Fun with Hymns and Gardening - Morning Breaks Upon the Blog

I began yesterday with adding more hymns to The Bethany Lutheran Hymnal blog. Some advantages are:

1. The public domain hymns are easy to read.
2. The details about each hymn are included.
3. Famous and unusual authors are highlighted and grouped - who knew that Ken, How, and Wordsworth were bishops? You do now.
4. Famous translators are also grouped - Winkworth, Neale, Loy.
5. Many graphics from Norma A. Boeckler will be added.
6. The melodies and alternates can be linked on each page.
7. Hymn stories can be copied from The Lutheran Library.

Sassy and I enjoy early mornings, sometimes hours before Dawn, the rosy child of Morn appears. I fix pour-over coffee as the best beverage for writing, reducing typos, and enjoying life. I was talked into reading The Monk of Mokha, a non-fiction book built around the latest trend in varietal coffee. That only intensified my interest in coffee.

After I reached 50 more hymns, the gardening crew and Ranger Bob converged. Sassy was in her glory, greeted and fed her favorites by Bob, petted and admired by the crew. 

We had Calladium and Stella D'Or to plant, a large pile of weeds to remove. I did my share on weeds and pollen. Clouds of the dust came up and I felt that for hours. 

I order bulbs and share them, so the crew is watching Crepe Myrtle leafing out, roses growing, and adding Glads, Calladium, and Star of Gold (Stella D'Or). 

Bob came back with wood mulch and orders for military books. He said, "I know cars, but this guy finds the books I want for $1. I have a whole library now." Our latest find on the Net was Yeager's autobiography for $1 plus shipping. Bob has resisted buying Soviet ship books, which start at $600 used. 

Recent garden growth:

• The Bee Balms are popping up all over.
• All roses are leafing out.
• The Joe Pye Weeds jumped up.
• Daisies are forming their green.
• Cinnabon shrubs are budding.
• Chaste Tree is budding.
• The Iris row is ready to bloom.

The Creation Garden is a reminder that God accomplishes everything through the power of His Word and in His time, not ours.

Another lesson is from Brorson's Behold a Host Arrayed in White -

Then hail, ye mighty legions, yea,

All hail! Now safe and blest for aye,

And praise the Lord, who with His Word

Sustained you on the way.

Ye did the joys of earth disdain,

Ye toiled and sowed in tears and pain.

Farewell, now bring your sheaves and sing

Salvation's glad refrain.

Swing high your palms, lift up your song,

Yea, make it myriad voices strong,

Eternally shall praise to Thee,

God, and the Lamb belong.

It is far too easy to say, "I bought those plants and now they are gone, all this wasted time and money." That has always happened, and if all our plants and seeds grew lavishly, the gardening companies would be limping along instead of selling us new hopes and dreams. 

There is a reason why I get 50 gardening catalogs each season. Some of them bear fruit and I order plants from the hopes and illusions the lavishly illustrated magazines fostered. All we had to do was wait for a little more rain and sun for many past projects to leap from the cold, damp soil. Hope springs eternal, but especially from the efficacious Word.

Clethra was promoted from the back garden to the rose garden, for several reasons. One is its appeal to butterflies and all beneficial insects. But the top reason is its ethereal fragrances, sweet and cinnamon, which floats along each zephyr.