 |
| The first bloom in 2018. |
The Mother of All Crepe Myrtles was in full bloom not too long ago, and the compound blossoms were bigger than ever before. Seeing the petals fall off on the ground, I knew that seeds would be forming soon.
It took me four days to clip all the seedy flower heads off the bush. The glorious blossoms became part of the mulch below. But I had a plan.
The easy part was pruning. John 15 - the fruitful branches are cleansed to make them even more fruitful. I look over my neighbor's efforts to see how I am doing in comparison. Theirs are still colorful but about 50% in seeds. Mine have just a hint of flowers now but 100% budded. Soon mine will burst into bloom again, in radiant color - while they others become 100% seed.
The second most senior Crepe Myrtles are red/white picotee plants, and they formed flowers and seeds. I pruned those for that other beneficial effect of trimming. When roses and Crepe Myrtles are pruned, the branches and roots are energized to grow. Newcomers to gardening ask about fertilizers; veterans prune.
Crepe Myrtles are similar to roses. Many side shoots or suckers can be trimmed away to encourage more plant and root growth. That also serves to shape the plant. I enjoy doing some trimming and weeding each day. When it has rained hard, I enjoy skipping the chores for a day or two.
Too Much Rain - Like an Overabundance of Grace
We have enjoyed five inches of rain in two days, with more on the way. The rain barrels and buckets are full and overflowing.
That reminds me of growing up in Moline, with liturgical Lutheran services everywhere. Everyone took for granted - pipe organs, choirs, classic hymns, the Biblical liturgy and creeds, and Scriptural sermons. No one was around to tell us how horrible those practices were.
There is a simple yet beautiful description of the Word and Sacraments - they are the Means (or Instruments) of Grace. Does anyone seek forgiveness and peace? They only need to rely on those Means, the only ones used by God.
Another description is also significant. Teaching and preaching are the Invisible Word; the Sacraments are the Visible Word. God has bound His Spirit to His Word, whether invisible or visible. That is why the Enthusiasts get so bungled up in their thinking. Some imagine that grace is tied to feelings. If someone feels forgiven, he is forgiven. But what happens when that feeling is gone? It is far better to base forgiveness on something eternal and changless - the Word of God.
The Enthusiasts imagine the Means of Grace hamper and limit God. But they are the ones always filling the world with books, essays, posts, and texts, saying "The Word of God is not effective, but our word is." They criticize the Means of Grace and anyone who relies on them.
Curiously, the ones who love to read the works of Enthusiasm also speak and write as Enthusiasts. They are so lost in their hall of mirrors that they assign grace to the entire world. "Everyone is forgiven and saved, end of story" - they claim.
All the cannibals here and abroad are forgiven and saved? Yes, they think so.
The polytheists can have a group of gods they favor, all pagan, some very scary. Those people are forgiven and saved too? Yes, they love to assert that, without anyone asking.
All the modern theologians agree with this, so it must be true. If one reads Barth/Kirschbaum closely, in Dogmatics, II, 2, he finds the "restoration of the world" since Jesus is the Elect One. The LCMS is lucky, because their theologians - trained in Walther/Stephan - can easily see the magic of Barth/Kirschbaum, the burdens of the Means of Grace.
Therefore, since the Means of Grace are taken for granted, spoken against, and abused in so many ways, especially by the "conservative" Lutherans - the cheap substitutes they are offer provide no grace, no truth, no efficacy at all.
