This week I am sharing from John Eldredge' book "Epic." He tells that usually we skip through the book of beginnings-Genesis and go quickly to "The Fall". But he reminds us that during creation which included, of course, the Grand Canyon, Alps, Waterfalls, Sunrises,Tropical paradises, mountains, lakes and ALL things beautiful He said "It was good."
When He created us-man and woman-made in HIS image- He said "It was VERY good". In HIS story, back at the beginning of our time on earth, a great glory was bestowed upon us. We were more glorious than all of the aforementioned things. This is mind boggling to say the least. I mean (my words,not John's :) we were walking around in the garden conversing with God for goodness sake!! How glorious is that!!! (Now back to John:) We've heard about original sin but not enough about original glory, which comes before sin and is deeper in our nature.
God created us in His image, with powers like unto His own--the ability to reason, to create, to share intimacy, to know joy. He gives us laughter and wonder and imagination. And above all else, He endows us with that one quality for which he is most known-He enables us to love.
"He has planted eternity in the human heart" Ecclesiates 3:11 There is a story that we can't seem to escape which is written on the human heart. There are longings which are unexplainable. Maybe the stories we read about or watch that move us to tears or bring joy are really telling us something about the true Story into which we were born.
It is the story we are living in. May we play our part well.
As Paul and I raise our daughter Sarah, she asks many questions about the past. How things were when we were young and when our parents were young. She wants to better understand why people did some of the things they did, "Back-in-the-day". Since Paul and I have an age difference of eighteen years between us, and he was older then most fathers, when Sarah was born, our experiences are somewhat varied. Also, Paul's dad was older, when Paul was born and there were eleven years between his mom and dad. In essence, Sarah has the experiences of over one hundred years to glean from her parents and grand parents. Sarah tries to put all these experiences into her mind and understand how different things were then, as oppose to what she experiences now.
Sarah could not understand why Paul's mom did not make home made bread in her older years, but did so all the time, when Paul was young. I explained, "Your grandma Jean, didn't have a Kitchen Aid Mixer, like mommy does. She had to mix the bread and kneed it by hand and that is hard work, especially when she was older and her hands would shake". I told Sarah that she and I would make bread together without the mixer soon, so that she would know what I was talking about. She protested, "NO, I have seen it on TV, I don't want to do that"!
When I made Thanksgiving dinner in Jean's kitchen, several years ago, I literally only had a few knives, spoons, several bowls and not much else to work with. Not even a potato peeler, till I bought her one. I introduced her to The Pampered Chef products and she was amazed.
Little does Sarah know, that I plan to make bread from scratch without a mixer today on Thanksgiving, since we are staying home and our big family dinner is on Saturday. I am doing this, in order to help us both be more thankful for all the tools we have.
Thank you God for all the wonderful tools you have given us to make wonderful food to enjoy on this day of Thanksgiving. Thank you also for the food we have to eat and share, with friends and family. Please be with others that may not be as blessed and thankful as we. Amen.
I am thankful for the safety of my home. So many tonight are unsafe. I am thankful for the kindness of friends who hear. There are so many left unseen. I am thankful for a job to do. Many have no calling. I am thankful for the healing that has come. There is much brokenness to repair. God give us the grace to respond with giving and gratitude by helping the one next to us. For while we can not fix the big hurts of the world, we can help the small one next to us.
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I can remember way back when I was in elementary school and at lunch time we all had to fold our hands and say
“Thank you for the world so sweet-Thank you for the food we eat -
Thank you for the birds that sing-Thank you God for everything”
My how times have changed. I do respect the fact that there are those that believe differently than myself. And one size does not fit all. I try to live my christian life in such a way as to “let my light shine” but also to be sensitive and not be “in your face” with my beliefs. I have absolutely no problem with others who do not believe as I do or have a different lifestyle, we work together, worship together and share together and we disagree-agreeably. But what I really dislike is others of different persuasions and lifestyles trying to use politics or force or whatever the vehicle in an attempt to force their way of thinking on others. Or those that don’t believe at all believe they have the right to the public arena but I dare not celebrate my beliefs in public.
The world being created by such is trying to shape others into a mold of their choosing.BUT this way of thinking does not win!!!
I still thank God for this world, and for my food, and for the birds that sing and I thank him for everything. I heard on Mission network news the other day that in spite of all that is going on that muslims are turning to Jesus at the rate of 1000 per day. Also, I remembered this morning of a precious Jewish lady that was dying. I visited her multiple times over those few weeks and one day she said to me in a hushed voice”Come here into the front room with me.” She stretched out on the couch and said to me-“Look right there” and she pointed to a spot in front of the fireplace-“Do you see anything.” I told her-No-not really. She replied to me “Yesterday I saw Jesus standing there-and he’s still there-he must be real isn’t he?” This led to a conversation of “Yes-He is very real and if you want to you can ask him to come live in your heart and he will” and I witnessed a staunch Jewish lady relax with only the peace that God himself brings.
These are mere tidbits-The moral of the story is this : The gospel of the Kingdom WILL be preached in all the world. The gates of hell SHALL not prevail AND as the times grow darker the light shines brighter, the darkness Cannot snuff out the light and HIS glory shall FILL all the earth as the waters cover the sea!
I am exceedingly thankful!!!
This time of year is awful for ones weight. It starts in October with Halloween. The candy I buy to "give away", ah yeah! With our family it's, "CANDY, YUM"! I've learned not to buy it several weeks before Oct. 31st. I end up buying more, like twice before trick or treat night, it's ridiculous.
My husband is the worst, for eating candy. This year I bought a Big bag of candy, I mean HUGE! I stashed it away and Paul STILL ate some, Ahh! The weather was dismal on trick or treat night, and there had been a "Trunk or Treat" near by, a few days before, so not many kids were out. Sarah helped a family in our church with a haunted porch, and Paul was in route to Florida, taking some stuff to our home there.
I gave away lots of candy, and had plenty left over. I took some to the kids who helped with the haunted porch also and still had allot left. God had reminded me of an idea I heard a few years ago, of a way to use excess candy bars after Halloween, for Christmas. So, I was thrilled to have left over candy bars.
The other night I decided to employ that idea. I usually start baking for Christmas, in October. This year, I just had not figured out my total plan for goodie trays. It's still evolving in fact.
I took those candy bars out of the freezer and had Sarah smash them up. Then I put those into the cookie batter, instead of chocolate chips. I now have one item made and placed into the freezer for Christmas trays. The candy bar cookie idea turned out great.
With a little information gathered a while back, and a reminder from my heavenly Father to put them to good use later, we can share them again, during this time of year.
There is a celebrity that decided to moon us all this week. She has no other talent or skill. She is famous for being famous. The public eye had started to tire of her and look away. So, she mooned us. Those of us UTTERLY uninterested in her behind were deluged with debate and discussion. She was considered brave and beautiful. really. Then, there was a scientist who is a bit of a nerd. He wore a racy shirt with scantily clad, but clad nonetheless, women all over it. He was shamed and his ideas not discussed. He was condemned as sexist by porn stars and preachers. The shirt was tacky. The celebrity a waste of my time.
This week also saw the end of life for a man that sought nothing but help for the downtrodden. Peter Kassig was by all records a valiant and decent human being. He worked hard to feed the hungry and bring a light on human conditions in desperate need of improving. He went to war torn areas and tried to do some good. He was beheaded for it by people of the same religion he followed. This week, Saeed Abedini, a Christian man, sat in a cell damaged from two years of abuse. His crime was coming to Iran and building an orphanage. Saeed told a man helping him that he believed in Jesus. Saeed was arrested soon after. This week, families displaced by war, because they believe in Jesus, asked only for prayer. They were given aid by International Christian Concern. Speaking of that group, here is a link to all that happened in our world from their point of view: International Christian Concern
But, my newsfeed was not filled with those stories. It was filled to the brim of PASSIONATE OPINIONS WITH ELOQUENT WORDS about the right or wrongness of this naked behind and that shirt. Please, I understand these things are funny diversions and they are good talking points with teens. Please do not make these things your entire concern. Google the needs of people in the world at war. The Johanites of Iraq, Christians in Nigeria, Buddhists in China, all of them have the right to choose what they believe and all of them need freedom from persecution. The beauty and glory of the Gospel I choose to follow is that it is everyone's free choice. Forcing others into it and forcing others away from it is wrong. Something must be done.
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Today and maybe even more so in the next 4 weeks-I want to share from other peoples writings-this week from Bill and Gloria Gaither-words taken from a Christmas Musical they wrote in 1983-we performed it as our Christmas Cantata and it still resonates in my spirit today. The musical was titled "He started the whole world singing"
"In the very beginning all of creation was full of the glory of God, and his glory flooded everything with the shining light of openness. There was beauty, there was trust. Every moment was pregnant with the seed of the Eternal. Dreams were not a fantasy but an everyday reality, and music filled the air with the song of the free.
But man misused his gift of freedom, and traded the eternal for things he could taste and hold. The dream of perfection became a dim memory and the lovely song was shattered into confused fragments and broken chords.
Still God did not desert His creation. No, instead, He made a promise to those who would hear His voice and seek His face, a promise to one day make a way to restore the lost glory to their lives and re-weave the broken song.
The years of waiting were long and hard. Those who believed the promise were often persecuted and ridiculed and driven from their homes. The sound of Hope sometimes grew dim in their ears, and they were no strangers to doubt.
But Hope did come! It broke like the dawn on a dark lonely hillside in a song so glorious it could not be denied, even by the dullest of ears.
Yes! The song was Jesus, and in Him God kept His promise. It was not just a carol that burst forth on that first Christmas night; it was the Source of all music,born; it was the living "Word made flesh" ;
it was the promised glory.....returned!
....and what the Song had to say....was that Love found a way.....to start the world singing the song!
This week has been interesting. My husband Paul had gone to Florida, to take some bulky items to our other home there. On his way back, he picked up the minivan we purchased from my sister. Our final payment was there before Paul arrived. I wasn't near the post office to mail it, till later & I didn't know if it would arrive before Paul, thankfully it did. So, with a plane trip, minivan payment and still working on our home remodel in West Virginia, we were a bit tight on funds. We have some extra money put back over time for this, we call our stash. Lets just say it has significantly dwindled. This is not totally foreign to us, but we usually have resources over and above necessity.
Like most people I really don't like these times, but I've come to realize, it's just life. Sometimes we have plenty extra of everything and we are generous with that extra when we have it. In those times, we put back a bit for when we don't have extra. I don't want to rely on what I have put back and hold on to it like a life raft, and I don't want to freak out when things are tight. So I have learned to enjoy the plenty and do with what I have, in the less. Like the Apostle Paul said in Philippians 4:12 & 13, "I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I
have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation,
whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength." What is the secret? Rely on God for everything and realize He has my back no matter what.
During this week of less, my husband was given a fuse for our new-to-us minivan, by simply asking if a clerk had one in stock. An unknown man overheard there was none in stock, and said to Paul, "Here, I got this for my van but it doesn't fit, take it, maybe it will fit yours." It fit! I used the last of the paper towels and instead of going to the store and spending a whole dollar-ish, which I had, I thought I would wait till the weekend when I buy groceries. My bosses wife said to me, CVS has free paper towels next door with your coupon card. So, I walked over and got some, free of charge, yay! I went to the store to get my beloved mineral water and found it on sale, while salad was only $.69, which we love, and had just finished up.
So, I think my heavenly Father has my back, even when I need napkins, because he gave me those too. Yes, paper products are on my list of groceries this week. I'm just glad God has extra of everything, when I run out.
Yesterday was Veteran's Day and as per usual, my mother put a stunning picture of my Pappy (Irish Grandfather) on her facebook. He served in WWII in Iwo Jima. I was reminded of the very safe person Pappy was. He was comfortable and gentle, loving and kind. And yet, TOUGH AS NAILS.
My mom loves telling certain parts of my birth story and the others are just too painful. But the part about Pappy is everyone's favorite. I was a scheduled Cesarian that went wrong. The pressure of the birth canal was absent and my lungs needed the push to start. I was blue. I wasn't crying because I was focused on breathing. My mother started to fill with anxiety and in the cruelty of the era, she was sedated. I was taken to the baby ward and my writhing form was placed in a pressurized isolette filled with oxygen. My Pappy stood guard. He stood long hours and prayed. He fought by my side against the deficiency in my lungs. My Grandmother would remark that "He prayed you pink." Hands on the sheet of glass separating he did not stop fighting. He did not leave my side until I was oxygenated, calm, and sure to survive. He then found Mom who by this time was awake and told her that God had done the work. His strength was humility.
On days when I feel beat up, lied about, and crushed by hateful words so that I am barely able to breath, I remember that God put a Warrior on my path to fight for me with love. He loves when I have none left. He gives when I am empty and He heals what I have no power to fix. Jesus stands by my side now hands on my heart speaking love over me. He reminds me I was chosen to exist and that He has an amazing plan. He reminds me that Mom and I could have easily died that day but that He kept us both here. We laugh about my favorite rock and roll quote that is also my favorite piece of existential philosophy, "Think of me what you will. I have a little space to fill." (Tom Petty)
I do have a space to fill. I do have a job to do. I choose to put in my daily life those who will tell me when I'm wrong in a loving way and those who will applaud what I do right much more loudly. But, in all things I remember humility and love. Pappy laid down an example in those areas I will never forget and choose to live out now.
I've just spent a really long time trying to say things that aren't aloud. I'm sure you have a closet full too. If you can't think of any right now, give it a month.
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