Category Archives: Contemplation, Devotional, Inspirational, Meditation, Prayer, Spirituality

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Farming and the Spiritual

2013-07-10 15.04.02It has been quite a week. I have been trying to irrigate the walnut orchard. Three times the PVC pipe coupling at the mainline from which the pipe laterals extend has come unglued and blown off where the riser is attached at the pressure point. I would get the water pump started and proceed to check the lines for any plugged sprinklers (using a wire to unplug the orifice). Then nada, no sprinklers shooting out spray, no water pressure. Nothing. I immediately knew what had happened. A “T” valve had popped off and the mainline riser opening was gushing water instead of out the sprinkler pipe lines. My daughter ran to turn the pump off before a huge lake of water could form. I hoofed it over to the line. Sure enough, again, the offending part lay cattywompas in a lake of water with water bubbling up out of the mainline and making a muddy mess. Not fun. Crazy!

Then I  had to flush the lines after each repair was made. Each repair necessitated a wait time for the water to settle, new glue, wait time again for drying, and then we would flush the lines to rid the dirty water, and try again. After the third break in a row, my farm manager and I were out of new ideas. We decided to add screws on in four places to anchor the coupling more substantially. After all this, grit in the lines was clogging the sprinkler orifices and the irrigation had been delayed by three days. I was getting anxious to complete the irrigation. It has been quite the job to get the sprinkler heads cleared up. The ninth line, the furthest one out, has been the most troubling. I spent two hours in the evening and also an hour or more in the morning on just that line alone trying to get all the sprinklers full-functioning. For the second set, I flushed that line again because it was obvious that rocks and particles were still in residence! The grit is like slake, not sand. It got in the lines from where the break was from about three feet down in the ground.

As of this writing, we are now on our second set and we’re getting there. Fewer sprinklers are in need of unplugging. In time it will work out, the water will become free of dirt and particles and the problem will be solved, at least until we have another break in the line. An orchard farmer must be vigilant in keeping the trees hydrated to keep the crop and trees healthy and of good quality.

This scenario makes me think of how it is similar to the spiritual life. When clutter and catastrophe hits or even sinful choices come into our lives, it takes extra work and cleansing in our spiritual selves, even dealing with or eradicating some of the problem areas, to get ourselves back on top and in good working order, much like I need to do when I replace the damaged sprinklers or “T” valves. Bad properties or wrong behaviors must be moved out of our lives or cleansed through repentance and confession. It is time consuming, laborious work, but necessary if we want health and wholeness in our spiritual lives. Once a wrong choice has been made, it takes many right choices to repair the damage or to remediate a change. It often involves other people, making it even harder and more complicated. However, if we don’t do the hard work, take the time and effort, the impurities will cause on-going, continuing destruction in our spiritual health. The longer the delay in dealing with it, further wrong choices or other “bad stuff” will affect a greater, harmful effect. If untreated and not addressed, the harm can be long lasting and detrimental to one’s walk with God.

God is in the business of restoring us in all areas of our lives. That’s what He does and does well. It is our business to engage Him is this process by becoming willing to give Him our problems, stuff, and issues, and then working with Him in finding helpful, spiritual people, scriptural truths that relate, and practical, meaningful ways to meet the spiritual crisis, and, when needed, clean up our lives. It is always worth it. We become well and healthy and full-functioning people who are able to be useful and productive.

N. L. Brumbaugh, with something to think about.

PURCHASE:THE MEETING PLACE by N. L. BRUMBAUGH

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When God Speaks to Us

When you think God is speaking to you, how do you know it’s His voice?

It happened again. Truth slipped out and it began to help someone. I asked her, “Do you think God is speaking to you? Telling you what to do?” “What do you think he’s telling you?” She answered my question. She thought He was. She told me what the message was. Then she said she wasn’t certain.

How can we really know?

I had a reason for asking. A decade ago I was in her shoes in an almost identical situation. I had listened to and questioned a thought uncertain if it was from God or not. The words kept me in a stand-still position in regards to my torn-apart marriage. They kept me suspended in my emotions, unable to move forward and unable to let it go. When you still love someone but they’ve moved on to someone else, leaving the marriage and you, it can be very difficult, especially when you have kept Your marriage vows and are concerned for your ex-mate, and you still believe in the possibility of a miracle. I understood her dilemma and her desire to follow God even when it doesn’t seem to make any sense. I had been there a few times in my past, and it is a major spiritual struggle.

I began to talk about discerning God’s voice.

I decided to share the story of my uncertain thought that I just mentioned. It was the summer of my marital separation before the divorce became final, an extended period of pain and rejection, hope and prayer. I sought God for all I was worth. I didn’t know if this time it was over over. I spent the early morning in prayer. Mid-morning, I had just finished my walk in the orchard when a bold thought entered and anchored itself.

 I am going to heal your marriage.

The non-audible thought was strong, commanding, stern. It startled me. At first I felt joy and excitement (my husband is going to be healed!) and then doubt (what was that? was that God or me?). I wondered at it. Wrote it in my journal. I thought about how it started with “I am,” the old testament way that God revealed himself, “I Am has sent you.” I asked my pastor how a person can know if something is God’s voice. He said to consider three things 1. scripture confirmation and aligns with scripture 2. confirmation through a spiritual Christian brother or sister 3. a sense of the Holy Spirit’s agreement–not argument.  I prayed that God would confirm that it was from Him sometime in the next two weeks. Two weeks came and went. There was no confirmation. Yet, the thought haunted me long after the divorce. Was God going to heal my marriage?

Another scenario. I had been asked to pray for a young girl in failing health who lived in Colorado. I live in California. She was the only child of a couple who were unable to conceive a second child. This child had been born with a severe heart condition and her health was rapidly deteriorating. She had recently slipped into a coma. Everyone was praying. I was praying often and consistently. It was midday. I was walking in a circle in the farm’s driveway, supplicating, asking for God’s intervention.

Norma, the quiet thought came. “Yes?” I responded.  It’s too late. “What’s too late, Father?” I asked. She’s already gone. “Oh. No. Then it’s too late to pray for her. I understand. I should pray for her family.” My prayer halted as I stopped in my tracks.

I sensed it was God speaking to me. I believed the little girl was no longer with us. A deep sadness washed over me. I began praying for her parents knowing the heartache that was ahead. The thought (voice) was calm, quiet, and gentle. Did I question if it was God’s voice? Of course. I am not completely confident in my sensitivity to God’s voice. Yet, I was not surprised when I received a text a few hours later saying the girl had passed on earlier in the day.

The two thoughts sounded different. The first one was abrupt, startling. The second was soft, kind. To date, my marriage has never been healed twelve years after the fact. I no longer believe that that thought could have originated with God. I have learned this, when God speaks there is a quiet authority. It is certain, calm, and direct with a sense of weight (authority). On numerous occasions I have felt a prompting which I now recognize as God’s Spirit. I have acted on these promptings and they never lead me astray. There have been other thoughts that have a different sense, jarring. forceful and commanding. I believe these cannot originate from God even though the words may be plausible. They are sent to trip me up, to make me act on impulse. I’m careful. I ask God for guidance and validation. I also stay close in my relationship with Him.