Just wanted to let people know that I'll be out of town for a few weeks, and then my schedule is going to be slightly crazy after that. Don't want anyone thinking that I've up and disappeared!
As a little personal anecdote of some sort seems called for in a post this short, I'll have you know that I don't like packing. I especially don't like packing 'till 1am the day before I leave. Now how, you may ask, did this unfortunate circumstance come about?
Mom's birthday is right around the time I'll be getting back. I, of course, didn't realized that because we'll be celebrating it the day after I get back, I won't be able to do any cooking, shopping, etc. Fortunately, I did realize this, just not quite soon enough to be comfortable. So, various preparations have been sprinkled over the past few days, which I won't go in to, but the kicker really came today. Actually, the problem started Thursday, which was the day I had planned on packing, but it wasn't painful 'till today.
I had planned on spending maybe and hour and a half packing, maybe an hour helping Dad, Buddy and Birdie on some projects outside, and also spending the morning and lunchtime making Mom's birthday cake. NOT!! I chose a cake that is really beautiful, but was a lot more involved than it appeared in the picture - try 8 hours involved! (The cake is gorgeous, though - a 10" square two-layer chocolate cake with chocolate mocha frosting and 70 little pink drop flowers all over it)
Then, I left for Bible study... stayed later than expected... and you have my not so great time slot for packing. However, I hope to have a great time, and all this will be well worth it - and Mom really likes her cake, too :-).
May 30, 2010
May 18, 2010
Proclaiming His Greatness... From the Valley of Death?
Finally, we appear to be getting some honestly warm weather, and its beautiful! With all the rain we've had, the open fields behind us are turning green, and the Scrub Oak (our main tree besides pine) are being venturesome with a few green buds showing through - although I've decided that Aspen aren't very smart, since ours started pushing out little green leaves about a month ago.
Amidst the change in the weather and the almost continuous planning for the next few months, Psalm 23 came to mind in a rather strange way on Sunday. I read it over and over, and looked up some other Psalms that came to mind, and came away with a few interesting thoughts. Hope you find them as interesting as I did.
First, it occurred to me that the first three verses, which are so well known in Christendom, are immediately followed by "the valley of the shadow of death". Odd, isn't it? Good times, once they arrive, are just going to stay, aren't they? After all, if God is having us lie down in green pastures and leading us beside still waters, that means He is pleased with us and "will never forsake us"... to which we add, mentally, "meaning, nothing bad will happen". But, that is not what the Psalmist recounts. In verses four through five he discusses being under the shadow of death, and surrounded by his enemies. Here's the kicker (if I may use the term): This train of events is not represented as something unexpected, or even unfortunate. It is the way things are expected to go when God is leading and teaching you.
Second, another thing struck me about the order of the verses. If you look at the structure, verses one through three and verse six are the ones we would consider "good times". This is about the nice things that we think God should do for us now. Admittedly, they do bookend verses four and five, but even so, are they quite what today's American church usually represents? For one thing, take a second look at the first line of verse three: "He restores my soul." [insert fluffy, pink thoughts emanating from Sunday School posters] Think about it - that implies very clearly that the soul was damaged or worn out. Then, add the second half of the verse (a new sentence): "He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake." This very well could imply that we had first left the path, if we were ever on it at all - and isn't that likely why our soul was in need of restoration in the first place? The picture isn't quite so fluffy anymore. Briefly, take a look at verse six. I love this verse, because it is so full of promise, but the second part of the verse is mainly promise for the future. The first part ("Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life...") is very interesting in that it comes directly off of the discussion about the valley and enemies.
This brings us to the most incredible part of the whole discussion (in my opinion). Clearly, verses one through three and six are proclamations of God's guidance, comfort and mercy. God provides great things there, but doesn't He also provide during the hard times? He causes the Psalmist to not fear, and provides him with sustenance when surrounded by his antagonists. In fact, verses four and five continue the same tone as the other four do - proclaiming the wonderful provisions of God! Two examples of difficulty, or two examples of God's help during the time we are least likely to see it? I believe the latter, and what a difference that makes!
Think of it: this introduces a different way of viewing all the difficulties of life. Instead of simply thanking God for the "good times" and asking Him to remove the "bad" ones, we must recognize and be, perhaps, doubly thankful for God's great gifts of mercy and grace - during those times we tend to see it least. We have all heard someone say that we should "thank God during the bad times". I've never fully understood that, but little by little, through this and other things, I think God is teaching it to me. God is providing, and even though I can't quite see it, I can at least picture what a mess things would be if He left me to myself. "A joyful heart is good medicine..." (Pr. 17:22), and thankfulness for God's greatness is certainly a big part of that.
Amidst the change in the weather and the almost continuous planning for the next few months, Psalm 23 came to mind in a rather strange way on Sunday. I read it over and over, and looked up some other Psalms that came to mind, and came away with a few interesting thoughts. Hope you find them as interesting as I did.
First, it occurred to me that the first three verses, which are so well known in Christendom, are immediately followed by "the valley of the shadow of death". Odd, isn't it? Good times, once they arrive, are just going to stay, aren't they? After all, if God is having us lie down in green pastures and leading us beside still waters, that means He is pleased with us and "will never forsake us"... to which we add, mentally, "meaning, nothing bad will happen". But, that is not what the Psalmist recounts. In verses four through five he discusses being under the shadow of death, and surrounded by his enemies. Here's the kicker (if I may use the term): This train of events is not represented as something unexpected, or even unfortunate. It is the way things are expected to go when God is leading and teaching you.
Second, another thing struck me about the order of the verses. If you look at the structure, verses one through three and verse six are the ones we would consider "good times". This is about the nice things that we think God should do for us now. Admittedly, they do bookend verses four and five, but even so, are they quite what today's American church usually represents? For one thing, take a second look at the first line of verse three: "He restores my soul." [insert fluffy, pink thoughts emanating from Sunday School posters] Think about it - that implies very clearly that the soul was damaged or worn out. Then, add the second half of the verse (a new sentence): "He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake." This very well could imply that we had first left the path, if we were ever on it at all - and isn't that likely why our soul was in need of restoration in the first place? The picture isn't quite so fluffy anymore. Briefly, take a look at verse six. I love this verse, because it is so full of promise, but the second part of the verse is mainly promise for the future. The first part ("Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life...") is very interesting in that it comes directly off of the discussion about the valley and enemies.
This brings us to the most incredible part of the whole discussion (in my opinion). Clearly, verses one through three and six are proclamations of God's guidance, comfort and mercy. God provides great things there, but doesn't He also provide during the hard times? He causes the Psalmist to not fear, and provides him with sustenance when surrounded by his antagonists. In fact, verses four and five continue the same tone as the other four do - proclaiming the wonderful provisions of God! Two examples of difficulty, or two examples of God's help during the time we are least likely to see it? I believe the latter, and what a difference that makes!
Think of it: this introduces a different way of viewing all the difficulties of life. Instead of simply thanking God for the "good times" and asking Him to remove the "bad" ones, we must recognize and be, perhaps, doubly thankful for God's great gifts of mercy and grace - during those times we tend to see it least. We have all heard someone say that we should "thank God during the bad times". I've never fully understood that, but little by little, through this and other things, I think God is teaching it to me. God is providing, and even though I can't quite see it, I can at least picture what a mess things would be if He left me to myself. "A joyful heart is good medicine..." (Pr. 17:22), and thankfulness for God's greatness is certainly a big part of that.
May 6, 2010
"Spring" Cleaning
Well, its still feeling like Spring only off and on here, but according to the calendar, the season of flowers and new life is here. Now, my family has never done even an unofficial "Spring cleaning" - Mom is an incredible housekeeper, and if there was ever enough dirt in this house to warrant such a drastic measure, I think she would break down and cry. I however, am not an incredible housekeeper, even though my part of the house is only a very small bedroom. I consider it evidence of the creative that I am - others in the house consider it just a plain old mess, and sometimes a fire hazard. Either way, I have been in need of applying what organizational skills I have for a very long time. Enter the last few days...
It has occurred to me (rather unwillingly on my part) that I am leaving home in about 3 1/2 months. This has caused a number of things to happen (besides me freaking out), including a fairly extensive reorganization of my life. Shocking, I know! It has been way out of my comfort zone, but, being that type A, goal oriented person that I am, has also felt very good once I see that I'm accomplishing something. It also appears to have made the organized members of our family quite happy ;-).
First came my books. I love my books. My books are more important to me than my clothes - ok, that's not saying much coming from me, but you get the point. Our library has these shelves of books for about 50 cents that I have become almost addicted to, which means I literally had three stacks of books knee high on the floor of my room. My shelves (an entire seven foot bookcase) were a wreck, and it was time to purge and reorganize. Well, I made an Excel spreadsheet of all my books. The result was all of them organized by category and then author's last name all in one bookcase (except cookbooks) - I will admit, it is wonderful! Mom was extraordinarily happy that they were neat, Birdie's happy that she can find my fiction, and I'm happy that all my books look so happy on their shelves.
Then came the filing. I don't do filing. I do piling. Dad has been trying very hard to get me to stop that, because he used to and knows how important it is to not. His attempts didn't work, until it occurred to me that many of the random papers that were on almost every flat surface of my room need to go with me to school. [insert me having a 10 second freak session before surrendering myself to the inevitable] So, off to Office Depot we went, got two file boxes, returned home and I now have a filing system (that no one but me would understand, but hey, I'm the one that has to use it, right?) and a much cleaner room.
(Actually, the "off we went to Office Depot" wasn't quite so simple. First Dad and I went pawn shopping for a number of things, including a filing cabinet, and discovered you can't get a decent two-drawer for less than $90, which was out of our price range. Pawn shopping is one of the only experiences where you can be called both "babe" and "madam" by a sales clerk within an hour of each other, depending on which shop you're in... but I digress)
Anyhow, I am now off to clean out my clothes (many of which really need to be passed on to Birdie and SRM), desk drawers and CD's/Tapes. Yes, I mean cassette tapes, like the kind you listened too in the '80s and '90s - some of the best Christian rock ever recorded. I guess Spring cleaning - whether intended as such or not - isn't such a bad idea after all.
It has occurred to me (rather unwillingly on my part) that I am leaving home in about 3 1/2 months. This has caused a number of things to happen (besides me freaking out), including a fairly extensive reorganization of my life. Shocking, I know! It has been way out of my comfort zone, but, being that type A, goal oriented person that I am, has also felt very good once I see that I'm accomplishing something. It also appears to have made the organized members of our family quite happy ;-).
First came my books. I love my books. My books are more important to me than my clothes - ok, that's not saying much coming from me, but you get the point. Our library has these shelves of books for about 50 cents that I have become almost addicted to, which means I literally had three stacks of books knee high on the floor of my room. My shelves (an entire seven foot bookcase) were a wreck, and it was time to purge and reorganize. Well, I made an Excel spreadsheet of all my books. The result was all of them organized by category and then author's last name all in one bookcase (except cookbooks) - I will admit, it is wonderful! Mom was extraordinarily happy that they were neat, Birdie's happy that she can find my fiction, and I'm happy that all my books look so happy on their shelves.
Then came the filing. I don't do filing. I do piling. Dad has been trying very hard to get me to stop that, because he used to and knows how important it is to not. His attempts didn't work, until it occurred to me that many of the random papers that were on almost every flat surface of my room need to go with me to school. [insert me having a 10 second freak session before surrendering myself to the inevitable] So, off to Office Depot we went, got two file boxes, returned home and I now have a filing system (that no one but me would understand, but hey, I'm the one that has to use it, right?) and a much cleaner room.
(Actually, the "off we went to Office Depot" wasn't quite so simple. First Dad and I went pawn shopping for a number of things, including a filing cabinet, and discovered you can't get a decent two-drawer for less than $90, which was out of our price range. Pawn shopping is one of the only experiences where you can be called both "babe" and "madam" by a sales clerk within an hour of each other, depending on which shop you're in... but I digress)
Anyhow, I am now off to clean out my clothes (many of which really need to be passed on to Birdie and SRM), desk drawers and CD's/Tapes. Yes, I mean cassette tapes, like the kind you listened too in the '80s and '90s - some of the best Christian rock ever recorded. I guess Spring cleaning - whether intended as such or not - isn't such a bad idea after all.