We had a freeze Friday night. Accuweather says that locally it was 28º. That’s not good news for my lilacs, my blooming blueberry bushes, cherry trees, or apple tree. It’s not good for the broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower seedlings already planted in the garden. We were busy scrambling Friday evening to get what we could covered up and protected.
I was very glad I’d waited to plant my more temperature-sensitive tomatoes seedlings in the garden. But I had been tempted. After all, since March 26th (New Year’s Day, by God’s calendar), we had had one day with temperatures in the 90ºs, three days in the 80ºs, three days in the 70ºs, nine days in the 60ºs, six days in the 50ºs, and only two days in the 40ºs. That doesn’t sound too bad. But it was the lows which tell the real story: two days with lows in the 60ºs, three days with lows in the 50ºs, six in the 40ºs, twelve in the 30ºs and Friday night’s temperature of 28º. And that last week before we hit 28º, the lows were all in the 30ºs.
It just wasn’t prudent to overlook the average last frost date of April 20th in Missouri.
Oh, but it’s hard. The weather had been so nice. The trees are blooming. It looks like a nice spring after a cold, rainy winter compounded with COVID-19. Who wouldn’t want to take a chance, get outside and get their fingers in the dirt? Let’s do something positive. Let’s do something productive and hopeful.
I read an article about liminality recently. The author wrote, “A liminal moment is one that is in between, neither ‘back there where we were’ nor ‘up there where we will be’.” And that’s kind of where we found ourselves the past three weeks in terms of gardening. It wasn’t quite winter still, but it wasn’t spring yet.
I couldn’t help thinking about liminality and that the freeze Friday night is a harbinger of what could happen if people decide the main threat of COVID-19 is over and jump right back into life as usual. I guess the thinking is: 1) I’m not sick; 2) no one around me is sick; 3) the numbers are going down; 4) I don’t live in New York, so let’s get back to work.
It’s tempting. People are tired of the stress and strain of not knowing how long this is going to last. They’re tired of the inconvenience. They’re tired of being told to restrain themselves. They’re listening to the pied piper of social media, which says, “The government is trying to take away your freedom. We’ve become a socialist state. Are you so stupid you can’t see what is happening? Don’t let them take away your freedom.” So then we’re going to become lawless in order to regain our freedom? That’s not liberty. That’s anarchy.
Think about it. If the weather man tells you that we have a bad ice storm coming and you might want to stay off the roads, do you tell him he can’t tell you what to do and intentionally go shopping? If the national hurricane prediction center tells you that a Cat 5 hurricane has you in its bulls-eye, do you take precautions, board up your windows, hunker down to ride out the storm? Do you evacuate when they tell you to? Or do you stay in your house and end up having to be rescued off your roof, putting others at risk when they have to mount a rescue effort? When there’s an avalanche warning posted, do you stay out of that area? Or do you tell the officials they can’t tell where you can and can’t go? They don’t have the right to take away your freedom to ski any trail you wish? What about a road out ahead? Should the government warn its populace that the bridge is out? Warning is okay, but stopping people from driving that road that they paid for with their taxes is not?
It’s easy to sit at home and second guess our officials, criticizing their decisions. But if you don’t like what they’re doing, respond in a lawful manner. Send a letter to the governor’s office. Make a phone call to your representative. Better yet, put the time and effort into researching the candidates and vote in the person you trust will represent your interests. And if you can’t trust any of them, then put your own name in the hat. If you don’t like the job they’re doing and you think you can do better, then go to it. But if you don’t like what our elected officials are deciding right now and you didn’t vote in the last election, then you have no room to complain.
In the end, God is still sovereign. He’s still on the throne. None of this has caught Him off guard. We still exist for and by his pleasure. Perhaps God is using this to test us, to see what’s in our hearts, to see if we’ll continue to keep His commandments (Deuteronomy 8:2; Deuteronomy 8:16; Judges 2:22; Judges 3:4). We know that we have been abundantly blessed!! So are we serving God with joy and gladness for the abundance of all things (Deuteronomy 28:47)? Or are we complaining (1 Corinthians 10:10)? We know that we are to pray for our leaders and obey their edicts as long as they are not in direct opposition to God’s laws ( 1 Timothy 2:1-2; 1 Peter 2:17; Romans 13:1; Jeremiah 29:7; Acts 5:29; Exodus 1:17; Daniel 6:13; Acts 4:19).
Maybe we haven’t learned the most basic of lessons yet. Perhaps God is teaching us that He is God and we are not. Perhaps we just need to be still. Wait. Seek God. Keep your eyes fixed on Him.
Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth! Psalm 46:10
As the author of the liminality article wrote, “Liminal periods are a time of growth. We stand on the threshold between our old lives and our new lives, neither here nor there, the status quo impossible to reach, with more questions than answers.” (Homeschool Mom Newsletter, April 2020, Vol. 2)
We don’t have all the answers. But we know the One who does. Now would be a great time to be seeking Him for answers.
I was very glad I’d waited to plant my more temperature-sensitive tomatoes seedlings in the garden. But I had been tempted. After all, since March 26th (New Year’s Day, by God’s calendar), we had had one day with temperatures in the 90ºs, three days in the 80ºs, three days in the 70ºs, nine days in the 60ºs, six days in the 50ºs, and only two days in the 40ºs. That doesn’t sound too bad. But it was the lows which tell the real story: two days with lows in the 60ºs, three days with lows in the 50ºs, six in the 40ºs, twelve in the 30ºs and Friday night’s temperature of 28º. And that last week before we hit 28º, the lows were all in the 30ºs.
It just wasn’t prudent to overlook the average last frost date of April 20th in Missouri.
Oh, but it’s hard. The weather had been so nice. The trees are blooming. It looks like a nice spring after a cold, rainy winter compounded with COVID-19. Who wouldn’t want to take a chance, get outside and get their fingers in the dirt? Let’s do something positive. Let’s do something productive and hopeful.
I read an article about liminality recently. The author wrote, “A liminal moment is one that is in between, neither ‘back there where we were’ nor ‘up there where we will be’.” And that’s kind of where we found ourselves the past three weeks in terms of gardening. It wasn’t quite winter still, but it wasn’t spring yet.
I couldn’t help thinking about liminality and that the freeze Friday night is a harbinger of what could happen if people decide the main threat of COVID-19 is over and jump right back into life as usual. I guess the thinking is: 1) I’m not sick; 2) no one around me is sick; 3) the numbers are going down; 4) I don’t live in New York, so let’s get back to work.
It’s tempting. People are tired of the stress and strain of not knowing how long this is going to last. They’re tired of the inconvenience. They’re tired of being told to restrain themselves. They’re listening to the pied piper of social media, which says, “The government is trying to take away your freedom. We’ve become a socialist state. Are you so stupid you can’t see what is happening? Don’t let them take away your freedom.” So then we’re going to become lawless in order to regain our freedom? That’s not liberty. That’s anarchy.
Think about it. If the weather man tells you that we have a bad ice storm coming and you might want to stay off the roads, do you tell him he can’t tell you what to do and intentionally go shopping? If the national hurricane prediction center tells you that a Cat 5 hurricane has you in its bulls-eye, do you take precautions, board up your windows, hunker down to ride out the storm? Do you evacuate when they tell you to? Or do you stay in your house and end up having to be rescued off your roof, putting others at risk when they have to mount a rescue effort? When there’s an avalanche warning posted, do you stay out of that area? Or do you tell the officials they can’t tell where you can and can’t go? They don’t have the right to take away your freedom to ski any trail you wish? What about a road out ahead? Should the government warn its populace that the bridge is out? Warning is okay, but stopping people from driving that road that they paid for with their taxes is not?
It’s easy to sit at home and second guess our officials, criticizing their decisions. But if you don’t like what they’re doing, respond in a lawful manner. Send a letter to the governor’s office. Make a phone call to your representative. Better yet, put the time and effort into researching the candidates and vote in the person you trust will represent your interests. And if you can’t trust any of them, then put your own name in the hat. If you don’t like the job they’re doing and you think you can do better, then go to it. But if you don’t like what our elected officials are deciding right now and you didn’t vote in the last election, then you have no room to complain.
In the end, God is still sovereign. He’s still on the throne. None of this has caught Him off guard. We still exist for and by his pleasure. Perhaps God is using this to test us, to see what’s in our hearts, to see if we’ll continue to keep His commandments (Deuteronomy 8:2; Deuteronomy 8:16; Judges 2:22; Judges 3:4). We know that we have been abundantly blessed!! So are we serving God with joy and gladness for the abundance of all things (Deuteronomy 28:47)? Or are we complaining (1 Corinthians 10:10)? We know that we are to pray for our leaders and obey their edicts as long as they are not in direct opposition to God’s laws ( 1 Timothy 2:1-2; 1 Peter 2:17; Romans 13:1; Jeremiah 29:7; Acts 5:29; Exodus 1:17; Daniel 6:13; Acts 4:19).
Maybe we haven’t learned the most basic of lessons yet. Perhaps God is teaching us that He is God and we are not. Perhaps we just need to be still. Wait. Seek God. Keep your eyes fixed on Him.
Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth! Psalm 46:10
As the author of the liminality article wrote, “Liminal periods are a time of growth. We stand on the threshold between our old lives and our new lives, neither here nor there, the status quo impossible to reach, with more questions than answers.” (Homeschool Mom Newsletter, April 2020, Vol. 2)
We don’t have all the answers. But we know the One who does. Now would be a great time to be seeking Him for answers.
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