Wealth …
or Poverty?
Health …
or Pain?
Honor …
or Shame?
Synergy …
or Shackles?
Desire for gain and fear of loss are two extremely
powerful motivators. Regardless of personal worldview, happiness and hazards drive
us all.
But, it is the starting points that make a huge
difference.
Do you seek to plumb the “wisdom” of ancient eastern
religions, channeling some spirit guide from a distant past under the tutelage
of a powerful master?
Do you seek to embody the best of Greek philosophy and
common sense? To “redefine the wheel” and recreate a “fine human driven
cultural space” before your life is past?
Do you ride the laurels of American Christian tradition, telling
stories of bygone hardships, faith and family while feasting on as many
personal comforts as possible?
What is your starting point?
Last night my wife and I had a conversation before
drifting into sleep.
J: “How
was your day?”
B: ”Wearying.
It seems all I do is handle sheep and make cheese.”
J: “I am
tired too. I spent most of the day installing wiring in a crawl space.”
B: “Is
this the rest of my life?”
Why do we do what we do? Why do you do what you do? Why
put up with pain? Why hope? What for?
Our teenage and young adult expectations of cheerful
service gave way to the sober realization that America (and Canada) was
changing. The relative simplicity and sunshine of our childhood sixties lifestyle
darkened into the wars and protests of Vietnam, the fatigue of mortgaged homes
and working moms, and the crumbling of Judeo-Christian piety into a utilitarian
all-religions marketplace presided over by the painted high priestesses of
media and humanistic education.
By the time our first daughter was born, we were
questioning the system, looking for a
better way. Two decades ago, we also questioned a church culture that was
increasingly fragmented within, and indistinguishable from modern culture
without.
We laid modern wisdom beside ancient ways. We contrasted
what pewmates honored in the church parking lot with what was actually in the
Book of books. We often found very direct contradictions.
- We noted the ancient Biblical texts identifying lower and higher wisdom, using imagery of a healthy, joyful land. Some Christian leaders said that in a modern, non-agricultural society, plants, animals and land did not matter so much, so ignore the farm and field vignettes in the Book.
“…saith
the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways
higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
For as the rain comes down, and the snow from
heaven, and returns not there, but waters the earth, and makes it bring forth
and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goes forth out of my
mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I
please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with
peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing,
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the
thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the
myrtle tree: and it shall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting sign that
shall not be cut off. [Isaiah 55:8-13]
- We noted the proverbs of Solomon joining labor, land, and family; and frowning upon loan driven, get rich quick schemes.We compared this with pewmates admiration of credit ratings and rocketing business success, and their distaste for soil toughened hands.
He
that tills his land shall have plenty of bread: but he that follows after vain persons
shall have poverty enough.
Prepare your work without, and make it fit for yourself in the field; and
afterwards build your house.
A faithful man shall abound with blessings: but he that makes
haste to be rich shall not be innocent.
The
rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender. [Proverbs 28:19, 24:27, 28:20, 22:7]
- We saw the ancient culture war, now re-incarnated in Common Core and Planned Parenthood, between culture/government/mega corporation driven, genocidal destruction of “unwanted” children, and the power of “large” families in decentralized, town hall oriented society. We saw fellow church members speaking against abortion, yet using the morning after pill, and mocking our larger family. We also saw the unchurched admiring our children, and expressing grief over their own children who were imploding in their progressive world.
A Song of degrees for Solomon. Except the LORD build
the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city,
the watchman wakes but in vain. It is vain for you to rise up
early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he gives his
beloved sleep.
Lo, children are
an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the
youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall
not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate. (place of
public policy) [Psalm 127]
Now there
arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph. And he said unto his
people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and
mightier than we: Come on, let us deal
wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when a war
begins, they join also our enemies, and fight against us, and so go up
out of the land…
… And the king of Egypt spoke to
the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the
name of the other Puah: And he said, When you act as midwife to the Hebrew
women, and see them upon the stools; if it be a son, then you
shall kill him: but if it be a daughter, then she shall live. But the
midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved
the male children alive.
And the king of Egypt called for the midwives, and
said unto them, Why have you done this thing, and have saved the male children
alive? And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are
not as the Egyptian women; for they are fast, and deliver before the
midwives come to them.
Therefore God
dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and grew very mighty. And
it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he made them houses. And
Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born you shall cast
into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive. [Exodus 1:15-22]
So, we bought an acreage. We bought and milked sheep. We
dreamed and started family business. We back burnered religious and non profit
leadership, and invested in children, our own children! We offended certain church program leaders,
whose efforts we did not join. We found ourselves in their frying pan.
I left the white collar world of centralized planning and
media marketed consumerism. I
apprenticed four years as an electrician. I got callouses on my hands, and a
host of street wise blue collar friends.
We let the children come. After the age of thirty, every
two years or so, a new life was added, until natural processes moved us beyond
child bearing. We home schooled, a definite chore, but much more blessing than
burden. In early years, we shaped our children’s worldview. Now, they challenge
other worldviews.
We are aging. In the mid fifties, there is not the same
spin at the end of the day. In fifteen years, we reach the age where death is
expected. Yet, I am not depressed.
In the world of local public policy, which I have
observed more closely in the last two years, I see in most conservative and
progressive public policy leaders a common feature. Their activism is not
strongly supported by their children. Whether “reformed” hippie professors in
the colleges, retired couples on their dream acreage, or weary farmers trying
to get the planting, harvesting and milking done, there is a shortage of young
people. In the public square, it is mostly old people competing with old
people. Where there are public policy grants, there are usually young people.
Many young people, exiting college with a vision of living
close to the land, find American public policy actually very unfriendly to a land based, sustainable
lifestyle. Agenda 21 trained public planners make value added agriculture very
difficult to do. They are largely faux experts. Their college degrees are not
laurels, but boat anchors, hindering them and the people whose assets and
values they “plan” for.
Again, last night I talked with a local family who are working
on final approvals to market value added dairy products. Their dealings with
Whatcom County Planning and Development Services, the Whatcom County Health Department, and the
Washington State Department of Ecology have been irregular, expensive, and with
significant manipulative, “precautionary”, asset hijacking hammers and carrots.
They have been hesitant to speak out for fear the government approval processes
will be stalled.
For example, the milky water waste from this creamery’s
wash down is treated as a pollutant to be hauled at significant cost,
“unrecycled” to a septic disposal facility. The benefits of milky irrigation
water in increasing organic soil life escape the local bureaucratic mavens who
are saving the land. Or, perhaps, this is ancient eastern wisdom, as if every
molecule of foreign milk substance that rests on a dirt clod in Whatcom County could
reduce the quality of life somewhere in China or Timbuktu. Gads!!
Education and the future? Progressive legislators are
increasingly doubling down with provisions to micro manage families and homes
that don’t “meet the standards”. I have linked to a report of “in your face” child oversight laws that outlines a
pattern of fires that are being set in homes, schools and hospitals. A second freedom
advocate connects six threatening realities with the one world, big UN corporate and government agenda.
Is Agenda 21 real? Why don’t you see it in Whatcom
County? Read some quotes on pages 3, 5, 6 and 9 of Millenium Papers ISSUE 2: The Future
of Local Agenda 21 in the New Millennium by J. Gary Lawrence, 2002,
UNED-UK, London, England.
Frying pan or fire? Does it matter? I have no regrets
over being roasted by church friends for living out the Bible’s wisdom on
sustainable living. Or, burned in the fires of progressive ideology with its attacks
on Biblical wisdom that are moving fast and threaten to vaporize conservatives. It is comforting to know the hidden hand
controls both fire and frying pan.
And, it is refreshing to be working with my neighbors who
care about these things, and are ferreting out “sustainable operatives” who hide amid and booby trap the freedoms we enjoy.
You might also find this brag piece by Terra Strategies
on their “success” in electing Browne,
Buchanan, Mann and Wiemer, last fall interesting. Then read these exposes on Tom Steyer.
-- JK
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