Conceit Spoils

You have a good many little gifts and virtues, but there is no need of parading them, for conceit spoils the finest genius. There is not much danger that real talent or goodness will be overlooked long, and the great charm of all power is modesty.

~ Louisa May Alcott, from Little Women

Painting ~ Vanity 1910, John William Waterhouse 1849-1917

On Being Intentional

Alice: Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?
The Cheshire Cat: That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.
Alice: I don’t much care where.
The Cheshire Cat: Then it doesn’t much matter which way you go.

 From Alice in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll

I'm thinking through these weeks in January about how I'd like to focus in on a few particular areas that I know need some shoring up. I'm not very good at making resolutions or thinking much about them after the first page of the calendar is turned. I'm also not sure what specific goals or benchmarks would indicate my progress, but I do know the direction I want to go.

So I've chosen a single word this year to guide me--intentional. I think this is a fluid word that I can use as a tool to help me stay focused on whatever I really want to change, include, or improve upon. For example, I've wanted to meet our neighbors when we moved into our new neighborhood. This was going well (and I've met some really nice people) until the heat of the summer moved in and I stayed inside instead of getting outdoors to walk. If I had kept in mind to be intentional about that, I could have walked at a cooler time of the day instead of my normal hours. Or when a neighbor down the street had a new addition to the family, I could have taken a baby gift. 

We have new neighbors who moved across the street a couple of weeks ago. I was intentional now in going over to chat with the mom as I saw her sitting on the porch. For me, being intentional keeps me focused. It seems to be a marriage between my goal-orientation and yet being open to spontaneity. I do think it's important to have an idea of what a day will hold so I know which direction to head each morning. But I've also learned to make my plans in pencil. God has a big eraser.

Alice and the Cheshire Cat, John Tenniel 1820-1914

Wait and Do Not Fear

When I taught high school writing and speech skills, one of the areas we discussed was the use of fear to influence and persuade the reader or audience. It's an unethical tactic that involves exaggeration and/or lying. It's called fear mongering. We seem to be in a new era of media reporting--both media news and social media--that has embraced this form of "reporting." It's effective--people today are living in fear of "the other side." It's also wrong.

How do we respond in times like these? Shut down our news feed? I've found that it's good not to look as often, but I do want to be informed. Get angry? Okay, if it's righteous anger because of the wrongfulness of it and the damage it does. But I've learned that whatever is being reported may not be the way it really is, so I hold off awhile. I'm sure you've learned that also these past several months, particularly. It appears to be the purpose of the media to turn us against one another.

What we're seeing is an effort to save what is valued in life--on both sides. We also are seeing extreme fear coupled with extreme self-focus. Many people are afraid because what they want out of life may be altered or denied them. Many other people are afraid of what these people may do to them if they get it.

In my lifetime, there have been presidents whose programs, personalities, or perverted views I have disdained. But I have not lived in fear or reacted as many are doing today. I think that probably some of you who read this may feel the same way. God calls me to not be fearful because He gives peace.

Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; 

not as the world gives do I give to you. 

Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.

John 14:27

My faith is in God, not in man. God is sovereign and will have His purposes fulfilled. I eagerly anticipate what He may be doing in America in spite of all the raucous and cacophonous chaos.

And so I watch and expectantly wait. I do hope you know Him, and are watching and waiting as well.

Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him;
Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way,
Because of the man who carries out wicked schemes.

Cease from anger and forsake wrath;
Do not fret; it leads only to evildoing.

Psalm 37:7-8

Heart of the Matter

I like to begin each day with a nugget of truth from God's Word and ponder on it throughout the morning as I go about my routine tasks. I typically read through a daily devotional book throughout the year, and this year I've chosen Heart of the Matter from the Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation (CCEF). This is a devotional that focuses on heart change, on seeing the gospel in our everyday lives.

Today's entry is on relationships:

What happens in the messiness of relationships is that our hearts are revealed, our weaknesses are exposed, and we start coming to the end of ourselves. Only when this happens do we reach out for the help God alone can provide. Weak and needy people finding their hope in Christ's grace are what mark a mature relationship..... While we would like to avoid the mess and enjoy deep and intimate community, God says that it is in the very process of working through the mess that intimacy is found.

Food for thought, indeed. I too often want to avoid the uneasy relationships. But I'm reminded today that honeymoons don't last long, and working through the difficulties can mature me and the relationship. Even if the spouse/family/friend relationship doesn't improve or deepen (and I've had that happen, heartbreaking as it may be), I've been pushed to a closer relationship with God. Either way, I'm better for it.

P.S. If you click on the book, it will take you to CCEF's site.

So Glad I Went

I almost gave in to laziness this morning. My Beloved has been down with the flu and wasn't going to church today, so the decision to go rested with me. I had set the alarm for 6:30, but when morning came, I reluctantly crawled out of bed at 7:00, needing to arrive by 9:00. It's a half hour drive to our church, it was a foggy morning, I hadn't slept well, and on and on my reasoning went.

I'm not a morning person, so I reminded myself that I never actually like to get up--no matter what the day holds. It always takes me about a half hour to shake that feeling loose. I knew I would be sorry if I slept in and failed to attend corporate worship with my church family. So sheer self-discipline strong-armed me out of bed.

And I am glad. I arrived on time for our Sunday School class, which I had prepared for during the week. It was good to hear the discussion on Jonah and be reminded of God's sovereignty and universal grace and mercy. The worship service that followed was uplifting and encouraging, and I believe was a sweet fragrance to Christ.

I believe also that the effort I had made to be there was interwoven into my personal worship. It was a sacrifice of praise to my Lord. God wants our obedience, and He wants us to gather together with fellow believers. I hope you were able to meet with your church family today. I hope you have a church family. It's important for the well-being of all of us.

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching (Hebrews 10:23-25).

Painting ~ Asleep, Karl Holsoe 1863-1935

Hanging on to Bitterness

Sharing a thought with you today as I've been studying the assignment for our Bible class at church. I'm not very familiar with the minor prophets, so I signed up for that class, and this week we were to read through the book of Jonah. Among other aspects of the book, we were to read with a view toward the gospel--how is the gospel seen in the book of Jonah?

The book is not really about Jonah. It's about God, about how He extended His universal grace toward all of mankind--even the most wicked of the wicked, the Assyrians who lived in Nineveh and had been barbaric toward the nation of Israel. Jonah was to go and warn them of God's judgement. A scary mission, to be sure, but God was calling them to repentance, and wanted Jonah to be His messenger. 

Jonah was extremely bitter toward the Ninevites, a bitterness rooted deep, deep in his soul, to the point of preferring death over the possibility of their repentance. He wanted them punished for all the wickedness they had done to his own people. He didn't want any possibility of good coming to them.

In His abundant loving kindness, though, God was relentless in pursing Jonah as well as the inhabitants of Nineveh. He was merciful towards both--the wicked and the righteous. Remember, Jonah was a prophet of God.

Forgiveness was offered to both. It's interesting to me that the wicked Assyrians were the ones who repented. The book closes with Jonah still a bitter, angry man. The gospel has the power to save us from our sin, but we are called to release the sin in our lives, turn from it toward God, and accept His forgiveness. That frees us to return to relationship with Him. The Ninevites accepted. Jonah held onto his bitterness and hatred.

Bitterness can dig deep into the soul and drive the events of our lives. It propels us away from God. It takes us where we do not want to go, and soon we wonder how we ever got into the churning, convulsive belly of a fish in the great deep that engulfs us.

If you're struggling with unwanted feelings toward a situation or a person, and wonder if it's bitterness or something else, I recommend this book by Rebecca Davis that might help untangle your thoughts and emotions. Click the image and it will take you to Rebecca's website. 

Painting ~ An Elegant Lady Reading Under A Tree, Karl Raupp 1837-1918

Another Goodbye After the Feast

It's never easy saying goodbye to our grandchildren after their visits. I'm sure it's the same for many of you as well. We savor every minute that we have with them, though it drains more energy from us than we even thought we had. The hour or so after bedtime is welcome relief before we drop into bed ourselves, hoping they sleep through the night so we can, too. 

We had an extended stay this time due to their mommy getting sick on the way home from their after-Christmas visit. We picked up the children two hours away at a motel and brought them back here for several more days while mommy and daddy got back on their feet. Met up with them halfway yesterday to return our precious little ones. A very long day--more than a twelve hour trip up and back.

Distance is definitely no friend to families, but it isn't debilitating. There are times when only family can do for us what we need, and we gladly spend ourselves in doing it. This feast or famine relationship drains us physically when we have the children, and emotionally when they leave. But we want them to remember being with us, even though the occasions be few and far between. Our 4-year old Anna told us that she wishes we lived closer, that the trip is TOOOOOO long from her house to ours. Sure do wish they lived closer and could remember Grandad and Nana as we really are in just normal, everyday life. And we want them to see and know God's faithfulness and care in our lives, how we worship Him, how we live for Him. We want to affirm their own faith as they're growing and changing and searching out truth. 

There are moments while they're here when I try to absorb every little thing about them to treasure in my mind and heart while we're apart. As children do, they're growing up ever so quickly. Our littlest celebrated his first birthday while he was here. I'm sure his mommy and daddy would have preferred to spend the day with him. Distance is no friend to families. 

But it isn't debilitating. Thankful for highways and byways. And thankful for strength and energy for the feast.

Merry Christmas

May the love God sent find your heart ready to receive.

May His Peace, Joy, and Faith reside there so that you may say,

All is well with my soul.

Thank you, Jesus

From the Sewing Room - Hagrid's Quilt

I had shown in an earlier post that I was working on a quilt for my daughter who is fixing her sitting room / office like Hagrid's Hut. When I saw an interior photo online of his hut, a quilt thrown across the chair caught my eye. I knew my daughter would love to have it, so I started figuring out a pattern for it right away so I could give it to her for Christmas. It's all scrappy with variety-sized pieces, which took more construction time than I thought it would. I hand quilted big stitches using pearl cotton thread with a cross hatch quilting design. I'm almost finished--just a bit of binding left to sew down. I hope she sees the resemblance!

A Stand for Decency

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Congratulations, North Carolina, on your legislature's upholding decency and the protection of privacy rights for all who live there. The blackmail by big business, big sports, and big celebrities shows the effort by some outside of North Carolina to control the quality of life of the citizens living there.

What foolishness, anyway, to okay boys going into the girls bathroom! No wonder so many adolescents and young adults are having an identity crisis. They've lost their moorings. So glad there are some like those in North Carolina who are willing to take a stand and throw a life line.

Sounds like North Carolina would be a good place to raise a family.  We have family living there, and we've frequently vacationed in the state. It's good to know that I need not be concerned about who's going to be in the restroom with me while I'm there. 


Want to be clear about HB2? Follow this link to Focus on the Family.
Seven Things You Should Know About North Carolina’s HB2 from Focus on the Family.