What is Wormwood Anyway?

No, there are no worms in wormwood. Fig Newtons do not grow on trees and gall is actually made from a hibiscus type plant.  Have you ever stopped and thought about how many stories in the Bible refer to some sort of plant? Do you really understand the significance of how and why grape vines are pruned? It could mean the difference in how you interpret all of those verses about us being pruned like grape vines.

This summer our church planted a garden. This was not your typical garden, although there were some familiar things in it. It was a Bible garden filled with a lot of the vegetation mentioned in the Bible.

Our church is located in the suburbs of a major metropolitan area. We had begun to realize that many of our children had never seen a garden and definitely had not seen a fig tree with real figs on it.  Or seen grapes growing in a miniature (two vines!) vineyard. We decided that some of our land should be developed into a Bible garden.

There are lots of ideas for Bible gardens on the internet. Ours has four raised beds and several trees and grape vines. One bed is for herbs, one for grasses and reeds, one for flowers and one for vegetables.  We tried to plant a lot of perennials in three of the beds. A special shout out to the nice woman who works at Pike Nurseries for helping me figure out which plant was the mallow plant that gall is made from and which grasses and flowers matched up to the list. (She's still trying to help me locate a hyssop plant!) It's not clear in the Bible exactly what some of the plants are. We tried to take the best guesses of people and match it to what grows currently in Israel. Luckily, our climate is mild, but I have seen plans for gardens as far north as Indiana.

Eventually we hope the garden will also serve for prayer and study.  Someone donated a nice park bench, which now has palm trees planted on either side. Permanent signs will tie scriptures to the plants that are in the garden.  Hopefully the next time the children study about the fig tree that didn't bear fruit, ours will be bearing fruit and they can see and taste what a fig actually is.  God pruning us like the grape vines are pruned will make a lot more sense after the children have actually seen the vines pruned and understand why they are pruned the way they are. Once I figure out which part of the mallow plant is made into gall, we may even try to make a batch ourselves!

If you don't have the space or inclination to plant a Bible garden, try taking your child to the farmers' market in your town. Our local grocery store even carried fresh figs this summer. Try a fig or some dates.  The next time you drive by a vineyard ask the owner if he will explain the pruning process to your child.
Try cooking some foods like couscous and unleavened bread. There are lots of recipes online.

It may be easier for your child to imagine how Jesus lived on earth when she has tasted some of the main foods Jesus ate. Maybe some of those stories will even have deeper meaning now that she knows how really bad gall tastes (or how good a fig tastes when you are really hungry!). If nothing else, others will be blessed by the produce from your garden.  The melons and cucumbers mentioned in the Old Testament graced quite a few tables this summer. Or while you are at the market buying figs for your child to taste, pick up some extras and make some homemade fig cookies for someone who could use a little cheer. The important thing is to take this opportunity to make the Bible come alive for your child. This time you can even make a meal out of it!

The "Missing" Bible Stories

I had a lot of fun this summer leading a Bible study for a group of teen girls. At the end of the summer, I asked what they wanted to study next. Their answer surprised me. They wanted to learn the "rest of the Bible stories".

I realized after talking with them for a few minutes that we are missing a big part of spiritual training with our children. Parents who are trying to raise their children in a Bible based environment usually make sure their children learn all of the basic Bible stories. Our children are familiar with Adam, Noah, Moses and the major stories of the Bible. When they reach the older years though, they usually start more topical studies which may or may not involve Bible stories. But what about "the rest of the story".

There are a lot of Bible stories that we leave out a part of or gloss over quickly because they are too "mature" for children. Yet those same stories have great lessons for teens.  Did you leave out the part of the story about Noah getting drunk? It's a great example of how "good" people can make very bad choices when alcohol is involved. Did you gloss over the story of Joseph when it got to the part of Potiphar's wife? The story teaches a great way to avoid sexual temptation and can open the door to a discussion on purity and tactics for staying pure. You may need to take a look back yourself and see what additional lessons are in those basic stories that your children haven't heard yet.

The Bible is also full of little one and two verse stories which are just fascinating. The prayer of Jabez is a great example. Someone wrote an entire series of books on just those few verses, but there are many other stories that are just as interesting. You and your child will probably never hear most of these in a class or from the pulpit. Now I am not saying that it is always easy to figure out why God put some of these stories in the Bible or what we are supposed to learn from them. Is the story in 2 Kings 2:23-24 a lesson on bullying? Or is it just something interesting in Elisha's life? Why does God think it is important in Genesis 4:21 to let us know that a descendent of Cain was the father of all who play the flute and harp? Was it to remind us that civilization was more advanced in the beginning than evolutionists would want us to believe? Why does God tell us in 2 Kings 13:20-21 about someone being brought back to life by merely accidentally being thrown by raiders against Elisha's bones in his tomb? Probably just to remind us of God's amazing power, but could it be that God protects us from evil?

Whether or not you are able to solve the mysteries of these very short stories in the Bible, you may see something amazing happen in your child.  Hopefully, your child will discover a love of reading the Bible. What can be more exciting than the fact that the most wonderful stories ever told were true stories? Perhaps only the fact that by learning these stories and more of God's words and obeying them, your child will spend eternity in heaven.

So take some time this week and share the "rest of the story" with your older children. You may find a few new jewels of wisdom that are new to you too!  Feel free to share your favorites. I may still be missing a few myself.

Fun Ways to Teach Manners

The normal parental course of action for manners training is constant correction. Eventually though, this can stress out even the calmest parent and child. So is there something more fun than cotillion (a Southern manners staple for the upper classes), to get a child to have good manners?  I have listed a few ideas below to get you started.

1.  International Night - This started in our house when our daughter went through a picky eater stage.  Every Friday night I picked a mystery country. Dinner that night consisted of dishes from the chosen country that I thought my family might enjoy.  While we were eating, I gave clues about the country to see if she could guess where it was. Part of the fun can be discussing the manners of that country and how they differ from ours.  There is a great British website http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/resources/country-profiles.html (I cannot guarantee this website will stay what at is at this writing. There are other websites you can find on google with similar info.)  They list lots of information about numerous countries including their manners. You can also google "easy recipes from 'name of country'" to get some recipes to try.  I tried to hit every continent at least once and it was amazing how many new recipes we found we enjoyed. 

2. Why Do We Keep Our Elbows Off The Table? - Pick a manner of the week and find out why that came to be considered polite behavior.  Older children can be encouraged to do some of the research themselves. Or make a game out of trying to match the manner with its origin. There are a lot of ways to vary the game using different time periods to include history lessons for homeschooled children. (Or just a fun way to sneak more history into any child's day!)

3. The New Neighbors -You and your husband come to dinner in the character of some new kids in the neighborhood who are joining you for dinner. Unfortunately, you are untrained in the social graces. Ham it up as much as possible. I can almost promise you that your kids will go nuts correcting you! Try not to break character and make them show you what they mean. Pretend like you don't understand what the problem is with your behavior. Have fun with it!

4. High Tea - Is there a fancy restaurant nearby with incredible desserts? Does your daughter love the idea of high tea? Promise them a trip to this heavenly and usually off limits place if they can exhibit perfect table manners for a specific amount of time. I would suggest a period long enough to be a stretch, but no so long they give up. At award time, dress in your best and enjoy!

5. Knights and Princesses - For the younger set, nothing is more fun than pretend, dress up and other fun ways to try out different roles. As we all know, knights and princesses must have impeccable manners! Play the queen or king of their country and help them be terrific knights and princesses. Then switch roles and let them train you. Make it fun.  

6. If All Else Fails, It's Cotillion Baby! - Nothing strikes fear in the hearts of a Southern sixth grader like the threat of spending their weekends in seventh grade at Cotillion lessons. The mere threat can make napkins suddenly land consistently in laps for months at a time!  Most larger towns have something similar. It usually involves dressing in uncomfortable clothes and practicing manners for hours on end. Show your child how excited you will be to send them there for lessons. If they don't respond, you may find it's worth the money to have someone else take on the task. As we all know, some things just require being said by someone other than a parent to sink into your child's brain!

Have fun with taking a break from traditional manners training. Let me know if you have any more fun ideas that have worked in your family. I would love to share them with everyone. If you need me though, I may just be having tea at the Plaza!