Bittersweet Farm

Bittersweet Farm

An Amazing Drug

Filed Under: Current Thoughts

[Photos from Carolyn Pierpont taken on the property of Camp Barakel.]

THIS CAME IN MY E-MAIL TODAY

(From Thinker’s Notebook)

What if I told you …
There is a drug that is been shown to:
–Restore your attention,
–Improve your performance on tasks, and improve your resistance to and recovery from stressful live events.

Early research is also promising regarding this drug’s beneficial effects on problem-solving.

Given the societal challenges we all face in avoiding distractions, dealing with anxiety, and thinking critically, it sounds like this might be a modern-day miracle drug for better thinking, right? Well, in a sense, it is.
But there’s a catch:

It doesn’t come in a pill.
it doesn’t come in a shot.

And it doesn’t require any kind of expensive, high-intensity workout to achieve.

This drug is so much less complex than any of those options, and you could probably access its power in the next hour if you really wanted to.

So what is this miracle drug?
It’s not a drug at all.
It’s nature.

And you can actually start feeling its restorative effects in as little as five minutes of intentional exposure.
As psychotherapist and former monk Donald Altman writes for Psychology Today:

“Work in the field of Attention Restoration Theory was developed in the 1980s by two psychologists, Rachel and Stephen Kaplan. Their research and the work of others now shows that nature quickly restores depleted mental energy and the ability to feel refreshed and concentrate again. In other words, it helps you to think more clearly, as well as makes space for greater creativity.

“No wonder we intuitively know that going in nature helps to ‘clear our heads.’ This lets the brain pause and deeply immerse itself in nature’s many colors and shapes. For example, there are thousands of natural shades of green that soothe the brain. Keep in mind, too, that going into nature, even for a short walk, changes your environment. Even a change of context is valuable for recharging.”

Altman recommends a simple 3-step practice for clearing your head in nature when you need to refocus, and it takes just five minutes to complete. All you need to do is to take a walk in nature (or sit down in nature) with your focus attuned to some natural element in your surroundings.

In other words, listening to a podcast, making a phone call, or thinking about something work-related isn’t likely to give you the same restorative benefits.

But giving yourself direct access to nature, and fully engaging in the experience, can work wonders.

Hard Chapters Make the Story

Filed Under: Bittersweet Farm, Current Thoughts

Me at 75?

I have on the desk before me a collection of short biographies “Every Christian Should Know,” by the late Warren W. Wiersbe. I attended the Moody Church in Chicago when Wiersbe was the pastor there.

I have beside me under the window a collection of short biographies by Faith Cook and a biography of an ordinary pastor by Don Carson. Also under window is a biography by Steve Saint, whose father was among the five young missionaries spears by the Waodani tribe in January of 1956.

Outside the room where I am writing is one of my favorite rooms in the house. It is actually not a room, it is a landing that includes the staircase and I have turned into a personal library. Most of my favorite books are shelved there. I could putter among them for hours and here is why: Most of them are biographies or autobiographies. They are stories, faith-inspiring, faith-building stories, and they make good reading because in every case God helped men and women, often common men and women overcome death, disease, enemies, war, hunger, misunderstanding, abuse, hardship or opposition of some kind. The books make good reading because they have very hard chapters in the middle.

We are in a “hard chapter” right now. Your story and the story of our beloved Bethel Church is passing through a hard chapter or two right now. Some of us may not live through these chapters. Most of us will suffer some kind of loss. All of us will experience a measure of anxiety or fear in the “hard chapters” that are being written right now.

In the book of Hebrews and chapter eleven there are a series of stories given in a staccato manner of people who passed through great hardship, but their lives made good reading because of their faith. The Bible says; “They obtained a good report.” In other words, their lives made good reading. They won a record of commendation in the end because of their faith.

I wonder, when we have passed through these “hard chapters” will our story make good reading? It will if we continue to trust the Lord and open our hearts to ways to obey the voice of the Spirit.

Stories are being written right now. We are passing through the hard chapters. By God grace and with his help may they make inspiring reading one day.

Bittersweet Farm Journal (Number 80) Gestures of Warm Humanity

Filed Under: Bittersweet Farm, Current Thoughts

Sunday was an Easter Sunday we will talk about for the rest of our lives. Because it is not safe to meet in large groups I delivered my Easter message from the roof of Bethel Church. The people came in their cars and listened to the message on FM radio from the safety and comfort of their own car.

Just before the service began an elderly lady walked across the field to attend the service. When she reached the parking lot she looked up reverently and crossed herself. She stood there leaning on a light pole. The parking lot was nearly full. Everyone else was in the warm comfort of their car. While we sang I watched the woman and wished there was a way she could have a seat. Just before I stepped forward to preach Allen Miracle, visiting Bethel for the drive-in service, got a lawn chair out of the back of his car and gave it to the woman. My heart was touched by the gesture. When this “storm” passes, I plan to find where the lady came from and thank her for attending our service.

This year the hardship the world is passing through has inspired many to unusual acts of warm humanity. One of the ladies in our church wrote that a man climbed into the tower of his church on Easter Sunday morning and played hymns on his trumpet. The beautiful sound rang out over the neighborhood proclaiming Christ is alive.

On my Twitter feed I watched a video of a couple playing Christ the Lord is Risen Today as a violin and cello duet out in the courtyard. Christ is Alive and it often bursts out into song.

I heard of a man who walked through the neighborhood playing the bagpipes–so you know sometimes hardship brings dark depravity to the surface, too. Sorry. Just kidding.

Christ is Risen. Jesus is alive. He is the one-and-only true and living King. Take what you have and do what you can to tell the world. Get out your bagpipes, share your lawn chair, play your trumpet, loan your lift-trucks to raise the pastor up to preach off the roof. Deliver food. Give blood. Make breakfast. Make a grocery-run for a neighbor. Do what you can, but let the whole world know Jesus is Alive. What he said is true. What he promised he will do. He was there at the beginning. He will be there in the end. He is with us even now.

Bittersweet Farm
April 14, 2020

Bittersweet Farm Journal (Number 79) Three Waves of Hardship

Filed Under: Bittersweet Farm

Birdsongs and Sunshine

I’ve been walking a couple times a day since I’m working from home. Yesterday I noticed the forsythia will open in about one more day of sunshine. After that we can expect a few more cold days yet. According to farmer’s wisdom it will at least spit snow three more times before we will have the snow behind us. Morning and evening are noisy with birdsong these days and for a few days in a row we have felt the sun on our heads and gone out in shirtsleeves or a light jacket. Lois is working on making masks and restoring vintage decoratie pieces. We worked out in the yard together in the part of Bittersweet Farm I call the Walnut Grove, picking up windfall branches and burning them. Hope is making press-on nails available on etsy to make a little money while she is laid-off.

I’m doing as much leading and shepherding as I can with my phone and computer devices.Today I was able to use my lapboard across the arms of my rocker and write out on the porch. I make a video for the Bethel family every day. I do this “journal” about weekly. I create two or three story podcast episodes a week. I send an e-mail I call “See Ya’ Sunday” to the Bethel family. Sometimes I am able to encourage people by driving out to their homes and standing out in the yard 8 or 10 feet away and hollering encouragements. Everyone is impacted in some way by this virus, even out here on Bittersweet.

Three Waves of Hardship.

Here is a synopsis of my last three messages to the Bethel Church in short form: We are facing great hardship around the world. It is coming in three waves. A wave of fear, a wave of loss, and a wave of disease and death. When we face these great waves of hardship, Christ is our only answer. Christ is our hope against a wave of fear. Christ is our treasure in a wave of loss. Christ is our very life when we come face-to-face with death. We live among people who are dying and they are not ready to die. They are not ready to face God. They need to know that through Christ they can face fear and loss and death. I will include links the the messages at the end of this page.

Find the Loneliest Person in the Room

Don Carson, a well-known Christian leader, tells a story of his youth in a book about his father.

“When I was in my mid-teens and going through a phase when I wanted to pull away from meetings both local and regional because (I pouted) those who attend didn’t have my interest and all they care about was themselves, and much more of the same, my mother sitting quietly at her treadle sewing machine (for years she made most of our clothes). quietly quoted two or three proverbs, and then added; “He who would have friends must show himself friendly. At the next meeting, before you go into sulk, look around for the loneliest person in the room, and go and find out everything you can about that person. Then find the next loneliest person and do it again.” Inevitably I resented the advice, but I took her up on it and to my amazement was soon regarded as one of the region’s youth leaders.

Basically she was saying, “Think of others, especially the unlovely and listen to others. Care for them, don’t just try to get them to care for you.”

These message I have linked to below are not high-production, but I hope to speak directly to the concerns on the hearts of people these days. I have included links so you can share them with others who are concerned about fear, loss, disease and death.

Bittersweet Farm
April 7, 2020

Messages on Dealing With Fear, Loss, and Death.

When You Face Death and Disease

How to Face Loss

Three Ways to Deal With Fear

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