Week's end with thanks
- Sweet evening at the park during a house-showing. Old red truck-play-structure; we went for a family drive.”
- Ice-cream cones for kids. Nothing sweeter than a sweetie-pie coated in ice-cream.
- Four flats of fresh, local, organic raspberries. I thought the strawberries were good but these are unbelievable. We finished off one whole flat the first day. Mmm….
- Shepherding a Child’s Heart: Finally finished it. SO good.
- More house-showings.
- Brother and his family coming to visit!
- Good news.
- Good friends.
- Faithful prayers.
- Amazing and miraculous answer to prayer.
- Perseverance.
- Date-night.
- Frozen yogurt and looking out over Lake Oswego.
- Mundane tasks made meaningful because we do them together.
- Husband carrying grocery bags.
- Friend who babysits.
- Day at Detroit Lake with dear Community Group. Dutch and Cody spendingall dayout in the water, floating around splashing like sea turtles.
- Heidi happily napping in the tent.
- SUN. Is there anything like it?
- Boating — my perfect place. Just give me sun, water, and a boat and I’m happy.
- Hot dogs roasted over the fire. Dutch’s sweet innocent question, “Mommy, I thought hot dogs have bad stuff in them?” Yes, babe, we don’t think about that when we’re camping.
- Frozen strawberries.
- A full day of fun from 8am-9:30pm … two very tired, dirty, happy children on the drive home.
- Sleep.
- Picnic at Clackamette park with dear Debra. Dutch, the pirate, happy at seat, an old stump transformed into a ship.
- Spicer Brother’s produce.
- Watching out window while Daddy and kids play Leapfrog Bingo on the deck. Happy shouts and sunlight, slanted evening shadows.
- A dishwasher.
- Leftovers. In my opinion everything tastes better the next day.
- Sewing pirate eye-patches for the kids. They were delirious with joy.
- Day off.
- Cool morning before the sun.
- New Middle-School Pastor! Sweet afternoon with pastors of WCC moving him into his house. So blessed for these wonderful fellow-servants of Jesus!
- 18-lb. box of local organic cherries. WOW! I think there was one day I ate them for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
- Radio-controlled helicopter at the park: Kids were mesmerized.
- Out of time. Life is full, rich, teeming with gifts. Time to sign-off, happy kids need baths, snuggles, bed. Happy weekend!
F is for Four years
“All you have to do is click ‘publish.'”
Four years ago my sweet husband assured me with those words. I’d argued, convinced I’d never be able to figure out this “blog thing” and certain that I would never have enough to say to actually keep it afloat. What on earth was a blog? I’d never read one and had no idea how to maintain one. But since he insisted (and had already paid the $13 for my domain name and set the whole thing up), I had no choice. So I wrote about him and How God Broke My Heart and thus it all began…
While many of you have graciously written over the years and shared how God has used one word or another to touch or challenge or bless your life, I’m well aware of the fact that no one’s been more blessed or affected by this little corner of virtual space than myself. Writing here got me through a very difficult journey in our life, and continues to carry me through processing the victories and struggles of this life of faith.
It was fun today to read through the different “blog birthday” posts over to the right: First, Second, and Third.
And all this has made me think: I wonder what beautiful thing is just waiting for you to do? Sometimes it’s the silliest things that keep us from just doing what we love and are gifted by God to do. Not everyone needs a blog, but everyone needs something. Do you love to knit but never do it? Have you always dreamed of planting a garden but never given it a shot? Think photography might be your cup of tea? Would you love to spread awareness about human trafficking or raise funds for a missions organization? What do you dream about? I’d be willing to bet we all have hundreds of unused gifts just waiting to be opened. Yes, our lives are already full, which is another reason we need margin, so we can squiggle our beautiful artwork in the white space!
In all seriousness, would you commit that thought to prayer? Lord, is there any gift You’ve given me that You’re wanting me to open now? It might not be the time, but it might…
Thank you, dear readers, for wading through my word-wanderings and making this sacred space what it is. And thank you, my dear husband, for the $13 domain-name and for giving me the courage to click publish.
{Happy friday.}
When you're looking for beauty
[Continuing our study of Psalm 27. We’ve looked at confidence, the fear of man and vision …glad you’re here today.]
“[The one thing I seek after is] to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in His temple. For He will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; He will conceal me under the cover of His tent; He will lift me high upon a rock.” v.4-5
David now moves from confidence in the face of fear to a resolute vision of the One True God. Here he continues unfolding this one thing he seeks, it is the abiding presence of God which includes gazing upon His beauty.
David is enthralled by the beauty of the Lord.
What is beauty?
Webster defines beauty as the quality or aggregate of qualities in a person or thing that gives pleasure to the senses or pleasurably exalts the mind or spirit; loveliness.
Simply put, beauty gives pleasure. No wonder we work so hard for it. We wanna have it ’cause men want to see it. Because it pleases men and we’re pleased when they’re pleased. Or, worse, we’re pleased when other women see that we’re what pleases men. As Beth Moore says, “No one checks out women like women check out women.” Isn’t that the truth?
But sadly, beauty has been all but mutilated beyond recognition in our society. In our world, beauty is a photoshopped image. Not even a real person, like this image of Madonna:
Isn’t that crazy?
No wonder we don’t feel beautiful! No wonder we’ve got insecurity issues!An article in Psychology Today reads,
“Women who are surrounded by other attractive women, whether in the flesh, in films, or in photographs, rate themselves less satisfied with their attractiveness–and less desirable as a marriage partner.”
Beth Moore adds,
“If we don’t learn to separate entertainment from identity and hyped images from real womanhood, our feminine souls are going to pass straight through the shredder.”
Beauty. It’s good. It’s created by God. We were created with a God-given desire for beauty. But beauty, like sex, has been so sadly perverted by sin in our world that we’ve lost the ability to see pure and holy beauty for what it really is:
A reflection of God.
That is beauty. All true beauty is simply a mirrored reflection of some facet of who God is. Because God is beauty. All that is truly beauty is some reflection of Him, all that is ugliness is some deviation or aberration of who He is.
The pursuit of beauty is a noble, worthwhile pursuit. The pursuit of self is not. David’s One Thing that he seeks is, in part, beholding the beauty of God. And everytime we create or cultivate true beauty in some form we enable God’s beauty to be beheld, both for ourselves and those around us.
But taking back a biblical definition of beauty takes a radical renewal of our minds, since they are bombarded by the perverted definition on a daily basis. We must therefore daily remind ourselves how beautiful our God is, and what things reflect true beauty. Such as:
Truth
Justice
Mercy
Compassion
Joy
Peace
Kindness
Patience
Courage
Faithfulness
Purity
What if we deliberately sought to surround ourselves with beauty? True beauty. Would we be kinder, more patient, more loving? What if we sought to beautify ourselves in this way? By walking in dignity, by ordering our lives, by rejoicing always, by remaining patient with others, by showing courage in the midst of fear. And most of all, reflecting the confidence of a woman who knows her God.
Wouldn’t we be beautiful?
Yes, because we would simply be a reflection.
—
{How can you today seek to let your life be beautiful? To let all you do reflect the true beauty of our God? What might that look like, and wouldn’t it be a gift to our world? Thank you, friends, for reading.}