suziebeezieland

know what's real: sobermindedness v. worry

Hi, ladies! 

Today wraps up our five week "know what's real" study.  :)

I thought we'd finish with a look at Biblical sobermindedness and its worldly counterfeit, worry.

Let's look at worry first.  Some of you know it as a near-constant companion.

Worry

Levity is a huge value in U.S. culture.  Americans do not like snobs, and we certainly do not like people who take themselves too seriously.  For that matter, we don't like people who take life too seriously.  If people are going to talk about serious things, we want them to take little breaks to throw in some jokes to relieve the tension.

The problem with this emphasis on lighthearted living is that life is not a bowl of cherries. What to do when we get broadsided by the grief, heartache, and pain of a fallen world?

We worry. 

I am absolutely convinced that worry is a cheap counterfeit replacement for the Biblical concept of soberminded living.  For many people, worry has replaced prayer, time in God's word, and a steady faith in God's sovereignty.

If you do not believe me, play this little game for one week.  Start paying attention to your friends, family, and acquaintances, and start noticing how often people talk about their own fears, anxieties, and worries. 

Also, when you are in line at the grocery store in front of the women's magazines, or listening to the news, or glancing at the paper, start paying attention to how often we are urged to worry.  The world commands us to worry! 

The media even goes so far as to make up problems for us to worry about, as if there are not enough real things goings on.  (Am I really supposed to fret that I have wrinkles next to my eyes because I've been smiling for 44 years?)

Jesus commanded us not to worry.  Look what he said in Matthew 6:34:

Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

That's kind of funny, isn't it? "You're worried about tomorrow being bad, but today is bad on its own."  That seems a strange kind of comfort.  

But look at the word "therefore," which can be read "for that reason."  

"For that reason, do not be anxious about tomorrow."  

For what reason?  What is the basis for Jesus's command to us not to worry?

The verses before Matthew 6:34 contain the Lord's prayer, in which Jesus exhorts us to pray daily that God's kingdom will come, that His will will be done, and that our needs will be met.  He also tells us to pray daily for forgiveness and to pray daily that we will be spared from the evil one.

The chapter also goes on to remind us that we should lay up our treasure in heaven rather than on earth, and stresses the impermanence of any "treasure" we have here on earth.  Then, verses 25 through 33 say,

Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 

Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 

And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 

But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 

Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 

For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Did you catch the truths in this passage that caused Matthew to begin verse 34 with the word "therefore"?Don't worry because:

1) Life is more than food.  The body is more than clothing.  There is more going on here than the material world!

2) God values us more than He values the birds, for whom He provides.

3) We cannot add time to our lives by worrying.

4) God knows that we have needs and He will meet them, but we are to seek Him first, and He will take care of the other stuff.  Seek His kingdom and seek His righteousness.

God gives us grace each day to get through that day.  Worrying is an indication in our lives that we are not trusting God to be the God who He says He is. 

Look at Isaiah 40 verses 7 and 8:

All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.

Again, maybe some strange verses to comfort you with. :)  But it's true. We're all grass. Some of us function as if we will never die, and some of us function as if we ourselves were God.  

But we will die, and we're not God.  And worry is a futile and soul-crushing waste of time.

Look at these truths further down in Isaiah 40:21-26:

Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? 

It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in; who brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness. 

Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows on them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble. 

To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name, by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power not one is missing.

Do you remember when we talked recently about Martha, who was "distracted with much serving" when Jesus came to visit her house? And she was ticked off that her sister Mary left her alone to do all the serving while Mary sat and listened to Jesus? Do you remember what Jesus told her?

Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.

Are you a Martha who has Jesus in her house and worries about the dishes?  Or are you worried because you believe the world is a terrible place and that God is unjust?  Do you think He does not see and does not care? That is untrue. You do not know or love or care about God's world more than He does.

Look at this in Isaiah 35:

Say to those who have an anxious heart, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.”

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. 

For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; in the haunt of jackals, where they lie down, the grass shall become reeds and rushes. 

And a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Way of Holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it. It shall belong to those who walk on the way; even if they are fools, they shall not go astray. 

No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it; they shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there. 

And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

The more we recognize that God is sovereign and that He will accomplish His purposes to His great glory, and that life is all about Him, the less we will worry.  

Look at these verses in Isaiah 46:

. . . for I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like me,
declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done,
saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose’

The more we believe that we are the center of the known universe, and that life is all about us, the more we will worry.

Sobermindedness

First Timothy 3:11 tells us that women should be "dignified, not slanderers, but sober-minded, faithful in all things."

Second Timothy 4:3,4 talks about a time when people "will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths." Verse 5 then says, "As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry."

Titus 2 tells us "Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine."

First Peter 1:13 says, ". . . preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ."  First Peter 5:1-6 goes on to say:

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Look at this bit in 1 Peter 1 just before the "therefore" of verse thirteen.  Why should we hope in Him and be sober-minded as we wait?  

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 

We are not placing our hope in a set of laws or a dead philosopher's ideas or a fellow human's biased or unstable opinions. We are placing our hope in a risen Lord who is holding an inheritance for us that is "imperishable, undefiled, and unfading." 

Our hope is a LIVING hope.  We do not have to worry. 

Let's look again at verse 13, and the verses which immediately follow it:

Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy."

We don't make light of the world's grief by being frivolous.  Romans 12:15 tells us to "Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep."  We're not supposed to retreat into a land of fairytales or jokes or distractions to avoid facing other people's burdens.  We're supposed to get in there and bear each other's burdens. 

We're going to suffer.

But we're not supposed to replace a daily, grounded sobermindedness with reactive, self-centered worry. We're not supposed to function as if the default in life is that it's here for our amusement, and the aberration is that bad things happen to (hopefully other, far away) people and we must run around and freak out for a few days (loudly, emotionally, and self-righteously, if possible), until we forget their grief and can get back to our own entertainment and pleasure.

We serve a powerful and very good King, and we have to come to Him daily with our burdens for ourselves and our loved ones, and for the world.  Again, 1 Peter 5:6,7:

Humble yourselves, therefore, 
under the mighty hand of God
so that at the proper time he may exalt you,
casting all your anxieties on him,
because he cares for you.

My prayer today is that I will be a soberminded woman who fears and loves God. I pray that my worries in life will give way to a steady trust in God's sovereignty over all things, and His ability to redeem all for His glory. This is also my prayer for the women who read this post today. :)

summer reading list, part 1

If all goes to plan, and one or t'other of the cats deign to let me sit in their chair, I will spend many of my upcoming summer evenings there, with my feet propped up on the red ottoman, reading. 

I've decided to skip t.v. this summer to give me some extra hours in the evening to both read and write.  I like this spot, especially when the window is open behind the roller shade and good smells from the nighttime garden breeze into the living room.  

And it does not face the television. :)

Here is the first part of my summer reading list. I'm still thinking about a couple extra books I'd like to tuck in, if possible.  Do you have any reading plans this summer? What are they?

Colonel Brandon . . . was silent and grave.  His appearance, however, was not unpleasing, in spite of his being in the opinion of Marianne and Margaret an absolute old bachelor, for he was on the wrong side of five and thirty; but though his face was not handsome, his countenance was sensible, and his address was particularly gentlemanlike.
(from Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen)

Good ol' Colonel Brandon! :) We're reading this for book club at my house, for June.  Claire gave me the cute hardback version for Mother's Day. :)  I haven't read it in a few years, because I just keep reading Persuasion over and over. Ha.

I once got engaged to his daughter Honoria, a ghastly dynamic exhibit who read Nietzsche and had a laugh like waves breaking on a stern and rockbound coast.
(from The Inimitable Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse)

This is our book for July. I seem to always turn to Wodehouse in the summer. He makes me laugh and laugh, until I get little tears in the corner of my eyes, and my stomach hurts, and I irritate anyone around by saying "Listen to this!" a few times too often.  Wodehouse seems a bit too fluffy for months that have any weather in them, a bit like drinking lemonade in December, but for summer vacation, he's just right.

Humanity can be roughly divided into three sorts of people - those who find comfort in literature, those who find comfort in personal adornment, and those who find comfort in food. (from The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge)

I think we were going to do this last summer and didn't get to it or something. I can't remember, exactly. Anyway, it's our book club book for August.  Have you read this book? It is lovely.  It had fallen out of print, but J.K. Rowling praised it, and it came back into print. I would like to be an author with that particular magical power.  

I think I've tried to push Elizabeth Goudge on you before. Anything you can find of hers, you should read. :D

So those three I've already read, and am excited to read again.  

Then these following books are all non-fiction (friends have recommended most of them), and I haven't read them yet. But they're on my summer list.  

The core problem isn’t the fact that we’re lukewarm, halfhearted, or stagnant Christians. The crux of it all is why we are this way, and it is because we have an inaccurate view of God. We see Him as a benevolent Being who is satisfied when people manage to fit Him into their lives in some small way. We forget that God never had an identity crisis. He knows that He’s great and deserves to be the center of our lives. Jesus came humbly as a servant, but He never begs us to give Him some small part of ourselves. He commands everything from His followers. (from Crazy Love:Overwhelmed by a Relentless God by Francis Chan)

Have any of you read Crazy Love? What did you think? I'm reading it because our Danielle and our Tash have read it, and I want to be able to chat with them about it and hear what they think.  Somebody may even have seen Francis Chan lately at a coffee shop, but not had her copy of Crazy Love with her. Too bad. :D

 

There never has been a generation whose general view of marriage is high enough. The chasm between the biblical vision of marriage and the common human vision is now, and has always been, gargantuan. Some cultures in history respect the importance and the permanence of marriage more than others. Some, like our own, have such low, casual, take-it-or-leave-it attitudes toward marriage as to make the biblical vision seem ludicrous to most people. (from This Momentary Marriage: A Parable of Permanence by John & Noel Piper)

I don't know anyone who has read this (or maybe I do but they haven't mentioned it), but it looks good. These are some truths I need to hear and steep myself in.  

Desiring God offers its books as free PDFs online. I will probably go ahead and order This Momentary Marriage as a book (so I can mark it up and carry it around), but I love that it's available free right here. :)

There is a tendency among Christians to get excited about "listening to God" as if they are discovering a hidden way of communicating with God that will revolutionize their prayer lives . . . This subtly elevates an experience with God instead of God himself. Without realizing it, we can look at the windshield instead of through it. (from A Praying Life by Paul Miller)

My friend Michele (our Michele) gave this to me recently, and I'm excited to dig into it. It looks very helpful and thought-provoking.

I'm really interested in hearing anything you're planning on reading this summer, fiction or non-fiction. Come, let us talk books. :)

bbq duck tacos (wait, it gets weirder)

Warning: There is a Disgusting Dessert at the end of this post.  :)

This past Sunday, Bob and I celebrated our brother-in-law's fortieth birthday at the Stone Brewing World Bistro and Gardens in San Diego. (Actually, it's in Escondido.) (Our San Diego brother-in-law is Greg, who is married to Bob's sister, Cheryl.)

The food was super yummy. :) Bob had the barbecued duck tacos. Yes! Duck tacos. I know! Me, too. But they were delicious! I had a bite.  That is one of the duck tacos featured above, at the back of the plate.

I had the chicken tikka masala, pictured below. I love curry, which is funny because I absolutely HATED it when I was a kid.  But now I actively seek it.  I love growing up.  

I think the protocol for lovely food photography is that you take photos of the food before it is mixed up and in the process of being eaten, at which point it is no longer attractive to anyone except the person eating it. This is probably some kind of evolutionary instinct.  But I always forget to photograph food before it is eaten, because when it arrives I think about eating it, not about taking pictures of it. :)

Greg had the Bruschetta BLT sandwich, which had a ton of B and less L and T, and looked really good. Cheryl had the Soft and Stinky Cheese Plate.  It was much less stinky than we all anticipated.  

Here is Cheryl awaiting her Soft and Stinky Cheese Plate. 

Scott (Greg's brother) had the Prime Rib Melt.  Here is Scott awaiting his Prime Rib Melt.

And here is the Prime Rib melt once it arrived. It's kind of hidden behind those Chili Lime Corn Chips, which were good. I know this because Greg had them with his meal, too, and Bob stole some off his plate and gave me a few. :)

Becky (Scott's wife) had . . . what did Becky have? I am blanking out. Becky, what did you have? Did you have a veggie burger?  I know I talked to you about it, but now I can't remember what you ordered. Ack.

We shared some starters, including these tantalizing mushroom pillows. I don't know what kind of sauce that was that came with it, but man, it was really good.  We also had some spud buds.

Then we had dessert. 

I had the Chilled Bread Pudding with a Turbinado Sugar-Rajasthani Chai Crème Anglais. I don't know the culinary significance of a few of those words, but it was very tasty. (I always order bread pudding if it's on the dessert menu, and of course crème anglais is your basic vanilla icecream when it's still soupy, before it becomes icecream, so what's not to love? The best bread pudding I ever had, and possibly in the universe, is at Raglan Road Irish Pub & Restaurant in Orlando, Florida.)

But here is the part about which I regret to inform you.

I regret to inform you that Beer Floats exist. Did you know that? 

Yes. Real beer and real ice cream. Specifically, Niederfrank's Vanilla Bean ice cream served with Stone Smoked Porter.  

Greg ordered one, but did not think it was too tasty at first, so he passed it over to Bob, who thought it was great. Then, once the ice cream started melting, Greg also started liking it.

Here is Bob looking happy that beer floats exist.

For dessert, Stone also offers "Stone Imperial Russian Stout Chocolate Bacon Torte with Peppercorn Crème Fraiche." But none of us ordered that. We may be crazy, but we're not stoopid.

bowling at 300(not to be confused with bowling a 300)

Bob and Claire and I went bowling awhile ago (March 21st, to be precise) and I forgot all about the photos because we were getting ready for vacation.  

We checked out a newer place in Pasadena called 300.

It was a bit too loud and dark for our tastes (there were teenybopper music videos playing on the wall above the lanes, and everything was flashing and animated, everywhere, and the music suggested the bowling alley also doubles as a rave during off hours) (do I sound like a little old lady?) but the bowling part was great, and the snacks were EXCELLENT. :)

Does your family ever go bowling? Are any of you any good? We're definitely not. (Actually, Bob's not bad.)  I actually almost bowled into the other lane, which I thought only happened in cartoons.

I was also kind of sad to see that my real-life bowling scores, when I actually have to walk and exert myself, were much, much lower than the scores I get in Wii Bowling when I sit on the couch and just kind of flick my wrist a little. Sigh. :)

Bob got this t-shirt from his mom's trip to the Yukon last year.  But I digress.

A little coaching.

There were three of us bowling, and three girls in the lane next to us, but somehow we had nine bowling balls. I don't think I ever bowled with the ball I had actually chosen.

The bumpers automatically came up when it was Claire's turn to bowl, and went down when it was our turn. Next time, I'm using bumpers for me, too. :)

Yay, Claire! Claire got a spare! (Too bad we didn't name her "Spike.")

Here's my favorite part.  There was some kind of spicey aioli to dip the fries in.  I'm still thinking about it, two months later.

I'm pretty sure my score was so low because they misspelled my name. It was distracting every time I looked at it.

And afterwards we went to the Spaghetti Factory for dinner. Fun family day! :)

know what's real: hospitality v. entertaining

Today I thought I'd talk about the difference between Biblical hospitality and the prevalent idea of entertaining.  This is a really long post because I wanted to make sure to include a lot of practical application. :)

Hospitality

As you might suspect if you've been reading all of these "know what's real" posts, Biblical hospitality focuses on our heart attitude rather than our external circumstances.  (That has been true with all of the topics we've looked at so far.)  

You'll be happy to know that it is possible to be a truly hospitable person even if you are broke, even if you are shy or feel that you are socially awkward, even if you do not have a fancy house or fancy dishes, and even if you do not know how to cook. :)

Before we look specifically at what the Bible has to say about hospitality, I thought it would be fun if we look at what Queen Elizabeth II has to say about hospitality, because really, when you think "formal entertaining," there is probably nothing more formal than going to dinner at the Palace with the Queen of England, is there? 

Isn't that why we learn good table manners -- in case we have to have dinner with the Queen? :D

If you zoom ahead to minute 4:56 in the video below, and listen to it until about minute 6:22, you'll hear the Queen's own thoughts on "putting out the red carpet" for people, and why she believes this is done. 

Listen carefully for her distinction between the "externals" of entertaining, and the "inner heart" of hospitality.  She doesn't quite go so far as to say that the externals don't matter (it seems like she's about to say that, but then she kind of flutters over it, where I typed ellipses), but she definitely isn't making the fine china tantamount to a welcoming spirit. She says:

If you do put out the best china and glass, it doesn't necessarily make it overwhelming, if you don't accept it as overwhelming, because if people are kind to you, and make you feel at home, I don't think that the outward and visible signs are really . . . it's, it's what goes on inside that really matters.  

So even in this most formal of settings with this most formal of women, there is an understanding that the purpose of the outward niceties are to reflect the inner heart.

I have no idea what the Queen would say if she were off camera and could speak freely. I don't know if she'd take it further, and acknowledge the Biblical basis for true hospitality.  But her distinction between those outward "entertaining" forms and the inner "hospitality" heart is heading in the right direction.

I guess it sounds kind of presumptuous of me to suggest that the Queen of England "is heading in the right direction" as far as hospitality is concerned. Ha. 

But I say this not because of my own practice of or concept of hospitality (which is very wobbly at best), but because of what the Bible has to say about hospitality.  

Just as we said that we need to encourage people and not just flatter them, so it's true as believers that we need to be hospitable to people and not just entertain them.

(click below to continue reading this long post!)

cherry on top

Yesterday and today the kids have their spring concert at school. After the performance for grandparents yesterday, we all went out to Cherry on Top for do-it-yourself frozen yogurt. :)

I can't believe how long and lean and big they're all getting. Sniff.

anne of green gables

"If Cordelia isn't your name, what is?"

"Anne Shirley," faltered forth the owner of that name, "but oh, please do call me Cordelia. It can't matter much to you what you call me if I'm only going to be here a little while, can it? And Anne is such an unromantic name."

"Unromantic fiddlesticks!" said the unsympathetic Marilla. "Anne is a real good plain sensible name. You've no need to be ashamed of it."

"Oh, I'm not ashamed of it," explained Anne, "only I like Cordelia better. I've always imagined my name was Cordelia -- at least, I always have of later years. When I was young I used to imagine it was Geraldine, but I like Cordelia better now. But if you call me Anne, please call me Anne spelled with an e." (from Anne of Green Gables)

My Canadian mother-in-law is getting ready to go on vacation to Prince Edward Island. I am so excited for her!

I may have told you this story before, but when I was nine or ten, when we were living in Canberra, Australia, I was in a pony club.  One Saturday morning, a woman on a motorcycle zoomed up behind our line of horses as we ambled down a dirt road single file, and the horses took off running.  

I went flying. I don't remember a bit of it, thank goodness, because it knocked me unconscious. 

My skull sustained a hairline fracture (thankfully, I was wearing a riding helmet), and I ended up in the hospital for a couple days.  Then I had to stay in bed for a couple weeks. 

While I was recuperating, my mom bought me a hardback set of the entire Anne of Green Gables series. I read them all while I was in bed getting better.

I will never love any books quite as much or in the same way as I love the Anne books. They say when you fall madly in love with a book or movie that it's because you've inserted yourself into the story, and I can tell you unequivocally that for those two weeks I lay in bed, I was Anne. 

And for a few years afterwards, too.

And maybe even now. :)

Are there any other Annes in suziebeezieland? You know what I'm talking about, don't you?

I thought you other Anne-girls might like to see the covers of my Anne books, because they might be unfamiliar to you since they're Australian, published by Angus and Robertson. (They might be familiar to our Mel and our Jody?)

(Ignore the bunny chews on some of the covers, which made me cry like a little girl when I was about 33, when our Holland Lop, Lucy, got her nibbly teeth on them. I still feel upset when I think about it.)

I don't like the idea of marching through life feeling condescending toward anyone at all, but I do have to admit that I feel terribly sorry for anyone who never fell off a horse and got to read these books.

Anne had no sooner uttered the phrase "home o' dreams," than it captivated her fancy and she immediately began the erection of one of her own. It was, of course, tenanted by an ideal master, dark, proud and melancholy; but oddly enough, Gilbert Blythe persisted in hanging about too, helping her arrange pictures, lay out gardens, and accomplish sundry other tasks which a proud and melancholy hero evidently considered beneath his dignity. (from Anne of Avonlea)

Lucinda remembered that she must not speak to Romney just in time to prevent an exclamation of dismay. There was no tree! There was no bridge of any kind over the brook!

Here was a predicament! But before Lucinda could do more than despairingly ask herself what was to be done now, Romney answered -- not in words, but in deeds.  He coolly picked Lucinda up in his arms, as if she had been a child instead of a full grown woman of no mean avoirdupois, and began to wade with her through the water. (from Chronicles of Avonlea)

I never was fond of cats, although I admit they are well enough in their place, and I can worry along comfortably with a nice, matronly old tabby who can take care of herself and be of some use in the world. As for Ismay, she hates cats and always did.

But Aunt Cynthia, who adored them, never could bring herself to understand that any one could possibly dislike them. She firmly believed that Ismay and I really liked cats deep down in our hearts, but that, owing to some perverse twist in our moral natures, we would not own up to it, but wilfully persisted in declaring we didn't. (from Further Chronicles of Avonlea)

"Is that the dress you're going to wear to-night?" asked Gilbert, looking down at the fluffs and frills.

"Yes. Isn't it pretty? And I shall wear star-flowers in my hair. The Haunted Wood is full of them this summer."

Gilbert had a sudden vision of Anne, arrayed in a frilly green gown, with the curves of arms and throat slipping out of it, and white stars shining against the coils of her ruddy hair. The vision made him catch his breath. But he turned lightly away. (from Anne of the Island)

I'm sorry to leave Windy Willows. Of course, I'm really a bit tired of living in a trunk, but I've loved it here -- loved my cool morning hours at my window, loved my bed into which I have veritably climbed every night, loved my blue doughnut cushion, loved all the winds that blew. I'm afraid I'll never be quite so chummy with the winds again as I've been here. And will I ever have a room again from which I can see both the rising and the setting sun? (from Anne of Windy Willows)

Have you ever noticed what heaps of good people die, Anne, dearie? It's kind of pitiful. Here's ten obituaries, and every one of them saints and models, even the men.  Here's old Peter Stimson, who has "left a large circle of friends to mourn his untimely loss." Lord, Anne, dearie, that man was eighty, and everybody who knew him had been wishing him dead these thirty years . . . Isn't "obituary" an awful ugly word? This very Peter I've been speaking of had a face exactly like one. I never saw it but I thought of the word obituary then and there. (from Anne's House of Dreams)

It was what Susan called a streaky winter . . . all thaws and freezes that kept Ingleside decorated with fantastic fringes of icicles.  The children fed seven blue-jays who came regularly to the orchard for their rations and let Jem pick them up, though they flew from everybody else. Anne sat up o' nights to pore over seed catalogues in January and February. Then the winds of March swirled over the dunes and up the harbour and over the hills. Rabbits, said Susan, were laying Easter eggs. (from Anne of Ingleside)

Aunt Martha might be, and was, a very poor housekeeper; the Rev. John Knox Meredith might be, and was, a very absent-minded, indulgent man. But it could not be denied that there was something very homelike and lovable about the Glen St. Mary manse in spite of its untidiness.  Even the critical housewives of the Glen felt it, and were unconsciously mellowed in judgment because of it.  (from Rainbow Valley)

"Is it Rilla-my-Rilla?" he asking, meaningly.

Emotion shook Rilla from head to foot. Joy -- happiness -- sorrow -- fear -- every passion that had wrung her heart in those four long years seemed to surge up in her soul for a moment as the deeps of being were stirred.  She tried to speak; at first her voice would not come.  Then --

"Yeth," said Rilla.

(from Rilla of Ingleside)

know what's real: encouragement v. flattery

Today I thought I'd talk about the Biblical concept of "encouragement" as opposed to "flattery."  I chose this particular "real thing" versus "cheap imitation" to look into because I think that blogging, social networking, and online photo albums and galleries can be really awesome tools for encouragement (and also for the real-deal fellowship we discussed a couple weeks ago), but have also created new opportunities for a culture of shallow, "drive-by" flattery to spring up.  

Encouragement

There are so many great Bible verses that show us what "encouragement" means.  We'll talk about a few of them today.  

It probably won't surprise you to hear that our ability to encourage others is based in God's own character.  

First, let's look at Romans 15:2-7:

Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.” For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.

Look at that! He is "the God of endurance and encouragement."  It is built right into who God is.  

And look at that first line there: "Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up." I think that's a pretty good working definition of encouragement.  Our goal in pleasing our neighbor is to "build him up." 

What does that mean? It means to strengthen someone in his or her walk with Jesus, and to make sure that his foundation is strong. This "building up," this encouragement, points people not toward their own greatness, but toward the greatness of God.  It points them toward the cross of Christ. (Romans 14:19 says "So then let us pursue peace and what makes for mutual upbuilding." 1 Corinthians 10:23 mentions that "not all things build up." Ephesians 4:12 talks about equipping the saints "for the work of the ministry, for building up the body of Christ.  Jude 1:19-21 says, "But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life." There are lots and lots of "building up" verses.)

As believers, we're not running around randomly encouraging one another from some vague, groundless optimism.  Biblical encouragement is not like telling people "Don't worry, be happy!" or "Hakuna matata!" 

Isn't it interesting that the word "endurance" is paired with "encouragement" in this passage? When the going gets tough and our circumstances do not warrant hope, the character of our God does.

This passage tells us to encourage our neighbors ("Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up"), and also tells us that God encourages us through Jesus's example, through Scripture, and, again, through His very nature.  We are able to encourage others because God encourages us.  Our purpose for encouraging others is to glorify God.  

Here's another verse that again links "encouraging" with "building up":

Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. (1 Thessalonians 5:11)

Yep. :) Encourage and build up. Does the type of encouragement you give people help build them up in their faith in Jesus?

Hebrews 10:25 is another good passage to look at:

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Again, look at the connection in this passage between our hope in Christ and our ability to encourage one another, and the idea that "encouragement" includes "building each other up."  Here we're told to "stir up one another to love and good works."  

Does the type of encouraging that you give people stir them to love and good works, or does it just encourage them to wallow in their own coolness?

Now let's look at a passage from Romans 1. Paul is writing to the church in Rome and discussing his longing to travel to Rome in order to encourage them.  What does this type of encouragement consist of?

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God's will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you— that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine. I want you to know, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles. I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

Paul thanks God for the church in Rome and prays for them, desires to be with them, wants to strengthen them spiritually, wants to encourage them (and be encouraged) through their mutual faith in Christ, desires to reap a harvest among them (he wants to see spiritual fruit), and preach the Gospel to them!  

This passage again helps us define what Biblical encouragement entails, and we begin to see pretty clearly that there is a close tie between encouraging people and sharing the Gospel with them.  1 Thessalonians 4 ends by saying that those who believe that Jesus died and rose again "will always be with the Lord. Encourage one another with these words."

The Gospel is not just for folks who have never heard it or don't believe it. The Gospel is for believers, too! We should be preaching it to ourselves every day, and to our fellow believers whenever we get the chance.

God loves us so much that He sent His only Son to earth, to live a perfect life and die in our place. Jesus paid the price of all of our sins so that we might receive salvation. We are reconciled to God, not because of anything we have done (or will ever do), but because of Jesus’s work on the cross on our behalf.

Now THAT is encouraging! :)  Do your words of encouragement in someone's life, taken together as a whole, point someone towards God's goodness and toward the Gospel?  There is nothing wrong with telling a friend, "hey, your hair is adorable today," or "wow, that is an awesome scrapbook layout," but is all your encouragement at this level? Or are you offering her more?

Flattery

I have to tell you that whenever I think of flattery, I think of Mr. Collins in Pride and Prejudice.

Mr. Bennett: It is happy for you that you possess the talent of flattering with delicacy. May I ask whether these pleasing attentions proceed from the impulse of the moment, or are the result of previous study?

Mr. Collins: They arise chiefly from what is passing at the time, and though I sometimes amuse myself with suggesting and arranging such little elegant compliments as may be adapted to ordinary occasions, I always wish to give them as unstudied an air as possible.

Clearly, Mr. Collins is ridiculous. :) You would probably never say this if someone fed you some potatoes:

It's been many years since I had such an exemplary vegetable.

But if you think about the motives behind his flattery, they might feel vaguely (and uncomfortably) familiar. He is trying to please people, and he's trying to ingratiate himself with them.  (Trying to make yourself seem gracious is different than just being gracious, isn't it?)

But can't we use words to encourage people?

Sure we can, and we should.  Believers should be people whose hearts are overflowing with gratefulness and enthusiastic encouragement for others.  We should be the most sincere, warm, generous people on the planet when it comes to showing our approbation for others. 

I repeat: We should not be straight-mouthed, stingy, harsh people who do not ever compliment anyone because we're afraid we'll somehow encourage their pride.  We should love people warmly, and use words as part of our love and encouragement.

But if we're throwing words around like glitter with the object of gaining fans and followers and/or tickling people's ears, we're not encouraging people, because we're not pointing them toward Christ. Giving someone a five-minute self-esteem boost is not encouragement.  It's flattery, which is a counterfeit encouragement. 

If someone is grounded in Christ, she does not need her own ego stroked.  She knows who she is.  The insecurity, the anxiety, and the quest for self-worth falls away. It is a wondrous thing to be a child of the living God.

The Bible is pretty clear that flattery doesn't have anything in common with Godly encouragement.  Look at these verses. (You might want to read the passages surrounding some of these verses to get the larger context, but you get the general sense here of what flattery is and does.) Ouch!

For there is no truth in their mouth; their inmost self is destruction; their throat is an open grave; they flatter with their tongue.(Psalm 5:9)

Everyone utters lies to his neighbor; with flattering lips and a double heart they speak. (Psalm 12:2)

A lying tongue hates its victims, and a flattering mouth works ruin. (Proverbs 26:28)

He shall seduce with flattery those who violate the covenant, but the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action. (Daniel 11:32)

I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive. For your obedience is known to all, so that I rejoice over you, but I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil. (Romans 16:17-19)

These verses equate flattery with lying, with a double heart, with ruin, with seduction, with divisions, with obstacles, with feeding our own appetites, and with deception. Wowzers.

Finally, let's take a look at this passage in 1 Thessalonians 2, when Paul is talking about his ministry to the Thessalonians. Look at the juxtaposition here between flattery and Biblical encouragement, and again at how Biblical encouragement is intrinsically related to sharing our lives and the Gospel with others:

For you yourselves know, brothers, that our coming to you was not in vain. But though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict. For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive, but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts. For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed—God is witness. Nor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others, though we could have made demands as apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us.

I think that flattery is to Biblical encouragement as giving someone a high-five is to feeding, clothing, and caring for someone his entire life. 

My prayer for myself today is that I will take a minute before I throw out "feel good" flattery at people all willy-nilly, and think about how I might grasp the larger opportunity to encourage someone to look toward Jesus.  I pray that I will care for people in a bigger, better, more meaningful way, and help meet their real, deep-down, long-term needs.

I particularly pray that God will make me a woman who cheerfully acknowledges beauty and goodness and kindness and virtue when I see it, but that my motives will always come from love for the God who is the source of all goodness, and not from any idolatry of people or things themselves.

I also pray that my friends and family will know that I have a keen interest in their whole lives, and especially their hearts, and not just with their hairdos or cute shoes or ability to make cool stuff. :)

This is also my prayer for all the women who read this post today. 

london & windsor: buckingham palace, westminster abbey, & windsor castle

On Saturday morning (the day before Easter), we got up early, had breakfast, and headed over to Buckingham Palace for our last couple of hours in London.  

Queen Elizabeth does not own Buckingham Palace.  It is owned by the British state.  (This is also true of Windsor Castle.)  She does, however, own Balmoral and Sandringham.

I wonder if they let her paint and put holes in the walls. :D

I love this photo because Claire seems so small.  She is growing too quickly.

I should probably mention at some point that the reason we went to England for vacation is that I'm writing a novel about a future Queen of England.  This was a research trip for me.  I had my camera and a little voice recorder with me all the time.  

The England in my novel is of my own making, and is skewed to my needs, and romanticized, but it has been very helpful as I write to actually know some of the places I discuss, and to have that mood and atmosphere so firmly in my mind.  

The England I found in England was better than the England I had imagined, which I did not expect.

Here is a guard.  (The Changing of the Guards ceremony happens daily in summer, but only every other day in winter.)  While we were there, he did not change.  He remained the same both in appearance and, I suspect, essence.  And he was very, very still.

The guards used to be outside the fence, but after a little "incident" in 1959 between a Coldstream Guardsman and a female tourist, the guards now have to be inside the gate. 

If you ask my opinion of the "incident," that guard should not have been confined to barracks for ten days, but sometimes "police" and "lawyers" and "palace P.R. reps" don't think it's okay to kick a tourist in the ankle if she's pestering you.  

What cool, intriguing, motionless guards. Guard on, dudes. Guard on.

Here is the Victoria Memorial, which is in front of the Palace.  We noticed as we stared at it that is has a naval theme to it.  You can't get away from the sea when you're in England.  I was ever-conscious of their naval history and their islandness. Since I don't want to get away from the sea, I was happy to be reminded of it frequently.  

Do you know much about Victoria? She was Queen regnant for sixty-three years and seven months.  That is the record.  I recommend the movie Victoria and Albert, which is wonderful. (Our Linda B. recommended it to me.)  People keep telling me The Young Victoria is great, although I haven't gotten around to watching it yet.  

Victoria reputedly had a wonderful sense of humor, which must come in quite handy when you're the Queen.  (Queen Elizabeth is also pretty funny.  There is some great film footage of her on YouTube, being more relaxed than we tend to see her on the telly.  She's charming.  And she dances really cute.)

After we'd seen the Palace, we headed to Westminster Abbey by way of the Birdcage Walk. It was a lovely street lined with homes that had all kinds of interesting things going on with them, such as this outside spiral staircase which I quite liked.

My favorite part of being in England was walking. We don't walk in southern California.  If we have to go down the street more than one block, we drive our SUVs.

We had seen the outside of Westminster Abbey the day before, but of course it was closed to tourists on Good Friday, so we'd planned to come Saturday.  

I should have thought about this a bit more, because when I was making our itinerary months in advance, I was just thinking "Saturday." I wasn't thinking "big important cathedral the day before Easter."

It was really crowded.

(Before I noticed that photography was not allowed inside, I took these two shots of the John Bunyan window for my brother-in-law.  Here is a funny little article from 1912 about how this window came to be.)

"Some things are of that nature as to make One's fancy chuckle, while his heart doth ache." (John Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, pt. II)

That's such a great book. You should read it.

So it was very, very crowded inside Westminster Abbey the day before Easter.  There were large tour groups from all over the EU, and I felt hot and crabby until I realized that (a) I could take off my coat and carry it, and (b) I could quit trying to listen to the audio guide, which required you to look at things you couldn't get to because of the large groups (unless you were willing to be pushy, and I don't do "pushy"), and which didn't allow you to interact with your family because you were wearing headphones and were too busy trying to find artefacts or plaques or suchlike.  

When I decided to just poke around on my own (with Claire and Bob, who had already figured this out and were carrying their coats and skipping around blithely, unencumbered by headphones or a compulsion to photograph and tape record everything), I had fun.  The two things I'd really wanted to see were Elizabeth I's tomb, and Poet's Corner.  For some glorious reason these two areas were relatively tourist-free when we (also tourists) got there, so that was quite lovely.  Both were better, and much more interesting, than I expected. 

In Poet's Corner I kept yelling "Hey, look, it's her!" or "Hey, look, it's him!" They're all there. 

So here's what happened after we finished our started-out-hot-and-crowded-but-ended-up-fun tour of Westminster Abbey: we took the tube back to our hotel, checked out (Bob had requested late checkout), got back on the tube with our luggage, went back to Heathrow, and rented a car. (We rented it there because (a) we would be returning it there, and (b) you don't want to drive in London.)

Then we hit the open road, baby.

Bob and I got the giggles so bad during the first half hour or so of driving, because we both kept seeing cars zip by with no drivers, or with drivers who were reading or looking out the window.  But of course we were looking at the front passenger side instead of the driver side. It took a bit of getting used to, to remember that if we were backwards, so were the other cars.

Of course I mean "backwards to us."  It's not backwards to the Brits.

I spent the next week of the trip accidentally grabbing into the air with my right hand any time we rounded a corner and I wanted to hold on.

"Your hand grip is on your left," Bob kept saying. 

He was such a good backwards driver.  (Shift with your left hand, stay to the left, don't hydroplane in the rain, don't miss the roundabout exit . . . we would have crashed in five seconds if I had been the one driving.) 

But with the help of our rented TomTom SatNav (Who says "GPS" in England? . . . nobody, that's who) named Jane, who had a lovely British accent (you can get Star Wars voices on it!), I was a good navigator.

So we were off to Bath via Windsor, which is officially called "The Royal Burrough of Windsor and Maidenhead."  

Once we entered the town, Bob followed the weekend traffic to a parking lot that afforded us this lovely view of the castle as we walked up to it.  We went up some stairs and down a narrow street and came out at the base of the castle, which gave one a very serf-like feeling. Really, it was very funny to me how the shops and restaurants sit in a ring around the bottom of the castle, which is up on a hill.  It gave you a very "What are you doing up there, Queen Elizabeth?" kind of feeling.  I wondered if she ever sneaks into town and goes to McDonald's.

We got to Windsor a few hours later than we'd expected, and by the time we had lunch and got to the entry gate, it was four o'clock and it was closing for the day.  It was EXACTLY closing.  See those guards behind Claire?  They're turning away all these tourists and getting ready to shut the gates.

This should have upset us, and I was so hyper-organized with our agenda that I should have noticed my big "no admission after four" note written under "Windsor," but it didn't, and I didn't. 

I have observed before that Day 3 of a trip is when jet lag can smack you if you've been ignoring it your first two days.  We were pooped.  Bob had run back to put more money in the parking meter, and when he came back, Claire and I were plopped on this bench, feeling tired but quite nice and Windsory.  

So then we left Windsor and drove to Bath, and I have loads of lovely photos from Bath to show you, but first you must endure the photos and lack of photos from Sunday (Easter Day), which, when we took a family vote, we all agreed was our favorite day in England, so it's kind of a shame that I left my camera battery back in the hotel that morning. But I compensated. Stay tuned! :)

a cat condenses

Catalogue
by Rosalie Moore

Cats sleep fat and walk thin.
Cats, when they sleep, slump;
When they wake, pull in --
And where the plump's been
There's skin.
Cats walk thin.

Cats wait in a lump,
Jump in a streak.
Cats, when they jump, are sleek
As a grape slipping its skin --
They have technique.
Oh, cats don't creak.
They sneak.

Cats sleep fat.
They spread comfort beneath them
Like a good mat,
As if they picked the place
And then sat.
You walk around one
As if he were City Hall
After that.

If male,
A cat is apt to sing upon a major scale:
This concert is for everybody, this
Is wholesale.
For a baton, he wields a tail.

(He is also found,
When happy, to resound
With an enclosed and private sound.)

A cat condenses.
He pulls in his tail to go under bridges,
And himself to go under fences.
Cats fit
In any box or kit;
And if a large pumpkin grew under one,
He could arch over it.

When everyone else is just ready to go out,
The cat is just ready to come in,
He's not where he's been.
Cats sleep fat and walk thin.

know what's real: quiet time v. me time

I know some of you are tired in the sense that you need more sleep, and some of you are tired (and even weary) in the sense that you need some peace and rest for your heart and brain and soul.  

This week, I thought I'd talk a bit about the Biblical concept of "quiet time" (spending time in God's word and in prayer), and the world's concept of "me time." 

Quiet Time

The Bible tells us to spend time reading God's word and praying, and shows us Godly people who do this.

You are probably familiar with Matthew 11:28-30. Look at what Jesus offers us:

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

When I am going through a very difficult or tiring time and I read those verses, I always tear up a little bit. Jesus, who truly knows how wearying the world can be, is offering us rest!

One of the most important ways we can rest in Jesus is to spend time daily "at his feet" praying and reading the Bible. 

Psalm 119:15-18 shows us someone hungering after God's word:

I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word. Deal bountifully with your servant, that I may live and keep your word. Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.

It goes without saying that we can't meditate on His word or delight in His word or remember His word if we're not saturated in His word, and reading our Bibles faithfully.

We need to be in God's Word for nourishment and strength:

. . . man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. (Deuteronomy 8:3)

We need to be in God's word for direction and guidance:

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. (Psalm 119:105)

We need to be in God's word to have fellowship and communion with Him:

You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Psalm 16:11)

God desires this time with us. He likes to hear our prayers, and He likes us to hear what He has to tell us about Himself:

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. (Revelation 3:20)

What is the biggest way God let us know that He desires fellowship with us?

He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:32)

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit . . . (1 Peter 3:18)

When we spend time in God's word and take our praise, thanksgiving, confessions, concerns, and requests directly to Him, we are communing with the only person in the universe who has the unlimited love, knowledge, and resources to meet our needs perfectly, to His great glory. 

Nobody else can speak to us or hear us like God can. Nobody loves us like He does. He is a faithful God who keeps His promises. Look what He sent us!

For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you . . . was not Yes and No, but in him it is always Yes. For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory. (2 Corinthians 1:19, 20)

Let's compare the blessings of a quiet time with the sovereign God of the universe to the world's solution for your stressed-out, falling-apart life:

Me Time

I am sorry to hear that your life is completely overwhelming. You need more me-time, girlfriend!  Let Calgon take you away! That will make you feel better for about half an hour. Then get a pedicure, 'cause you're worth it!  That should take care of another hour. Have a day off. You will feel good for that day. Take a reading break. You will feel good while you're reading. Buy yourself a little treat. You'll feel good while you're looking for the little treat, and for a little while after you've bought it.

But your life will come back to you. It will keep coming back to you.

Don't misunderstand me . . . it is a great blessing for busy women to have physical downtime.  I do not mean to belittle the exhaustion of a busy woman who has little or no time to herself.

But "me time" is at best a short-term fix for our weariness, and at worst a really dumb phrase that will make us entitled and demanding.  We probably have more discretion to do with our time as we will, and more options to spend it on amusement, than any non-royal women in history.  

It's great to have time to veg out, to rest, to be entertained, to pursue our interests, and to stare into space, but it's not all that the world makes it out to be. 

The Bible doesn't talk about "me time." It talks a whole lot about rest and peace (in fact, Jesus explains in Mark 2:27 that God provides an entire day a week of physical rest for us), but this rest and peace are always grounded in God's good character and His ability to provide for us what we need most. 

If we are not regularly communing with Jesus, sitting at His feet and allowing Him to minister to us as we read our Bibles and spend time in prayer, we are not going to find the rest we are seeking. "Me time" will not cut it.

Next time you're in line at the grocery store, pay attention to what the women's magazines are telling you to do to get rest.  Then, ask yourself: "Self, does it make any sense at all that God's good provision for our rest would be limited to those women in North America and other developed nations with the free time and financial means available to luxuriate in the goods and services these magazines tell us we must have in order to relax?"

Relaxing is fine, but we don't want to string a bunch of bubble baths and novels and pretty blogs and pedicures and mama's-going-shopping-alone "me-times" together and call it a way to find peace. It's not peace. It's Southern California culture. :)  This is no way to live. 

Besides, what will you do when you find yourself in surroundings that aren't conducive to the "simple, quiet" lifestyle that those magazines are touting? (Note that they usually focus on your physical surroundings when telling you how to feel calm. Organize your Tupperware drawer. Fold your t-shirts neatly.  Clean your refrigerator. That will give you inner peace.)  

But what if your life is complicated, messy, and noisy? Does that mean there is no rest for you?

Have you heard of Susanna Wesley?  She was the mom of John and Charles Wesley, and seventeen others.  Ten of her nineteen children lived past the age of two.

She herself was the youngest of twenty-five children. Susanna was a Godly woman who knew something about finding rest in the midst of unrest.  She had a strong faith in Jesus and believed in daily prayer, and if she couldn't find somewhere private to go to pray, she'd flip her apron over her head, which signaled to her kids that they needed to be quiet and leave her be while she prayed.  

Jesus can give us hearts that find rest in Him even when our surrounding circumstances are chaotic and unrestful!  

Look what Psalm 9:9 says:

The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.

Look what Psalm 18:2 promises:

The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

Look what Zephaniah 3:17 says:

The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.

Are you getting the idea? :) And look! Here is my favorite! Isaiah 40:28-31: 

Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might he increases strength.
Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

We need to accept Jesus' offer of rest in Matthew 11:28-30. Here it is again:

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

My prayer for myself today is that I will seek my refuge in God alone, and that I will trust Him to provide rest for my body and soul and mind in the perfect and pleasing ways He chooses. These ways might sometimes include a bubble bath. But He's not limited to bubbles. :)  

I pray He will give me rest even as I "trade in" some of my free time to serve others.  And my day off is not a carte blanche for selfishness. That day I also have to give to Him, to use to His glory.

I pray I will not be selfish in my desire for "me time."  I really struggle with this!

This is also my prayer for all the women who read this post today. :)

yellow owl workshop

I was looking at photos of a pretty wedding over at Design Sponge and liked these bags:

I saw that they were done by Yellow Owl Workshop, so then, curiously, I checked them out. 

If you live in California or New York or France or England, you might want to glance at their postcard sets.

Here is California:

And here is England, which all remind me of Bob's soccer jersey collection:

I also thought their stamp sets were really sweet. Here is Paris:

I was just window shopping, but you'll have to let us know if you get anything, and what you liked. :)

ps I also thought the LCD Write Your Own Message card and gift wrap were extremely creative.

the bug whisperer

the messy back garden

It's a very flowery month around here. I'm not big on non-flowering houseplants (although I like ivy topiaries and wheatgrass), but now that it's spring I've tucked a couple little Trader Joe's gems around here and there.

Outside, well! I am just now getting around to doing things in my garden that I usually do at the beginning of April. (At the beginning of April, I was getting ready for our trip.)

The front garden is in pretty good shape. I need to do some weeding, and we have to have someone come rebuild the wood parts of our rotting-out porch (big project) after we have the termite guy come check things out (ugh), but as far as the flowers go, I just need to keep 'em watered and fed, and wait for them to do their summer thing.  So in pretty good shape, if you push to the back of your brain the possibility that the entire house is being devoured by termites.

The backyard always comes last, poor little thing. It is roughly the size of a handkerchief, so you'd think I could keep up, but I'm always surprised at how much time and money it can suck up.  I don't know how you folks with acreage do it.

Slowly but surely this week, Claire and I have been doing a bit of potting and cleaning up back there. I will show you these photos now while things are still in progress and quite messy, and then in a couple weeks hopefully it'll be tidied up, and I'll show you that, too.

(These photos aren't great. I shouldn't try to take photos out back in the morning.  I get confused by all the shade and light.)

I always plants flowers in these big pots, and they look cheerful when I look out from the kitchen.  This year, I just went for bright, colorful annuals.

Claire has three pots just for her. She is growing red bell peppers and strawberries, and a dying daisy. Perhaps I will help her out with her watering.

Out in the driveway, we have the big geranium that just finished its pretty spring flush (I cut it back because they are so woody and ugly afterwards), and then two pots of cherry tomatoes. Apparently we forgot to sweep up when we were done yesterday. 

The driveway gets full, blasting, hot sun in the summer, so all three of these pots will probably get tucked into the backyard somewhere so they don't fry once it heats up.  We've also put in all the sunflowers seeds along the fence here. They do well, and this is what I see when I look out my kitchen window, so it's nice to have a bit of something pretty.

Here is my little kitchen garden. :) Some basil and cilantro, and a little impatien (Claire has been making puns with "impatiens" all week) in the thumbprint bug pot Claire made when she was two or three. Impatiens do very well here under the pergola, so that's mostly what I plant.

We moved Hugo's hutch since it has warmed up, and he quite likes it. Don't feel bad for him. Usually that door is open and he has the run of the backyard. :) In spring, though, he eats some of the plants (he especially loves strawberries and petunias), so he only comes out when we're out there to supervise, or if I'm in the kitchen and can shoosh him out of the pots.  He digs, too. But we're outside a ton, and I'm in the kitchen a lot, so he's good. I am trying to figure out a place to put the cage if we attach a run to the front of it. If I leave it where it is, we won't be able to get to the driveway gate. The run that goes with this hutch is quite long and wide.

We're going to "landscape" a bit around his cage with some pots of impatiens. I think that will be cute.

See all those brown dead things on the ground? Those are petals from the camellia tree, which you see on the right. I am not enamored with our camellias. They are drop-dead gorgeous for about six weeks in winter, and then for about ten months they drop the dead flowers all over everything.  That's what is in the bottom of Hugo's cage, too. I need to clean them out today.

One thing I'm quite pleased with are the hydrangeas. I've been adding more each year.  We have some that are fully mature, and others in various stages of growth. This one is about 2.5 years old, and doing well. The blossoms will be a lovely shade of purpley-blue once they've all popped open.  This is one of the newer hydrangea types that bloom on new as well as old wood, so they rebloom. It's great.

This one I just planted last summer, and it's quite happy.

I need to weed in the pea gravel area and clean up and put some more gravel down. Oh, and look. A crack in the wall. And some chipping-off plaster.  How nice. I will have to investigate.  Maybe we should just move.

We have termites in our pergola, and this step always has termite dust on it. So we need to get that checked. We've had the termite guys spot-treat for a few years, but I think we probably need to get the house tented, and to rebuild the pergola. We'll see. I need to repaint the step. We got these little impatiens in yesterday. I like them because I can see them when I'm in the kitchen. They always do well here. One pot has lemon balm in it, which smells good.

The Moondance rose plant is blooming. It's very reliable, and the roses are really so pretty and fragrant.

Here is Claire's ceramic mushroom collection, and some more impatiens. We've also planted morning glory seeds. The morning glories will scramble up the trellis. How do they know to do this, I always wonder.  They twirl and loop all over it like ballerinas. They did well last year.

Here is the potting table. I didn't bother to clean up because it's going to be in use all week. :)  I'm a very, very messy creator. When I scrapbook, it looks like this, too. And when I cook.  And then when I'm completely done, I clean like mad. I'm only okay with the mess when I'm in the middle of a project. The second I'm done, it makes me insane. :D

Claire was excited to make little signs.

These are a row of hydrangeas, and then the moondance rose at the end.  I still need to mulch. It really helps keep down the weeds back here.

I will get this other wall painted this year if it's the only thing I do. :)  Stay tuned!

ps That house next door that you see is for sale, if you want to come live next door to me.

know what's real: fellowship v. fame

Today I'm starting a new little series that will post in suziebeezieland every Monday for the next five weeks. For lack of a better idea, I'm calling it "Know what's real." :)

I've been thinking for quite awhile about the lives we lead when we follow Jesus -- some of the Biblical virtues and disciplines we pursue when we desire to bring glory to God, and some of the blessings we experience as we walk with Him and experience His lovingkindness -- and then I've been thinking about the world's weak, counterfeit versions of some of these things.  

Today I thought I'd talk about the Biblical concept of "fellowship," and the worldly concept of "fame."

Fellowship

The Greek word for "fellowship" used in the New Testament is koinonia. Its root word, koina, means "common".  Fellowship means "having things in common".

Specifically, the New Testament talks about a fellowship based in a common love for Jesus.  It makes clear that we are able to have fellowship with one another because we first have fellowship with the Father and the Son: 

Look at what 1 John 1 says about fellowship:

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life — the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us — that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

1 Corinthians 1:4-9 reiterates that this fellowship is from God and is based in the person of Christ:

I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge — even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you — so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

John Piper gives a good description of what it means to "walk in the light":

Walking in the light is the opposite of walking in darkness. It means seeing reality for what it is and being controlled by desires that accord with God's light. If God is light, and in him is no darkness at all, then he is the bright pathway to the fulfillment of all our deepest longings. He is the deliverer from all dark dangers and obstacles to joy. He is the infinitely desirable One.

If in his own light he shines forth as a Being of infinite worth, then he is the star of glory that we were made to admire and cherish. If God opens the eyes of our hearts to see all that, then our desires are captured by the surpassing glory of God over every thing that the world has to offer, and we walk in the light as he is in the light.

There is a walk, there is a lifestyle, that necessarily results from the miracle of new birth when we are given eyes to see the surpassing worth of the light of God. 1 John is written to describe what that lifestyle looks like and how it results from the God's light and our new birth.

If you want to get a clear picture of what this type of fellowship looked like in the New Testament, read the book of Acts. See how those early Christians lived and related to each other. It will give you a really good feeling for the word koinonia and the idea of fellowship.

The message of Christ is the basis of Christian fellowship.

As we move on to fame, keep in mind Piper's assertion that God is "the star of glory that we were made to admire and cherish."

Fame

I am not even sure, after discussing fellowship, that I need to use too many words to explain what a cheap sham the idea of fame is, and what an inadequate replacement it is for true fellowship. I think it will be evident. 

Sometimes people become famous through no desire of their own to be famous. They're just good at what they do, or they do something heroic, and suddenly they are known everywhere.  Sometimes God brings fame to Godly people so that they can use their position to honor Him.  And many people do choose to use their celebrity to honor God.  

But some people pursue fame as an end unto itself.  I believe people do this in lieu of seeking true Christian fellowship.  

Think about loving, serving, praying with, caring for, rejoicing with, weeping with, sharing with, and worshiping with God's people, all to the glory of God.

Such fellowship is possible because of, and only because of, the character of our God and His work through His son Jesus.

Now imagine the tabloids in the grocery store checkout. I feel kind of icky just thinking about them, to be honest.

Imagine yourself scrabbling and clawing to hold on to your public image, like some kind of pathetic Gollum holding the One Ring and whispering "my precious" in the dark and the gloom. Imagine being so desperate for people to know you that you will prostitute yourself to the public and the media for some time in the spotlight. Imagine being so busy being famous that you hire people to take care of the undesirable parts of your life so that you can spend more time collecting fans and followers.

Imagine trading in fellowship with the sovereign God of the universe and His people, and instead living a life seeking the praise and accolades and warm fuzzies of people.

That might seem farfetched to all of us.  But imagine anxiously checking your blog statistics, or looking to see how many Facebook friends you have, or how many people are following your Tweets, or how many Christmas cards you mail each year.

Imagine that you are a believer, but you decide to "tone down" the Gospel and not discuss it on your blog or anywhere public, as if the Good News of Jesus' death and resurrection in order to reconcile us to God is a compartmentalized part of your life that you can put away when it makes you uncomfortable, or when it threatens your popularity.

Here's the pursuit of fame: Me, me, me. Pick me. Think I'm neat. Think I'm interesting. Join the cult of me. Follow me, and I will be a shining light for you, to point your way to me and everything about me, and pretty soon we will be a bigger group and a bigger group and a bigger group, all bowing down to me. I will be the funniest, or the cleverest, or the craftiest, or the most.   I want to be your God.  All to the glory of me.

My prayer for myself is that I will be pursuing real fellowship with real people to the glory of God, and that I will be actively rejecting the temptations that come my way to pursue fellowship's worthless counterfeit, fame.  

I pray this for all the women who read this post today, too.

stamped napkins

{image from gemma comas}

I just ran into this in a professional photographer's portfolio. In a million years, I would never have thought of stamping a plain napkin. Have any of you done this before? I bet you have, because you are crafty geniuses. But look how cute. I will do this! :)

I'm collecting more ideas to help inspire me here, on my tumblelog, which feels like a stream of consciousness if my consciousness were all cute little pictures. :)