From the Sewing Room ~ Hagrid's Quilt

My daughter has taken a liking to Hagrid's Hut. She's in the process of decorating a sitting room like that. She found a similar chair on Craig's list, a lantern on Etsy, a few other items here and there, and is on the hunt for adding little touches every now and then to bring it together.

I googled pictures of Hagrid's Hut to see what she's going for (to each his own!), and my eye caught the quilt thrown across his chair. Upon closer examination, I see that it's all scrappy and mis-matched--I suppose as a mid-sized giant who lives in a hut in the forest would have it. I thought it would be a nice surprise if I made a similar one for her.

The mis-matching took much more time than if I could have worked with strip sets, but I wanted it to resemble Hagrid's quilt as much as I could manage from the pictures. It doesn't look like much yet, but I've finished the center portion of the quilt so far. Some washing and putting it in the sun to fade will help bring about the "look."

When she came to pick up the kiddos after their visit with us, she was talking about her Hagrid room. In the conversation, she mentioned the quilt--that someday she may have the time to make it. Although I had intended to surprise her with it, I couldn't contain myself and showed it to her. She was elated! As I finish working on it, I know it will be excitedly received. Joy to a quilter's heart!

Thankful Thursday ~ My Beloved

Expressing gratitude too often lies silent in the heart. As Thanksgiving approaches, I'm taking Thursdays to offer a word of thankfulness for specific blessings that God has bestowed in my life.

Today I've been thinking how much I appreciate My Beloved. There are a myriad of reasons, but something I heard someone say this morning made gratitude for him bubble up. The lady commented that "when a man retires, his work is done; but when a woman retires, she still has work to do." Perhaps her hubby leaves all the inside and outside work to her, all the business details, all the grocery shopping, etc. etc., but I doubt it.

However it may be with them or others, I'm so very grateful that My Beloved shares in responsibilities around the home now that he is retired. And when he sees that I'm not having time to give attention to some things, he goes ahead and tends to it, like throwing the clothes in the washer and getting it done (like yesterday). Other days I seem to have more free time than he does. We do life together.

I'm so appreciative of My Beloved's thoughtfulness that produces helpfulness, all born out of a heart of unselfish love, compelled by our Father above. Thank you, My Beloved.

Painting ~ Little Spooners, Norman Rockwell

Thankful Thursday ~ For Grandchildren

The autumn season sets me in mind to be grateful for God's abundant blessings, so I thought I'd take a few minutes  on Thursdays as we journey into Thanksgiving to offer a word of gratitude.

Every good thing given and perfect gift is from above (James 1:7).

We picked up our grandchildren today for a few days stay while their parents attend a conference. They live several states away, so our visits are few and far between. But we relish the times we do get to be together and are thankful that we can. I know many grandparents who have their grandchildren living nearby and get to see them often. You are blessed, indeed. As one grandmother puts it, "All of our children and grandchildren live within 2 miles of us so our home is always full of lively, joyful love." So happy for her, but there are also those who don't get to see their grandchildren much at all, or maybe not at all. This is difficult.

Each time we see our sweet ones, they've grown and changed. So, as much as we'd love to see them more, I'm so very thankful that we get to have them visit every now and then. It does a heart good... until they have to leave. <sigh>

Domesticity ~ From the Kitchen

Domesticity ~ devoted to home duties and pleasures

Taking Carrots with Dill & Brown Sugar to small group tonight. Thought I'd share the simple recipe.

3 cups peeled and sliced or frozen carrots
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 and 1/4 tsp dried dill weed
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper

Cook carrots until tender. Drain water. Stir in butter, brown sugar, dill, salt & pepper.

Woman Peeling Carrots, Gerard Dou 1613-1675

Quiet Time Thoughts On Trials

I took my mother to the doctor today...and last week..and she goes again next week.... Her medication had been changed and now increased. She was feeling tired and weary, but she came away from the doctor today cheerful and encouraged. Why? Because he said that although the new medication is making her feel bad for awhile, that when it has its full effect she will feel much better--so please endure it and press on.

We have friends in our small group on Wednesdays who have also had serious health complications, who also must endure and press on, and are themselves rejoicing in how they're coming along. Trials in life are inevitable. How we respond is up to us and our faith.

As I thought back to Mom's visit with her doctor today, my mind went to James 1:2-5--

Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

We're better able to tolerate trials when we know there's going to be a positive outcome. Mom is looking forward to feeling better and having the medication do its job, so she's willing to endure. When we don't know what the outcome of our trial might be, though, we tend to be beaten down beneath it. If you're like me, we tend to focus on the trial and not its outcome. Or, that the outcome will be the worst possible.

James tells us that the trials we go through test our faith. Is our faith real? If it is, then the trial will produce endurance, that inner quality of strength. Over the years, I've seen my mother go through various trials--caring for my handicapped sister, having blood clots throughout her life, colon cancer, a house fire that destroyed most of what they had, and I'm sure many other trials that I know little or nothing about.

Endurance also carries with it a sense of expectancy, of knowing there will be relief or reward. The perfect result of endurance is that we realize that we really lack nothing. Which is how we can consider it joy when we encounter our trials, knowing that God is at work.

We can struggle against trials, and thus despair, or we can let God do His work, knowing that all things work together for good to those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose...to be conformed to the image of His Son....(Romans 8:28-29).

Trials are an essential part of building our faith. The strengthening of our faith produces in us Christlikeness. As I heard someone say who was undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer--"If this is to strengthen my faith, bring it on!"

I'm not there yet, and may never be, but I do want to view my trials as faith-builders. I know it's an ongoing process. It's only through God's grace and mercy, though, that I can.

Painting ~ Evening At Home, Edward John Poynter 1888

Recommending ....

If you're like me, you try to get news from various angles. That means looking beyond the mainstream media. Recommending to you today World Magazine. Their mission statement:

To report, interpret, and illustrate the news in a timely, accurate, enjoyable, and arresting fashion from a perspective committed to the Bible as the inerrant Word of God.

It's that perspective that I especially look for. In addition to news articles, their Voices articles by a variety of writers give much food for thought, and their book reviews help direct me to further reading. I could do without their music and movie reviews, but I realize there are some who are still stuck in the muck of current culture.

We've subscribed to World for many years, going back to when our daughters were still at home. There are special issues just for children, which aids parents/teachers as they help their children sort through the chaos of the culture. World Magazine was a tremendous resource when we were homeschooling high school. It continues to be our go-to for a biblical perspective on our crazy world.

You can click on the image above to take a look for yourself. You can also check out the World Radio site at wng.org/radio.

Sunday Ponderings ~ Totally Awesome!

Crater Lake National Park, Oregon

Pondering today on an article in today's Parade Magazine on the feeling of awe. You may have read it and had the same reaction that I did. The author described the feeling of awe:

“Awe is the feeling of being in the presence of something vast or beyond human scale, that transcends our current understanding of things,” says psychologist Dacher Keltner, who heads the University of California, Berkeley’s Social Interaction Lab.

We might say that it's a response to something that takes our breath away or leaves us speechless. I felt that way this week when we took a day trip to Palasaides Park and saw the beautiful mountain vista stretched out before us. Our daughter has spoken of the same feeling when she and her husband hiked to Oregon's Crater Lake. The author has it right--we are wired to feel awe, but there is something much more transcending than "to get us to act in more collaborative ways, ensuring our survival." 

Yes, "we realize we’re a small part of something much larger. Our thinking shifts from me to we." But the we is not just you and me, the we is mostly God because it's really about Him. The heavens declare the glory of God. It is His glory that transcends anything we understand. It is something far beyond ourselves.

Why, then, as the author states, does "[awe] make us act more generously, ethically and fairly?" Because we are made in God's image, and that is how God is. Awe is our spirit resonating with the one who is drawing us to Himself. Those of us who know Him respond in worship at those times. What an awesome thing it is, to recognize the hand of God!

Photo ~ Crater Lake Panorama August 2013, Epmatsw, Wiki Commons CC 3.0

Thankful Thursday ~ for Honest Sales People

The autumn season sets me in mind to be thankful, so I thought I'd take a few minutes  on Thursdays as we journey into Thanksgiving to give a word of gratitude for the abundance of blessings that God bestows.

Every good thing given and perfect gift is from above (James 1:7).

And today I'm thankful for His directing me to a salesperson who was honest as well as helpful. I went to pick out new frames today for my eyeglasses, and the gal who assisted me could have sold me a much more expensive frame. I was drawn toward a particular one, but she steered me to more appropriate frames that seemed to fit my face better. By the time frames and lenses and coatings and more are added to the cost, eyeglasses can get pretty expensive. So, I'm thankful for people with a heart for God's ways. She was wearing a cross, and if she is a follower of Jesus Christ, she represented Him well. Thank you, Kasey.

Image~ Attack of the Eyeglasses, James Vaughn, Flickr, CC by NC SA 2.0

Won't Vote For ....

I've watched the debates. Most recently the vice-presidential candidates debate. Of all the things said, I cannot vote for a candidate who thinks it's okay for a woman to decide that because it's inconvenient, she's going to have her baby killed that's growing inside her. I don't want that kind of leader. A baby is a baby, inside or out. Inconvenience does not warrant death. What kind of a country have we become that we sanction the death of the preborn?



Photo ~ v.ivash/Freepik

I Wish I Had Said ....

I went with my mother yesterday to her new doctor, and in the course of the discussion he learned that my Beloved and I had recently moved here to be near my parents and to help in whatever ways we could. He commented that I must have a good husband who is willing to do that. Yes, indeed I do. I explained that I had left the decision of where to move to my Beloved because it was a difficult one for me to make. We knew we wanted to be near family, but to which location should we go? We have a daughter and grandchildren who live in crazy Chicago, another daughter near the east coast, and my parents here. My Beloved decided that we needed to be here, so we packed up, sold the house and moved.

I commented to the doctor that that's what families do. They take care of each other. He reminded me that you don't see that much anymore. It was at that point that I stumbled with what to say. Yes, it is sad, that our culture is like that now, but I didn't want to be praised for doing what I think is just the right thing to do. What I should have said was that the love of God compels us to help our family. It is love for His ways that guides my Beloved and me in what we should do.

When we love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and love others as ourselves, our new nature compels us to do what's right. Of course, we aren't forced into it. The choice is still ours to make. We are told in Galatians 6:10 to "do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith." And we can't get any closer to the 'household of faith' than to our own families.

I wish I had directed our discussion that morning with the doctor to the God of love and made much of Him and His ways. It saddens me that I didn't think about it because to Him belongs the glory, for great things He has done.

Painting ~ Louisa Baldwin 1868, Edward Poynter 1836-1919

On Clearing Up The Mistake

It is true, some wicked men die in seeming peace, and some good men in trouble, but both the one and the other are mistaken: the first, as to the good estate he fancies himself in, and the other as to his bad estate; and a few moments will clear up the mistake of both.

~ John Flavel, England’s Duty

Photo ~ Ross Bay Cemetery Fall Colors, Brandon Godfrey CC 2.0

Sunday Ponderings ~ Causing the Consequences

Pondering this afternoon on an aspect of repentance that I had not considered before. Our pastor's sermon this morning was based in Nehemiah 9:32-38--the Israelites' confession in the renewal of their covenant with God after they had rebuilt the Jerusalem wall. The people had had a  history of repeated rebellion and repentance in following God and His ways. They are at a point once again of confessing their wrong.

Pastor made three points in regard to their confession. First, they recognized that what had been happening to them over the years was their own fault. That is a vital part of confession--that we accept the blame for whatever mess we find ourselves in, that we not blame shift or divert responsibility away from ourselves.

The third point that our pastor made was that repentance is a turning away from our wrongful, sinful ways, and that we turn toward God's righteous ways. It's the 'put off, put on' principle in biblical counseling. We agree with God that our way was wrong and that His way is right. And we turn and go His way. Yes, God accepts us 'as we are,' but He expects us to work in harmony with the Holy Spirit within us to change into the image of His Son, Jesus Christ. So we move in that direction.

I was knowledgeable about the first and third points. The second point was a new thought to me, however. Pastor discussed the Israelites' affirmation of the consequences of their actions.

Behold, we are slaves this day; in the land that you gave to our fathers to enjoy its fruit and its good gifts, behold, we are slaves.  And its rich yield goes to the kings whom you have set over us because of our sins. They rule over our bodies and over our livestock as they please, and we are in great distress (v. 36-37).

I hadn't actually considered the affirmation of consequences as part of repentance and forgiveness. When I've asked forgiveness from someone, I've typically stated my wrongdoing and asked forgiveness from the person I've sinned against; thus, being brought back into fellowship of spirit with them and with God. But I've not considered the aspect of actually verbalizing  the consequences of my offense. But how necessary that is! To realize and give voice to the harm I've caused. It's more than just an 'oops, sorry about that.' It's the evidence of a contrite heart. A heart after God's heart.

Bottom line for me:  Own up to the harm I've caused. It's the way upward and onward. 

The Readers, 1889 Jacques Emile Blanche 1841-1942

Welcome, October

Listen! the wind is rising, and the air is wild with leaves.

We have had our summer evenings, 

now for October eves!

~ Humbert Wolfe

Painting ~ Autumn Leaves 1902, Tom Scott 1854-1927