"Delighted By Grace"

My daughter Hannah has begun a new blog, celebrating her metamorphosis from single to married, from a dutiful Christian to an artful, joyful daughter of God, from a daughter in her father's house, to keeper and mistress of her own.

Check out http://www.delightedbygrace.blogspot.com/

A quote from a vintage book came across my desk today, and it makes me think of Hannah's new angle, it echoes the fresh focus of her blog ~


"This house told more about Mrs. Parker than words ever could. Here were beautiful things . . . Beautiful things were here to be used.

In the midst of this loveliness there was comfort . . . People lived here and liked it.

Mary sensed that this pleasant atmosphere was not because of the lovely things in the house but because of Mrs. Parker herself. She understood now what Mrs. Parker gave [her husband] . . . how she surrounded her husband in his home with all the things in which he could rejoice. She realized now that Mrs. Parker was not just an older girl, for all her unquenchable youthfulness. She was a woman who understood and delighted in the task that was hers."

--Mildred Foulke Meese, Star Light, Star Bright (1940)

Grace infuses everything...it changes everything. Not instantly, but over time. And so very sweetly. It transforms our homes into actual havens for others - not because of the house itself, but because of the delighted life we live there and the grace-ious women we have become.

I would love for my life to be the model and inspiration for such a wonderful book character, and soul-nourishing story!

many thanks to www.pleasantviewschoolhouse.blogspot.com for the above book quote.

If you need home keeping inspiration, home schooling inspiration, or if you ever thought that career home making wouldn't keep you "busy enough"...you have not seen what home making can be. You'd be doing yourself a favor to explore Pleasant View Schoolhouse. This is a rich and beautiful blog. Thank you, Faith, for recommending it to me!

I Feel Sorry For Perfectionists...

...I've been one. I've known a few. I loved them, but they were draining, self centered friends...we're all supposed to either admire their generous perfection, or listen to them endlessly grieve over everything in their life that isn't so perfect, you see.

If you deign to diagnose their perfectionist tendencies and administer the grace-antidote, you must then listen to them lie and tell you that everything is "perfect...wonderful...couldn't be better." Meanwhile, they are intrinsically discontent, almost unable to function.

"When people insist on perfection or nothing, they get nothing."

(~Edith Schaeffer, from her book "What Is a Family?")

Nothing. A perfectionist is left with nothing. Every time he or she gets an opportunity for true, warm relationship, every time a place is made for them in the heart of another, they find fault and find a reason to wander away. Serial wanderers, these. Sad. Because they insist on their own opinion (their opinion being their "version" of perfection) they isolate themselves. Perfectionists are self-aware and thus never truly comfortable for long, and they always end up like a bird out of nest.

Like a bird that wanders from its nest is a man who wanders from his place. Pr. 27:8

There are no flawless lovers, friends, parents or children, soups or sandwiches, no flawless homes or gardens, jobs or vacations, experiences or churches. Stop hoping for your version of perfection...or your wandering will never cease.

Grace, Forever Grace, Amazing Grace!

Even though this is my blog, I have refrained from plugging my church or my pastor - even though I love my church and I sleep with my pastor.

(he is my husband)

But yesterday's message is too good for you to miss. He's still at it. Would you like to hear some of what is turning a few lives inside out, getting some healed of emotional conditions and skin conditions and pain conditions...just sitting under the grace message?

Click your way over to http://www.harvestchurch1.com/. Click on "resources". Scroll down to February 28th's message entitled Old Covenant Fullfilled by Jesus, New Covenant Established in Jesus - February 28, 2010 (Download) .

Pour yourself a good, strong cup of coffee, and make sure your socks stay pulled all the way up, because this was some anointed preachin'. I'm just sayin'.

We began in January 2009, preaching grace. Here we are, as a church...well into 2010...and we are still in our "Year of Grace". No end in sight. I'm still thrilling to the theology of the gospel, and still wallowing in the anointing I have discovered when I distanced myself, at great cost TO myself, from the theology of a few analytics who love to have their devotions with dead guys. Actually, that isn't true...the analytics distanced themselves from me. At the time, it felt like a costly loss, but I was not the initiator of the break down in the relationship. I would have preserved it at all costs, short of compromising the gospel. So let's just say, when the distance happened, there was a very real break-through in my life...a release of anointing.

There are writings of dead guys who, generations ago were prone to opine on "Christian Perfection", with one eye on me, figuratively speaking, making sure I was behavin' right....rather than breathlessly gazing on the Son, like everyone knows a real theologian and a truly enraptured heart will do, and then declare, "hear ye Him."

I love to read me some dead guys myself...but only in the context of the gospel as handed down to us in Scripture, through the inspired Word of God. See, Scripture is alive. I'd prefer to base my devotions on the living, not the dead.

Then, on a whole other front, you got the theology of the Hebraic Roots Movement. A true revelation of Jesus Christ and the grace of God will quickly marginalize those doctrines that would have you cling to Hebrew Roots.

And a revelation of the grace of God will marginalize Christian Perfection dead guy doctrine....see, these are 2 sides of the same law-emphasizing coin.

That coin, plus all the obedience to the law that you can muster on your worst day, plus all the perfection you can crank out on your best day, will enable you to buy your very own curse and a cup of bad coffee. It doesn't bring a blessing.

Grace now. Grace ever. Christ alone. Gospel plus nothing.

Here are the lyrics to a worship song we sang this past Sunday...whew. Heaven came down. I'm telling you, amongst preachers and song writers all over this world, there is a gospel tsunami that is moving across the world through these communicators, and my husband and I are called to be one of their ranks. I don't know about you, but we are paddling our board out to ride that glorious grace-wave!

Soak in these lyrics, and get your grace-filled hands on this new CD by Robin Mark:

Just as I am one only plea
In that the blood once shed was shed for me
And drew me to a covenant place
Where I found mercy in the year of grace

No condemnation now for me
Your Word has touched my heart and now I see
In Heaven stands to plead my case
The One who found me in the year of grace

O Son of God sweet Son of Man
The Author of redemption's plan
Eternal God in time and space
O keep me ever in the year of grace

I hear Your voice my soul awakes
Your whispered words have stirred my heart to praise
On love unbound I fix my gaze
Where I first saw You in the year of grace

In life in death whom shall I fear
Closer than breath I feel You near
Oh hold me in Your strong embrace
Where I find rest within the year of grace

Wedding Shower

Sarah's first of several wedding showers is this afternoon. I got she and Jonathan a small volume of love poems by Ruth Bell Graham, entitled "Never Let It End". Gorgeous poetry. For years, my soul has been well-fed by Mrs. Graham's gift.

Now, how to wrap it?

I discovered a lovely blog, "A Gift Wrapped Life", and tucked within this blog was a gem: a beautiful idea for gift wrapping a book. Books just happen to be my signature gift...I love to give books.

Here is Sande's result:






I copied the talented Sande's idea almost exactly, though not with the exact same, perfect result:

I'm satisfied.

On to the shower. Three weeks until the wedding...let the games begin!

Actual Snowflakes and Your Very Own Pretend Snowflakes...

Photographs by Wilson "Snowflake" Bentley, early 20th century:

"Under the microscope, I found that snowflakes were miracles of beauty; and it seemed a shame that this beauty should not be seen and appreciated by others. Every crystal was a masterpiece of design and no one design was ever repeated., When a snowflake melted, that design was forever lost. Just that much beauty was gone, without leaving any record behind."

Wilson "Snowflake" Bentley 1925

Flurries are falling this night here in east Tennessee. It gets me to thinking about snowflakes, and an extravagantly creative God.

Here is a link for you to create your very own pretend, virtual snowflakes. Warning: this is addictive. Have fun!

What's For Dinner?

"It is worth deciding whether your goal, generally speaking, is really to get in and out of the kitchen as fast as possible. If you start out begrudging the time you give to cookery, you are going to create a false contest between cooking and enjoying yourself."

~Cheryl Mendelson, Home Comforts

Personal Peace and Affluence

"There's only so much fortune a person needs, and the rest is just for showin' off."
~Forrest Gump's momma

The great twentieth century theologian Francis Schaeffer immortalized the phrase "personal peace and affluence" in his day; in his books and messages he asserted that the quest for personal peace and affluence was the downfall of great nations in history past. I think what is true in the "universals" is often true in the "particulars".

This quest for personal peace and affluence often marks the downfall of a man or woman as well.

That phrase has haunted me since I first read it, nearly two decades ago. Personal peace and affluence. Schaeffer's warning applies to all socio-economic levels, because we are all tempted to seek our version of it.

Periodically, over the years, I examine my attitude for signs of any sense of entitlement - any indication that I am placing my "personal peace" ahead of the call of God on my life - a call which often (almost always) takes me far out of my comfort zone. It is a call which always involves some level of obscurity and servanthood, and truth be known we all fear obscurity and service.

I've learned that I don't need to be noticed or appreciated, contrary to pop psychology. I do not have to "feel" whole and comfortable before I get about the business of loving God and loving others. I am already made complete in Christ. His grace truly is sufficient.

I will confess, nothing has forced me to look at my version of affluence like my son graduating high school, and two daughters getting married in less than one year. My husband being in full time ministry and me a career home maker (otherwise known as financial suicide), my biggest fear was to one day not be able to afford to pay for college or weddings.

With the first daughter's wedding, I began my planning process and discovered that the "average" wedding budget was something like $20,000. Often, the budget can be much more. I knew we didn't have close to that available to spend, and so I was forced to confront my deepest fears.

My version of affluence. What is your version? How hotly have you pursued it? At what cost?

I gave it up - the inner struggle was immense. We had the available credit for me to be as lavish as I wished, but the conviction to pay for all or most of both weddings in cash.

With my back against the wall, I called in the troops. The Harvest Church Women. They came through like you would not believe, furnishing us with the most lovely wedding reception for Hannah - location, food, and all. A few men in Harvest made themselves completely available to Tim in the days before the wedding, to haul chairs, clean the barn, anything we needed. Tim found out who his true friends were that week! Yeah. The ones who didn't find someplace else they "had to be".

I've always known who my friends are. At any point in life, they are the women who are "still here". Harvest women were there, involved in all aspects of Hannah's reception, and are once again (less than one year later!) involved in every detail of Sarah's reception.

How humbling to relinquish my version of affluence, my misguided dream of what a "wedding celebration" looks like, and embrace True Community. I discovered that life lived in community made for a far, far better, more beautiful wedding than I could have ever "bought". Some things absolutely cannot be bought, some honors should not be farmed out to a bidder. Weddings are about community!

Church life is antithetical to personal peace and affluence. If you try to have your personal peace and affluence, and engage in real church life too, you will find yourself leaving church after church. If you try to have your personal peace and your version of affluence and also have healthy relationships, you will find yourself cutting off relationship after relationship.

You will never be able to have it both ways. God's peace is "not as the world gives", pure and simple.