The Furtive Honeysuckle Rose

 

In the South, honeysuckle is a weed that produces berries and nostalgic stories. However, wild honeysuckle berries tend to be toxic.

Ranger Bob grew up with the scent of honeysuckle near his bedroom window. He is doing very well, by the way. 

Bob yelled this question, "You paid for a weed? Honeysuckle is a weed and you paid for it?" Mr. Gardener likewise told me he spent a lot of time removing honeysuckle from our green alley. I countered, "But it requires sun." 

I bought two and protected them from rabbits and squirrels last summer. This summer my all-around fixit guy brought cow squares over to serve as honeysuckle frames on the sunny side of the house. The first one took quickly. 

The second one was protected and replanted in the sunniest spot of all the garden areas - the 
Butterfly Garden - a resounding success for butterfly plants, beyond all hopes.

I let honeysuckle.2 grow up using other pollinator plants to give them a natural prop. If honeysuckle was as promiscuous as the garden experts say, it would find its way to the sun, emerging from darkness. I let the gardening crew edit the Butterfly Garden without getting nervous. The honeysuckle.2 was growing on the outer edge, but what if...? 

I watered this morning for the Sunday altar flowers, and peeked around the corner for a hint of honeysuckle. I spotted a spare sprig and felt great. The root system would soon send up feelers for more honeysuckle, no matter what. 

Jamming

I am glad Monty Don encourages jamming flowers together and editing them down later. I am filled with awe about the spread of the garden areas. Rain has helped, but I think the density of growth has shaded the gardens even during weeks of drought.

I found some areas where favorite plants did not continue to grow. As soon as I chopped out extra plants - like the giant borage bigger than a large plant - previous plants (a fragrant yellow rose) and caladiums (red and white) popped up fast, as if escaping from the Doubting Castle.

I said, "I overdid the Monarch Butterfly Plants." Response - "That's what you wanted." I will probably start the spring erasing most - but not all - of the Monarch plants. My alibi is - "Clearance sales for Monarchs." We saw the caterpillars and the Monarchs flying away.

That was the Monarch annex in front of the patio. The sun-saturated Butterfly Garden is now the sunniest, shoulder-to-shoulder dense area, with Joe Pye, Russian sunflowers, borage, comfrey, Chaste Tree, and bee balm welcoming the furtive honeysuckle rose.

Lutheran Library Publishing Ministry - Weekly Updates

 

Lutheran Library Publishing Ministry Weekly Updates

May God bless you now and always. From your Lutheran Librarian,

📅 NEW PUBLICATIONS AND UPDATES

The Story of Our Hymns by Ernest Edwin Ryden ‘This volume has been inspired by a desire on the part of the author to create deeper love for the great lyrics of the Christian Church… To know the hymns of the Church is to know something of the spiritual strivings and achievements of the people of God throughout the centuries. Henry Ward Beecher has well said : “Hymns are the jewels which the Church has worn, the pearls, the diamonds, the precious stones, formed into amulets more potent against sorrow and sadness than the most famous ... Read more The Columbus Theological Magazine Vol. 18, Matthias Loy, Editor This volume includes “Of the Two Natures of Christ” by Martin Chemnitz, “The Doctrine of Infant Salvation,” “Some Hindrances to Jewish Missions (and how to remove them),” “Liberty and the Reformation” by Matthias Loy, and others! “This Magazine is designed to supply the want, long since felt, of a Lutheran periodical devoted to theological discussion. Its aim will be the exposition and defense of the doctrines of the Church as confessed in the Book of Concord. Theology in all its ... Read more What We Believe We are Bible-believing Christians who subscribe without reservation to the Augsburg Confession as an accurate summary of Scripture, the chief article of which is Justification by Faith. Our purpose is to make available solid and encouraging material to strengthen believers in Christ. Prayers are requested for the next generation, that the Lord will plant in them a love of the truth, such that the hard-learned lessons of the past will not be forgotten. Table of Contents The Sole Rule of ... Read more Something's Not Working Lutheran Library publications are offered in some or all of the following formats: EPUB, AZW3, PDF, and paperback. The e-books are at no cost to you. Paperbacks are priced based on minimums charged by Amazon. If you click on a PDF button, the e-book will open in your device. This may or may not be what you want. Some of these PDF files are very large. Your device may have size limits set which will cause odd behavior. To download a PDF on your desktop, right click on the button and save. ... Read more Why is your name the "Lutheran" Library? Lutherans were originally called Evangelicals. They put the preserved Word of God above the laws and traditions of the church of their day. Their Protestant Reformation took the Bible out of the hands of the priestly class and returned it to God’s people where it belongs. Real Lutherans are Bible believing Christians. The Lutheran Library Publishing Ministry stands with John Huss and the 50 million Bible Christians who were killed for their faith during the Counter-Reformation. Most ... Read more This PDF won't scroll past page 407 or 517 or... The Lutheran Library PDF files can be large. Your device or computer may have been configured to limit the size of your downloads. This is especially true if you are on Microsoft Windows or a smartphone. As a result you might find strange behavior when you are trying to read a PDF. If this happens, the first thing to do is to save the PDF locally and load it in a different program. Edge, Chrome, and Adobe Reader are particularly prone to problems on Microsoft Windows. Here are our PDF ... Read more

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Alec Satin Mentioned This Famous Reference to the Book of Isaiah

 

The early church called Isaiah the “Fifth Gospel”. Isaiah is quoted from or alluded to 472 times by 23 New Testament books.

ISAIAH contains more references to salvation that any other Old Testament book (The word salvation appears 33 times in the writing of the prophets, and of these, 26 instances occur in Isaiah.)

Isaiah contains the only Old Testament prophecy concerning the virgin birth of Christ (cf. Isaiah. 7:14 with Matthew. 1:21-23).

Isaiah is a miniature model of the Bible: the Bible has 66 books and Isaiah has 66 chapters; the Old Testament has 39 books the first section of Isaiah has 39 chapters; the New Testament has 27 books the last section of Isaiah has 27 chapters; the 39 Old Testament books record the history and sin of Israel so does Isaiah 1-39; the New Testament introduces Christ and His ministry so does Isaiah 40-66.

Isaiah contains the two furthest reaching events in all of history: The most ancient event is the fall of Satan (14:12-17) and the most future event, the creation of the new heavens and earth (66:22).

Isaiah has more to say about the greatness of God (40,43), the horrors of the Tribulation (24), the wonders of the Millennium (35), and the ministry of Christ (53) than any other book in the Bible.

Isaiah also contains one of the Old Testament’s clearest statements on the Trinity (48:16).

Isaiah 53 is probably the most important chapter in the Old Testament, as it is quoted from or alluded to 85 times in the New Testament. Jesus said that Isaiah saw His glory and spoke of Him (John 12:41).

Daily Lutheran Sermon Quote - Trinity 15 - "He is a lord of mammon who lays hold of and uses it for the sake of those who need it and lets God rule, who says in Luke 6:38. Give, and it shall be given unto you..."

 

Daily Luther Sermon Quote - Trinity 15 - "But it is one thing to have possessions and another to serve them; to have mammon, and to make a god out of it."

17. He is a lord of mammon who lays hold of and uses it for the sake of those who need it and lets God rule, who says in Luke 6:38. Give, and it shall be given unto you; have you nothing more, you surely have me still, and I have still enough, yea, I have more than I have given away and more than can ever be given away. We see here and there many pious poor people only for the purpose that the wealthy may help and serve them with their riches. If you do it not, you have the sure proof that you hate God.

He, whom the sentence does not terrify, that he will hear on the day of judgment, can be moved by nothing. For he will hear then from God:

Behold, thou hast hated me and loved that which could not protect itself against rust and moth. Ay, how firmly you will then stand!

18. Hence the sense is, we must own some possessions, but are not to cleave to them with our hearts; as Psalm 62:10 says: “If riches increase, set not your heart thereon.” We are to labor; but we are not to be anxious about our existence. This the Master says here in our Gospel in plain and clear words, when he thus concludes: “Be not anxious for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink: nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on.”

19. And he now uses a reasonable and natural form of speech, by which to close, that they are not to be anxious for the nourishment of their lives; for reason must conclude and yield that it is as Christ says, when he gives the ground and reason of his discourse by asking: “Is not the life more than the food, and the body than the raiment!”

20. As if he would say: You turn it just around, the food should serve your life and not your life the food. The same is true in respect to raiment; the clothing should serve the body, thus the body serves the clothing. The world is so blind that it cannot see this.

21. Now we must here have a high esteem for the words of the Lord. He says, “Be not anxious;” he does not say, Labor not. Anxiety is forbidden, but not labor; yea, it is commanded and made obligatory upon us to labor until the sweat rolls down our faces. It is not God’s pleasure for man to tramp around idly; therefore he says to Adam in Genesis 3:19: “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken.” And as Psalm 104:22-23 says: “The sun ariseth. man goeth forth unto his work and to his labor until the evening.”

We are not to be anxious, this is forbidden; for we have a rich God who promises us food and clothing; for he knows what we lack, before we are concerned and begin to pray.

22. Why then does he not give us what we need without our labor?

Because it is thus pleasing to him; he tells us to labor and then he gives it; not because of our work, but out of kindness and grace. This we see before our eyes; for although we labor every year in the field, yet God gives one year more than another. Therefore, we are fools, yea, we act contrary to God’s will, when we are worried as to how to scrape together gold and riches, since God gratuitously and richly promises that he will give us all and will abundantly provide for our every want.