A Season of Change

In this season of busy, this was a refreshing reminder. Fullness - Valley of Vision Heavenly Father Thou hast revealed to me myself             as a mass of sin,    and thyself as the fullness of goodness,      with strength enough to succour me,      wisdom enough to guide me,      mercy enough to quicken me,      love enough to satisfy me. Thou hast shown me that because thou art mine      I can live by thy life,      be strong in thy strength,      be guided by thy wisdom;    and so I can pitch my thoughts and heart in thee. This is the exchange of wonderful love –    for me to have thee for myself,    and for thee to have me, and to give me thyself. There is in thee all fullness of the good I need,    and the fullness of all grace to draw me to thyself,    who, else, could never have come. But having come, I must cleave to thee,    be knit to thee,    always seek thee. There is none all good as thou art: With thee I can live without other things,    for thou art God all-sufficient,    and the glory, peace, rest, joy of the world      is a creaturely, perishing thing        in comparison with thee. Help me to know that he who hopes for nothing      but thee,    and for all things only for thee, hopes truly,    and that I must place all my happiness in holiness,      if I hope to be filled with all grace. Convince me that I can have no peace at death,    nor hope that I should go to Christ,      unless I intend to do his will    and have his fullness while I live.

Easy Listening

I turn on the radio . . .

Baby, baby, baby, ohh - switch
Just gonna stand there and watch me burn - switch
Fernando - switch
I wanna be a billionaire -  switch

And lest you say that I should just turn on the local Christian radio station, I will tell you that I am frustrated with the repetitiveness, lack of depth, and frankly, bad theology of half of those songs.  Just my opinion :)  I was asked to help choose music for our Junior Church program, and I found some of the most listenable music.  It's not geared to children, specifically, but it is very family friendly.  The music is put out by Seeds Family Worship.  The first two volumes are "Seeds of Courage"  and "Seeds of Faith".   The songs are essentially Bible verses set to contemporary music.  I find myself listening to it when Grae isn't in the car!  :)

The cds can be found at www.seedsfamilyworship.net

Passionate Puritans

When I was in public high school, we studied puritan literature.  The standard piece was "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God", which if you read in its entirety, is a beautiful sermon.  Frankly, Puritans get a bad rap.  Most of us imagine a Puritan in black clothes with a sour expression.  This morning I read from The Valley of Vision, a collection of puritan prayers.  This is some of the most passionate and honest writing. 

Lord, high and holy, meek and lowly,

Thou has brought me to the valley of vision,

where I live in the depths but see thee in the heights;

   hemmed in by mountains of sin I behold

   thy glory.

Let me learn by paradox

   that the way down is the way up,

   that to be low is to be high,

   that the broken heart is the healed heart,

   that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit,

   that the repenting soul is the victorious soul,

   that to have nothing is to possess all,

   that to bear the cross is to wear the crown,

   that to give is to receive,

   that the valley is the place of vision.

Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen from deepest wells,

   deepest wells,

   and the deeper the wells the brighter

   thy stars shine;

Let me find thy light in my darkness,

   Thy life in my death,

   that every good work or thought found in me

   thy joy in my sorrow,

   thy grace in my sin,

   thy riches in my poverty

   thy glory in my valley.

Breakfast table observations

"Mommy, it's a really pretty day outside.  The bees live outside.  That's where they play with their friends, and they play with their toys, and then later they take a nappy."

King of the Hill

For you were called to freedom, brothers.  Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.  For the whole law is fulfilled in one word:  "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."  But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another. -Galatians 5:13-15

During Adult Sunday School, we have been watching a video series about redeeming marriage called "What Did You Expect?" by Paul David Tripp.  This has been the best and most helpful tool I have ever seen for getting to the heart of marital conflict.  I was struck by some of his points today and thought I would share them.

• "Marriage is flawed person, married to a flawed person, in a fallen world, but with a faithful God."

• "Happiness is not to be the end result of marriage;  rather, marriage is the process by which we grow to be more like Christ. " Marriage is a pivotal tool in our sanctification.
• "True righteousness only ever begins when you come to the end of yourself."
• "There will be some lasting legacy that you will produce from your influence in the life of your spouse."   Am I saying or doing things to my spouse that I never would have considered during courtship?
• When we live in the Kingdom of Self, we live under the lordship of "my desires" We manipulate to get what we want.
• My problem isn't that I don't love my spouse enough, it's that I don't love God enough.  If I am attempting to be king, I am lacking love for the KING.

These are a few of the helpful concepts that I encountered in the last lesson.  The idea of addressing my relationship with God before trying to fix my marriage, is much more authentic and helpful.  It gets to the heart of the matter.  

It's a man's world

I am in the land of testosterone now.  Grae is so interested in little boy stuff:  monster trucks crushing cars, cutting the grass, riding his big wheel as fast as he can down the steep incline in front of our house.  I know that psychologists say this is conditioned behavior, but I don't buy it.  It seems like he was just made for this stuff.  I'm guessing that God gave me this little man as a reminder to relax and breathe, and to master the art of applying Spider Man band-aids. 

The Cure for the Boo-Boo Blues

The tears stream down his little face as he comes running to me for comfort.  He's got a boo-boo.  

This time it's one of those red welty ones that come from a good fight between his forehead and the sidewalk.  After hugs and some ice, I always try a trick that my South African friend Mariza taught me.  This amazing cure all can be found in my kitchen cupboard. . . vanilla extract.  

Whenever Grae get's one of those ugly welty bumps, I apply a little vanilla extract to the bruise.  Be careful not to use this on open scrapes, the alcohol will burn.  The amazing thing is that the vanilla seems to reduce swelling and bruising.  It's like magic and it makes my already delicious little boy smell like a sugar cookie :)