SOME CHANGES
I've had to change some things to the comments section of the blog. I have been getting a lot of spam comments and this morning there was a highly inappropriate one (porn). So if you want to comment you'll have to a) be a registered user and b) do a word verification before you comment. Sorry about this.
Monday, October 31, 2005
Monday, October 24, 2005
OK, OK, I ADMIT IT...
I'm a wimp. After 10 years in the South, I've succumbed to calling a 50 degree day cold. I really am ashamed. I lived through the blizzard of '76 in Milford, MA. My father had to start digging after opening the garage door. I lived in New Hampshire where there was hardly a snow day. I walked almost a mile to the bus stop when it was snowing. I lived on the shores of Lake Michigan and suffered through the biting wind that made you cry and almost made your eyeballs freeze. Did I like that weather? Of course not, except for the beauty of freshly fallen snow. But I'm proud to say that I learned to live through it. Somehow, in the past ten years, my blood has thinned and I now start to agree with the local weatherman when he says that temperatures in the 30s are bone-chilling cold! Can you believe it? It's official - I'm a wimp.
I'm a wimp. After 10 years in the South, I've succumbed to calling a 50 degree day cold. I really am ashamed. I lived through the blizzard of '76 in Milford, MA. My father had to start digging after opening the garage door. I lived in New Hampshire where there was hardly a snow day. I walked almost a mile to the bus stop when it was snowing. I lived on the shores of Lake Michigan and suffered through the biting wind that made you cry and almost made your eyeballs freeze. Did I like that weather? Of course not, except for the beauty of freshly fallen snow. But I'm proud to say that I learned to live through it. Somehow, in the past ten years, my blood has thinned and I now start to agree with the local weatherman when he says that temperatures in the 30s are bone-chilling cold! Can you believe it? It's official - I'm a wimp.
Saturday, October 22, 2005
CONFESSIONS OF THE ILL-READ
I may have admitted before that I was not very interested in reading when I was in school. My sister was the one reading the Little House books, Nancy Drew or the Chronicles of Narnia. I only read what was required of me and a few Judy Blume books or other popular teen "literature". Now that I've been homeschooling I'm finding out how much I missed. My latest discovery is the Anne of Green Gables books. I had watched the PBS produced movies and loved them. I had started to read the first one to my daughter. But just a couple weeks ago I picked up the third book in the series - Anne of the Island. I started there because I thought I already knew what was in the first two books from watching the movie. I realized that the movies contained the plots from the first four books. Anyway, I devoured Anne of the Island and quickly moved to Windy Poplars and Anne's House of Dreams. I love L. M. Montgomery and P.E.I. I told my husband I would love to go there someday. There were so many lines in these books that I wanted to remember and write down. The way Anne looks at nature and sees beauty in everything is so refreshing. In one of these books she's looking at some scene and describes the experience as drinking in a cup of glory. I love the descriptions and the characters. Is it just me or do you find contemporary fiction today to be lacking? Especially Christian fiction. It's just poor quality if you ask me. I do not claim to be a literary critic or a learned bibliophile but if I read another Francine Rivers novel with the words, "raked his hand through his hair", one more time I'm going to scream. L. M. Montgomery never repeated phrases like that. She always finds a new way to describe something.
Anyway, right now I'm reading Rainbow Valley which is the seventh book in the Anne of Green Gables series. It's mostly about her children. Did you know she had seven children? The first died shortly after birth. After the death of her first born, they have a woman come and live with them to help out. Her name is Susan and she stays on with the Blythe family for years to come. I wonder if it was common for families back then to have help like that? I'm sure many mothers did everything around the house, but it sure would be nice to have someone like Susan helping with the children and the cooking and the cleaning. She makes the best maple sugar buns and gives them to the children before they go to bed. But in the mothering department, no one will do but Anne. She has a way of understanding her children and their temperaments that's so tender.
At the end of Anne of Ingleside, she starts to doubt Gilbert's love for her. After all, they've been married fifteen years, they have six children, and he's a busy doctor. Then they're invited to a get-together where they will meet up with an old friend of Gilbert's - Christine. In Anne of the Island, they are going to college at Redmond, and Gilbert is continually seen with this Christine and rumoured to be engaged to her. In the end we find out they are just friends but the old jealousy comes storming back into Anne's heart. At this dinner party, Christine taunts Anne with comments about "just" being a mother. Christine never had children. She thought the world was overpopulated! Anne gives the greatest response, which I will be adopting and using if the Lord gives me an opportunity. Here's a short excerpt of the conversation:
"Fancy you being contented there,"smiled Christine. ("That terrible mouthful of teeth!") "Do you really never feel that you want a broader life? You used to be quite ambitious, if I remember aright. Didn't you write some rather clever little things when you were at Redmond? A bit fantastic and whimsical, of course, but still..."
"I wrote them for the people who still believe in fairyland. There is a surprising lot of them, you know, and they like to get news from that country."
"And you've quite given it up?"
"Not altogether...but I'm writing living epistles now," said Anne, thinking of Jem and Co.
Christine stared, not recognizing the quotation. What did Anne Shirley mean?
I feel like I'm in the company of Anne, that I'm a part of the "race who knows Joseph". Read Anne's House of Dreams to find out about that. It means beind kindred spirits. We are all writing living epistles if we are mothers. We are daily writing on our children's hearts. Attitudes, beliefs, affections. Our investment now has eternal consequences. As Elisabeth Elliot once said, we are bringing up souls for God. May God give us the grace to keep this purpose as a priority and hold it up as a high and holy calling.
I may have admitted before that I was not very interested in reading when I was in school. My sister was the one reading the Little House books, Nancy Drew or the Chronicles of Narnia. I only read what was required of me and a few Judy Blume books or other popular teen "literature". Now that I've been homeschooling I'm finding out how much I missed. My latest discovery is the Anne of Green Gables books. I had watched the PBS produced movies and loved them. I had started to read the first one to my daughter. But just a couple weeks ago I picked up the third book in the series - Anne of the Island. I started there because I thought I already knew what was in the first two books from watching the movie. I realized that the movies contained the plots from the first four books. Anyway, I devoured Anne of the Island and quickly moved to Windy Poplars and Anne's House of Dreams. I love L. M. Montgomery and P.E.I. I told my husband I would love to go there someday. There were so many lines in these books that I wanted to remember and write down. The way Anne looks at nature and sees beauty in everything is so refreshing. In one of these books she's looking at some scene and describes the experience as drinking in a cup of glory. I love the descriptions and the characters. Is it just me or do you find contemporary fiction today to be lacking? Especially Christian fiction. It's just poor quality if you ask me. I do not claim to be a literary critic or a learned bibliophile but if I read another Francine Rivers novel with the words, "raked his hand through his hair", one more time I'm going to scream. L. M. Montgomery never repeated phrases like that. She always finds a new way to describe something.
Anyway, right now I'm reading Rainbow Valley which is the seventh book in the Anne of Green Gables series. It's mostly about her children. Did you know she had seven children? The first died shortly after birth. After the death of her first born, they have a woman come and live with them to help out. Her name is Susan and she stays on with the Blythe family for years to come. I wonder if it was common for families back then to have help like that? I'm sure many mothers did everything around the house, but it sure would be nice to have someone like Susan helping with the children and the cooking and the cleaning. She makes the best maple sugar buns and gives them to the children before they go to bed. But in the mothering department, no one will do but Anne. She has a way of understanding her children and their temperaments that's so tender.
At the end of Anne of Ingleside, she starts to doubt Gilbert's love for her. After all, they've been married fifteen years, they have six children, and he's a busy doctor. Then they're invited to a get-together where they will meet up with an old friend of Gilbert's - Christine. In Anne of the Island, they are going to college at Redmond, and Gilbert is continually seen with this Christine and rumoured to be engaged to her. In the end we find out they are just friends but the old jealousy comes storming back into Anne's heart. At this dinner party, Christine taunts Anne with comments about "just" being a mother. Christine never had children. She thought the world was overpopulated! Anne gives the greatest response, which I will be adopting and using if the Lord gives me an opportunity. Here's a short excerpt of the conversation:
"Fancy you being contented there,"smiled Christine. ("That terrible mouthful of teeth!") "Do you really never feel that you want a broader life? You used to be quite ambitious, if I remember aright. Didn't you write some rather clever little things when you were at Redmond? A bit fantastic and whimsical, of course, but still..."
"I wrote them for the people who still believe in fairyland. There is a surprising lot of them, you know, and they like to get news from that country."
"And you've quite given it up?"
"Not altogether...but I'm writing living epistles now," said Anne, thinking of Jem and Co.
Christine stared, not recognizing the quotation. What did Anne Shirley mean?
I feel like I'm in the company of Anne, that I'm a part of the "race who knows Joseph". Read Anne's House of Dreams to find out about that. It means beind kindred spirits. We are all writing living epistles if we are mothers. We are daily writing on our children's hearts. Attitudes, beliefs, affections. Our investment now has eternal consequences. As Elisabeth Elliot once said, we are bringing up souls for God. May God give us the grace to keep this purpose as a priority and hold it up as a high and holy calling.
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
MY NEW EXERCISE REGIME...
If you want to get the blood pumping several times a day just get an English Springer puppy who has an unusual chewing fetish. Leave things lying around and when he grabs them...which he will...chase him around and around and around the sofa. Lunge back and forth while trying to fake him out. If you want to add variety, have your children help you by placing obstacles. Kiddie strollers work well especially if you have more than one but don't use a pink ride on pony. Puppies can jump you know. Do this five or more times a day and you'll be on your way to a slimmer and trimmer you.
And now I need to catch my breath and take a shower...
If you want to get the blood pumping several times a day just get an English Springer puppy who has an unusual chewing fetish. Leave things lying around and when he grabs them...which he will...chase him around and around and around the sofa. Lunge back and forth while trying to fake him out. If you want to add variety, have your children help you by placing obstacles. Kiddie strollers work well especially if you have more than one but don't use a pink ride on pony. Puppies can jump you know. Do this five or more times a day and you'll be on your way to a slimmer and trimmer you.
And now I need to catch my breath and take a shower...
Saturday, October 08, 2005
INFINITE JOY IN GOD
I can't believe it's been two months since I did a post on Piper's book When I Don't Desire God. I apologize to those who've been waiting in anticipation. *grin* Today I want to write about chapter 2 which is titled What is the Difference Between Desire and Delight. When I first started reading this chapter I thought he was getting into a little hair splitting but his main point is that there isn't really a wall separating our desire for God and our delight in God. We can have both at the same time and even though we desire more of God, in that desiring there is joy. Paul says in Romans 5:2, "We rejoice in hope of the glory of God." At the same time, the object of our joy (the Lord) is both experienced now (Romans 5:5) and not yet fully experienced. That brings me to the title of this post. Piper says, "There will always be more of God to enjoy. Which means there will always be holy desire - forever." Even in heaven we will exist as finite creatures who will worship forever an infinite God.
I find it refreshing that someone out there in the world of American evangelicalism is actually talking about fighting to increase our desire for God. Who else out there is really talking about this? I'm constantly disappointed when I browse through my local Christian bookstore. Not only will they sell outright false teaching from people such as Joel Osteen but a lot of the stuff in there is skim milk. The meaty writings are all relegated to a clearance corner. While I'm glad I can get some great books by Andrew Murray and Charles Spurgeon on clearance, I think it's sad that the average Christian today is not interested in them or even knows who they are. Why else would it be on clearance? OK, enough of my rant about Christian bookstores. I've told my husband several times that one of my dreams is to open a bookstore which carries profound life changing books, old books by Edwards and Owen and others, and no gifts, T-shirts or WWJD bracelets.
How is your level of desire for God? I ask this question of myself as well. Are you pressing hard after the Lord? In the words of Piper himself I "kick myself that my cravings for lesser things compete with God as the satisfaction of my soul." Do you have this godly grief? In one sense it is good to be convicted. But Piper also reminds us that the fact that we grieve over the smallness of our desire is in itself evidence that we have tasted. Psalm 34 says, "Taste and see that the Lord is good." And "the strength of our desire is not the measure of the strength of the final pleasure." This is good news and should spur us on in the fight for joy that Piper speaks of in this book. Because ~
"God will be glorified both by the intensity of the present delight that we have in His beauty and by the intensity of the desires we have for more revelation of His fullness...The intensity of our pleasure and our desire bear witness of His worth to the world..."
Piper's aim is "to pursue joy in God so that the infinitely valuable objective reality of the universe, God, will get all the glory possible from my life." How's that for a life goal? He then goes on to discuss that while "our goal is to see and savor 'the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God' (2 Corinthians 4:4), the spiritual affections, or emotions, that arise from our pursuit of this goal should not be discarded. We are pursuing Christ. We are also commanded to rejoice in the Lord. "God is glorified in His people by the way we experience Him, not merely by the way we think about Him." It isn't enough to think right things about God. God commands us to rejoice in Him. Piper says ~
"Oh, how easy it is to think we are what we ought to be when the emotions are made peripheral. Mere thoughts and mere deeds are manageable by the carnal religious mind. But the emotions - they are the weathercock of the heart. Nothing shows the direction of the deep winds of the soul like the demand for radical, sin-destroying, Christ-exalting joy in God."
So let us measure our hearts by how much we treasure Christ, how much we delight in Him over and above anything else in this world. But let us not be discouraged. If we are grieved by our lack of desire, that grief can glorify God as well. Our grief communicates our repentance and our desire for God.
I can't believe it's been two months since I did a post on Piper's book When I Don't Desire God. I apologize to those who've been waiting in anticipation. *grin* Today I want to write about chapter 2 which is titled What is the Difference Between Desire and Delight. When I first started reading this chapter I thought he was getting into a little hair splitting but his main point is that there isn't really a wall separating our desire for God and our delight in God. We can have both at the same time and even though we desire more of God, in that desiring there is joy. Paul says in Romans 5:2, "We rejoice in hope of the glory of God." At the same time, the object of our joy (the Lord) is both experienced now (Romans 5:5) and not yet fully experienced. That brings me to the title of this post. Piper says, "There will always be more of God to enjoy. Which means there will always be holy desire - forever." Even in heaven we will exist as finite creatures who will worship forever an infinite God.
I find it refreshing that someone out there in the world of American evangelicalism is actually talking about fighting to increase our desire for God. Who else out there is really talking about this? I'm constantly disappointed when I browse through my local Christian bookstore. Not only will they sell outright false teaching from people such as Joel Osteen but a lot of the stuff in there is skim milk. The meaty writings are all relegated to a clearance corner. While I'm glad I can get some great books by Andrew Murray and Charles Spurgeon on clearance, I think it's sad that the average Christian today is not interested in them or even knows who they are. Why else would it be on clearance? OK, enough of my rant about Christian bookstores. I've told my husband several times that one of my dreams is to open a bookstore which carries profound life changing books, old books by Edwards and Owen and others, and no gifts, T-shirts or WWJD bracelets.
How is your level of desire for God? I ask this question of myself as well. Are you pressing hard after the Lord? In the words of Piper himself I "kick myself that my cravings for lesser things compete with God as the satisfaction of my soul." Do you have this godly grief? In one sense it is good to be convicted. But Piper also reminds us that the fact that we grieve over the smallness of our desire is in itself evidence that we have tasted. Psalm 34 says, "Taste and see that the Lord is good." And "the strength of our desire is not the measure of the strength of the final pleasure." This is good news and should spur us on in the fight for joy that Piper speaks of in this book. Because ~
"God will be glorified both by the intensity of the present delight that we have in His beauty and by the intensity of the desires we have for more revelation of His fullness...The intensity of our pleasure and our desire bear witness of His worth to the world..."
Piper's aim is "to pursue joy in God so that the infinitely valuable objective reality of the universe, God, will get all the glory possible from my life." How's that for a life goal? He then goes on to discuss that while "our goal is to see and savor 'the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God' (2 Corinthians 4:4), the spiritual affections, or emotions, that arise from our pursuit of this goal should not be discarded. We are pursuing Christ. We are also commanded to rejoice in the Lord. "God is glorified in His people by the way we experience Him, not merely by the way we think about Him." It isn't enough to think right things about God. God commands us to rejoice in Him. Piper says ~
"Oh, how easy it is to think we are what we ought to be when the emotions are made peripheral. Mere thoughts and mere deeds are manageable by the carnal religious mind. But the emotions - they are the weathercock of the heart. Nothing shows the direction of the deep winds of the soul like the demand for radical, sin-destroying, Christ-exalting joy in God."
So let us measure our hearts by how much we treasure Christ, how much we delight in Him over and above anything else in this world. But let us not be discouraged. If we are grieved by our lack of desire, that grief can glorify God as well. Our grief communicates our repentance and our desire for God.
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