MORNING 'JOY MEDICINE'

Need a boost? Check out this old video of the song “Zippity Do Dah” from a 1946 Disney animated film (skip any preceding ads): original zippity do dah disney song - Search  Also, multiple renditions at Bing Videos . This selection featuring one quick cartooned clip always amuses me: Bing Videos. It's enjoyed a renewal in other Disney promotions and even a Muppet Show airing. Though the film version of the real “Johnny” (real name, John Chapman, 1774-1845) bent a lot of facts, it still provided a message of “joy in nature” that is common in American folklore.

This classic little song came to mind recently when I found a negative message in my daily E-mail. In putting it up to the "truth test," I  thanked the Lord that He fully knew me, that the message was warped, and that His love was big enough to cover me and help me pray for the unhappy sender. I can't stroll through an orchard singing like an animated “Johnny Appleseed,” but I can seek reminders to invite joy into my life. And in that journey-to-joy, the Lord lovingly reminds me that He is pleased with me.

I guess it's the difference (as one writer put it) between “Good morning, Lord” and the negative, “Grr, morning again.”

I tend to awaken early, and in warmer weather when the window is open, I savor the sounds emerging with day's beginning, especially the local birds chorusing to each other from nearby trees. I ease into my day. I don't pop on the radio or television, or quickly scan E-mail right off. I remember of Matthew 6:26: “Look at the birds of the air. They do not sow or reap or gather into barns—and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” My day begins, quietly, with Him--"fed" by scripture and prayer.

Here's a little-known fact about the apple trees Chapman (“Johnny Appleseed”) left in his planting journeys. He adhered to a religion outside of orthodox Christianity, and he didn't believe in techniques like grafting to improve his apples. Thus, the trees he planted reportedly produced small and bitter apples, useful only for cider, not the sweeter apple dishes like pies. However, his trees' cider was nutritious, and lots safer to drink than local water available in the late 1700s/early 1800s.

Well, every history story has its darker side, this one included. But this real-life yet legendary man was out there doing something to help others. And history took note. Which is to conclude: how will my life have made a difference? At my funeral, will people mention “fruits” (the spiritual type, not apples!)? Will they say that I tried to lift up Jesus? Or, to borrow from Disney's song, had I invited the bluebird of Christ-joy (“the truth, exactly”) to come along on my shoulder?

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To recall the song, try these links. Skip the sandwich ad beforehand at Bing Videos . There are multiple renditions at Bing Videos

Sweet treats

Spring’s first strawberries to hit stores are hard to resist—big, plump, appealing to winter-starved tasted buds. But usually something is missing: true flavor. Those early Goliaths, probably forced in greenhouses, simply taste flat. So this year, when my husband brought home some clearance strawberry plants, I was eager to plant them for real taste.  My usual planting spot now ant-ridden, I decided to put these in pots in another part of the yard.  When the first ones reddened, ah…there is nothing like a tiny, vine-ripened strawberry.

The deliciousness of true fruit is aptly used in the Bible’s analogy of the “fruit of the spirit.”  Probably best known is Paul’s Galatians 5:22-23 list of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

But I wonder if it’s easy to get stuck in familiar lists. Wherever the Bible talks about good character, those all are “fruits” of a life connected to God. Proverbs, for example, is plum (pun intended) full of observations of good (and bad) character. But one list I’ve been drawn to lately is in Peter’s second letter, where he talks about progressive holy character.

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness, and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.(2 Peter 1:5-8)

Consider how Eugene Peterson paraphrased the same passage in The Message:

So don’t lose a minute in building on what you’ve been given, completing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others.

Time—and the nourishment of soil, water, and sun—produce the sweetest strawberries, So, too, our faith. We need time on the divine “Vine”—staying connected to Jesus—to offer a sweet “taste” of Him to the world.

Some people read Psalm 34:8 (“O taste and see that the LORD is good” ) and think of workers in food warehouse stores, white mesh nets over their hair, standing at promotion carts with little taste-cups of featured food. One way non-Christians get “tastes” of God is through the lives of believers who are manifesting godly traits like “reverent wonder” and “generous love.” All the more reason to “ripen” with godly character, such as those character qualities in lists like the apostle Peter’s.

In the meantime, anybody for a bowl of cereal with a just-picked ruby prize?  There might be enough for two in my backyard pots.