This blog address is now:

www.mattandmegancox.com

Click on the address above and you can link right into the new blog. However,this particular blog will no longer exist in a few weeks. Please change your bookmarks, “follow us” on the new site,  or just memorize our names.  If you can’t remember our names, I’m not sure why you would want to read this blog anyway.

A HUGE thanks to Ben and Sara for enabling us to have this site all these years, for putting up with all my annoying questions and changes… thank you, thank you,  Sara, for creating the new blog and transferring all the old stuff over there! I would not be blogging if it were not for you! Thank you!

Rest In Peace coxtree.com — you were a faithful friend. “It’s so hard to say good-bye to yesterday.” 

But, the last time I changed pots, something dastardly happened. It seemed okay at first, but then it stopped growing. Not only did it stop growing, it stopped producing. One by one the flowers fell off, nothing new grew in its place. The leaves withered and slowly died. A few stubborn leaves hung on, but they became grossly discolored and straggly. I  knew it would not last long in this degraded state. I tried everything in my power to save it: new lighting, more water, less water, more soil, fertilizer. Nothing worked. The months wore on and it got sicker and sicker-looking. The few pathetic leaves limped along, but it was barely alive. It looked like nothing but a pot of dirt.  I got tired of my fruitless efforts to save it and, in time, I confess, I forgot about it. I put it on the very shelf where it once prospered, and walked away.

One day, as I was cleaning, the sorry state of the plant caught my eye. To see it so listless and weak made me very sad. I didn’t want to look at it anymore. It looked like trash and I was thinking of putting it there. Yet, the memory of what it was before, when it was so verdant and alive, prevented me from throwing it out altogether. Maybe somewhere under all that dirt, there was life in there yet. So, I put it outside on the porch. Out of the artificial light, into the sunlight. I cut off all the remaining dead leaves so that nothing remained but the basic stems. I let the rain water it and the winter air refresh it. And, to my delight, it actually started to grow! New leaves appeared. They grew long and straggly at first, but hardy and strong. It’s color improved, returning to a green deeper and truer than even before. That is wonderful! I thought. It rehabilitated into a healthy, leafy plant. But still, after what its been through, surely it will never flower again.

Today, Madelyn was the first one outside on the porch. “Look Mommy! A flower! A brand new flower! It is bright and pink and alive!”  Sure enough, a soft pink bud, radiance newly birthed…

I had never really talked to plants before. But, today, I started.  I began with a greeting, and a new name. “Hello, Faith!” I said.

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(I’m working in the yard)

J: You are doing a great job, Mommy!

M: Thanks. Do you want to help me?

J: No. I have to play.

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“I didn’t toot. I stinked.”

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“I want to take these (training) wheels off so I can ride as fast as Han Solo’s spaceship!”

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“Jesus gave me the best Mommy!”

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“When I turn five I want a super-hero birthday party. When I turn six, I want fireworks!”

Shakespeare penned these words almost five hundred years ago. What was then a fresh, brilliant analogy has today become quite familiar, even cliche. This soliloquy in As You Like It continues with a witty word play on the word “stage”  describing the stages of the life cycle from infancy to death. The character, Jacques, observes that a man’s life ends as it begins: dependent and helpless. Kind of depressing, really… To illustrate how Shakespeare still influences our culture today, in my Lit. class I used the lyrics of a modern song  (  “Show the Way”)  to compare and contrast the theme with these lines from As You Like It.  Obviously, David Wilcox was familiar with Shakespeare’s verses, but I think he must also be familiar with some Bible verses, like I John 4:8b (God is love).   Using the same theatrical metaphor from Shakespeare, Wilcox’s message proves to be much more hopeful. Wilcox suggests that there is a higher power who knows the big picture. There is an author, a playwright,  the One called Love, who has written a happy ending, even when everything seems bleak. The Designer has a victory planned, we just need to hold on, keep trying, keep going… Listen here.

My favorite age-old adage (no pun intended):  “Age is the matter of the mind. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.”

I also love when I can integrate subjects. If I can use an impressionist painting to explain the concept of imagery in a particular poem, bring in praise music from Costa Rica to complement a Spanish grammar lesson, assign a research paper with a topic that pertains to their History class — I love that kind of stuff!  Recently, I got to integrate Bible with Literature — more stuff I love! Yay! (This is a secular curriculum by the way.)

Byron wrote a beautiful poem called  “The Destruction of Sennacherib”  inspired by an obscure story found in 2Kings chapter 19. Sennacherib was the king of the Assyrian Empire from 705 to 681 BC. He ruled over the Middle East, including the Northern and Southern kingdoms of Israel, specifically Jerusalem, whose leader was Hezekiah.  King Hezekiah was a godly man who brought great social reform in turning the Jews away from idols and back to their Lord, but Hezekiah wasn’t perfect. He didn’t pay his taxes  (more or less) to Sennacherib, provoking some military backlash. Sennacherib attacked not only with his massive army, but with arrogance, manipulation, and insults to the Lord Almighty.  How did Hezekiah respond? Did he reinforce his army, bunker down and prepare for battle? No. Hezekiah’s first response was to go to the temple in sackcloth and pray; the prophet Isaiah confirmed that the Lord heard the king’s prayers and would indeed save His people. What a shock to everyone one when “that night the angel of the Lord went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. When the people got there the next morning — there were all dead bodies!”  2 Kings 19:35. Wow! Yikes!

Does this story relate to us in any way? Yes!  This amazing story has a plethora of personal application in it. For example, the Lord is merciful to those who humble themselves. If you screw up, repent. If you are in trouble, pray. If you are in trouble and you are  the cause of it, pray!   The Lord is always present in the battle with us, and sometimes He actually does the fighting for us. God is POWERFUL.  Sometimes, He really shocks us. “His ways are higher,” beyond our comprehension or reason.  We don’t always understand His purposes.  His response to a situation, His solution, may be something beyond our wildest imagination. God is unpredictable, untameable,  and sometimes a little scary, but we can trust Him when He tells us that He’s got it covered.

Read Kings 18:17 — 19:36. Then this powerful poem by Byron here.