Tag Archives: faith

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Harmony

Barker Family 1972

While growing up our family car rides always included singing. Our parents had been in a quartet in college and both my mother and father had beautiful singing voices. They could harmonize on any song – even while learning a new song – which still amazes me to this day. How do you harmonize to a melody you are hearing for the first time?!

So while we traveled we sang. The majority if our songs were hymns and gospel songs, although we sang lots of “camp fire” tunes and sing-a-longs. I always sang the melody – someone had to. My brothers can also harmonize, but I never developed that talent. I always stuck to the melody because that is what I heard in my head.

Our family traveled quite a bit when I was small. We went to South Dakota one summer where my father taught at the Wheaton College Science Station in the Black Hills. We lived in Boulder, Colorado the year I was in third grade because my father attended University of Colorado on a National Science Foundation Grant. Then we traveled to North Carolina beginning in 1958 in the summer where my father worked as a seasonal ranger for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. When my parents bought a campground in North Carolina with another family from Wheaton, the Days, and we traveled back and forth to the mountains of North Carolina three times a year, staying each summer from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

I LOVED those trips in the car! We would sing for many miles taking turns to pick the songs we would sing. As my brothers and I got older we sang lots of folk songs – Peter, Paul, and Mary were my favorites. My father particularly enjoyed the Southern Gospel Songs and looking back, I realize now it was probably because of the harmony in those songs.

When I hear voices united in harmony it touches me deeply. There is something so special in hearing various voices singing different parts that join together to make harmony. The Cambridge dictionary defines harmony as – a pleasing combination of different parts, peaceful agreement between people, or the simultaneous sounding of musical notes to create a pleasant sound.

In music that “simultaneous sounding of musical notes to create a pleasant sound” is plainly evident to most people. Our ears cringe when we hear notes that don’t blend in – it is not pleasant! There are some people who are “tone deaf”. These individuals don’t hear notes blend or notice when they don’t. Generally speaking most of us recognize music that is in harmony and we also know when it is not.

I was pondering this after reading John 17 during our Bible study last week. This is the chapter where Jesus prays for us before he is arrested and eventually crucified. Jesus prays for us – verse 20 says –

20 “I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. 21 I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.

Jesus is praying that we will be ONE – in harmony – why? Jesus knows he will be crucified, buried, and rise again ultimately returning to his Father in heaven. Yet in the midst of this agony he faces, Jesus prays for us – ” All who will ever believe in me”.

Jesus wants us to be ONE – in harmony – so that the world will believe God sent Jesus. Just as we know if notes are sung or played in harmony – the world recognizes if the followers of Jesus are living in harmony. The part of the definition of harmony that fits here is – peaceful agreement between people. When the world sees the Body of Christ – the Church – attacking one another – fusing and fighting over doctrine or Biblical interpretations it is obvious there is no harmony. Why would the world believe that God sent Jesus to save the world when his children can’t live in harmony and love one another?

These are divisive times in our world, our country, our community, and even in families. The Lord has convicted me with my own thoughts and actions. How I am responding to his desire that I live in harmony with my brothers and sisters in Christ? Do I let issues drive a wedge between me and my fellow Christians? Do I let anything bring disharmony into my family?

Jesus prayed that we would be ONE as he and the Father are ONE.

I can be a part of answering Jesus’ prayer by living in harmony with my family and my sisters and brothers in Christ.

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His Legacy Endures

My father, Clayton Barker, would have been 102 last month. He has joined that “great cloud of witnesses” cheering us on and I often sense his presence doing just that. What a legacy of love he has left! A few months ago I received a package in the mail. It had a return address I didn’t recognize, but gradually a recent email came to my mind that asked me for my address. This message was from someone who was going through their parents’ things and came across two wooden bowls my father had turned. He always signed his name with a wood burning tool and also wrote the type of wood the bowl was made of.

The following note was enclosed when the package arrived –

“Clayton Barker was a special man. I knew him as one of my high school teachers and the operator of Holly Cove (Campground). I spent many summer vacations at Holly Cove with my parents in our pop up trailer. Some of my best memories are from Holly Cove. That was a special time – Sunday morning breakfast and church service, the pool, the little pond, nature hikes with Mr. Barker, catching snakes, lizards, turtles and frogs, hiking, buying hot dogs and marshmallows at the camp store. As a biology teacher, he taught me about the “miracle of creation”. To this day I credit him with much of my enjoyment of nature. He had the ability to describe the intricacies of God’s creation in a way that came alive.

This former student of my father’s had come across the bowls my father had given her parents and thought I would like to have them. Since we have grandchildren I can pass the bowls on to them and the bowls are greatly appreciated!

The lovely expression in the note of the impact my father had on her life made me reflect on the legacy my father left on so many others, not just on me and my brothers. He LOVED to teach. He taught high school biology for 40 years. The first 33 years were at Wheaton Central High School, the last 7 at a mission school in Taiwan. He was a seasonal naturalist in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park for several summers and conducted nature hikes and evening talks about the plants and animals of the Great Smokies. He began turning wooden bowls in his 70’s and taught many others how to turn wood. He was even teaching woodturning at age 91 just before he died.

The above picture is taken with one of his great grandsons. My father is “teaching” Caleb something about the worm he just brought “Great Grandpa Barker” to see.

The greatest legacy my father left was his deep love for God and His creation his desire to walk with the Lord his entire life.

As Dad was fading away the final 3 weeks of his life here on earth (he had been teaching woodturning and was weeding the flower garden until those last weeks) he went through various tests to determine his waning strength. It was finally determined he had a fast moving lymphoma. I was with my older brother and mother at his bedside when the oncologist told him about the lymphoma. “We don’t usually recommend chemotherapy for someone at 91 years of age. Yet if you want us to pursue treatment, that is your decision. If you choose not to, do you understand what that means”

“Yes”, my Father replied, “It means I will go be with my Heavenly Father who I have walked with all these years.”

My father lived a life of faith and he died peacefully that week expressing his faith. What a gift to my Mother, my brothers, and I!

Paul wrote to Timothy in II Timothy 4: 6-8 NLT –


6 As for me, my life has already been poured out as an offering to God. The time of my death is near. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful. 8 And now the prize awaits me—the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of his return. And the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to his appearing.

The legacy my father left endures – the greatest Father’s Day gift of all.

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Transplants

Each of these flowers shown above I have transplanted – either from a friend’s yard, or within my own yard. Thankfully they have thrived in their new locations and even grown producing more blooms. My husband Phil, my “hole digger”, has been known to ask “didn’t we move that plant a couple years ago?” The answer is yes, because our yard is an ever changing landscape.

We have lived in our current location 21 years and the environment in our yard has changed. Where there had once been abundant sun, now we have shade. The sun hasn’t changed, it still shines and warms the earth just as God intended it to. We have planted trees in honor of each of our grandchildren and as those trees have grown, so have the shaded areas of our yard. So, if plants that love sun are growing in the shade, I must transplant them if I want them to bloom.

Transplanting can be traumatic for plants. Peonies may take a year or two to adapt to a new location before they start blooming again. I was walking around our yard with my friend Alice Marie. We were looking at plants growing in the shade. She commented “You know that saying “bloom where you are planted” doesn’t always hold true.” The light bulb in my brain went off – “You are right, Alice Marie!” I replied. I had recently moved a lily and a peony from just this area because they would NEVER have bloomed where they were planted.

That caused me to think about our lives. As we follow Jesus in our journey through life we will face dry, unproductive periods. These dry seasons of life may have multiple causes. Sometimes it is burn out, sometimes circumstances have changed, sometimes we have changed. Maybe we need to consider a change in environment.

Another friend, Joyce, has recently decided, after much prayer and seeking God’s guidance, to move to Texas. She is leaving her beloved mountains because she wants to be near her grandchildren and have a positive impact on their lives. “My granddaughters won’t even know me except for a once a year visit and Facetime calls.” Joyce told me. “I know this is such an important time in their lives and I feel the Lord wants me to be near them.” So Joyce is being transplanted. Her house has sold and she is planning to move, with her daughters blessing, to Texas. I know Joyce will eventually bloom there and be a blessing to her family.

As we age, sometimes we need to be willing to be transplanted. My parents sold their home and came to live in our home for 8 1/2 years. Then they transplanted again to a retirement community near one of my brothers. Each move had challenges and rewards and God used each move to further their growth in Him. My older brother and his wife moved to a location between two of his children in Oregon, again, to be closer to family. God has led them to serve in their new community in ways they didn’t anticipate.

In the Bible God moves people around, sometimes willingly and sometimes with resistance, yet always to further His purpose in their lives. Think of Abraham, Ruth, Jonah, and Paul, to name a few. Just as my yard is an ever changing landscape, so are our lives as we follow Jesus. We may experience great things in our lives and feel that they are moving along well, then suddenly we aren’t. It may be God preparing us for a change – a move. It is important to exercise caution, though. If we transplant just because we are facing a trial, we may miss the lesson God is teaching through that trial in our current location. Sometimes a move may not be to a new location, it may be a change in our hearts. Yet other times it may require uprooting us and placing us somewhere where we can bloom again.

In Matthew 7:15-20 Jesus is warning his followers of dangers of listening to false teaching and the resulting baroness –

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.

We need to examine the fruit in our lives. The fruit of the Holy Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. If this fruit is not currently evident in our lives, it may be time for a transplant. A new location may allow us to bloom and bare fruit again allowing us to fulfill God’s purposes in our lives.