Prayer Gardeners

Twiggey Has Friends!

2012-01-29T14:23:00.001-05:00

For the past week, Twiggey has been making regular intrusions into the Facebook page for the Gethsemane Prayer Garden. But now he has brought friends: Daffy Dill, Grace, Froggy, and Lady Wisdom. Each has their own personality, and there is rumor that more are to be added.

What's best is that you don't need a Facebook account to enjoy the fun. Facebook is needed only if you want to make comments or to become a fan of one of the pages or comments. Please join the fun:
Facebook page for Gethsemane Prayer Garden at Faith Chapel

or

Another Intrusion

2012-01-27T13:28:00.005-05:00

Twiggey intruded our church once again last night! This is totally unacceptable. We know very little about Twiggey at this time but the little we do know can be viewed on Facebook:
Facebook page for Gethsemane Prayer Garden at Faith Chapel

Introducing Twiggey

2012-01-26T06:04:00.003-05:00

Last night there were either one or two forced entries into our church building at Faith Chapel. Unfortunately there were no fingerprints; the doors and windows all seem okay, and nothing was ajar. Nothing seems to be stolen and no apparent damage was done. Nevertheless, someone made their way onto the main computer that sits at the desk in the foyer.

Self-publishing advice for Christian authors #06

2012-01-22T07:18:00.003-05:00

Assessing Your Skills

After I graduated from college many years ago, I took a job as a math teacher at a middle school teaching inner city students. I did this, not because that was my training during college, but because it allowed me to avoid the Vietnam War. At the time, young men were being drafted to go to Vietnam, yet school teachers were exempt from the draft. I was not trained to be a teacher, but the school district thought I was qualified – I was not.

After a year of torturing the poor students, I took a job as a landscaper where the only thing I could torture was plants and my fellow workers. I learned a great deal in those two years, and that is the basis for my part-time work as the caretaker of my church's Gethsemane Prayer Garden.

I then started my professional career working for a small consulting engineering company in Syracuse. It had been a long winter with minimal income from unemployment, so I decided to pursue what I had been trained for in college: civil engineering. My first responsibilities were to climb down sanitary sewers during rainstorms so we could measure the depth of the liquid at the bottom of the sewer – and then write about it. Our purpose was to find out where the excess water was coming from.

Today I am in semi-retirement, working fewer hours as the director of the computer department at a smaller company, and spending more hours at home where I can write what I believe God has called me to write. My job climbing down sewers lasted four years and then I was moved to the accounting department where they had just purchased their first computer. Small beginnings.

Not all writers have the where-with-all to become independent self-publishers. For me, God has given me the skill as a computer programmer so that I can more easily handle the many nuances of this information age. The publishing industry is very different from that of writing, especially for fiction writers. If you find setting styles in Microsoft Word or writing your own HTML to be a challenge, possibly independent self-publishing is not for you.

With my previous books, I hired a person to design the cover and prepare the PDF for the printer. With my current series entitled Proverbs Untangled, I have chosen to design my own cover and prepare my own PDF. That means learning Adobe's Photoshop, hardly a product for the faint-at-heart. I also will have to learn Adobe's InDesign to help move the completed MS Word documents to a properly configured and better formatted PDF. I have much to learn about layout and I am excited to do so.

I am such a nit-picker about the aesthetics of the manuscript, and this too is essential as the reader will be able to quickly determine that something is wrong. I believe God gave me the nature to pursue quality in this manner, but I realize I need the eyes of others to help me see what I don't.

Understand that you will make many mistakes along the way as an independent self-publisher. Subsidy publishers rightfully earn their money by helping those with weaker computer skills, and for many this is really the only viable choice. Writing and publishing are viable for me because God has prepared me and I am now moving towards full retirement from my regular job.

I'm excited about where God is taking me and I remain open to hearing His voice of direction. He has enabled me with both the financial means and the fortitude to become a self-publisher. I was able to purchase Adobe's Creative Suite package which is quite costly. But now that it is published, my goal is to get this series of books into the market for $50 each. We'll see. There are eBook versions and the inspiration to put it into multiple languages and alternate Bible translations. God knows the plan and I believe He will provide the way because He gave me the vision to pursue this.

That is the most important part of self-publishing. Is God really in this? If you have heard His voice of direction, what is stopping you?

For other articles about self-publishing in this series, see:

Self-publishing advice for Christian authors #05

2012-01-13T07:43:00.005-05:00

Return Policy

I was so surprised. An email came into my inbox stating that one of my books was being returned and I should expect it in the mail. The email was from Lightning Source, my printer. I knew this could happen but I did not expect it to really happen. Who would ever want to return "A Garden of Love"?

I presume that the return came from a bookstore that had special ordered the book, but apparently this was not what the customer wanted. OK, I can accept that.

At the end of the month, my financial statement came as a second surprise, or more like a shock. For this transaction, my account was debited the cost that the bookstore paid for the book (not my wholesale price), and I was charged a fee for redistributing the book back to me. The effect was I paid $1 less than full retail price on this transaction.

In this case, the book was returned in excellent condition, but that is not always true. Yesterday I met with a small publisher that told how a bookstore was regularly returning books that had obviously been read. In a short period of time, this bookstore had returned fifteen books. In order to avoid customer dissatisfaction, this store's policy was to accept returns from their customer regardless of the book's condition. The result was the publisher had fifteen new, slightly used, and obviously used books on his hand.

When a book is returned from the bookstore, three choices are possible: return it to the publisher which is what happened to me, shred it (I believe there is a shredding fee), or sell it to a company that remarkets used books. If it is sold to a remarketer, which means that your book ends up competing against your other new books on Amazon at a dramatically reduced price, or it gets sold to a bookstore to be displayed in the bargain book section. You would earn a little bit on remarketed books, but is it worth it?

Another option is to mark the book as non-returnable which means that once sold, the retailer is stuck with it. Sounds attractive, but that is not the way that the bookstore industry normally works. Most bookstores are struggling in today's economy as witnessed by the closing of Border's bookstores last year. They have a huge overhead in their payroll, building costs, and inventory. As a consequence, many bookstores are looking for 55% of the retail cost of each book to offset their expense stream.

I think it was in 2011, or maybe it was in 2010, where a major Christian bookstore chain decided to return all the books that were not moving quickly from their shelves. That meant that after their inventory was conducted across several hundred bookstores, boxes and boxes of books were returned to the publisher, shredded, or sold as used books by a remarketer. Bookstores typically look at a two-year window for most books, after which they are removed from the shelf and replaced with new titles that might stir the consumer's heart. In this case, that process was greatly accelerated.

As an independent self-publisher, I have to really ask myself, "Do I want to play that game?" Can I really afford to have boxes of books that I once thought were great sales now returned to me?

My solution, for now anyhow, is to mark all of my books returnable to me, but set the title to have a very low discount rate. My printer allows a 20% discount rate which means bookstores won't touch my books unless they are special orders. The question each Christian publisher must as is, "If God is really in this, what is the best marketing strategy that will exalt His name?"

On another note, I am now (finally) on Facebook, so if you prefer that venue for interacting, please feel free to use it.

For other articles about self-publishing in this series, see:

An Open Letter to Mark

2012-01-08T20:15:00.002-05:00

On October 8, 2011, I wrote a blog entry entitled Paul's Spiritual Warfare that focused on my cousin's recent diagnosis of fourth stage cancer. Yesterday, January 7, Paul's spirit departed from this earth.

Once he had received his diagnosis in October, he went to live with his son Mark and Mark's wife Colleen in California. It was a very challenging three months as they watched him adamantly refuse the traditional forms of treatment such as radiation and chemotherapy, opting instead for alternative cancer treatments.

In December, Paul began self medicating himself by ingesting high strength hydrogen peroxide. Some research had indicated that this might kill the cancer cells. We may never know why his body did not accept this form of treatment, but it didn't. Once he went off the hydrogen peroxide, his cancer grew rapidly as his body was suddenly producing glucose again – cancer thrives on sugar.

Paul's son Mark and wife sacrificed immensely in order to care for Paul. His idiosyncrasies were a tremendous invasion of their home because Paul was Paul. What had been Colleen's domain in her home was now violated on a regular basis.

Paul had a streak of rebellion as wide as any I have known, but I liked him despite this. I did not agree with many of his cynical statements about our country, but behind that cynicism was his strong sense that much is inherently wrong in the USA today. It was that heart for wanting injustice to be corrected that I appreciated, even though I did not agree with many of his solutions. Some did not see or understand that heart.

Mark and Colleen modeled their Christian love by opening their home to his father. They have a deep faith in Christ that was well demonstrated during this three-month journey. I came to truly respect what they were doing for his father Paul.

Death is hard to cope with, no matter who you are. For Mark and Colleen, I think it was more like a journey. That journey is now over, and a new journey is beginning.

Mark and Colleen, thank you for doing the right thing with your father. I know it was not easy, but instead was exasperating at times. But the two of you resisted the much easier route to put him in a home for the sick and elderly. And I'm sure your example of Christian love was seen by many.

As the apostle Paul wrote, "What is important is faith expressing itself as love." Galatians 5:6
Tom

Keep Strong in Your Faith in the Lord as We Enter the Times Ahead

2011-12-31T15:14:00.002-05:00

An email I recently received stated at its conclusion, "Keep strong in our faith in the Lord as we enter the times ahead." There seems to be so much truth in that brief statement.

The calendar year, as we know it from January 1 to December 31, is man's calendar, not God's. Man's calendar has a beginning and an end, but God's calendar is one of cycles (winter, spring, summer, fall) with neither a beginning nor an end. Under the old covenant, God gave the Israelites a calendar that began with what is now called Rosh Hashanah. In fact, January 1st is not an official holiday in Israel although many treat it as such.

To those of us that understand the end-times scenario, we see God's cyclical calendar taking a new form as described in the book of Revelations. The beginning, if you want to think of our current age, began at the tomb site in Jerusalem. The end of this age is approaching, and seems to be approaching rapidly.

FEMA, that is the Federal Emergency Management Agency, maintains a public record of severe disasters from 1953 to 2011 (www.fema.gov/news/disaster_totals_annual.fema), identifying 2011 as the highest total over that period. By looking at the list for 2011, it shows hundreds of major disaster, emergency, and fire management assistance declarations: floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, severe winter storms, straight-line winds, wildfires, etc. FEMA ran out of money in 2011, indicating the extent of this year's tragedies.

Outside United States, there were horrific tsunami, earthquake, volcanic and other disasters in 2011, including the event that nearly led to the collapse of four nuclear power plants in Japan. Major flooding in Thailand was just one of the many 'natural' events this year.

Socially, the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) was to many an unexpected uprising, as was the Arab Spring movement. Both movements hope to overturn the existing status quo governments, and to some extent they are having their degree of success.

Christine Darg, in her excellent book from 2007 entitled Miracles Among Muslims, wrote about large numbers of Islamic believers being converted to Christianity. She describes how dreams and healings are playing an important part in convincing muslim believers that Christ is still alive! This pattern of an end-times harvest has continued through 2011.

With all of these events, the world both physically and spiritually is shaking. Will this next year be even more significant? Will the end as described in the book of Revelation take a new form? We certainly seem to be pointed in that direction.

I don't know any more than you. But it certainly seems appropriate to follow the advice given by my friend, "Keep strong in our faith in the Lord as we enter the times ahead."

Self-publishing advice for Christian authors #04

2011-12-08T07:59:00.004-05:00

Become an Expert
The advise of marketers is good: develop a label and then promote that label. This same advice applies to authoring, yet I fell into that trap. As a Christian non-fiction writer, I wrote three books in rather quick fashion, and each dealt with three totally disparate topics:

A linguistic study of the Bible focusing on chiasms
A topical look at Proverbs
A look at love as seen symbolically through flowers

All three topics had been and continue to be very interesting to me, but there is only so much of me to go around. God had inspired me to write each book, particularly the first and third, and much of the content had been composed by listening to the Holy Spirit. What I now find is that I must retool my skills so I become an expert in each genre, and that is most challenging.

The self-publishing industry also has its share of learning demands. We can initially out-source those areas where we lack the expertise such as the conversion of the manuscript from a word processor to print-ready format. Organizations such as Create Space can help with the first book or so, but eventually you will want to get out of that arena. You may find yourself creating your own book covers with a tool such as Photoshop, or using Adobe's InDesign to manage the interior of the manuscript. You will learn social marketing techniques such as Facebook and Twitter, and how to create compelling websites. All of these and more are examples of the expertise that the self-publisher will confront and eventually dig into.

To many, writing can be a lonely vocation with hour after hour spent alone researching and developing the next manuscript. As writers, I find that our industry can be one of considerable discouragement. I suppose it is the same with Christian fiction: very little interaction with people who would provide the needed support when the title does not meet our expectations.

Why do we write? It should be because we have heard the voice of the Lord instructing us that we are to proceed in that direction. Without that, we set ourselves up for failure.

For those of us that write, we often do so because built within us is a need to be heard. Some people stand around the water cooler, spouting opinions or concerns because we feel our voice counts. Others more quietly develop close circles of friends where we can share our need to be heard. Authors will often express themselves through the written word because of an envisioned audience that will theoretically listen.

My counsel is to re-think your reason for writing: compose because you want God's next revelation, knowing this is then to be shared.

For me, I recently choose to dig into the subject of Proverbs because two divine circumstances instructed me to move in that direction. Further, I want God's wisdom on that topic – and I have not been disappointed. Each time I dug further into the subject of Proverbs, I saw more and more that I had totally missed with my earlier efforts. Our Lord is in the revelation business, and that in itself allows me to keep moving forward.

Will I continue to develop the other two genres: chiasms or love/flowers? I don't know and wait further instructions from the Lord. In the meantime, I put the other genres on hold and dig deeper into Proverbs. That, I believe, is my instruction for today.

If your God-given topic is anger, become an expert on the subject of anger from a Christian perspective. If it is about a particular Christian leader, develop the genre by either pursuing more about that leader or finding other leaders that are somehow similar. If your topic is mental health, God alone can help you because this whole authoring/publishing business is driving me crazy.

Bon voyage.

For other articles about self-publishing in this series, see:

Intimate Communication and Fellowship with our Lord

2011-12-01T11:22:00.001-05:00

Today I was forwarded the email shown below from a man named Carl Hunt. While I don't normally give such emails any merit, I found this to be particularly good. Thank you Carl for composing this:

What an awesome and merciful God we have. We praise His wonderful name. He has placed each one of us in a special place, just where He wants us. He knows us better than we know our own self. At times we just push Him aside for a while and most of the times we do this without even recognizing that we are doing it. What a merciful God He is.

We enter into our prayer closet expressing things that we would like to see come forth. Bless so and so. Heal so and so. I need so & so. Bless my finances, etc. This is all good and wonderful, but he desires us to give him more praise and thanksgiving for the things he has already done.

Most of all, we need to spend more time listening to Him and telling Him how thankful we are for Him and how wonderful He is and how much we appreciate His love and mercy and just praise Him because He IS. One of His greatest desires is to have intimate communication and fellowship with you. He loves you so very much.

Have a wonderful day.

A Drive Through Pleasant Valley

2011-11-14T02:23:00.004-05:00

On Wednesday (November 9th), I discovered why Marcellus area farmers from long ago decided to name it "Pleasant Valley Road." It was 7:30am and I was on my way to the Gethsemane Prayer Garden to perform some well-needed maintenance and autumn cleanup. The leaves in Central New York were well past their peak, but there was some color left on some of the more resilient plants. The thought went through my head, "Take the slower road, the one through Pleasant Valley." I hesitated at first, for I am known as one that makes the most of my time – I'm glad I turned.

Pleasant Valley Road near Marcellus, NY, as seen from Google Earth

Upon entry onto Pleasant Valley Road, the canopy of yellow-leafed maple trees immediately struck my eye. A few houses are there, surrounded by random plantings in a forest of tall stately trees. A torrential rainstorm had recently eroded a small stream that came out of the hill high above the road, revealing the magnificent force that must have been released by a sudden terror of quickly surging water. Thankfully, road crews had cleaned the rock and erosion debris from the road.

As I rounded the first curve, with the swamp to my right, I instantly knew that this was not to be a normal drive through a country road. A light fog created a fine mist which was illuminated by full sunlight from behind. The white fog wisps gave the swamp and surrounding forest an almost ethereal view, similar to the opening scene of Mel Gibson's The Passion of Christ only without the people and in daylight.

While I don't normally appreciate swampland, on Wednesday I saw the sun reflecting its rays on the tall swamp grass. The long, thin blades were no longer green as in summer, but had taken on a reddish tone. The sunlight, reflecting off the smooth grass, appeared as beads that sparkled as a flurry of many gems. I began to talk to myself, something I rarely do: "That is really, really special!"

It came as no surprise to me to see a lone Canada goose at the far edge of the swamp. I had traveled this road several times during the peak of the fall colors, each time what appeared to be this same silly goose that thought it owned the road. This time the goose was off more to the side, so I slowly passed by. At that point, I had already decreased my normally fast speed, thrilled with the scenes that I rarely take the time to enjoy.

As the car traversed out of the forest, I could see through the fog a field where a farmer had planted some grass; the farmer had harvested the grass, but the gently rolling field reminded me of days in my youth where I spontaneously ran through an area, exploring the joys that were to be found. I found myself musing, "Where have those days gone?"

Mr. Hess's barns and farm house soon came into sight. His pristine white home on the hill above the road overlooks his two barns and fields below. I remembered talking to this older man a few years past, before his wife departed this earth. He had a farmer's gentle way about him, kind of like the pleasant valley that he lives in. I said a brief prayer for him, knowing that it can be difficult for a man to live alone in a big place like that.

A car suddenly came up behind me; I pulled over so he could pass by. I was glad that there was no real traffic on this road. By the time I had ascended out of this six-mile journey through the valley, I saw two other cars; they were all in a hurry, for it was rush hour, and probably on their way to work.

A bit further down the road, I noticed the brilliant red leaves of a burning bush as it ornately decorated another home above the road. Then another house with a similar red burning bush; and then a third house with two large blood-red burning bushes planted side-by-side. The houses were separated by long stretches of lawn and small fields of brush; it probably was not intentional for each to have this same species. We had not had a killing frost and these shrubs seemed to make a poignant statement that fall was not done yet.

Before the two sharp turns in the road, some other wild shrubs came into view; some had yellow leaves, others were red. But behind them was another low-lying swamp area again with glimmering beads from the sunlight. The fog was very light, just enough to let me know that it was still morning. I marveled at how God would put all this potpourri of plant textures and colors and shapes into a seemingly random placement, and yet it ended up so incredibly beautiful.

As I passed the Cox's farm, I laughed to myself how each cow was headed east out of the barn, like a drove of classical music enthusiasts walking towards an outdoor symphony concert, some hoping to see the other enthusiasts in their large herd. I noticed how large their pasture land is, having a much larger head of cattle than I had expected. The valley floor is much wider here. "A perfect place for a farm," I thought to myself, "and what a joy it is to know this wonderful family." Again I said a brief prayer for them, knowing all the hours that Charlie spends to assist his 100-year-old father.

A ways beyond that, near the place where they make and sell maple syrup, is a large grove of beech trees. This time of year, the leaves are an orange-yellow-brown sort of color, and again most brilliant in the sunlight. These trees stood above the mist, so it was easy to see them. They appeared so strong and majestic as my car passed nearby.

I choose Cedarvale Road to climb out of the valley for it is to me the prettiest route. To those local to the area, this is known as "Thirteen Curves" as it follows the stream and steep banks. I noticed a fine collection of ferns along the east side at several of the curves, planted among years of leaf and plant material that has gathered there. Two small clusters of maiden-hair fern, possibly the prettiest of local ferns, grow in this heavily forested area with abundant shade and tremendous drainage. With their lovely arching spray of small but ornate leaves, I wondered if a maiden had actually selected this fern to wear on her wedding day.

At the top of the hill, I knew that I had to re-gather my thoughts to focus on my gardening efforts. The beauty that was evident in that valley was, at least to me, far more natural and pleasant than the man-made plantings of a more organized garden. God ordained that very special treat for me on that day. My prayer for you, dear Reader, is that He help you find your own "pleasant valley."

Please sing along with me:
"Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee; how great Thou art ... "

Can We Determine if a Politician is Righteous?

2011-11-03T00:29:00.001-04:00

As I was editing my next manuscript about Proverbs last week, I began contemplating this short proverb:
    When it snows, it is cold outside;
    But it does not snow when the weather is warm.

Seems like a fair statement, right? So here is a question:
    If there is snow on the ground, is it cold outside?

Did you answer "Yes" or "Maybe"? As a northern boy that has seen plenty of winters, I want to assure you that the answer is "Maybe." It is not at all uncommon to have a snowstorm in late fall or early spring that is immediately followed by several sunny and warm days. The snow would still be on the ground but the air has changed.

I realize that this is a test of logic, yet it is an important one. Normally the answer is the familiar one because snow and cold often go together. But the "Not Necessarily" response is important. Consider this verse from Proverbs which speaks about taking care of the poor:

"A righteous man knows the rights of the poor; a wicked man does not understand such knowledge." (Proverbs 29:7 ESV)

So here is the question based on that verse:
If the needs of the poor are being addressed by a politician, is he righteous?

I hope you can see that the correct answer is "Not Necessarily!" Possibly some might say, with a cynical air, that there is no such thing as a righteous politician! Or we might say that none of us are righteous, no not one (paraphrasing Romans 3:10). Nevertheless, the proper answer must be that we just do not know. Proverbs 29:7 does not suggest that the person would be righteous by "knowing the rights of the poor", and we should not assume that to be the case.

The principle of Proverbs 29:7 is that if we are to consider ourselves on the right path with God, then we have a responsibility for taking care of the poor. But there are some that take care of the poor yet it is very hard to believe that they are on the right path with God. The appearance of compassion for the poor should not lead us to conclude that the corollary is also true; their heart of compassion may simply be due to the person's nature and not their position with God. If there is snow on the ground, we must reply "Not Necessarily!"

Proverbs does not address how one becomes righteous, but simply states that if a person is righteous, here is how they behave. It is the New Testament, and specifically the teachings of Paul in the book of Romans, that most clearly tells how we become righteous:

"The righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:22,23 NIV)

The efforts to feed the poor do not create righteousness, and let no politician convince you otherwise. What is important is faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Autumn's Abounding Love

2011-10-22T21:35:00.000-04:00

The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
(Psalm 145:8 ESV)

The life is in the leaf. Let me clarify: "To the tree, the life is in the leaf." After the flood, the dove returned to Noah with an olive leaf in its beak. From this, Noah knew there was life somewhere, but he could not yet see it.

When Jesus placed a curse upon the fig tree, the disciples knew the tree had died because the leaves had withered. The life was no longer in the leaf, symbolizing death.

Autumn is a season of hope and a time of faith. There are annuals, and there are perennials. Annuals live for a season, but perennials endure the cycle of life. Annuals depend on their seeds to reproduce themselves, for when their leaves are gone, so is the plant. Perennials shed their leaves with the confidence that the season that they are about to endure is only temporary, for there is hope in something that is not yet seen. Either way, it is a time to say that the old is ending, but there is hope.

I invite you to step into your garden or yard, picking an abundant sample of leaves. Some large, some small; some complicated, some simple; some green, some changing color. What do you see?

I then invite you to take a walk or drive, just looking at the leaves. Again, what do you see: the variation of colors, the bending of leaves to the breeze, the distinctions between top and bottom, or the magnificent selection of type, shape and elegance?

I am fascinated with how thin a leaf can be. A cactus is thick for it stores its water in the leaf. But the leaves of a broadly reaching maple tree, turning yellow or orange or red in the autumn, are really very thin. The needles of a hemlock or pine tree, though not truly leaves, can also be very thin.

How does God get the water into all the extremities of the leaf? Do you remember how your biology teacher explained the process of photosynthesis, where water is combined with sunlight and carbon dioxide to give off oxygen and carbohydrates? My biology teacher was never able to explain how God got the water into that leaf, as thin as it is, so that the miracle of photosynthesis would appear before our eyes.

As you touch the leaf, sense how it bends. God has somehow made a way for the minutest portions of water to be delivered to every part of that leaf. As thin as the leaf may be, you know there is water in there, for if the water was gone, the leaf would not gently bend.

Somehow God gets the water into the leaf, and somehow he gets Christ inside a believer. To me, this is the one of his greatest miracles: putting a believer in Christ and Christ in a believer. "I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me" (John 17:23). The life is in the believer, the source of all hope.

To the tree, the life is in the leaf. To the Christian believer, the life is within and abounding in steadfast love.

Chameleon Plants: Choose the Right Location

2011-10-16T18:16:00.001-04:00

I particularly enjoy a 9" tall groundcover named chameleon plant with beautiful green leaves, adorned with red, pink and yellow highlights. The colors are most vibrant along the edge of a shaded area where they will get more sun. Otherwise in fuller shade, the leaves are green with occasional blotches of cream.

Yet to many, they can feel as if a curse was upon them when they purchased the chameleon plant (Houttuynia cordata 'Chameleon'). The positive side of this extremely aggressive groundcover is that it will quickly fill in spots under trees, choking out most other weeds and plant life. The negative side is that it will also spread to other places in the garden if precautions are not properly taken, and it is nearly impossible to get remove. The plant also has a somewhat pungent fragrance, meaning it is best left for show.

As with most plants, you should be familiar with its growing habits before purchasing them. A sunflower should not be positioned under a tree with low branches, and a cactus should not be planted in the muck of a swamp. An old-time landscaper once told me that a beautiful rose in a corn field is nothing more than a weed.

We have a large area in the Gethsemane Prayer Garden where Austrian pines grow as an established border to the landscaped area. Lawn surrounds the trees on all sides, so I am not concerned about the aggressive nature. The chameleon plant spreads by its roots, so keeping the lawn mowed should restrict the plants boundaries.

We have just finished developing this new bed for the chameleon groundcover. Several weeks ago, I sprayed Round-Up on the grass in the shape of the new bed, approximately 1,500 sq. ft. We had extra soil from another area at the church where a retention pond was being built, so we brought about 10 yards of this virgin soil to a location adjacent to the new bed.

The day before the scheduled planting, I dug up a 6' x 12' bed of chameleon plant that grows vibrantly under the deck at our house. It was nearly impossible to remove all of the roots and that was not a concern – I know that the plant will be fully reestablished in two years. I dug just the roots, leaving all of the soil under the deck.

On the day of the planting, the plan was to simply spread the roots onto the now dead grass and then throw the soil on top. It sounded so easy! Yet I had not anticipated how wet the rich clay had become.

If we had used sifted topsoil, the plan would have worked wonderfully. Instead, we had to throw the heavy clay over the general area, let it dry, and then rake it several days later until it was finally level. The bare roots of the chameleon plant were then pressed into the still moist soil.

My expectation is that the chameleon plant will be fully established in this extended bed within two or three years. At that point, weeds should become a minimal problem. In the meantime, we will have to weed extensively because we are not adding mulch.

In the parable of the weeds in Matthew 13:24-30, Jesus spoke about a field where good grain seed had been intermixed with weeds. When the servants questioned why there were weeds, the master replied 'An enemy has done this.' That is how many feel about the chameleon plant – an enemy did it. With wisdom and patience, I believe that the beauty of this plant can be enjoyed for many years without having to gather all the weeds in bundles to be burned.

Paul's Spiritual Warfare

2011-10-08T22:06:00.002-04:00

Cancer! Insidious 4th stage cancer. My cousin Paul's throat cancer has metastasized to much of the surrounding tissue. And now a bigger battle, that for his mind, seems to have taken over.

In January, I was reacquainted with Paul after a fifty-year hiatus; he had drifted to California and other states, into one job after another, while I pursued my similar walk but in the northeastern states. My mom's 90th birthday celebration brought about 35 of us together, and all seemed well with him. But it wasn't, for two small lesions had been recently identified. He decided to tell only his brother.

The battle with cancer and its treatment is not just the physical trauma associated with the healing process, but it includes all of the questioning and discouragement that comes with it. I know, for I had cancer surgically removed nearly thirty years ago, yet I remember as if it was yesterday how much I questioned, "Why?"

In my book Joshua's Spiritual Warfare: Understanding the Chiasms of Joshua, I described the process where, against great odds, Joshua led the Israelites to defeat the enemy in the land of Canaan. Spiritual warfare is the battle in our minds between the powers of Good and evil. The Lord is attempting to pull us to Him, and the devil is attempting to manipulate us and deceive us to defeat His process. The doubt and fear associated with cancer is part of that defeating process.

In studying the book of Joshua, I found that he was successful through the process of positive action and an upright lifestyle, and not through the power of intercession. Don't get me wrong – I pray regularly and I believe in the power of prayer. But prayer through the laying on of hands and the power of the Holy Spirit is very different from a prayer spoken in a closet. If we are not willing to walk through the Jordan, we will only be watching the land of Canaan from a distance.

Joshua was a tremendous man of God, having spent many, many days in the tent with Moses, hearing the voice of the Lord and then being obedient to it. When God speaks, that is His part of the prayer process. God has spoken to many people over the years, but without putting legs to His instruction, we insult our God.

I'm not sure if my cousin Paul is sixty-seven or sixty-eight, but either way, he is a relatively young man. [I recently received a birthday card that stated, "He who has the most birthdays lives the longest."] Life on this earth is not about longevity but accomplishing God's will in our lives.

My dear cousin Paul, if you read this, please know that God is not done with you yet. You have testimonies to give, and you have God's messages that you need to deliver to family members, friends, acquaintances and ex-friends. Don't give up and don't let the devil win. As Christians, we are told that there will be difficult times, but they are to build us to be better people.

Love. Love deeply, and let others know that love. "What is important is faith expressing itself in love." Galatians 5:6

The following is an excerpt from the first three pages of Dutch Sheet's Intercessory Prayer book:

I knew the person I was going to pray for was very ill. What I didn't know was that she was comatose with a tracheostomy in her throat, a feeding tube in her stomach and had been in that condition for a year and a half. Seeing her for the first time was like expecting a prescription and receiving brain surgery. Her sister, who had asked me to visit this young lady, had not given me the whole story for fear I wouldn't go at all. She knew if she could just get me there once, I'd probably go back. She was right!

The doctors gave Diane (not her real name) no hope for living, let alone coming out of the coma. Even if she did regain consciousness, she would basically be a vegetable because of her extensive brain damage, or so the doctors believed.

...

Yes, God restored Diane! He healed her brain, the outer layer of which the doctors said had been totally destroyed by a virus. Every part of it was covered with infection. "No hope," they said.

...

I had turned to God many times through out the course of that year asking Him if He had really sent me to that little girl. Each time I received His assurance: "I sent you. Don't quit."

In Review: 2011 in the Gethsemane Prayer Garden

2011-09-28T07:57:00.001-04:00

While it may seem early to be writing a "How Did We Do For The Year?" review in the September / October time frame, to the caretaker of a public garden, it makes perfect sense to write this now. By December, flowers have long faded and the interest is more tuned to the next day's snowfall.

The Gethsemane Prayer Garden at Faith Chapel in Syracuse is a one-acre landscaped garden for people to enjoy the beauty of God our Creator and to rest in His presence. The garden is open to the public and there is no admission fee.

The hope at Faith Chapel is that people would visit this small but intimate garden, seeing it as an outdoor sanctuary and a place to experience God and His love. There are fifty perennial flower varieties and several hundred shrubs and trees, intended to usher in God’s peace. Benches are available for a quiet time with the Lord.

The Volunteer Force
The main purpose of this garden is plants for people, not plants in themselves. May was very wet and July was very hot. While the stress of extreme weather affects the plants, it also affects the garden workers. Some days in the garden were very challenging this year, but each year has some difficult days – this year it seemed that there were more.

We had forty-one volunteers this year which is down from fifty-two in 2010. The volunteer hours spent in the garden dropped 40 percent. Our typical church attendance is around 300 people on any given Sunday, of which nearly half are in their twenties or thirties – as caretaker, I personally am satisfied with the support shown by the older ones of our congregation. By the end of 2011, my own hours will have dropped 20 percent for the year, averaging just seven hours per week.

Garden Quality
Despite the reduced hours, the garden quality has not significantly suffered. Heavy mulching in late May was a significant factor in helping to control the weeds. The volunteers have developed good sensitivity for keeping the quality at a high level and they seem very interested in learning how to maintain a garden environment.

Much attention has been given to the wooden benches last year and again this year. A much-appreciated volunteer has spent an inordinate amount of time improving the quality of our benches and it shows. In a certain way, the quality of the garden is reflected in the quality of the benches, just as the polish on a man's shoe is a reflection of his opinion of himself.

The roses require the greatest amount of time in this garden, but these lusciously sweet flowers are well worth the effort. With the heat of July, we essentially had no blossoms for nearly one month. We lost them again in early September because we did not prune them often enough in August. (Remember the lesson on pruning from John 15). Yet while they were in blossom, the roses looked great as they have matured.

Garden Visitors
While the Gethsemane Prayer Garden is oftentimes without any visitors, we have seen more visitors this year than any previous year. On Monday and Tuesday evenings, my joy has been to see a small group of African refugees spend an hour or so in the garden. Each one takes his or her own bench and has a quite time with the Lord, some singing, some praying, some reading Scriptures, and one watching the two small children. At the end, they gather around the stone altar for a time of corporate prayer and singing. It is so sweet to see – whereas our suburban church folk may not know how to use this garden, the Lord has brought a group from a another continent to teach us by example!

We have also witnessed an increased number of visitors on Sunday mornings and at various times during the week. Articles in Syracuse's Good News paper and in the internet's Ruby for Women have helped this. We had two Garden Tours but they were not well promoted and therefore not well attended – hopefully we can do a better job with promotion next year.

Garden Expansion
This fall we have begun and should finish developing two areas:

A large rock was "planted" near the northern entrance to the garden, and landscaping will be added around it. We will plant flowers around this rock which will hopefully be more inviting to those that see this area for the first time.
The garden area in the south-west corner is being cleared. Plant debris near the stream is being removed and truckloads of soil have been brought in. Ground cover is being added around some of the evergreens in this area. The effect should be better integration of this area into the garden and will permit another location where people can seek the Lord.

Thoughts for Next Year
One of the struggles we had in April was overcoming the heavy deer damage from the previous winter. One ornamental pine tree had to be removed and several arborvitae were severely chewed. Later this fall, we should protect more of the evergreens and do this effort in mid-November before the snow starts flying. The fencing around a large cluster of evergreens looks ugly, but without it the deer would devastate them.

The lawn surrounding the garden will hopefully be mowed more often next year. The weather has been a major factor in this because too much rain and too much heat are significant inhibitors to regular lawn maintenance.

April and May are by far the most labor intensive periods in this garden. Hopefully in 2012 we will have much more volunteer participation during this time. As more people start discovering this garden, it will be important to get the garden in shape much earlier in the season.

We have had to put off the construction of the gazebo for another year. Hopefully the funds for this wedding location and center for small gatherings will be come to fruition in 2012.

Submitted in faith,
Tom Clarke
Caretaker of the Gethsemane Prayer Garden

The Gethsemane Prayer Garden from Google Earth

2011-09-17T22:02:00.002-04:00

I was so surprised this week to discover that Google Earth has updated its images for Syracuse, NY and in particular the vicinity of the Gethsemane Prayer Garden. Have you tried Google Earth? In many ways it is similar to the image portion of Google Maps, but it allows you to re-position your view in a more powerful way.

Here is the view from Google Maps:

In this view, you can see the general shape of the garden, although the shaded area near the stream is covered by the canopy of willows, ash and black walnut trees. At the very center of the garden is a bed of roses with a second bed that is less visible to the left. Between the garden and the driveway are three berms – raised beds where trees and shrubs have been planted to separate the garden from the church area.

By using Google Earth, still another view is possible:

Google Earth identifies the date of this satellite image as June 3, 2011. With this software, it is possible to gain a much better perspective of the garden as well as see some vertical dimensions. Google Earth allows you to zoom left or right, up or down, in or out, or rotate around a 360 degree perspective. Pretty nifty!

The Blossoms of September in the Prayer Garden

2011-09-02T08:35:00.001-04:00

I took the time last night to leisurely stroll through the Gethsemane Prayer Garden where I am the Caretaker. Normally I am busy working in the garden and much too oblivious to the nuances of God's creation around me – it was a refreshing time as well as a time for reflection. Possibly it is a little like the woman that prepares a meal for the company to enjoy but is never able to enjoy it herself.

I was struggling with the direction that I am pursuing regarding the development and maintenance of the garden, as well as my own writing career. Alone in this garden, I asked God some hard questions that all surrounded the thought, "Why?". His response came as an image, and the interpretation was clear and simple, "Allow me to lead in this dance." This was not the response that I expected, but I thank God that the Holy Spirit revealed this image to me.

Many people are not familiar with the gaura, but what a joy it is! Some are taller and white, such as those placed near the main entrance to the garden. Other varieties are deep pink; my favorites are those with a delicate mix of white and pink blossoms. All varieties start to flower in mid-June and will continue in profusion through the first heavy frost.

The gaura has been aptly given the English name "wand flower" because each flower cluster sits on top of a long wand-like stem. The stems are so long and so thin that God seems to have created these flowers so we can enjoy how they dance in the breeze. Even on windless days, days where the air is so incredibly still, the flower heads gently move in response to the heat rising from the ground – dancing in the breeze.

In the Bible, the Hebrew word ruwach can be translated as both Holy Spirit and wind. As this flower dances, the gaura reminds us of the wind, the ruwach, the presence of the Holy Spirit. We may feel spiritually parched as we enter the garden – the gaura is there as a reminder of the refreshing and renewing that God wants to give us.

By September, the precious roses which sometimes go through a dry spell in mid-summer have now come back as the soil gathers more moisture and the evenings get cooler. We have a number of lusciously attractive pink 'Bonica' roses which are complemented by two varieties of 'Knock Out' roses. The roses will continue to bloom through November.

Another of my fall favorites is the false ageratum which blossoms until the first frost. These short bright-blue flowers, with a hint of fuchsia coloring, add an interesting contrast to the red, orange and rust tones that are typically seen in the autumn.

The Russian sage continues blossoming in September although their color can fade to more of a soft blue-gray tone. The broccoli-shaped autumn joy sedum comes alive with fresh, pinkish flowers that eventually change tones many times to eventually become an autumn rust color. Chrysanthemum, blanket flower (also known as Gaillardia), Japanese anemone all blossom in September, as well as some flowers that typically are found in the early summer but God decides to show their beauty one more time before the colder weather sets in.

I hope you take time to visit and use this prayer garden. As a recent visitor wrote to Faith Chapel, "What a sweet place the gardens were. So peaceful, so beautiful, and I can walk the paths easily. Yes, I was thoroughly blessed and hope to make many more visits. It’s a wonderful place to come and be quiet with the Lord."

Self-publishing advice for Christian authors #03

2011-08-24T22:49:00.009-04:00

For the author / self-publisher, not only is there the whole writing / researching / listening / editing process, the effort to get the book in published form, and the exceptional amount of time spent marketing with advertising, relationship building and developing social media, there is also the effort to produce a second edition. If I am honest with myself, I must admit that I made mistakes in each of my books that I now want to correct.

I must not be alone as evidenced in the non-fiction world by the large number of second editions that are released. In fact, I know one very scholarly man that will never read the first edition of a book because he realizes that the kinks are still up for grabs.

For the person intending involved with self-publishing, please look at the blog article Joshua's Spiritual Warfare: An Author's Self-Assessment. In that writing, I give an honest review of the discouragement process with thoughts of abandoning my writing career, yet ultimately I reached the conclusion that a second edition is essential.

Second Edition vs. New Title
In the case of Joshua's Spiritual Warfare, I've committed to developing a second edition in 2012. I think that the basic flow of the book is probably satisfactory, but some text needs to be removed and replaced because it is either not current or not consistent with my current theology. There are a few typos and there is one chapter that I would like to re-write for greater clarity.

My second book, A Topical Treasury of Proverbs, was written to meet a publisher's deadline. I was not the publisher with that book; working against this time schedule, I am not happy with the quality of that manuscript. I have spent a large part of 2011 preparing a yet unnamed title that in some ways is similar to the first book, but in most ways is a significant overhaul of the original text. When finished, my intent is to self-publish this manuscript.

In my case, I contacted the publisher to ensure that I have the legal right to self-publish this. We reached an agreement that I believe is equitable for both of us. I do not know if they will keep the first book in print once I release the second. It doesn't matter to me because the two are so significantly different.

If your modifications are very small, possibly changing the wording in a few paragraphs or replacing a few photographs, things of that nature, it may not be necessary to release a second edition. If I were to replace a photograph or two in A Garden of Love and fix the use of italics in several places, that would not require a second edition. I would simply submit the revised text to my printer, paying whatever small fees they may charge for this effort. On the copyright page, I would add a note about the second printing with a date, but that is not necessary; in the print-on-demand world, there are few hard and fast rules.

A second edition should be used when the reader would discern a different flavor of the text. There may be substantial editing of some chapters, adding some significant insight that was not in the first, or removing a portion that is not appropriate. Second editions require a new ISBN number; small modifications do not require a new ISBN.

In my case, a new title is warranted for the book on Proverbs. The table of contents is very different from the first book. The flow of the manuscript is substantially different and there is a considerable amount of new content that was not in the first. Also, a good amount has been removed from what was in the first book. Most importantly, the original publisher is not involved with this second title. I have domain expertise in this area of Proverbs, and that is something the publisher does not own.

Should you simply modify your existing text, call your new effort a second edition, or come out with a new title? I don't know and probably don't have the answers. In part it is a marketing question, asking, "How do I best build on the exposure that the title has achieved?" Hopefully my examples with help some shed light on your scenario.

For other articles about self-publishing in this series, see:

Joshua's Spiritual Warfare: An Author's Self-Assessment

2011-08-20T22:25:00.002-04:00

I was recently encouraged to read D.A. Carson's Exegetical Fallacies – I finished reading it today. This scholarly book exposes many of the more common ways that God's word through the Bible is incorrectly represented.

Going beyond mere theological differences that exist between Christian believers, this book attempts to eliminate differences that exist simply because of inadequate research in word studies and grammar, illogical conclusions, personal bias, and much more.

Carson includes many, many examples in this well-researched book. It is not a 'how to' book, but rather a 'how not to' book. As such, the strong negative tone was to me very challenging. As the author of three Christian books since 2008, Carson's book has shown me where I have fallen into a certain number of these traps without realizing it.

Even before opening Carson's book, I was aware that my theological position on some points had changed since my first book, Joshua's Spiritual Warfare, was published. For example, my view of deliverance over the last four years has dramatically softened. As another example where time was a healer, my view of crows has changed: I previously postulated on their evil nature because I had been bombarded on my head by their filth. As Carson points out, Bible truths must not be experiential.

After reading Carson's book, I was very discouraged about my own ability to adequately represent the Bible to the reading public. Thoughts went through my head that I should remove that book, and potentially my other books, from publication until I learned to meet Carson's standard. I wrote to a pastor acquaintance of this concern, and he gave me an encouraging word with an appropriately placed kick from behind – then the Holy Spirit reminded me of others that have evaluated my work and it was certainly positive. The result is I gave up the idea of giving up; yet it was a humbling and challenging experience.

Like many other Christians, I am assured that my views can and should change over time. I am reminded of the founding pastor at my church who switched from a Baptist to Charismatic persuasion because God's word was revealed to him in a profoundly moving way. If we are honest, I suspect that many of us will recognize that the theological place that we are at today has matured and is somewhat different than it was a few years ago.

If you have read or intend to read Joshua's Spiritual Warfare, please be aware that you may not always agree with the position I have taken. I may not always agree either. Because I have strong perfectionist tendencies, I hope to release a second edition in 2012 which will resolve identified problems in the text.

To those considering purchasing a copy of Joshua's Spiritual Warfare, I hope you buy the first edition anyhow. Using the PrayerGardeners logo, I sell new copies under the used book portion on Amazon at a substantially reduced price.

Several people have written book reviews of Joshua's Spiritual Warfare – the one by Pastor Luke Geraty is the most comprehensive and objective:

Rev. Barbara Di Gilio in her Mayim Hayim book review wrote, "It's only 232 pages, but it's packed full of good stuff, rare meat, just like I like it." (more)

Pastor and author Fred Hofeldt of the Judeo–Christian Israel Alliance stated on his website, "Tom has taken us to another dimension in understanding chiastic Hebrew poetry. His chiastic presentation of the Book of Joshua demonstrates the intricate design of the Holy Spirit. This book is most intriguing to read, as it unravels a spiritually deeper understanding into God's Word. It is written in a style that keeps you intrigued and interested." (more)

Pastor Luke Geraty from Think Theology posted on his website that, "What is immediately clear is that Clarke has studied the book of Joshua and put in a lot of time researching and interact with the text. His time has led him to believe there are a variety of patterns known as chiasms throughout the book and that these chiasms are actually integral to understanding the 'big idea' of the book and how it applies in the lives of Christians today."

Yet Pastor Geraty shared some criticisms of the book, "So what are my criticisms? Largely they are due to different theological convictions or related to nuancing language a bit." (more)

Questions or comments? Use the comments section and I will gladly respond.Tom

The Blossoms of August in the Prayer Garden

2011-08-07T20:56:00.001-04:00

I enjoy the cooler evenings as fall approaches – the evening dew seems heavier this time of year as it settles on the soft and delicate flowers and leaves. I also enjoy watching parents as they bring their young children down by the stream to catch a frog, possibly the same one that another child delightfully caught just the day before. And I enjoy the rainbows of August, totally unscheduled events that catch the promising rays of the sun as a sudden shower leaves the area.

Most of the flowers in the Gethsemane Prayer Garden are perennials yet there is one annual, the cosmos, whose self-seeding effect gives the appearance of a perennial. The profusion of pure white, soft pink, ruby red and deep crimson blossoms peak in August, although many first opened in late June or sometime in July. If you sit quietly, you may see a brightly colored yellow goldfinch hop from branch to branch of the cosmos, eating a few seeds and scattering the rest.

I also enjoy showing the garden visitor the purple-blue anise hyssop flowers as they reach out with an invitation to smell its refreshing fragrance. "Crush the leaves as you breathe it in," I suggest. "See if you can identify what it smells like."

We also have a large collection of Russian sage in this garden, bluish-purple flowers with sprays and sprays of color. Again I encourage the garden visitor to squeeze a few leaves as we then move on to other plants such as lavender, cat mint and thyme.

To me, the Japanese anemone is the August show-stopper in the garden. Hundreds and hundreds of softly-hued pinkish-lavender blossoms prolifically fill one larger area. Although most people cannot detect a fragrance from these elegant flowers, the honey bees may be seen enthusiastically flitting from blossom to blossom, totally oblivious to people nearby.

Purple coneflowers continue their simple yet multitudinous blossoming in many areas throughout the garden in August. By the end of August, many will have lost their color so we clip off the old dead heads to prevent many new plants from sprouting.

This garden is heavily dependent on a large force of volunteers – some years we have more than others. When we have enough people, we try to trim the spirea so that they can get a second or even a third period of flowering. We have a dozen or so in the garden ranging from white to soft pink to vibrant red, and they are truly beautiful while in blossom.

For more information, see Photo gallery of Gethsemane Prayer Garden: August's blossoms

Mulching a Flower Garden to Promote Its Beauty

2011-07-26T08:25:00.002-04:00

With nearly 10,000 square feet of flowered gardens, the application of mulch is essential for us. Like much of the USA this month, the intense heat and lack of rain has been a significant problem. Many gardens have suffered as flowers open but quickly fade, not able to withstand the heavy stress that this hot and dry spell has challenged us with.

The Gethsemane Prayer Garden is in many respects no different. The intensely beautiful garden phlox, for example, normally turn to seed after more than a month of profuse flowering. This year, because we don't water most of the garden, the upper portions of the flower clusters have turned brown and have faded after only a few weeks. Other flowers don't show the stress that abruptly, but the lack of rain certainly has affected their longevity. Without the mulch, much of the garden would look discouragingly drained.

While we water the roses on a weekly basis, we rely on the mulch to do its work in the remainder of the garden. The garden is located across the driveway from the church building, so to lug the hoses into the garden and then roll them up afterwards is a significant chore in itself. And we don't have the luxury of being able to leave sprinklers running for long periods of time because none of our volunteers live near the church – someone would have to come back to the church to periodically relocate the sprinkler and then wind up the hose at the end of the day.

A thick layer of mulch is therefore essential for us to maintain the garden's beauty, allowing God to water the garden when He thinks it is ready. Mulch keeps the roots cooler during these hot days, protecting the soil from the hot sun. Mulch also helps slow down the evaporation process: somehow through a process that only God could design, the roots find some water that has been enriched by minerals and other nutrients, and sends it on its way to nourish the parched leaves and petals.

Mulching also dramatically helps cut down on the weeding when done correctly. In our location, we start working the garden in April, cleaning up the large amount of fallen debris from the previous growing season and winter. Early May is typically our time for the mulching process. Before the three inches of mulch can be applied, we do as good of a job as we can to remove even the smallest weeds; otherwise, we see the weeds later only this time as more mature plants. Therefore we weed extensively before mulching – we must have done a better job this year because there really has not been very much weeding necessary.

Spreading the mulch is a very arduous process involving many volunteers. If the mulch can be spread before many of the flowers start to pop their heads above the ground, the process takes considerably less time. Otherwise we have to get on our knees to ensure that the mulch is placed right up to the plant.

We buy hardwood mulch by the truck load, normally 10 yards at a time. This year we spread 30 yards over a little more than half of the garden, and then next year we will alternate the process by applying 20 yards to the remainder of the garden. Each year we do one or the other, primarily for cost and labor saving reasons. In the second year after the mulching, the weed control is much more of a problem as the previous years mulch has started to decompose.

This garden is now in its eighth year which means we have gone through the mulching cycle for several cycles, particularly in the older flower beds. The soil has dramatically improved in these areas because the rotted mulch provides a very nice nutrient base for the plants. This richer soil is also much looser than our native clay soil which means that the roots can extend themselves further in the search for moisture. We do not use a landscaping fabric between the old soil and the mulch – the fabric becomes a barrier that prevents the roots from finding the newer and richer soil.

Newly delivered mulch is typically very hot as it has been rapidly decomposing in the stockyard. If not treated properly, the heat will burn the flowers and trees that it touches. We have the truck dump the mulch on the lawn near the area we will be mulching, and this too can burn the lawn if not treated properly. The trick is to quickly spread the mulch on the lawn, moving it from a four foot pile to a twelve to eighteen-inch high pile. In this way, the heat is quickly dissipated into the air and the mulch quickly returns to a more normal temperature. Then it is ready to be transported into the garden. There may be a small amount of lawn burning but we find it is quickly resolved when the lawn is cut the next time.

So why mulch? To reduce the need for watering, to improve the beauty of the plants, to help with the weed control, and to promote a better soil for the plants to grow in. It simply provides a better environment for the beauty of God's wonderful creation to be exemplified. In flowers it is especially seen how God has placed His wonderful creation, and the mulch enhances that.

In the Gethsemane Prayer Garden, we face challenges such as drought, lack of water nearby, and few if any workers that can devote their time to the regular upkeep of the garden. The mulch compensates by promoting the glory of the garden. It is the same for us.

Please allow me to ask a question: "What is the mulch in your life that will best encourage that creation, allowing the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed despite the adversities and difficulties that challenge you? What will best help promote that beauty?"

Be Still, and Know That I AM LORD!

2011-07-10T03:42:00.000-04:00

Upon a tree on the other side of the curvaceous stream, a shadow moved in a rhythmic motion, darkened one moment and then much brighter the next in no regular form. Immediately I recognized the familiar pattern of the reflected early morning sun, catching the top of the water, sparkling as it danced its refracted rays onto the trunk of the large willow tree. No doubt a frog had spontaneously changed its location at the edge of the still water; soon the patterns became calm again, that is until the little creature chased after whatever it saw next.

As I look back on this early Friday morning time in the Prayer Garden, I think of how God revealed himself once again. I am in semi-retirement now, giving myself the freedom to follow some of my own pursuits on Thursdays and Fridays; this day I chose to photograph more of God's beautiful flowers in the garden. Sometimes I rest near the stream, and this day I was particularly pulled to do so for a more extended period of time.

While the Gethsemane Prayer Garden is not overly large, it does have a long shaded area with tall willow, ash and walnut trees creating a lovely canopy for the plant and animal life below. I sat on a bench that overlooks this semi-naturalized area with its assortment of transplanted flowers and green ferns. Not too far away, a lovely collection of astilbe with variations of pink, white and red plumes stood softly and gently as they suggested quiet, calm and rest.

"Be still, and know that I am Lord." (Psalm 46:10)
Immediately a rustling sound appeared ahead of me, startling the quiet of the moment. My eye quickly tracked the intrusion, but all I saw were the shiny green leaves of the myrtle plant as they bent with the movement of something briskly moving beneath them. Then it appeared – a chipmunk, chasing after a nut or root as it hid its way to cleverly protect itself from me the intruder.

I sat for a seemingly long period of time as the chipmunks began appearing. One dashed to the right and then stopped, looked, saw something else and then off it ran across the heavily mulched area. Another showed up a few moments later, rapidly going now in another totally random direction, halting only long enough to catch its bearings. Over on the grass which had been mowed just the day before, another chipmunk chose to hop like a bunny as it went from one soft grass area to another. "Why not run?" I thought, but this one almost leaped to get where it was going. This family of young "munks" became my source of entertainment as they gleefully pursued their next destiny.

In that time that morning, I contemplated many things. Nothing heavy or earth shattering, just thoughts of a different pace and a different agenda. I dreamed peaceful thoughts, transposed out of the hectic world that I am so accustomed to. Precious was that time, and precious is my Lord.

Thank you Lord for that peaceful time of rest and enjoyment. Thank you for taking care of all the little details that I never would have been able to manage. And thank you Lord for arranging the place, the joy, the rest and the satisfaction – that precious time with you.

Maintaining Beautiful Bonica Roses

2011-07-01T19:09:00.003-04:00

I have written about the tremendously beautiful 'Bonica' roses in the past (such as my blog entitled Beautiful Bonica Roses) and will no doubt write about them again. Today I feel led to write some tips about maintaining these roses to their luscious optimum.

Let me first say that I find the 'Bonica' to be both easy and temperamental to maintain. To me, when I see these deeply intense pink buds just beginning to open, unfolding to the softer pink exterior petals, my thoughts of frustration are quickly pacified.

Instead of seeing the hours and hours of pruning and tender care that they require, I see beauty, God's glorious beauty represented in these most lovely flowers. And I'm not alone – in 1997, it was awarded the prize as the world's favorite hedge rose.

We currently have twenty-three roses in the Gethsemane Prayer Garden, and of them, sixteen are of the 'Bonica' species. Our base soil is moderate to heavy clay which is ideal for roses, and we have supplemented that with lots of mulch over the years. The beds have been raised so that there is positive drainage away from the plants in the winter. Our location is somewhere between Zones 4 and 5, and we can receive very strong winds as the garden is located near the top of Onondaga Hill.

Pruning
We try to clip the roses twice per week and we are fairly aggressive with the pruning. Because the garden is located at a church that holds services on Sunday, we attempt to optimize their color so that they peak that day. Weather permitting, this means we do our heavier pruning on Tuesday or Wednesday, and then a lighter pruning on Friday or Saturday. For purposes of photography, I like to take my photos exactly two days after the last pruning.

"How much should I prune?" you ask. If you are at all familiar with the 'Bonica', you know that the deeper pink tones quickly fade to an almost pure white, and then they fall to the ground. When I train our volunteers on how to cut the roses, they are generally astonished that I would take a rose that still has some color and cut it off. I explain, "You want to both catch the petals before they fall, and you want to optimize the color of the plant." I suggest that they look at the stamen at the center of the flower head – if it has turned or is turning brown, I propose that is the time to cut it.

Our 'Bonica' roses are very prone to Black Spot which is a fungus that is easily spread from plant to plant. Therefore, we do not trim them when the plants have any moisture on their leaves or petals. This makes it harder to get the work done because ours is a suburban church with members from many miles around; most of our volunteers simply do not live nearby.

The flowers of the 'Bonica' open in delicious clusters with seven or ten or even more buds on each cluster. Gardening books often dwell on how to trim the roses (on a diagonal so that water does not sit on the freshly cut stem) and about ¼-½" above the branch; when the last flower in the cluster has faded, then the entire cluster is cut to the second branch of leaves. I certainly agree with those recommendations, but will also say that mistakes will happen – I find these roses to be extremely resilient. It is certainly preferable that you enjoy your work.

The first roses blossom in our area of Upstate New York in mid-June. At first, the buds are most prolific which means lots of clipping for the first two or three times. After that, they require less work – typically we spend four hours per week clipping our twenty-three roses.

Watering
Roses optimally should receive one-inch of water per week for peak performance. If substantially less that, the plants will not produce new branches that carry the next group of rose buds. If substantially more than that, the petals yellow prematurely and quickly drop to the ground. For us, that often means we must supplement the rainfall that we receive because the summer months often have strong heavy rains that run off quickly rather than longer soaking rains that help keep the roots cooler.

For years, I used a sprinkler to fan the water onto the two rose beds. I was mystified why the Black Spot spread so quickly when I did this. Last year, the Lord prompted me to add "soaker hoses" to the roses, which are placed underneath the two inches of hardwood mulch. Now, when I turn on the faucet, I am assured that all of the water is being dispersed onto the roots and is not spreading that ugly fungus from one plant to another.

Plant Disease
Our two major problems with the 'Bonica' are Japanese beetles and the Black Spot fungus. This rose is relatively free from other forms of blight and mildew that is common with other roses – we also have a small collection of 'Knock-Out' roses that are much easier care but not nearly as lovely.

I must confess that I am not as good with disease control as I could be. If you look at the bottom of the adjacent photograph, you will see some yellow leaves with small black blotches – that is Black Spot. Optimally I should spray the leaves before the roses first blossom with a fungicide, but that is such a phenomenally busy time for me in most years that I don't get to it. Some years I forget the fungicide entirely, and then come to regret that decision, and some years I end up applying the fungicide after the leaves have already developed the problem which of course is too late.

The Japanese beetles are also a huge pain. We use fertilizers, insecticides and herbicides in other areas of the garden, which rules out the use of Milky Spore powder. I use Milky Spore at my house because I prefer not to use these commercial chemicals; it has had incredible results at eliminating the Japanese beetle problem. In this garden, unfortunately, we are more restricted meaning some type of commercially available chemical. If the temperatures are more moderate that particular summer, I will simply pinch all those nasty little beetles but it often has discouraging results.

Winter Protection
So far, we have not had to replace any roses at the end of the winter. Thank God! Initially I was protecting the 'Bonica' in the same way as tea roses are treated, meaning cutting them back severely and mounding mulch around their base to protect them from the bitterly cold winds. Last year, at the advice of a well-known garden shop that is nearby, I did nothing to protect them and they did fine. We had some branched that died back but the plant did extremely well – that dead growth was pruned back at about the time that the forsythia bushes came in bloom.

Conclusion
I truly hope you enjoy the 'Bonica' roses, their lightly scented fragrance and their lusciously intense pink flowers. In our area, they bloom from June to November, well beyond the first frost. We stop our maintenance of these beauties at the end of September or early October; trimming promotes new plant growth whereas this is the time to prepare the bushes for their winter season.

I recognize that for some, this amount of maintenance is simply too much, particularly the elderly. To those of us that still have some energy, the treat is ours. "A person will be satisfied with good from the fruit of his words, and the work of his hands will be rendered to him" (Proverbs 12:14).
Enjoy!

A Tree in Remembrance of My Dad

2011-06-19T18:41:00.003-04:00

As I drove to a nursery where I sometimes purchase trees and shrubs, I began thinking about my dad. It was a sunny but cool day in the May of 2007, and I was still holding some grief over his death seven months earlier. My mission was to obtain a tree in memory of Bruce Thomas Clarke, but I did not have a firm idea of what to plant or where to plant it.

I was named after my father – he was Bruce Thomas and I am Thomas Bruce. "A very likable man," I thought, and I pondered some more, for it seemed that everyone just loved to talk with my dad. He enjoyed people and they were very comfortable to be around him.

I drove some more, around a bend, under the railroad tracks, and up a small hill. I was reminded that he was a straight-forward man, having obtained a reputation as a successful business man working for medium-sized manufacturing companies. Dad told it like it was for he was honest as the day was long; a man with integrity. In a word, he was upright.

When I returned home from California after he had died, the ladies where I work (I'm the token man among a bunch of women) presented me with $120 cash to be used for the purchase of a tree. My instructions were to plant a tree in the Gethsemane Prayer Garden where I am the caretaker in memory of my dad. "A sweet and honorable thing to do," I thought, and then I knew just the spot where it would be placed: a new flower bed had just been developed the previous year but not yet planted. Instantly I planned to put whatever tree I selected in the middle of that bed.

I drove further, over the top of that hill and in towards the village where the nursery is situated, still not knowing what tree I would select. My thoughts went back to when I was a child in his home, and then to his later years when he became a very successful tennis player in his senior years. I like to think of him in his later years for he had become very gentle. I can't say he was that way to me while I was growing up, but once he moved into retirement, he no longer had the stress of his job or my rebellious childhood ways to deal with. Now he could show me love and encouragement as I pursued my dreams. Dad had become soft and gentle.

My ideas about selecting a tree began to form as I turned right onto the main road; the nursery was just down the road on the left. I would select an evergreen which remains green year-round, just as Dad was consistent through his summer or winter times. I would find an upright tree even though the location called for a possibly more ornate plant, because that was more like his nature. And I would look for a tree with soft needles for that was like the man that Dad had become.

As I turned into the nursery, I knew of only a few trees that fit that description, and immediately the 'Concolor' fir came to mind. In the spring and early summer, the new needle growth of this large and prominent tree is the color of my Dad's eyes, an unusual shade of hazel with blue tones! I stopped the car but could not get out, for God had given me a vision of my Dad that would last into the years: a likable tree that others will be able to enjoy and discover even though they never knew him. My eyes were again misty, for I knew my God had given me and others "A Tree in Remembrance of My Dad."

The Magnificent Honeysuckle Vine

2011-06-16T23:51:00.001-04:00

In my opinion, the honeysuckle vine is one of the world's prettiest flowers. This week, this beautiful and relatively unknown flower species opened in the Gethsemane Prayer Garden. As a result, I felt led to share this writing about this most ornate flower, as taken from my book A Garden of Love.

Peace

Outstanding! I am so captivated by this most intricate and lovely vine. Do you see the little two-inch long pink trumpets? I can imagine hearing them boldly declare their warmest greeting, "Enter, for the Lord is in this place, offering peace to you!" As Paul wrote many times in his epistles, "May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace" (Ephesians 1:2).

One of the loveliest of the newer plants to be introduced in many years is the ornate trumpet honeysuckle vine, hybridized with other twining honeysuckles to create a flower of immense beauty. Elongated tubes of either rosy-pink or pastel-orange are offset with a soft cream colored throat, more intricate than any glass blower could prepare. The stamen protrudes in an extended form from the trumpet-shaped throat in hopes of luring a passing insect as an open invitation for pollination. The many trumpets seem to be calling out to both the insect and the garden visitor, "Come and enter in, welcome to a special place, a place of new beginnings, a place of satisfaction and peace."

All of the varieties of honeysuckle vines grow tall, often up to twenty or twenty-five feet, as they search for full sun on a strong supporting structure. Some vines are more fragrant than others – the European honeysuckle is considered the sweetest. The hummingbirds with their long needle-like beak seem to particularly enjoy the nectar from all the twining honeysuckles vines, darting from flower to flower, from cluster to cluster.

If the honeysuckle vine is positioned at the entrance to the garden, the trumpet-shaped flowers seem to herald the visitor, "You are about to enter a most special place." In some ways this is reminiscent of the armies of angels at the birth of Jesus, "praising God and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased'" (Luke 2:13, 14). The peace and presence of our Lord is in the garden.

Jesus came to earth to give a gift of peace, and his expectation was and is that the gift would be used. "I am leaving you with a gift – peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid" (John 14:27). Then, only a few days later, that gift was received.

"'Peace be with you,' he said. As he spoke, he showed them the wounds in his hands and his side. They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord! Again he said,'Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.' Then he breathed on them and said, 'Receive the Holy Spirit'" (John 20:19-22).

These verses indicate that the gift of the Holy Spirit is a gift of peace. Many times the Scriptures associate the Holy Spirit with power – the power of supernatural healing, for example. Here, however, the peace that the Holy Spirit brings is peace of mind and heart in oneness with God – this deep fellowship is one that is immersed in love.

"Be joyful. Grow to maturity. Encourage each other. Live in harmony and peace. Then the God of love and peace will be with you" (2 Corinthians 13:11).

Copyright © 2009 Bible Discernments. Excerpt from A Garden of Love by Thomas B. Clarke, a gift book about love for anyone that enjoys flowers. Tom is the caretaker of the Gethsemane Prayer Garden in Syracuse, NY – open to the public. A Garden of Love is available on Amazon as well as at www.agardenoflove.com.

Stress

2011-06-10T07:41:00.004-04:00

I was surprised as I walked into the Gethsemane Prayer Garden – Tuesday had been a hot, sweltering day and now the temperatures had just begun to drop. On the south side of the garden, a small but lusciously harmonic collection of wood hyacinth had been in full bloom on Saturday, and I had intended to show our volunteer staff their beauty.

My surprise was what happened from Saturday until Tuesday. The temperatures had soared into the 90's, which for late May in our area is not common. The National Weather Service announced that record temperatures were recorded in several of the surrounding cities, and the humidity was very oppressive. My shock was that the flowers had expired. Gone! A tiny bit of light blue on a couple of the stalks, but pretty much all of them had gone to seed.

That was two weeks ago; a similar event happened this week as the temperatures again reached into the 90's. The deep purple columbine had been in full blossom at the end of May, as described in my previous blog about Contentment. The stress of this latest heat-spell had caused many of these beauties to look far less than content, as many of their petals had dropped onto the dark brown mulch.

One lady expressed her disappointment that the heat would cause such a sudden change in the garden, so I attempted to console her. Our beautiful 'Bonica' roses usually do not open until around Father's Day, about ten days away. This year, by the end of this surge of heat and humidity, these exhilarating pink blossoms will begin to reveal the fullness of their beauty. Likewise, the deep purple bellflower (many call them Campanula) will open early this year with their soft and gentle blossoms. I explained to her that the intense heat brings both its disappointments and its joys.

Stress in the garden brings about change, having both negative and positive effects. Stress in life also brings about change. Sometimes in life we dwell on those things that we are giving up; the wood hyacinth flowers no longer blossom or our last child moves out of the home for a new season in his or her life. It is often hard to give up those things that we love and have become so accustomed to. Very hard. Stress also has its positive aspects but we often can't deal with it because we don't want to give up our past.

Our spouse disappoints us (again); our work situation suddenly ends; a parent or other family member dies; a tragedy hits our home. Sometimes all hope seems to be gone and we cannot endure any further.

The daffodils and tulips in the garden would not be possible without the stress of winter. The yellow, orange and red foliage in the fall only comes after the stress of cooler nights and shorter days. Soon after the fall leaves hit the ground, the barrenness can be thought of as either the beauty that was lost or the colors that will come.

I can't change the weather and neither can you. I can't make the drought have thirst quenching rain. I can't cause the damaging effects of a hailstorm to go away. I have to accept them and to hope for something positive to come out of the trials.

All of us have a little bit of 'Elijah syndrome' within us, wanting to call out to God for a change in the weather. He spoke the word and there was no dew or rain for four years; he spoke the word again and a great rain fell on the land (I Kings 17-18). Remember, it was God, not Elijah, that brought the drought and then brought the drenching rain; Elijah only spoke what he prophetically saw. Elijah did not command the stress, but his word was reliable because of his relationship with God. It was God that was using the stress of the weather to bring about a change in Israel.

Our responsibility? Give up and let God.

Contentment

2011-05-30T09:53:00.002-04:00

"Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities, all is vanity," (Ecclesiastes 1:2 ESV).

I have been challenged by Ecclesiastes for the last two weeks. Why do I work so hard? In the next verse, Solomon asks the very pointed question, "What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?"

The answer, I believe, comes in the form of contentment. Possibly you can relate to this same struggle.

I have strong work-alcoholic tendencies, finding myself buried in all sorts of busyness. No longer do I work long hours at my professional job – I've moved into semi-retirement, working there on Monday through Wednesday – and yet I very much fill my days and evenings. I am also the caretaker of our church's prayer garden, and the author/publisher of three books with more on the way. I'm trying to learn Hebrew, several challenging software products, and keep up with work at home. I wake up early and go to bed late, do not waste my time with television because I am far too interested in other things. And then there is my marriage – we need to spend more time together.

Possibly you know someone who has similar tendencies. Possibly this is, to some extent, a profile of yourself.

Solomon had tremendous wisdom and wealth, and yet he basically said, "So what?" Why have all this wisdom and yet have it wasted? What good was all the wealth that he accumulated? And he was right because his legacy was wasted on kings that spoiled what he created.

I mentioned that I am the caretaker of my church's prayer garden. While we have a volunteer staff that helps with this work, primary responsibility falls on me when work has to be done and some people do not show up. There was a wedding last Saturday in the garden, requiring all the preparation work to be done in a quality manner. What bride would want weeds to symbolize the partnership that she is stepping into? The work had to be finished.

There is an abundance of deep-purple columbine that are currently flowering in this garden. The marriage ceremony was conducted adjacent to a large grouping of them. Over the years, I have scattered the columbine seeds in various areas to promote an exhilarating richness over several of the flower beds. The effect is both breath-taking and relaxing.

In my book A Garden of Love, I associated these beautiful columbine with "Kindness", but I think I should have chosen "Contentment" instead. Here, in the depth of a garden where I toil for others to enjoy, I found a peace that too often alludes me. Solomon, after writing his famous monologue about "A time to be born, and a time to die, … " (Eccl 3:2-8), went back to his question about toil. "I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil – that is God's gift to man." (Eccl 3:12, 13)

The columbine flowers point downwards, not looking at the sky as many flowers tend to do, content to show their beauty to those that will find the time to discover them. More than masses of purple royalty, I had to get on the ground to enjoy them. I had to put aside my other agenda, to take the time to appreciate my toil. I had to be shown this gift that came from God; I only scattered the seed.

Why do I toil as I do? I believe God is saying to me, "To experience, to take time to enjoy, to hold dear and precious, to allow love to touch my heart and then to share that touch with others." This is my contentment.

An Invitation to Enjoy the Beauty of God our Creator

2011-05-15T21:36:00.002-04:00

Have you ever visited a prayer garden? In Syracuse, New York, a garden is open to the public based on the words from Matthew 11:28, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." We have named it Gethsemane Prayer Garden based on the location in Jerusalem where Jesus modeled his personal prayer.

Nearly an acre in size, this garden is maintained by the congregation of Faith Chapel as an outdoor sanctuary and a place to experience God and His love. There are 50 perennial flower varieties and several hundred shrubs and trees; benches are available for a quiet time with the Lord.

As caretaker of this garden, I extend my personal invitation to you to visit this garden. Syracuse is located at the crossroads of I-90 and I-81, so if you are traveling from the mid-west to New England, Syracuse is a good stopping place. And if you live in Pennsylvania or Maryland and are traveling towards Montreal, please pay us a visit.

A review of each month's flowers with photos is available at www.prayergardeners.com/gethsemane/index.html. Here is the excerpt for May:

While April was predominantly a display of yellow-flowered beauties, May turns the hue to a wonderful display of blue tones. Some of the yellow daffodils can hang on for the earlier part of the month, but soon the lusciously sweet and delicate forget-me-not blooms begin filling the garden. The dark blue grape hyacinth display their colors for a few weeks, and a few straglers may be found in unexpected places around the garden.

By mid-May, the columbine begin opening – we have selected a dark blue variety that self-seeds beautifully. And then towards the end of the month, Jacob's ladder again repeats the blue theme as it appears near the center of the garden.

Also in May, the marsh marigolds continue their display for the first two weeks; they are a native plant in this part of the country, and we have relocated many from downstream locations where they were hidden from view. Georgeous pink, red and white bleeding hearts appear for too short of a time.

The leaves on the trees typically open in May, with their soft green colors that will turn more robust by mid-summer. The dappled willow is a special treat, unexpectedly demonstrating a soft pink or light orange color in late May and early June. And the weeping copper beech can be found hovering over the garden in all of its majesty – this tall, slender and weeping beauty symbolizes both our strength in Christ and the humility and grace clothed in this purple clad tree.

We hope to see you this year.

Tom Clarke, Caretaker of the Gethsemane Prayer Garden
and author of "A Garden of Love" www.agardenoflove.com which is based on this garden

Book Reviews of "A Garden of Love"

2011-05-04T21:32:00.006-04:00

This writing was modified on June 17, 2011

I highly recommend a website and associated blog that targets Christian women: www.rubyforwomen.com and www.rubyforwomen.ning.com. The two sites are subtitled "A Voice for Every Christian Woman" and are full of useful ways that women can share, join various groups, see photo galleries and videos, and meet other women with similar interests.

REVIEW IN MONTHLY EZINE: I am a contributing author for Ruby for Women's monthly eZine. On page 18 of the May 2011 issue is a review of my book A Garden of Love by Dorthy Kurchak-Homer that begins,
"In reviewing the book A Garden of Love by Thomas B. Clarke I found the author's connection of love, the Spirit of God and flowers to be one I had not thought of or experienced. Mr. Clarke has felt the teaching of love by the Holy Spirit as he tended the garden and the various flowers … " http://issuu.com/ruby4women/docs/may2011ruby/.

If you are a Christian woman, I hope you look at this eZine. It has all the earmarks of someday being a premiere printed magazine for women, and today it is free on the internet.

OTHER REVIEWS: In addition to Ruby for Women, there are a number of other reviews that have been written about A Garden of Love:

Val Frania, author of the blog Mom of Many, wrote at nice review on May 15, 2011. It may be seen at http://momofmany.wordpress.com/2011/05/25/a-garden-of-love-by-thomas-b-clarke/.
Iris Godfrey, CEO of Psalm 19 Ministries, wrote, "I thoroughly enjoy Tom's writing. He is presenting the beauty of his Lord Jesus revealed in the well-tended flowers of his church's Gethsemane Prayer Garden. You will want to spend time in these pages and allow the love of our Lord to flow over you through the beauty of His own creation. Amazing insights!"
Bob Sorge, author of many Christian books including Secrets of the Secret Place, stated, "I really enjoyed the beautiful photos of the flowers in this book, and found Tom's applications to biblical principles fascinating and refreshing. I think you'll enjoy this book too."
Terry Delaney is a pastor of Countryside Family Church in Illinois and writes Christian book reviews on the side. By his own admission, Terry does not know very much about gardening; however, he recommended this book as a coffee table book because of its large size, lovely content and presentation of the gospel: http://christianbooknotes.com/2010/a-garden-of-love-by-thomas-clarke/.
Dr. J. Lee Simmons, President of Living Faith Global Ministries, wrote, "I am amazed at this book – I was deeply touched by it. It is Holy Spirit inspired and wonderful. It seems as if the Holy Spirit wrote it through Tom. I love the common theme of God's love throughout it."
Jamie Hunt, owner of the popular Joe's Pasta Garage in Skaneateles, New York, stated, "I bought this book for my wife as a Valentine's Day gift. We both love it and now we sell it."
Laura Ponticello, author of the blog Laura’s List: Books for Women, wrote this encouraging entry on April 23, 2010: http://lauraslistbooksforwomen.blogspot.com/2010/04/garden-of-love-inspirational-book-by.html.
Sharon Oppedesiano, teacher of a women's Bible study, wrote, "I love this book! The descriptions of each flower as they relate to God's love for us has left such lasting imprints in my mind of ways that God cares for me. Visual pictures like this book creates have great lasting impact."
Jennifer T leads a college ministry along with her husband. She wrote in Amazon, "My husband and I were touched by the depth of spiritual application for each flower. God's creation has so much it can teach us! A must read for anyone who enjoys flowers and desires to know the LORD more."

Spring: A Season of Contrasts

2011-04-13T06:17:00.002-04:00

Maybe not so much in southern climates of the USA, but in the north, spring is a time of dramatic change. The weather, changing from slushy days and left-over snow to golf cart days and opening swimming pools, is just one contrast. Temperatures can sore one day to the 70's or low 80's, and then plummet to wet and rainy and even a blustery cold snow-filled days in just a few hours. All this necessary for our Lord to usher us from the bitter winter winds to the dog days of summer.

Iris Godfrey, director of Psalm 19 Ministries, correctly points out that God's plans are not linear but cyclical. The linear view, which many subscribe to, suggests a theme of creation to finality with a bunch of stuff in between; rather, our God takes us cyclically through a helix that is ever-moving forward – like a "Slinky" that is stretched out. The earth rotates every 24 hours, morning to night and then night to morning in a cyclical way, never able to return to where it was. In the same way, the earth rotates around the sun on a slightly tipped axis so that the southern hemisphere has summer while the north freezes, and then six months later it is all reversed.

As I worked last night in the Gethsemane Prayer Garden with two volunteer friends, Bill and Cindy, the contrast was most apparent. Our goal was to clean-up the largest of the nine flower beds in preparation for the new spring growth. The Russian sage with rambling silver-colored branches were cut at ground level. Likewise, the lily, iris, daisy, cat mint, ornamental grass and other flowers were cut back so that the emerging new growth would appear. It was a time of contrasts: last year's growth had all died and needed to be removed so that the beauty of this year's new growth could begin. The flowered area looked tremendously different.

In this flower bed, a number of arborvitae had been planted that would eventually grow and become part of a visual screen that protects the garden from the parking lot. Some of the arborvitae had been protected with bird netting, the same type that is used on fruit trees to keep the birds away; and some were unprotected. Again the contrast was most apparent: what had been protected was beautiful when unwrapped, but what had been devoured by the deer had to be either cut back severely or removed. It was like a transformation right before our eyes: the bed had looked damaged and uninviting, but now it is a fresh welcome to the garden visitor.

As gardener and writer Alan Lacy states, our purpose should be to create "An Inviting Garden". There is still much to do in the garden, but last night's efforts made a significant headway as we head into a season of God's beauty beheld in His magnificent flowers.

Early Spring in the Garden

2011-04-02T22:57:00.001-04:00

It was a sunny but cool day in the Gethsemane Prayer Garden today. This was my first chance to work in the garden since the sudden snows arrived on December 3rd. And if you are from this area, you know that the snows never left until mid-March.

The garden looked good as the primrose were just starting to blossom and the daffodils were peaking their little green tips, possibly two or four inches high. Its hard to identify the plants this time of year unless you know what is planted where. I found some pretty reddish-purple tips of the bellflower just where they had mostly died off in previous years. I'm encouraged that they're coming back – in time, they will grow stems and leaf out, but for now they are just barely visible to the eye.

The biggest struggle this winter was the deer. Other years, we have never had deer in the garden over the winter; the sudden heavy snow in December caught us by surprise so we did not have time to wrap some of the trees and shrubs. By the time we got out to protect them on December 31st, some of the arborvitae and a real nice columnar pine were chewed right down. We also had damage to some hemlocks which I did not expect at all.

There are several hundred shrubs and trees in the garden and most of them did not get touched by the deer. Our predominate evergreens are junipers of all sorts which the deer did not devour. I enjoy the many various shapes and colors of junipers, some tall and upright, some low and spreading, and many assorted shapes in between. We use them to provide screening from the parking lot which can be busy at times, and to provide private areas within the garden for speaking with God.

The soft stone-dust pathways were a mess when I got there today. The deer had been generous in eating on one side of their body and dropping the digested portions out the other side. Also, plant debris from trees and flowers had blown onto the path so it really looked rough. It always amazes me how much better the garden looks when the walkways are raked this way – inviting us to walk where we want and enjoy our time with the Lord.

Self-publishing advice for Christian authors #02

2011-03-06T21:06:00.010-05:00

The editing process for a self-publisher should be considerably different than going with traditional Print-On-Demand publishers. As a self-publisher, you have much more control but it is easy to think that the manuscript is good enough. The traditional publisher should help with grammar, sentence structure and page layout; however, they probably will not help with the flow. Is the book engaging? Does it move from topic to topic without loosing the reader? If there is Scripture mentioned or points of theology, is it presented properly?

While two of my books are self-published, A Topical Treasury of Proverbs was published by Biblical Studies Press (BSP). I have nothing to say against BSP for they were very easy to work with. However, there was a deadline that they set for July 1, 2008 to complete the final manuscript.

In order to keep my commitment to BSP, I had to reduce the number of days that I worked each week from five to three, but more importantly I had to compromise the editing process. The book is a categorization of Proverbs into 100 topics; it would have been appropriate to run the categorization scheme by other people to gather their thoughts. I did not need sentence structure or grammatical editing because it is mostly the Bible; but the basic content did need to be reviewed and it wasn't. I have recently begun a re-writing process that will correct that mistake.

Another type of editing has to do with keeping the reader's attention. I have been recently reading Billy Ng's excellent book entitled Witnessing to Dracula. In his chapter entitled "Pigs Do Fly", notice how Billy uses action packed verbs and other descriptive words as he describes some pigs that got loose on the way to the market:

"I stared unabashedly at the pigs and then at the driver. He did not seem perturbed. His focus was on the traffic lights.

The light finally turned green. All five cars dashed forward like mustangs at the starting line, the little car on steel tracks. With its exhaust spewing out a storm, the little brown car accelerated and shot through the intersection making a wild left turn. As it veered left, the car tires flew off the smooth tram tracks and hit the road hard. The four-inch difference in height between the tram tracks and the road caused the little car to shudder violently. Suddenly, one of the back doors of the small car flew open!

Literally, two pink pigs flew out of the car. My jaw dropped as the pigs slid out from the car."

Notice the action verbs: stared, perturbed, turned, dashed, spewing, accelerated, shot, veered, flew, hit, shudder, and slid. The word flew is used three times. This is excellent literature and Billy Ng should certainly win some type of award for great Christian writing.

A good editor should be able to look at a manuscript not just for proper wording, but for engagement of the reader and reasonableness. As you look into self-publishing, consider the various ways that your manuscript should be tweaked so that it will have all the potential that the Lord is already planting in you.

This is the second posting in a series entitled "Self-publishing advice for Christian authors." Other articles are:

Vote for 'A Garden of Love'

2011-02-26T21:24:00.002-05:00

In 2009, God inspired me to write the first draft of 'A Garden of Love' in a two-week period. It is not clear why he chose me to be the author, but now that I am in that position, I believe he wants me to do what I humanly can to promote his message. In this book, flower photographs, poetic prose and Scriptures are used to convey this simple message for the body of Christ: to love him unconditionally, and to love one another in the same way.

Therefore, would you consider voting for 'A Garden of Love'? For those of you that are not familiar with this book, click on the book cover to see details, then come back to vote. Thank you.

To get his message out, God has opened the door to have this book represented at a national book contest. In February-March of each year, Christian Small Publisher's Association (CSPA) allows people to vote for their favorite Christian book that was published by a small publisher. The purpose of the contest is to promote small publishers in the Christian marketplace as well as to bring recognition to outstanding Christian books from small publishers. For year 2011, 'A Garden of Love' is found in the Christian Living category along with fifteen other books.

Would you kindly consider spending a few moments to vote for this book? You can go there by voting at http://www.christianpublishers.net/11votes/ . On that site, CSPA asks for your name and email address to ensure that a person will vote only once. CSPA does not sell the names or emails, however CSPA uses the collected emails to send out an email announcement when it is time to vote for the next year's book award.

Thank you for your consideration,
Tom Clarke

Your friend Molly

2011-02-20T06:34:00.000-05:00

In September, 2010, I wrote this brief reflection of Molly, the dog next door. She was most certainly the biggest joy in my wife's life, and now I share it with the general public. I hope you enjoy it:

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

8:25AM. Nancy, my love:
Your best friend Molly is no longer with you, and my heart weeps for your grief. As Molly grazed down the driveway, her four paws prancing from our neighbor's yard towards our open garage door, I remember your joy in seeing your companion once again. Her head did not bounce up and down as other dogs might, but gently she glided across the drive with ears flapping in the breeze to show her excitement in seeing you, all a part of her grace and form. And then she would stop, even though you were just a few feet away, check out the territory to see if all was safe and then decide if she could enter your space. All for a biscuit, a dry dog bone, not a fancy dog treat of tender prepared dog meats, but just a simple Milk Bone. Usually she would take the Milk Bone from you, turn around without even thanking you, and trot back to her own yard to consume it, bury it, or just show her masters the prize she had received.

What simple pleasures you received with Molly. Sometimes she would let you pet her – oh how soft her fur was, long haired and smooth like a satin blouse. You enjoyed touching her gentleness, her soft brown eyes looking up to attempt to discern your own thoughts. Molly had turned deaf in her older years, yet I think you spoke to her just for the comfort of expressing your love. Somehow I think she knew everything you said, just by sensing each stroke that you gave to her small head.

Many times I would come home from work, step into the house and call out, "Hello Dear, the brown and white dog is outside." Immediately you would drop whatever you were doing, give me a quick kiss, and then gather a dog treat for this fleeting moment to see Molly once again. Sometimes she would disappear before you were able to hobble down the stairs, but more often she had just been waiting somewhere near the edge of the driveway, waiting to see that garage door open again. It was an encounter in love, in mutual admiration and in unspoken thoughts. I don't think she was really hungry for that biscuit – rather, I think she just wanted to know that you were there.

Molly was fifteen years old when she was put to sleep just a few days ago. Not bad for a Springer Spaniel, yet her face did not reveal her age as it still had the same brown and white fur as when she was born; no signs of aging. Molly had lost much of her weight, probably getting down to fifteen pounds and being nothing but skin and bones. She could hardly stand up after lying on the carpet, and it was equally difficult to land in just the right place. The veterinarian said that the spine and hip bones had fused together, so one fall down the stairs would bring immense pain. But as it was, she never seemed to complain, to whimper, or to cry out in her discomfort.

I'm so glad you were able to spend some final hours with Molly alone in the neighbor’s house. You called my office and left a message when you first heard the news: "They've decided to put Molly to sleep," you cried. You hardly could talk even though you knew that the time would be any day now. When my meetings were done, I was able to join you, but I think your best time with her was alone. You said that you had gotten down on the floor to talk with her before I arrived, even though it is so very difficult for you to bend and move in that way. I think God arranged it so you could be with her in those last hours.
We gave a sympathy card to our neighbors that I think is the best summary and remembrance of Molly. It stated, "To love, that is the most important thing." And love you did.

A parenthetical note: the neighbors recently got a Springer Spaniel puppy named Rosie!!

Matthew 1:1-17 - Abraham, David and Jesus Christ

2011-02-06T06:53:00.004-05:00

Do you see the New Testament as the beginning of something new, a continuation of something old, or a combination of the two?

I love to read the Word of God, particularly when I see a new or different interpretation of the Bible. I have been studying the book of Matthew with the idea that someday this study might become another book. (See www.bible-discernments.com for a list of current books). One of the things I enjoy in particular is looking at the literary structure of the text to see what it reveals.

Many people have looked at the introductory words of Matthew 1:1-16, seeing them as a lineage that points from Abraham to Christ with some imperfect people such as Rahab and Tamar – and that is how I looked at these verses as well. But my spiritual eyes have been trained to look for the chiasms and literary structure in the Bible, so once I spotted the pattern, I immediately had to ask, "Okay Lord, I see the repetitive pattern; now why is it here?"

Matthew 1:1 begins, "The book of generations of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham.". After the presentation of the lineage from v2-16, Matthew identifies the fourteens in verse 17:

Fourteen generations from Abraham to David
Fourteen generations from David to Jeconiah (representing the exile)
Fourteen generations from Jeconiah to our Messiah

While the fourteens are repetition in themselves, there appears to be a deeper presentation in the lineage:

Have you heard it said that a picture is worth a thousand words? In the lineage of fourteen generations from Abraham to David, Ram and Amminadab are the center point. Ram was Caleb's brother (1 Chronicles 2:9) and his son Amminadab assisted Moses in taking a census (Numbers 1:7). Both Ram and Amminadab would have died in the desert because only Joshua and Caleb were the only ones to go into the Promised Land.

Likewise, Jechoniah was the last king prior to the exile, and his son Shealtiel is listed as the first son of the captive Jechoniah (1 Chronicles 3:17). The point is that to the Jew reading these first verses from Matthew, the double reminder of desert wanderings and exile were times of severe tribulation, but the times of victory would be that of Abraham, David and Christ. That is why Matthew 1:1 begins as it does: in grace, our Messiah has taken the position of Abraham and David and has overcome the dual punishments.

In presenting David in this light, we can begin to see Matthew as a sequel to 1 and 2 Chronicles. The author of Chronicles portrays David as the Lord's favored king, but that book ends by describing the fall of the Jewish people in 586BC. There was one set of hard times which had the wanderings in the desert as the low point. The second low point was even more severe for it results in the exile of most of the Jewish people. But with this lineage, we see Matthew describing how David and his kingdom have been replaced by an even greater king, that of Jesus Christ.

Copyright © 2011 Bible Discernments

What Does Proverbs Say About Marriage?

2011-01-03T21:49:00.001-05:00

Would you be surprised to know that the book of Proverbs has a great deal to say about marriage? It actually does, but the difficulty is in finding the correct verses. Discussed in Proverbs are the many different issues that can go wrong in a marriage. Also discussed are multiple verses to help make a stronger marriage.

Over the 2010-2011 New Year weekend, I took the opportunity to organize the various topics from my book A Topical Treasury of Proverbs, looking at just those topics that pertain to marriage. I found that there were more marriage-related topics than I suspected: anger, bitterness, coveting, criticism, deception, discipline, disrespect, drunkenness, and many more. The result of my effort may be seen at What Does Proverbs Say About Marriage?

Because Proverbs is not arranged by topic, it can be very time consuming to locate just those verses that apply to your situation. By re-arranging Proverbs by category, A Topical Treasury of Proverbs will enable you to quickly find just those verses that apply to your marriage.

Self-publishing advice for Christian authors #01

2011-01-01T10:43:00.013-05:00

Considering self-publishing your Christian book? As the author of three books between 2008 and 2010, two have been self-published. I've learned a little and have a great deal more to learn. This article becomes the first of several blog writings that attempt to get you going.

Let me first explain that by self-publishing, I am not referring to taking your manuscript to a publisher such as Xulon or BookMasters or WinePress, each of which have their unique advantages. I am referring to self-publishing as the process of setting up your own business (typically by obtaining a DBA from your local governmental authority), and then publishing your title under the name of that DBA.

There are a great deal of advantages of being a true self-publisher, possibly the most important being the ability to gain control of the entire process. You will likely spend considerably less money during the process, but there is also much more work involved. As the self-publisher, you get to choose the title for your book and you get to set the price. You determine when the manuscript is ready for publication, and you get to monitor the sales on a regular basis. If there is a quality issue for the first edition, you have control over when and how a second edition will be published. You see, there are lots of reasons for being a self-publisher – I've listed just a few.

The major disadvantage of self-publishing is that you will spend more time on the publishing end, and you will probably make some mistakes that a publisher with lots of books will seldom make. My hope in this series of articles to help you reduce that number of mistakes – I've made quite a few.

Virtually every new author, whether self-publisher or with a publisher, under-estimates the amount of effort required in marketing your book. The traditional publisher will not truly help you in this, although they should offer to put your book title on their webpage, help create a press release, and other display areas. True marketing is the process of getting the public to somehow pay attention to your work: web pages, Facebook, Twitter, public speaking, contacting bookstores and other retail locations, developing advertising campaigns, etc.

I have read that for every hour spent writing (and re-writing) your manuscript, there should be an equal number of hours spent promoting the book. This effort is regardless of whether you self-publish, as I have done, or go with one of the more traditional publishers. My experience is that with most Christian non-fiction books, there should actually be more time spent marketing than writing.

The problem that we Christian authors have is that there is a tremendous amount of competition. Each year, I am told that there are 60,000 new Christian manuscripts published; that is huge. It is very easy to get your manuscript lost in the fog, no matter how good it is. That is where aggressive marketing becomes essential.

Therefore, my first piece of advice is to set your goals with realistic expectations. Write because you are convinced that the Lord has instructed you to do so. Listen intently for His direction. And when you are released to begin, go with the expectation that your costs will probably exceed your sales. That means the money you invest will probably never be fully recovered but that's OK because God said to. Whether you self-publish or go with an established publisher, you will not get discouraged because the Lord told you.

As I was in the middle of writing my first book, Joshua's Spiritual Warfare, I came across a book on self-publishing that became the model that I have followed for each of my books. That book is Morris Rosenthal's Print-On-Demand Book Publishing, and is applicable to Christian books as well as secular books. In this book, Rosenthal writes about Lightning Source which is a key company in this self-publishing industry. If you are at all serious about self-publishing your manuscript, I recommend that you get a copy by clicking on this Amazon link.

Bon voyage.
Tom

NOTE: This is the first posting in a series entitled "Self-publishing advice for Christian authors." To see other articles, try:

Some Straight fun for Christmas

2010-12-25T09:16:00.001-05:00

I thought you might enjoy this on Christmas day. It is a hilarious YouTube video of a 10-man chorus named the Straights:

Merry Christmas, Tom

Pray earnestly to the Lord

2010-12-11T13:29:00.005-05:00

I needed that reminder from the Lord today, "Pray earnestly to the Lord" (ESV). I was in my morning devotions, taking a detailed look at Matt 9:35-10:15. I don't often get to enjoy the extended time that I spent today – I had no particular agenda and my time was free to allow the Lord to take me wherever He wanted in the Scriptures. My wife usually sleeps in on Saturday mornings – it is 11:30am as I begin writing this and she is still sleeping – whereas I've been up for hours.

When I see a word in the Bible that raises a question, I will often look at the Koine Greek. I know some Greek, but it is not strong enough to recognize many of the various words or word endings. Therefore, I will go to various tools that I have: a very nice Interlinear NASB-NIV that someone graciously gave me; PC Study Bible which I've used for years and along with the NA27 Greek version that is an add-on to PC Study Bible; and some specialty software that I wrote which allows me to easily find words and word roots throughout the New Testaments based on the NA27 and NET Bible versions of the New Testament. By using these three resources, I can often dig fairly deep into the Scriptures to pull out a special nugget.

I started my devotions today looking at the verb ekballo (transliterated because the Greek font that I use may not be available on your computer), seeing that not only did Jesus cast out (ekballo) the demons, but he also gave the disciples authority to cast (ekballo) them out as well (v10:1). The root word for ekballo is ballo which means to "throw" or "send out." The first nugget that I saw was that Jesus did not just send out the workers, he applied ekballo to get them into the world (v9:38). That is to say, "Jesus thrust forth the workers." That I found to be very interesting, for they were not just sent or commissioned, but rather they would have solidly known that they were being pushed into doing it. With that, I wondered if I need that same ekballo at times to do what the Lord is asking me to do.

Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out the laborers into his harvest." And he called to him his twelve disciples ... (Matt 9:37 - 10:1 ESV).

I often look for chiasms as I read the Bible, and I am well aware that the book of Matthew is full of them. A chiasm, for those that are not familiar, is a literary structure that was used throughout the Bible as a way of giving emphasis to a certain part of the Scripture. (For more information on chiasms, see my article:
http://www.bible-discernments.com/joshua/whatisachiasm.html. Simply put, a chiasm is a structure of repeated words or themes that are in a form such as A – B – C – C' – B' – A', or A – B – C – D – C' – B' – A', and the verses that appear in the center are normally the point of emphasis.

I saw this pairing for Matthew 9:37-10:1 as I studied the Greek:
  A  – Disciples
    B  – Harvest
      C  – Laborers
        D – Pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest
      C' – Laborers
    B' – Harvest
  A' – Disciples

(Some English translations present these verses as Disciples – Harvest – Laborers – Pray (or ask) the Lord of the harvest – Harvest – Laborers – Disciples. In so doing, the chiasm is made obscure which is one advantage of looking at Scriptures using the Greek as well as an English translation. I chose the ESV because it presents this structure correctly.)

As I stated above, the center point of a chiasm is the point of emphasis, which in this case is the portion that states, "Pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest."

There it was, speaking to me in terms that I can plainly understand: the emphasis to pray fervently to God for the situation that is being thrust upon me by the Lord. The Greek word for pray earnestly is dehthete which some translations state as, "Ask the Lord of the harvest." In my word search through other places in the Bible where that word is used, particularly in the books of Luke and Acts, the sense is much stronger than "ask" – it is fervent prayer.

Over the last several weeks, I have been sensing an increasingly strong coaxing to develop another book. To me, that is an ekballo experience. My three earlier books, Joshua's Spiritual Warfare: Understanding the Chiasms of Joshua, A Topical Treasury of Proverbs, and A Garden of Love, have had some success but they have not been best sellers. Should I follow this lead to develop another book, and if so, how do I approach the topic that is being presented to me?

The answer should have been obvious, but I had been using my problem-solving skills (that the Lord gave me) to figure it all out. Through the above chiasm, I came to understand the strong relationship between ekballo (the strong sending) and dehthete (earnestly praying which is the leading). If I am appointed by the Lord to do a work, I must know His direction in getting there lest I fade from the task. Therefore, I must reach out to my loving Lord and listen for His instructions. Time will reveal what the Lord will say, and then I will be obedient to that call. Stay tuned.

Tom

The Pin Oak in Autumn

2010-10-22T00:01:00.004-04:00

In 2006, we planted a 15-foot pin oak in the Gethsemane Prayer Garden in recognition of the Founding Pastor J. Lee Simmons. The tree was presented as a living memorial by the first graduating class of the Living Faith School of Ministry. It was a beautiful tree then, and is an even more beautiful tree today standing at 22- feet tall. While the leaves on some pin oaks are deep red in autumn, this one has a very attractive orange color that compliments the yellows, reds, and purples that are prevalent this time of year.

The soil in our area is heavily laden with limestone, which means that the pH is very high, around 7.3 or so. Oaks typically require a low pH such as 6.0, so we had to make some drastic adjustments. First came the backhoe that dug a hole 4-6 feet deep and 18 feet wide. We brought in 40 yds of lower pH soil which we mounded three feet above the ground level. As the soil was placed, we spread 8 pounds of sulfur acidifier into the soil to help reduce yellowing of the tree (iron chlorosis). We did not use aluminum sulfate, as some are prone to do, because of the long-term toxicity of aluminum to the oak. The tree was planted in the center of that mound.

Why the oak? Pastor Simmons has stated that the pin oak is his favorite tree, partly in memory of his childhood near Philadelphia, and partly because of what Isaiah wrote, "They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor" (Isaiah 61:3).

In Luke 4:18-19, Jesus states that he is the fulfillment of Isaiah 61, "... the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor ..." Jesus, in his grace to the downtrodden, is to bind up the brokenhearted, free the captives, release the prisoners, and comfort those who mourn. The effect is that these otherwise hopeless people will become like oaks of righteousness. Therefore, the oak with its strength, size, and beauty, represents the how these people have changed, a "display of his splendor."

Listen and Heal Ministry

2010-10-03T22:10:00.001-04:00

As the caretaker of the Gethsemane Prayer Garden at Faith Chapel in Syracuse, NY, it was with a great deal of interest that I learned of another prayer garden in our area. The founding pastor of my church had sent me a Facebook posting that this dedication was to take place on October 3rd. So today, my wife and I drove to Canastota for the dedication of this new prayer garden at Believer's Chapel.

What I saw was a wonderful new beginning of a garden for those wounded in life, a place of rest and recovery. Many from this church had helped construct this garden that began construction in May. The dedication's program identifies forty-six people that helped in one way or another, all under the direction of a visionary named Bonnie Caswell.

The garden was developed by Listen and Heal, a ministry that focuses on hope and healing, offering a way for people to stand together and start healing from the wound caused by abortion. More about that ministry may be seen at Listen and Heal.

The dedication tickled my heart – a woman with no landscaping experience was led by the Lord to build the vision. Being at truly charismatic person, she assembled many people from her church and the surrounding area to help put together this first phase of their work. The dedication was a fun-filled reminder of the hard work by everyone.

A gazebo is the center of the garden with paths throughout the garden. A number of ceramic statues are carefully placed around the garden to help remind us of our purpose in visiting there. The flower beds are small, but that will likely change as the garden grows in subsequent years. Clearly the garden is a labor of love.

But developing a garden is different from maintaining a garden. Before I even saw "The Garden of Grace", I was reminded of Joshua 24. Here, Joshua stated the often quoted verse, "But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord." (v 15). But Joshua knew the hearts of the people, so he accused them of not being able to serve the Lord. Three times, the people vowed their service and obedience to the Lord: "We too will serve the Lord, because he is our God" (v 18), "No! We will serve the Lord." (v 21), and "We will serve the Lord our God and obey him." (v24). Yet a quick look at the book of Judges shows that they did not live up to their vow.

I believe that this story of Joshua and the people is related to "The Garden of Grace" in that Joshua had just taken over the majority of Israel and had assembled all of the people at Shechem. In a sense, it is similar to this celebration that happened today. Now the Israelites had to develop and maintain the land, and so it is with this garden. It seems that people often drift off to other areas of interest once the mountain has been conquered. What the leaders of Israel (if there were any leaders at all) failed to do was hold the people accountable to their vow. The vision that Moses and Joshua were given for the land was not to be forsaken.

Maintenance work for a garden can be considered drudgery by many. The goal is established in the beginning, the enthusiasm builds as the vision takes place, and then the celebration takes place when the first phase is completed. But then the winter sets in and the on-going weeding and care can become tedious in the spring. Somehow the negative momentum must be overcome.

The solution lies with community involvement, continuing the enthusiasm, and keeping an eye on quality. Where I was the lone caretaker of a much larger garden for many years, it became apparent to many that the joy had to be shared. Soon people were calling it "Tom's garden" when it was really the church's garden, and that was not good. This year, by the grace of God, we have had fifty people help out as volunteers, each one assigned to just two or three hours per month. Under my direction as the caretaker, the congregation came to understand what an effort the maintenance work had become.

The visionary has the responsibility for maintaining the enthusiasm. As caretaker of the Gethsemane Prayer Garden, I attempt to encourage everyone that helps, and that is part of my job. But the real visionary for this garden is the founding pastor, J. Lee Simmons. I am so grateful that this Barnabas is part of my life as he encouraged me and the others with all of the enthusiasm that he carries with him.

Quality is a subtle but essential aspect of a garden. When people come to visit, I have learned that piles of mulch or open trenches or obvious weeds or unkempt lawn can severely distract a person. That is true of the garden helper, and that is true of the person visiting for the first time. One of the more subtle aspects of quality is the walkways. It intrigues me every time someone rakes the walks in our garden, removing the mulch that has spread onto the soft stone dust and removes the weeds and leaves that may have accumulated – each time this maintenance work is done, the garden suddenly looks far better. It is just like walking into a woman's kitchen to see litter on the floor – the sweeping of the floor helps immensely.

I truly hope that "The Garden of Grace" continues to develop and be maintained properly. It has a lot of potential: shade trees are needed, more flowers will help usher the sense of grace in the garden, and visual protection from the street will help give the garden a greater appearance of intimacy. Considering what was done in the first year, it is a great start. Our garden at Faith Chapel does not look at all like what it did in 2003 because that too is part of keeping the vision alive. I wish them well.

The Fall of Solomon

2010-08-22T22:14:00.004-04:00

Our pastor at Faith Chapel gave a great message today based on Proverbs 4:23, "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life" (NIV). He used this verse to show the contrast between Solomon's teaching to guard your heart and that of what he really did as described in 1 Kings 11. The point of his message was to "guard your heart."

At the end of Solomon's reign, he took many wives from foreign nations despite the Lord's direct command against doing so. Soon Solomon was worshiping false gods and encouraging the construction of altars to these false gods. Certainly God wept over Solomon's fall, and his legacy lasted for many, many years.

This story has perplexed me for a long time. How could a man write so many warnings about falling away from God, and still fall deeply into that trap? Fourteen times he writes, "do not forsake", or "do not wander", or "do not turn", yet he does. I doubt if I am the only person that is bothered by the obvious contradiction between what he says and what he does.

As the author of "A Topical Treasury of Proverbs", I have had more than a casual review of Proverbs. I've spent thousands of hours pouring over the book of Proverbs, coming up with a categorization scheme with 100 topics. I know others have devoted a lifetime to Proverbs, but for me this has been substantial.

One thing I've observed in my categorization of Proverbs is that Solomon did not write about either forgiveness or repentance. He wrote about sinfulness and temptations, about pride and selfishness, and about being weak spirited; but not about God's forgiving nature or about restoring our position with God. In his zeal for perfection, possibly Solomon fell into some sin, I don't know. But we do know that it is impossible to do the entire law as laid out by God through Moses.

I believe that because Solomon did not write about forgiveness or repentance, he was not able to understand a forgiving God that sees man's sins and still wants that man restored to full relationship with our Lord. Solomon's theology appears to be one based on judgment, but Christ's offer is one of forgiveness. Solomon, I believe, thought "What's the use", but Christ says that He is the very purpose of life. Solomon enjoyed life, and based on his own words and actions, fell to doom. Christ offers hope because He wants everyone to be restored to fullness in him.

If you are reading this because you have been discouraged or have drifted in some way, look to restoring your position with the one that loves you beyond all of your downfalls. Turn before it is too late.

Read more about this book at "A Topical Treasury of Proverbs".

Night Blooming Cereus

2010-08-21T07:14:00.002-04:00

As my wife and I walked into the house last night, the fresh, sweet, almost melodious fragrance of our Night Blooming Cereus had filled the house. If you have experienced this consuming, almost vanilla-like smell, you will confirm what I am saying. If you have not, I hope that someday you will have this joy.

Some people call it the "Queen of the Night", but my preference is "Night Blooming Cereus", a most lovely and exquisite flower that grows outdoors in zones 8 or 9, but is an indoors plant in our northern states. According to Wikipedia, this cactus is native to the Sonoran Desert (southern Arizona and northern Mexico). In the desert, the flowers open in May, but in our indoor locations, it is July and August.

IT REALLY IS NIGHT BLOOMING! When fully open, each flower is 11-12 inches across, but that occurs around 10:00pm. At 6:00pm, the ends of the flower head show small signs that tonight will be the night – around 8:00pm, some of the light salmon color has opened into the white blossom; by 9:00pm, the white petals have been revealed and you can see into the throat; but it is not until 10:00pm that the sweet perfume really fills the room and the whole house. And then by morning, it is just a limp flower, seemingly exhausted from its night performance, hanging from the stalk.

If you can, look into the throat of this beauty – all the cream-colored roughage in the center of the flower is the male stamens with its many intricate filaments and anther. To the bottom left of the photo, the female pistil is protruding, waiting for some insect with lots of nectar from the stamen to pass into the opening.

This year, we had three flowers open – two last night and one the night before. In other years, there have been as many as thirteen flowers simultaneously blooming.

My mother introduced me to this plant when I was just a kid. She would have parties where people would come to the house on a moment's notice. Some could make it, and some could not, but she was never able to plan for a specific night because she never knew when it would open. For those that came, it was such a wonderful and inspiring experience, and the parties were fun.

Possibly it is time for us to replant this 6-foot monster which I have owned for over 20 years because it is getting too large and leggy. One friend, referring to the plant without the flowers, said, "That is truly an ugly plant." We haven't talked with her for years. The apostle Paul instructed us that, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control" Galatians 5:22-23.

I hope that someday you will enjoy this flower too.

Psalm 63

2010-08-13T22:17:00.000-04:00

There have been times when I've received questions something like, "This garden is beautiful, but why a 'Prayer Garden'?" Honestly, I have pondered that myself. Yet part of me wonders if they have experienced the garden, not just a lovely walk through the flowers. There is a peace, a serenity, in this garden. Psalm 63 begins,

O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you,
in a dry and weary land where there is no water. (Psalm 63:1 NIV)

There is so much spiritual dryness in our stores, our schools, our places of employment, our roadways, our government, our neighborhoods, and sometimes even our houses. In response, we open our Bibles for a spiritual retreat, or turn on some wonderful worship music, or diligently seek our Lord in our prayer closet. David said it very succinctly, "my soul thirsts for you."

To me and to others, the Gethsemane Prayer Garden is more like a sanctuary than just a pretty garden. David continued in the second verse,

I have seen you in the sanctuary
and beheld your power and your glory. (Psalm 63:2 NIV)

Truly, we don't need a prayer garden to experience God's power and glory – after all, David is reported to have been in the Judean Desert when he wrote these words, a land parched with just inches of rain in a year. Yet in the same way that David found a personal sanctuary in the desert, so this garden is offered as a sanctuary in a spiritual desert. The flowers help remind us that this is a special place, a meeting place with God.

Because your love is better than life,
my lips will glorify you. (Psalm 63:3 NIV)

In the second verse, David was experiencing God's glory; now, in verse 3, David's presence with God's love has enabled him to turn this glory back to God. That's what this outdoor sanctuary can do: get our eyes off of the desert, get our eyes off of ourselves, and then give the glory back to our loving Lord.

A Visitor to the Prayer Garden

2010-08-03T22:57:00.004-04:00

I will call her Helen but that is not her real name. She stopped her car behind mine as we were about to begin work in the garden. Visibly crying, she mumbled, "I'm just going in the garden for a while."

That, I thought to myself, is what this garden is all about. We all can have difficult times in life, be challenged in some way, or hurt by words or actions that come to us as a huge offense. This garden is a refuge, a place of recovery, a place of solitude, and a place to ask our Lord for some help.

While I am the caretaker of the Gethsemane Prayer Garden, I can no longer do all the work myself. We schedule Tuesday and Thursday evenings, 6PM to dark, and Saturdays from 9AM to noon to help with the garden chores. In August, there are 30 of us that are scheduled to work, and each person is assigned to one of those Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday slots. In addition, if people just want to stop by to help, they are certainly encouraged to do so.

A lady that I will call Linda was one of our workers tonight. When she saw Helen go crying into the garden, she asked me if she should go comfort her. "Of course!!" I replied.

Linda talked with Helen for a while and then left her alone. Ten minutes later, a changed woman came out of the garden. She asked what we were doing, to which I explained we were straightening out the edge of one of the berms. Soon Linda and Helen were working side by side, sister next to sister, laughing and listening to each other.

Tonight I saw an event that should be a pattern in our Christian walk. One person, reaching out to the Lord for help, and another person reaching out to the hurt one. I believe it was an appointment that was orchestrated by God.

If you are looking for a refuge, a place where you want to seek the Lord, please know that the Gethsemane Prayer Garden in Syracuse NY is open and available for you. The address is Faith Chapel, 4113 West Seneca Turnpike, Syracuse, NY. For details about the garden, see Gethsemane Prayer Garden.

The Poison Ivy Fight

2010-07-31T22:30:00.003-04:00

There is a small stream at the far end of the Gethsemane Prayer Garden where I, and many others, just enjoy sitting. Unlike the more heavily flowered sections of the main garden, this shaded area is not particularly beautiful. But it is not beauty that I seek here, but tranquility – peace from the rest of the world, left to dream and let my thoughts go from excitement to quietness.

There is a bench next to the lawn that looks over this area. I sit there, oftentimes not long enough because I have other work in the garden that must be done. And sometimes I get up because I see some of that dreaded poison ivy on the ground in front of me.

Many black willows protect this area from the heat of the day, but also give the birds a place where they can eat their food. Sometimes their food is the berry from the poison ivy, yet they spit out the seeds to the lightly mulched ground below.

The battle never seems to end with the poison ivy. I use the Round-Up that is labeled "Poison Ivy" because it is more powerful than normal Round-Up. The oil that is on the top of the poison ivy leaves are not permeable by the normal Round-Up that most people buy. I use the "Poison Ivy" bottle so it will cut through that oil and allows the other chemicals to work. Many times I must apply a second coating a few days later because it has not killed it all.

If anyone knows a more powerful remedy (besides a bulldozer), please let me know.

A Dash of Yellow

2010-07-26T21:51:00.003-04:00

I must admit that I am not much of a fan of the color yellow in a meditative garden. Long and hard I have put off the urging of others to add yellow to our otherwise softer colors of pink, purple, white, blue, red, etc. To me, if we are to be listening for the voice of God, we should be still, or as least not excited – and that is what yellow can do, excite us, or at least it excites my thoughts.

I have a number of yellow flowers around my house, and we have yellow potentilla and yellow lilies around the church building, but not so much in the Prayer Garden. Even when I selected daisies for the garden two years ago, I purchased the shaggy ones that don't have a yellow center. I'm not against yellow per se, I just want us to have that experience with the Lord.

But this year it has changed. Thanks to a $125 donation to the garden in memory of a man named Gino, his mother and I both felt that it would be best to remember him with daisies. Actually we planted a daisy-like bed that includes various types of daisies as well as other flowers such as white coneflowers, light yellow coreopsis, spurge, and a dash of Gaillardia (blanket flower).

Then a $50 donation came in for some yellow roses, and these were planted adjacent to the daisy-like bed. I selected the light colored yellow 'Knock Out' rose that is very disease resistant. Due to the summer heat, all of the flowers had died off at the nursery where I purchased them. Yesterday I noticed that one new bud has just opened and the colors go very well with the various white and yellow flowers in the adjacent bed.

I can't explain why I have now allowed yellow when I was so fanatical in other years. This newest bed is in an area that is somewhat isolated from the rest of the garden, and is visible from only one of the benches. Yet there is enough white in this flower bed along with softer yellow tones that the combined daisies and roses look very good. Will it disrupt hearing God's voice? I don't know, but time will tell.

What are your thoughts? Do you agree with me about yellow?

The Fire of God's Love

2010-07-26T01:04:00.003-04:00

I believe that the best book that I have ever read outside the Bible is "The Fire of God's Love" by Bob Sorge. This book propelled me into a far more intimate relationship with Jesus Christ, and I am forever grateful to Bob for writing it. His understanding of God's love and our heartfelt response to that love – that is the core of his message. One quote: "The purpose of the cross is to demonstrate and incite love. It is the ultimate demonstration of God's love, and it is the primary incentive God uses to awaken love in the hearts of sincere believers." (page 17).

Should you purchase it, and I hope you do, may I offer two suggestions:
a. Read it slowly and take your time. There are sub-chapters within each chapter, so you might read just one or two per day. Don't rush through this appointment with our Lord!
b. When you get to Section Five (The Song of Solomon), use the New King James Version which is what the author is using. It will make much more sense.

I so believe in this book that I am offering a "while it still lasts" offer. Purchase my book "A Garden of Love" from me directly, and I will include a free copy of "The Fire of God's Love". That's a $30 deal that would cost you $20. If you are interested, send me an email at prayergardeners@hotmail.com and we can discuss the details.
Tom

International Christian Retail Show (ICRS)

2010-07-06T21:21:00.004-04:00

With thousands of travelers stranded in the Detroit airport, I remember praying to the Lord, "If You want me there [St. Louis], Lord, You must get me there. If You don't want me there, I submit to that as well, Lord."

On June 28th and 29th, I had the privilege of attending the International Christian Retail Show (ICRS) in St. Louis. Yes, I got to the ICRS show on-time (see below), had wonderful contacts and conversations with Christian leaders, bookstore owners and vendors from throughout the US, and was wonderfully at-ease throughout the entire time.

Sunday's message from my pastor was such a great encouragement to me. His message on "Showing Love to One Another" spoke volumes to me: how I must present myself at this show. Even though the real message of "A Garden of Love" is about loving our Lord and one another, I sensed that a number of intercessors helped to reinforce my role at the meeting.

The travel difficulties from Sunday afternoon were very unsettling. Had I missed God's timing? Did He really want me there? The five tornados that touched down in Detroit had possibly 5,000 travellers in a total tizzy. My first flight was cancelled because of the weather, and the only other flight was cancelled because there were no available crew members. The hotel rooms for miles around were sold out. The carpet was littered with people waiting for a flight on Monday morning. My prayer, and possibly the prayer of some of the intercessors, was "If You want me there, Lord, You must get me there. If You don't want me there, I submit to that as well, Lord."

Monday morning I was on a flight at 6:15am that took me first through Atlanta. My books were waiting for me at the St. Louis airport, thank You Lord. I missed the first train out of the St. Louis airport by just a minute, but by this time was confident that the Lord was behind me the entire way. I am certain that the intercession of many took care of so many possible difficulties.

With my suitcase in tow, clothes pressed by the Detroit carpet, unshaven, sweaty, and smelly, I arrived at the St. Louis convention center. The appointment was at 1:00pm where I would sign books until 2:00pm, and then someone else would take the chair. I arrived not at 12:59pm, or at 1:01pm, but exactly at 1:00pm. The manager of the book signing suddenly looked up from the previous author's signing, started to say "Where's Tom Cl..." and then turned to me. Her instructions were simple: "Put your suitcase here, I'll open the first box, and you start signing." She had not received my eMail that I might be late. And I wasn't. The Lord provided.

There were long lines waiting for me to sign their free copy of the book. The lines were longer for authors such as Joyce Meyer, David Jeremiah, and Kenneth Hagin, but by comparision to the other "unknown" authors, I was so tremendously encouraged to see what our Lord did. There were never less than 10 people in line, and often there were 20 or more. "A Garden of Love" had been on display at the booth all Sunday and Monday morning, so people knew to come for this signing. Where many "unknown" authors handed out far fewer books or had much shorter lines, I gave 60 books away on Monday and could have easily tripled that amount. No promotion was necessary.

Today I am convinced more than ever that God wants this message of love to spread to His people. To some, the emphasis of Matt 22:37-40 is often on loving our Lord; to others, the emphasis is often on doing good works as a representation of love to one another. I believe that God wants to turn both camps into deep and profound lovers of our Lord and of one another. To many people at this book signing, when presented with that truth, they seemed to understand.

I thank all that prayed me through, but really this is not done. Those that have received the book need to be convicted that they must open the book to savor the love that is presented. The message of this book is not about book sales; it is about changed lives, using flowers from our Gethsemane Prayer Garden to help get them there. Please pray for the conviction of their spirits.

POSTSCRIPT dated November 14, 2011:
In retrospect, I could be very pessimistic about this experience. Of the contacts that I established, not one developed and many did not acknowledge my efforts to contact them. I gave away, at no cost to the recipient, over 60 books – I believe that a few ended up on Amazon as used books but there was no increase in sales that came from this effort.

The biggest benefit that I gained was an increased knowledge of the publishing and book sales industry. I learned that to be successful with big name bookstores, you must have the backing of a large publishing house. It is rare for a self-published author or a Xulon, Winepress or other manuscript to make the grade in national bookstores. The Christian bookstore industry is very much of a closed, inward focused collection that showed considerable disdain for self-published authors. I saw first-hand how it is a dog-eat-dog world, much unlike the Christ's message of love to a dying world.

As a result of this ICRS event was the deep realization that I had over-simplified my marketing approach, and it was time to get out a clean sheet of paper. Although my manuscript was clearly God ordained, the competition was far more formidable than I had anticipted.

The beautiful 'Bonica' roses

2010-06-25T14:22:00.003-04:00

In June, the roses in Central New York come into their glory. Whatever the type, hybrid or not, roses seem to peak around Father's Day each year. Some last until the first heavy freeze, while others last just a few weeks. But it seems appropriate that the rose, in some ways representing the deep and profound love between God the Father and Christ the Son, would be seen best at Father's Day.

As Caretaker of the Gethsemane Prayer Garden at Faith Chapel, I often had the opportunity to tell and show people about how the flowers can take on special meanings. Many times, people encouraged me to write this down, so finally in the fall of 2009, I wrote "A Garden of Love." The following is an excerpt from that book which uses the 'Bonica' rose for its subject:

Oh the exquisite rose! I take such pleasure in how the hue changes on each flower as it matures – intense colors when they first open, leading to muted but still beautiful tones over time. Through the rose, possibly more than with any other flowers, God's awesome love extends, reveals, and touches us in greater intimacy with him.

The Jackson-Perkins catalog describes their roses as stunning, striking, luscious, fragrant, elegant, graceful, dramatic, captivating, fabulous, vibrant, exceptional, long-lasting, delightful, and irresistible. These same words could be applied even more to Jesus.

The roses are the stunning centerpiece of the garden: the pink ones remind us of his softness and gentleness; the white ones bring to mind his purity and elegance; and the red roses remind us of his unfailing love for us. Our perfect rose, "crucified in weakness" (2 Cor 13:4), without spot or blemish, was jeered at, mocked, beaten, flogged, and tortured. He loves us that much.

He is also loved by his Father that much. Immediately after Jesus was baptized, a voice from heaven said, "This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy" (Matthew 3:17). The same words were spoken at the Mount of Transfiguration where Peter, James, and John heard God's voice from a bright cloud: "This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy. Listen to him" (Matthew 17:5). God spoke of his great love of Jesus, his Son. Here are some other verses to consider:

"The Father loves the Son and shows him everything he is doing" (John 5:20).

"The Father loves me because I sacrifice my life so I may take it back again. No one can take my life from me. I sacrifice it voluntarily. For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to take it up again. For this is what my Father has commanded" (John 10:17,18).

[Father,] "you and I are one – as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. … you loved me even before the world began!" (John 17:21,24).

Collectively, these verses assure us of the true and deeply intimate love relationship between God the Father and Christ the Son, even before the world began. The love relationship that was established between God and his people began as he created the world – the profound love between God and his Son began even before that.

Love is contagious – this love does not end with the Father / Son, for it includes us:

[Father,] "I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me" (John 17:22,23).

Bob Sorge, in his marvelous book "The Fire of God's Love," describes God's love:

The most sublime theme in all of Scripture is the love of God. There is nothing higher or nobler toward which we can direct our meditation. God's love is altogether wonderful, beyond our complete comprehension, and entirely inexhaustible in its scope and intensity.

Many of the attributes of the rose help remind us of these same attributes in Jesus. He is infectiously beautiful and his love is contagious beyond all measure. His love is profuse and his love is profound.

Copyright © 2009 Bible Discernments

The start of the Gethsemane Prayer Garden

2010-06-24T10:34:00.002-04:00

The Gethsemane Prayer Garden was first envisioned independently in 1999 by two people: Pastor Lee Simmons, founding pastor of Faith Chapel, and Alice Soule, a member of the church body. The garden was seen to be a quiet place of refuge and peace; a place similar to the garden in Jerusalem where Jesus offered his cup before the Lord in prayer; a place to have an encounter with the Lord.

Four years later, under the direction of Pastor Lee Simmons, the garden began development as a result of an initial bereavement gift. First, the gentle 'Bonica' roses were added, followed in subsequent years with a stone altar, then several privacy berms, the addition of a trellis, and finally the relocation of a large number of shrubs and trees. As each area was developed and as finance permitted, perennials were brought in and walkways were added to create a cohesive and flowing effect.

Today, this one-acre site has expanded to include nine beds (8,000 sq. ft.), fifty perennial flower varieties, and several hundred shrubs and trees from forty species and subspecies. Compared to other flower gardens that are open to the public, this garden is small and intimate, and has no admission fee.

The Gethsemane Prayer Garden layout

2010-06-14T20:57:00.002-04:00

Some gardens start with a grand scheme, a vision, a great idea, a landscaped scheme that appears beautiful on paper. Some have no apparent purpose or plan as they seemingly place plants arbitrarily here and there, like a five-year-old artist that throws paint onto the easel. The Gethsemane Prayer Garden in Syracuse is neither of these, yet there are aspects of each.

Pastor Lee Simmons, a visionary pastor with grand ideas, approached me with a fresh opportunity in 2003. Someone had donated a large sum of money to the church in memory of his wife that had just gone home with the Lord. The two men agreed that the money would be used to start a landscaped garden for the purpose of meditating with God – it was to be a prayer garden.

With the help of many from our church, I had coordinated the landscaping around the church building in the spring and summer of 2000. It was a new building, and we planted two hundred shrubs and trees around the property. The foundation plantings were simply placed with a mix of varieties based the limited budget, and most were commonly available shrubs.

This garden was to be much different. We had planted a pin oak and a cutleaf purple beech in the lawn with no particular plan in mind, and it was decided to turn these into the corners of the first section of the garden. A professional landscaper was selected; soon we had two beds of lucious pink 'Bonica' shrub roses along with many other July and August flowering plants: stately purple coneflowers, flowing Russian sage, and pinkish autumn joy sedums.

The next year, I was asked to be the Caretaker - so it has been for the last seven years. The garden has grown in size each year having expanded from 800 to 8,000 square feet. There are nine flowering beds that are intermixed with shrubs and trees.

Each time we expanded, the Lord gave me a planting scheme for each bed with the interweaving of fine sand gravel walkways that curve between adjacent plantings. First would come the center plant or plants as the extremities of the bed were developed in my mind. If a sketch was made, it was never exactly followed.

I am well convinced that plants, both large and small, are best placed by careful examination by eye. The sketch may be helpful and can sometimes avoid problems down the line, but we don't really know until that plant is stood up in its proposed location. By considering the ultimate height of all the plants, sometimes significant adjustments become obvious. Looking from many angles, pacing off the size with our feet, soon we begin to see it come together. We plant it, and then move on to the next largest or next most showy.