Leviticus 6: Material for Sacrifice
Who’d have thought that Leviticus had anything to do with Valentine’s Day? I love how God uses His Word in our lives…
I can so vividly remember that fall day in more than 9 years ago, as I sat in my small apartment, resting my head in my hands. Tears were rolling down my cheeks. I was so tired and confused. God was in the middle of breaking my heart, but I didn’t know or understand. My heart just felt raw and I didn’t understand why God would give me these feelings, this desire to be married, and specifically this desire to marry Jeff Patterson (!), if all God was going to do was disappoint me over and over, allow me to feel hurt and rejection again. Why would He give me this overwhelming desire for something and then not allow it to happen? I loved Him. I followed Him. I was giving my life to serve Him. I had left my dreams of going to grad school, of pursuing writing, or “making something” of myself so that I could go into ministry. Then why was He giving me all this pain? And why was “ministry” so hard. I spent hours a day studying at this ministry training school and hours every Sunday cleaning the church bathrooms and taking out trash. Was this my “calling”? Trash, toilets and tears. *sigh*
But that fall day I will never forget. I was in the middle of my Bible reading, opened to none other than the book of Leviticus. Great, I thought, so much for getting anything encouraging from the Scriptures this morning. But in chapter 6 I read along, and came to this:
“The fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it; it shall not go out. The priest shall burn wood on it every morning … Fire shall be kept burning on the altar continually; it shall not go out.” (v.12-13)
And almost as if my Heavenly Father were right there in the room with me, I heard as clearly as an audible voice, “I am giving you material for sacrifice.”
Then it all made sense. God was giving me things, good things–desires for ministry, hopes, dreams, longings, ideas–and all those things were opportunities for me to acknowledge them and offer them right back up to God as a sacrifice of praise. Every good thing that was yet unfulfilled–sacrifice material. Every mundane task that seemed so tedious–sacrifice material. Every hurt or feeling of rejection–sacrifice material.
The fire on the altar shall burn continually; it shall not go out.
God is gracious enough to give us constant material for sacrifice. Things that we can offer up to God all day long.
I sat down that day and wrote a poem entitled Material for Sacrifice. I so wish I had it now. I do remember one line being “Every glance, I offer up to Him.” Now I’m smiling because that every glance was the glance of Jeff Patterson who had so won my heart and broken it all at once. 🙂
So that phrase has stuck with me–Material for Sacrifice. Now I think of it when I’m doing endless dishes or changing diapers or training my kids. When waiting for things or not understanding why certain things are as they are. It’s all material for sacrifice. That the beautiful burning altar of our lives would never go out. The Ultimate Sacrifice has been made, but our lives are to be a living sacrifice which is our act of worship (Romans 12:1). When we offer up everything to God, the aroma is beautiful to God.
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What material has God give you today for sacrifice? What can you offer up on the altar of your life as an act of worship today? I pray our lives would burn continually with a sacrifice of worship to Him.
Frugal Friday: The Simple Diet (4)
Personally I have found that one of the easiest and most effective ways to simplify and stay trim is to make lunch my biggest meal of the day. Everyone’s different, but I’ve found that if I can feel very full and satisfied mid-day then I have the energy and bright attitude necessary to carry me through the rest of the day. Dinner serves more as a smaller carry-over meal until bedtime, rather than a huge feast at the end of the day. This also prevents me from eating large amounts as an emotional response to a stressful day. Anybody else been there? During the middle of the day I’m more likely to eat for fuel. At the end of the day I’m more likely to eat for stress-relief. I know many people enjoy a big meal late in the day, but for me it just works to eat a big lunch, snack guiltlessly whenever I need, and eat something small or light for dinner. And you probably all know it’s a great rule of thumb not eat for 3 hours before bed. Popcorn doesn’t count. 🙂
All that to say that lunch matters! I love lunch. It’s a great time to eat a power-packed meal that can carry you through your busy day. And after having your simple oatmeal and your five simple snacks, we can splurge and have SIX options for lunch! That means every day can be different and you can eat leftovers on Sunday as a Sabbath. Here are our top six Simple Diet lunch picks. All are easy, healthy, and can be made ahead and served in just a few minutes.
1. Toasted Cheese sandwiches, carrot sticks, fruit. Ok, there are weeks that we eat this almost every day. And with whole-wheat bread, Tillamook cheese, organic carrots and apple slices–it’s healthy and delicious and easy.
2. Peanut butter sandwiches, steamed peas, fruit. Again, easy. Whole-wheat bread, natural peanut butter, fruit, and a favorite in our house: “Percy peas” (because they are the color of Percy from Thomas the Train). Organic frozen peas are less than $1/lb. for a 5lb. back at Costco. I steam little bowls of peas and my kids eat them with their fingers. So easy. So healthy.
3. Whole-wheat pancakes with beets, yams, ricotta, chickpea or carrot puree. This is what we eat every Tuesday after Bible study. My kids love the tradition and we all love the pancakes. Here’s an easy recipe (This is from the back of the Curious George Makes Pancakes book, so we call them Curious George Pancakes.) You can mix in pureed beets, carrots or yams for veggies, or ricotta cheese or pureed chickpeas for protein. So easy. So yummy. 1 1/2 c. milk, 2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt, 2 TB sugar, 2 cups whole-wheat flour–then add puree and any water needed to get the right consistency. Done. Delish. (Mix it up in a juice pitcher and it makes for easy pouring onto the griddle.)
4. Chicken with green beans and homemade bread. After roasting that whole chicken, save big chunks of shredded chicken in the fridge for an instant meal. My kids LOVE chicken this way. They also love “Percy beans” (you can guess what they are named after)–organic frozen green beans are also less than $1/lb. at Costco. Saute in olive oil and sprinkle with lemon pepper. Mmmm!
5. Chicken Noodle soup with homemade bread. Confession: sometimes my chicken noodle soup doesn’t even have chicken in it. But with delicious chicken broth and plenty of yummy noodles and veggies, it hardly matters. My favorite soup recipe is here, but any variation is great. Today I made it with barley instead of noodles and onion instead of leeks, and added plenty of carrots and peas. I added a little white wine too. Yum!
6. Beans and rice with corn. Best basic go-to meal. Soak beans overnight, any kind (black are our favorite but white, lentil, chickpea, or pinto are all wonderful). Cook in salted water all day in a crockpot, serve with brown rice or barley or quinoa. Mix in organic frozen corn (less than $1/lb. at Costco), and sprinkle with cheddar cheese for a complete meal. Or dump in a packet of taco seasoning and make it mexi-style. Yum!
Again, I know there are a million healthy meals out there. But if you’re looking for an easy way to revamp your budget, here’s an easy place to start. And please do not be afraid that your children will suffer because they do not have a dozen choices. We can become crippled by our preference-driven society. Chances are that our children will have happy, thankful hearts when they learn to eat what they are served. (I’m working on this one too!)
Happy lunching!
Book Review: The Same Kind Of Different As Me
It took a while to decide which book to take to Maui. It was a big decision! I love taking one–and only one–book on a trip and reading the whole thing start to finish. Then, the same way that music or smells “take you back”, that book then “takes me back” to that place, creates a theme of the trip, engulfs me in its story for the duration of the trip. And, because I tend to fall headlong into a story and have trouble crawling out of it into daily life, vacation is the perfect time to read a story or novel. I can sink down into it and not stress about the laundry remaining undone. I can live temporarily in its pages during vacation but then return from the physical and virtual journey at the same time.
So this time I took The Same Kind of Different As Me. It was a journey to be sure. I traveled from the dusty fields of a Louisiana cotton plantation in the 1960s to the 2005 Presidential inauguration. I silently wept in my airline seat while my kids watched VeggieTales at my side. I lay awake at night in our hotel and thought about my life, the gospel, the lost. I was convicted and challenged, encouraged and inspired.
The book is the true story of Denver Moore, a black homeless man in Fort Worth, Texas, and Ron Hall, an international millionaire art-dealer, whose wife relentlessly pursued her dream of reaching people with the transforming power of the gospel of grace. Reading the real-life account of Denver’s life made me shudder, especially juxtaposed with the environment in which I read the book–lounging on the white sands of a Hawaiian beach. Hearing the miraculous account of Ron and Denver’s meeting and Deborah Hall’s dream reminded me of God’s spectacular power and relentless pursuit of His eternal plan:
“To bring good news to the poor … to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound.” (Is. 61:1)
My recommendation? Read it. It’s a surefire way to stir an apathetic heart.
My favorite line was when Denver Moore–when asked how they should give his introduction before preaching–replied that he didn’t want them to say anything about him because “I don’t want to tell em ’bout me. I want to tell em ’bout the Lord.” When they insisted that they had to give an introduction Denver replied,
“Just tell em I’m a nobody that’s tryin to tell everybody ’bout Somebody that can save anybody.”
Amen, Denver. Ironically that very day I was trying to figure out what to write in a bio of myself that I have to submit later this week. Denver’s one-line bio was perfect. If we could all just have that perspective, amen? I spend far too much time worrying about my pathetic bio and not enough time praying for souls. This book is a healthy dose of eternal perspective. And we can all use a bit of that, amen?
So if you have a chance, check out The Same Kind of Different As Me, and have the kleenex handy.
Packing Light: Limitation or Freedom?
Oops, I guess we have 3 lessons from the Maui trip! I forgot that I wrote this before we left but never published it. This whole idea of “Packing Light” has impacted me so much this past year. Hope it can be a blessing to you as well.
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So this past weekend in preparation for our trip, I read the baggage requirements for our flight. Once I read that we had to pay for any checked bags, you better believe I was emailing my traveler buddies and finding some carry-ons we could use instead. A generous friend gave us two. Since we have 4 people (2 of which are small, however), and just two carry-on bags, I figured it might be tricky to pack. But after I’d packed all we needed, I stood and looked at the suitcases. One was full and one was still empty. Hmm… apparently it’d be easier than I thought.
As some of you know, I am a notoriously and obsessively light packer. Probably to a fault. Let’s just say my husband has found himself sockless on more than one occasion, and in Switzerland I had to buy a pair of shoes after my feet were bloodied and useless from walking 5 hours in the only pair I’d brought. But despite these mishaps, I still maintain that 99% of the time you can always make due. My obsessive light-packing may be a disorder, but if it is I’m sticking with it.
Probably what caused my condition/conviction was the month-long trip I took to Europe in college. We were told to only bring one carry-on (no checked bags) as we’d be doing a lot of walking and taking trains, etc. Though we were welcome to bring what we wanted, they warned us: Whatever you bring you will carry many many miles. I took this warning seriously.
I brought only the shoes on my feet, and a few black, long, comfortable cotton dresses. We had to hand-wash and line-dry our clothes in the sinks of the hostels, so lightweight materials were best. Everything I packed was strategic, multi-use, wrinkle-resistant, lightweight. (And cute, because that matters too.)
A month later when we returned to the states I’ll admit that I wanted to burn every stitch of clothing I had taken, but they had served me well. And I became a believer in packing light.
Now I’m not trying to claim moral superiority or say you’re evil if you love taking your 10 pairs of shoes on vacation, but I will say that the majority of the girls on that Europe trip did not heed the advice to pack light. I have never seen such enormous suitcases in my life. Many girls donned perfectly coordinated outfits … which were stained with sweat from heaving around those huge bags! And while I’m sure no one voted me best-dressed, I loved that it took 30 seconds to get dressed in the morning, no effort to figure out what matched, and I could swing my bag over my shoulder and hop on a train to Italy with the greatest of ease. It made it easy to travel, move quickly, easy to focus on seeing the sights. In short, it gave me freedom.
What’s the point?
There’s no right or wrong way to pack, but packing light just makes it easier to get around. Far from being a limitation, it really is a freedom.
First Peter tell us that this life is really just one long trip. We’re away from home, right? We’re traveling along this road of life on our way to our true Home. And while I find it natural to pack light for Hawaii, packing light for life seems so much harder. I like my stuff!
This has been on my mind often as we consider potential houses to buy (when ours sells!). Of course, again, there is no right or wrong sort of house to buy–God has different things for each of us. But my point is that while I’ve always been drawn to bigger, better, always seeing “how much” I can get–it’s been so helpful to keep in mind that the more we have the more we have to carry around this life. Packing light, so to speak, is not a limitation, it’s a freedom. Now I’m realizing my thought pattern has switched to, “how little can we get away with having?”
I cannot tell you how this has changed my life in the last six months. I was talking to my mom the other day about how thankful I was that we had the freedom to look for houses in a low price-range. Though our choices are certainly “limited” in number, I’m so thankful that we have the freedom to look in that range. The rich young ruler walked away sad because he did not have the freedom to pack light. He couldn’t give it away. He had too much stuff. How much easier it would have been for him, how much lighter and happier he would have been, if he would have severed the hold that his stuff had on him and simply given it all away!
When we have less, we are free.
Jeff and I have the possible opportunity down the road for a short-term ministry trip that would be a dream come true. No, really. Dream. Come. True. It would take a significant amount of fund-raising to make it happen. Or, we realized, if we sold our house we could simply save up for a few months and pay for it ourselves! What FREEDOM! I shook my head in amazement when we realized this. How fun it would be to have that kind of freedom! To have a small “carry-on” house and be able to run around however and whenever God leads! 🙂 Far from being a limitation, it would be a freedom indeed!
My prayer is that wherever we live, whatever we have, we might take a step toward packing light in this life. Maybe that means selling something, maybe that means just using up all that we have. But the key is in our perspective.
Do we see our small carry-on as a limit or a freedom?
As Paul said in 1 Corinthians 7 (in reference to marriage, but applicable here too):
This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those…who buy [live] as though they had no goods,31and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away.
32I want you to be free from anxieties…I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord.
Hear my heart. To those of you who have little: What freedom! And to those of us with much–let’s think of how we can lighten our load.
Remember how, when I returned from Europe, I wanted to burn every stitch of clothing I had worn during that month? Well that’s exactly what will happen to all of our stuff at the end of our life. How great would it be to wear it all out–to use every last bit of it for the good work God has for us here. How sad it would be to have piles and piles of unused things, stuff that simply weighed us down during the years God had given us on earth.
Living with less gives us freedom. Here’s to packing light, in Maui and in life.