker will always love him…this is something that all of us yearn for!  But what is Love?? Is it a warm, fuzzy feeling that envelopes us like a cozy blanket in winter or is it a lofty, noble thought that no one can really understand?? Following I share a little story about love…a true story that I think will help to define Love.  Read on…. (for the fuller story, see my book, “Finding His Way.”)

When Bob and I were dating, he captured my heart by

sneaking up to my house numerous times and leaving

simple little notes for me. Each note started with the words,

“Love is…”! There were tons of them, like “Love

is…gazing longingly at each other across a crowded room”

and “Love is…not even noticing you forgot to bring the

picnic basket.” I adored these little notes and looked forward

to receiving them.

As our relationship developed over the years, we would

continue to leave cute little notes for each other. On one

occasion that I vividly remember, I was going to be heading

off to counsel for two weeks at Camp Mini-Yo-We. The day

before departure, I had the day off and was using the time to

prepare some freezer meals for Bob to eat while I was away.

My thoughts were on him as much as they were on pre-camp

preparations. I thought, “Wouldn’t it be nice if I could send

him a little note every morning so that he would know that

I missed him.” This was in the days before cell phones and

text messaging…how easy it would be now to accomplish

this! It occurred to me that I could still do this if I wrote a

bunch of notes and hid them in places where I knew he

would find them over the next two weeks. Excitedly, I busily

wrote 14 notes…numbering each one. The notes were silly

little “Love is” messages…cute, intimate…” for your eyes

only,” type of notes! I knew that he would be touched that I

had taken the time to do this, in the middle of busy preparations.

I finished writing the notes and proceeded to cunningly

hide them all over the house, not wanting him to discover

all of them at once. I should have remembered that he

seldom bent his knees to look for anything!

The next day I headed off to camp. I was directing a twoweek

out-tripping camp that year, filled with hormonally

complicated 14 to 16 year old girls. The Northwoods section

of camp was an isolated, mostly girls-only camp, apart from

the maintenance men and visiting staff husbands. Because of

this, the girls were more able to focus on becoming good

out-trippers, fine-tuning their skills for the big canoe trip,

which would take place in the second week of camp.

The middle Saturday evening was a relaxed affair following

a day of canoe trip preparations. Bob came for a

brief visit, as was his usual custom. The girls took this

opportunity to tease us for wanting to be together after only

one week apart…you know, silly girl stuff. He tolerated this

for about five minutes then hid in our cabin until the girls

headed off to bed! The next day as he was heading home,

openly glad to be leaving behind this hormonally charged

gang of girls, I dropped a bombshell on him: “Bob, we have

decided to paddle the Spanish River this year with our

senior paddlers, but the distance to the starting point is such

a long drive that we can’t do it on the first morning of the

canoe trip, so I have offered to have the girls sleep over at

our house the night before the trip.” He just groaned and

rolled his eyes as he left!

A day later we arrived in Wahnapitae…all 12 of us! I

had warned the girls to be on their best behaviour and not

to razz Bob too much. They promised to try! All went very

smoothly…the girls settled into their sleeping bags on the

living room floor and we headed to our bedroom.

As one might expect, there was a fair amount of chatter,

lots of giggles and laughter, then suddenly unnatural quiet

followed by very fierce quiet whispering! It all settled down

an hour later, and sleep came to us all.

Bright and early the next morning we headed off. The

canoe trip was great…rapids were run with very few incidents…

the weather was good…we didn’t get lost…and we

arrived at our destination on time. Success—a trouble-free

trip…a rare occurrence for me!

Traditionally the last night at camp the girls would entertain

each other and all the visitors with funny skits about

their canoe trips, and this year would be no exception! There

was a lot of giggling involved in the preparation and strange

looks often cast in my direction for some reason. When Bob

arrived, he was greeted with loud applause, catcalls, and

whistles, which served to chase him from the room! Then it

was time for the big event…the skits. The first two skits were

crazy, but good and there was one left to go when Bob whispered

that he had seen enough. He got up to leave and was

surprised when the girls of the last group pleaded with him

to stay for their skit. I assumed it was because they knew him

a bit better than the rest because they were the campers who

had stayed at our house. Embarrassed, he nodded and sat

back down, not wanting to spoil their fun.

With great aplomb, they took the stage. Two of the girls

pretended to be Bob and I…embracing and snuggling each

other to the amusement of all (except Bob), then one girl

after another stood up to read little…strangely

familiar…notes that they had in their hands. I wondered

what they were up to, until the first note was read:

“Number 5—I will miss cuddling on the couch together

watching our favourite movie—I love you.”

In shock, Bob and I looked at each other…instantly we

knew what had happened! The night of the sleepover, the

little darlings had found the notes that I had left for

Bob…the personal, for-his-eyes-only notes. Yikes, was I

ever going to be in trouble!

As the skit proceeded, they read 5 of my 14 notes to the

total glee of the other campers and counsellors. Bob fled the

room, but I had to endure the entire performance, forced to

sit there with a glowing red face! Oh, what a night!

Romantic love makes us do some silly things!

But love is…more than warm fuzzy emotions…more

than romantic love. Love is complex…love is God!

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one

and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not

perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his

Son into the world to condemn the world, but to

save the world through him” (John 3:16-17).

Love is displayed in many ways…ways that often

encompass all of the other fruit of the Spirit.

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it

does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor

others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered,

it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight

in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects,

always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails ! (1 Cor 13)

So…what is love? Love is…God!

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NEWSFLASH !!!!

Scruffy Finds His Way  is available from Book Depository. A decent price and free delivery!!  Much quicker access than Amazon!!  Buy your copy today!

Scruffy Finds His Way by

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StoryTime with Mama and Papa-chapter 3-part 1

 

Questions

1- What were the names of the Scruffkids?

2- How do goats “look” at things?

3- what was Billyboy trying to do in the barnyard?

4- What did the Maker design Scruffy to do?

5- Why did it matter that Scruffy got himself and his friends in trouble?

6- Why did Scruffy shake his head when the “little voice” spoke to him?

7- How did Papa and Billyboy find out about the goats escaping from the barnyard?

Activities

1- Think about the “little voice” that spoke to Scruffy. List the type of things the voice would say.

2-Draw a picture of a time when you decided to do something you shouldn’t have done- put a “speech bubble” and write down what the “ little voice” would have said to you.

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StoryTime with Mama and Papa- chapter 2



Questions
Part 1- Comprehension
1- What was Scruffy going to show Hobby?

2- How hard did Scruffy try to catch Hobby?

3- Why was Scruffy mad and sad after he played with Hobby?

4- Why didn’t the Maker make Scruffy as fast as Hobby?

5- Does that make Scruffy inferior to Hobby?

6- Why did Scruffy feel better when his Mom told him that the
maker had made him special in a different way than Hobby?

7-What happened Scruffy in the pig pen?

8-Was Scruffy inferior to the piglets because he got stuck in the mud?

9-How did Scruffy get out of the mud?

10-What wasn’t Scruffy made for?

Answer the questions and send them in to enter a draw for a free book!

Part 2- Activities
1- Try revving up to Super-kid-hopping-speed and hop around the room- get an adult to send a video to me – best video to be posted on my website
2-Draw a picture showing how the Maker made you special – add a caption that tells what makes you special- send me the picture – best will be posted!

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Never give up

 

Never give up!

If you have read my book – Scruffy Finds His Way and read my first blog, you will discover a curious omission…that it appears in the book that we only have a small family that consists of Mama, Papa and Billyboy! In reality, our family consists of five people…Mama, Papa, Randi-Lynn, Joan and Bill…or Billyboy! So the question arises…why didn’t I include my two oldest children in the story?? Was there some deep, dark secret about them that I wanted to keep hidden…away from public view or “gasp” was I ashamed of them?? The quick answer is, “No”.

In Goat Tails I am telling the story of the Family Farm from the perspective of the Goats and right from the very beginning the family member that best loved the goats – especially the kids was our youngest child…Bill! Hence he has been featured in the first book, “Scruffy finds his way” and in the second book…soon to be released, “SuperScruff!”

But while Bill was primarily interested in the goats…he was not the only one to have adventures on our farm. Our oldest daughter, Randi-Lynn’s passion was horses! She spent every minute she could with the horses…riding, training and grooming. You could often find her at the barn…sometimes with an equally enthusiastic friend, gaily chattering while brushing and saddling her horse for another training session. She was serious about her riding and regularly went out for solo rides in the country to work off a few rough edges on her mount.

One day she headed off on such a ride on her favourite mount of the time…Angel! Now that horse was as misnamed as any horse I have ever heard of. To me…she was a cantankerous old lady whose sole pleasure in life was dumping you onto the ground! But to Randi-Lynn she was a queen who just needed a little work…?? Well off she went across the field to practice jumping over obstacles that Rand had strategically placed along the trails, then farther along to Clover Valley, where they would enjoy a brisk gallop. We watched her go…no worries…they had done this dozens of times.

It wasn’t until we spied Angel galloping up the field towards the barn, saddle slapping against her flanks…minus the rider that we got a little concerned! We ran to the driveway to head her off and managed to direct this angelic horse back into the barn. We had just decided who was going to ride out to look for our daughter when we saw a small person stomping angrily home (you could tell just how angry she was, even at a distance ). Fifteen minutes later she arrived, with a black look on her determined face. Stomping straight by us without saying anything she marched to the barn. Two minutes later she was back on a snorting Angel galloping across the field. We pondered…who had learned the biggest lesson…Randi-Lynn or Angel?

Over the years there were many similar sort of events that occurred with that horse…yet despite the frustrations, Randi-Lynn continued to love her…never gave up on her…used every opportunity to further her training…just like God does for us!

He uses events…both good and bad to build our character, to rub off some of our rough edges. We balk, we fight Him, we stubbornly refuse to learn…but He never gives up…now that’s love! See Romans 5:3-5

Now, I’ve happily shared one of Randi-Lynn’s moments…I have also shared some of my own misadventures- check out “Finding His Way” and “Stuck on the Rocks, again” – real stories about our Faithful…never-give-up God rubbing off some of my rough edges!

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Lost…on the Family Farm

Hi Again;

In my last blog, I described our lovely little farm in Manitowaning, but I didn’t really give you the full picture…let me add a few details.

Our eastern boarder ran along Highway 6, and McMullen side road on the south side. We had another farm on our north boarder…the neighbour who had the pigs that delighted my sheep dog and on our west boarder was our forest and part of the Manitowaning Golf course. Our forest was crammed full of a thick tangle of low bushes and trees…it was there that I spent much of my time since one of my hobbies has always been trail cutting. When I had a day off my biggest joy was hiking back to my forest and working on my latest trail. Let me share an example.

On this particular morning, I had decided that I needed a connecting trail between the main trail and the most southerly trail. I had the whole day to get this job done and since it wasn’t that far between these two trails I expected to plot, cut and clear the trail in one day…so off I hiked, machete in hand. I headed along the main trail and when I had reached the half way mark, I prepared to begin the work. I dug in my pockets for my compass to get a rough bearing…my trails were not precision planned paths…they were more like an art form…free to zig and zag while still heading roughly in the direction that I had determined. However it was frustrating to discover that I had left my compass behind…rats! It would take me an hour to walk home and back again, just for a compass. Perhaps I didn’t really need a compass for such a short trail? After all I just had to head roughly south and I would intersect the other trail at some point…it didn’t really matter where, I reasoned! My husband is a land surveyor and this sort of mentality drives him crazy! Anyway, I looked up at the sun…put my right shoulder in that direction and began cutting. Did I mention that the bush was pretty thick and that you could barely see through it?? Well that did make it a bit harder to stay on a straight track, but I was confident in my superior (not) orienteering skills so off I went! The process was simple…just identify a tall tree in the direction you intend to go then cut the path to it…so simple…so easy! I sometimes had to deviate from the intended path to get around fallen logs and swampy spots, but surely that didn’t matter? I industriously repeated this process over and over throughout the morning, periodically stopping to wipe the sweat from my eyes and stare ahead to see if I could spot the other trail. There was no sign of it, even though I had been cutting for hours…curious…the trail was not that far from the main trail, but this path was taking forever to cut. Finally after about four hours of cutting I looked up and spotted the roof of a barn! “Great,” I thought “I must be almost there, I can see civilization.” Then it occurred to me that I had never noticed a barn within sight of the trail that I was cutting towards…how odd? Finally, I broke through to a trail…but what trail? It didn’t look at all like the trail that I had planned to intersect. ”Had someone else cut a trail in my bush,” I wondered indignantly? I took a good look around and spotted signs of recent cutting, “aha, someone has been cutting here, just as I thought.” Then I noticed a water bottle and a coat that looked suspiciously like mine. Upon closer inspection I confirmed that they were mine….hmmm?? I followed the trail…and came to the unfortunate conclusion…that I had spent all morning cutting the new trail in a complete circle…totally missing the trail that I was originally aiming for. I considered throwing brush on the trail and covering up my work so that my surveyor husband wouldn’t tease me, but after some thought…I confessed all and laughed with him!

I fondly called that trail, “The Lost Loop.”

So, here is the point…I was so sure that I knew what I was doing…that I didn’t need help…not from God…not from others…not from a simple device like a compass, that I plunged ahead on a wrong course. Well this event mirrors what has so often occurred in my life. All too frequently I have decided to blaze ahead alone…unknowingly choosing a wrong course of action. Using my own power, strength and wisdom to make these decisions, I have ended up going in circles or have travelled some errant paths. Oh…the frustration and pain I could have saved myself if I had turned to God or to the people that God provided to help me.

In the book, “Scruffy Finds His Way,” we see a young kid who often chooses the wrong path…but no matter what path he chooses there is a heavenly Father who is there to help him to find the right path…no matter how many wrong paths he chooses.

Proverbs 3:5,6

Trust in the Lord with all your heart

And lean not onto your own understanding

In all your ways acknowledge Him

And He will direct your path.

 

Check out similar stories in “Finding His Way” a book of “lost” adventures available on-line or directly from me!

 

…until next time, Lynn!

plynnhallidaybooks.ca

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