Gold in the Grass

As World War II comes to an end, an injured Canadian veteran and his nurse fall in love, marry and purchase a worn out, run down 100 acre farm near Ontario; they dream of a quiet country life. Gold in the Grass: Rags to Riches Through Soil Reclamation and Sustainable Farming - A Back-to-the-Land Adventure from 1954 by Margaret L Leatherbarrow is their story. While their neighbors are making bets as to how long they will last, they transform a non-producing farm into their private Utopia using sustainable agriculture. It is a heartwarming story. I would have never picked it up. My husband purchased it. His review is here.

In my opinion, this book fails as a how-to book. It isn't written as a manual. It is an autobiography written by a woman passionate about the life she and her husband built together. What kept me reading was Leatherbarrow's wisdom. I felt like I was reading a book written by an older woman who was sharing a lifetime of knowledge. I was surprised when I got to the last page of the book. The book was written only 7 years after she and her husband began her adventure. Leatherbarrow must have still been fairly young. Much younger than I am now.

Yet, she has something to say about:

God:

"God said I am the Truth. He did not say I am what you choose to believe." (page 68)

It would e more correct to say Jesus said I am the Truth (John:6). Most Christians would recognize this as one of the "I AM" assertions of Christ. But, I believe Jesus is God incarnate, I fully agree with her assessment. A real God has real attributes and power. His activities are just as real. When I choose to make him little enough to fit in my brain or to my agenda, his attributes do not change to fit my mind picture. I am just not nearly powerful enough to control who and what God is. It is my responsibility to get to know the real God.

Human Nature: Early in their adventure, while still struggling, seasoned farmers refused to share their knowledge with them. Leatherbarrow writes:

"The secretiveness borne of greed, a common trait of man all through our civilization, keeps us grovelling like the miserable creatures our greed has made us become. We war with one another, be it the individual or the entire race, having lost faith to such an extent we can't trust one another any more. In church we pray for blessings individually. In or homes we seek the comforts we desire with no care for the individual or community good. We will take ever by force, yet give nothing." (page 128)

Disability Acceptance:

"There is no point in attempting something you are not physically capable of accomplishing. A healthy individual is one who, recognizing this handicap, accepts it and works according to his ability, not focing himself to do what is impossible, just because he'd like to be able to do it." (page 168)

It was her shared wisdom that made the book worth reading. My husband gave the book 5-stars. I would not. My rating scheme doesn't make allowances for giving every book a 5-star rating. That rating is saved for those books whose content makes me think about something a new way and changes who I am. Gold in the Grass did not. Neither would I give it 4-stars. In my economy this is a three star book, a book I would recommend you bring to read while you lie in the sun, wait for your car to be repaired, recover from surgery or escape from the stressors of your real life. A book that is entirely delightful but not life changing.

A Prayer to Our Father

When I read Meet the Rabbis: Rabbinic Thought and the Teachings of Jesus by Brad H. Young, I was introduced to the idea that the prayer Jesus taught his disciples, commonly called the Lord's Prayer, was very much like the prayer that ancient teachers of Judaism taught their students. I had read the Shemoneh Esreh and noted that, like the Lord's Prayer, it starts and ends with prais and worship. The Shemoneh Esreh also contains prayers surrendering to God's as King, requests for God's provision and care, prayers asking for forgiveness and guidance. This ancient Jewish prayer is indeed very much like the Lord's Prayer.

I thought that Prayer To Our Father: Hebrew Origins of the Lord's Prayer by Nehemia Gordon and Keith Johnson would complete or at least add to my initial investigation into the Jewishness Lord's Prayer. And, I was right. But, it did it in an entirely different way. Nehemiah Gordon is a Karaite Jew. For those unfamiliar with Karaitism, just think of them as Jewish men and women who have fully embraced the sola scriptura. Arguments about the value and place for traditions of man are not the sole property of the Western Church. Because Gordon is a scripturalist, the book focused on words, the history of words, and putting those words in the culture of the ancient Jewish man and woman. I love words!

"Matthew composed his history in the Hebrew dialect, and everyone translated it as he was able." ~ Papias of Hierapolis

St. Jerome testified that the Nazarenes used a Hebrew Matthew as late as the 4th century. Gordon and Johnson argue that the Shem Tov Matthew descended from one of these ancient Hebrew documents (rather than being translated into Hebrew from a Greek source). They then go on to analyze each phrase in the Lord's Prayer, or the Avinu (Our Father) Prayer. The style of writing is autobiographical. And, for those interested, there of photos on facebook of the sites that the authors visited in Israel while researching the book.

Our Father in Heaven.

May your name be sanctified.

May your kingdom be blessed.

Your will shall be done in heaven and on earth.

Give us our bread continually/daily

Forgive us the debt of our sins as we forgive the debt of those who sin against us.

Do not bring us into the hands of a test,

and protect us from all evil.

Amen.

This is an excellent book; I highly recommend it.